Middle button copies old version of Fusion Compositon

Hello there.

I am fairly new to Fusion, please tell me where to find this if it is already explaining. Using version 16.2.5.015 of resolve.

I've recently noticed that, sometimes, when I copy the content of one composition to another, it seems to recover an old version of the same. Although I've tried several things I haven't been able to establish the cause, it seems to come and go at random. I have no idea whether it is a bug of a feature I am using at random without realising.

Any ideas about what could be going on?

Are you using the Fusion page Clips pane to move between the compositions? This has a nasty bug related to copy and paste, although your symptom does sound a little different to that.

Here's my description and demonstration of the Clips pane copy & paste bug:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=100234#p654907

See if that's at all similar to what you're seeing. It can be avoided just by going back and forth to the Edit page in order to switch between clips, and never using the Fusion page Clips pane.

If it's not that, then be aware that Fusion does support multiple versions of compositions. If you right-click on the current clip in the Clip pane, you get a Versions option, allowing you to keep multiple copies of the same comp. Have you ever specified multiple versions there? Do you see multiple versions if you right-click on the Clip?

Another way to copy compositions is File -> Export Fusion Composition and File -> Import Fusion Composition. That could be used as another way to move a composition between two clips, or from one project to another.

Hello Tom

Yes, thank you, I think it's the same issue. I wasn't even aware of the relation with duplication. I corrected my workflow and for now I am able to circumvent it.

I will do further testing once I have the time, hopefully we will be able to replicate it and narrow the problem for an eventual fix. I'll post an update here for the record once I find out more.

Hello again

Well, it's been almost a month and I must admit I didn't experience the same problem again, not even once. Funnily enough, I don't even know how to do replicate it again. But I still want to post a follow up for reference.

It could have been fixed in 16.2.6, but I doubt it. I think it was simply me not understanding that comps in the media pool are not the same as their instances in the timeline. I may have been doing changes in the Fusion tab and expecting them to affect the original file in the media pool. That'd explain why I was surprised when I was loading a new instance and finding out that copying from it would appear to copy an "older version" of what I had done since then (that is, on the original instance).

The workaround now seems obvious, I just have to drag the modified instance to the media pool and rename it, either replacing the older version or using some version names scheme. I still have to read the manual and maybe there's an even better way to solve it, but at least I don't experience the problem this way.

Yeah that's correct - every Fusion composition is a distinct entity. You're not the first person to be confused by this.

If you drag a Fusion comp from the Media Pool to a timeline, then edit it on the timeline, you now have two independent and disconnected copies of it. The same applies if you copy a composition on a timeline - or copy a clip that has a composition on it. Every copy will be independent, and any changes made to one will not affect any of the others.

This can be especially frustrating and difficult if you have a clip with a composition on it, and then later want to edit that clip, splitting it into two or three or more parts. You end up with 2 or more copies of the comp, now disconnected, and if you later want to edit that comp you would have to make the same changes multiple times - or change one, and then delete the others and replace with the copied copy. And then if you need to change it again in future, keep doing that over and over.

One of my wish list items for v17 is much better Fusion composition management. I hope they will increase the visibility of Fusion compositions, so it's possible to clearly see what comps you have where, ideally with a reference to every composition stored in the Media Pool. And I hope they will provide better composition management, for example a way to put the same composition on multiple clips, such that all the clips are affected by changes to a single comp.

One of my wish list items for v17 is much better Fusion composition management. I hope they will increase the visibility of Fusion compositions, so it's possible to clearly see what comps you have where, ideally with a reference to every composition stored in the Media Pool.

Agree, it'd be great. Although, I must say, I can understand how is it useful to keep timeline objects independent from the ones in the media pool. I can live without it once I adapt my workflow.

However...

And I hope they will provide better composition management, for example a way to put the same composition on multiple clips, such that all the clips are affected by changes to a single comp.

THIS would be a game changing thing!!! I guess it is something hard-coded within the nodes structure, where any kind of pre-comp doesn't make much sense, but it would be fantastic if at least there is some linkage at a timeline level. My other preference would be linkage of macros at a node level, even though I guess that this can be solved with external plugins, I simply didn't have time to dig into it yet.