Seven Editing Problems and Solutions (w/ GIF illustrations)

Hi all, after spending about a month and a half learning Resolve and researching the problems I’ve come across, I compiled my top seven editing problems that I have not been able to find a solution for. I’ve made images/GIFs to illustrate potential solutions to these problems and I’ve tired my best to not completely break existing functionality.

I apologize for the length and thank you for taking the time to read it.

The first two problems (deleting clips and deleting transitions) are my top priorities.
I don’t want anything to be permanently deleted unless I explicitly delete it myself. This is the most frustrating thing I’ve encountered while using Resolve. This kind of behavior does not exist at all in Vegas Pro so it can be done. I hope these issues can be addressed soon.

#1) Placing one clip on top of other clips deletes all of the clips underneath


Solution from Vegas Pro: clips are layered on top of each other (like separate tracks on the z-axis)


panos_mts mentioned below that this feature already exists for audio:
Timeline -> Layered Audio Editing
If a Layered Video Editing option could also be included, that would be perfect.
Thank you panos_mts for pointing this out.

#2) In Selection Mode separating clips with a transition deletes the transition


Solution from Vegas Pro: the transition is stored with the 2nd clip (on the right)


Transitions are also deleted after moving clips to another track and moving them back


Solution from Vegas Pro: the transition is restored when clips are recombined


#3) Moving transition edge does not show a preview of the clip being adjusted in the viewer


Solution: provide a split screen in the viewer to preview both clips while moving the edge of a transition (just like it currently does when moving a cut).

#4) In Trim Edit Mode moving clips with transitions does not preserve edges of the clips


Solution from Vegas Pro: clips with transitions can be moved while preserving the edges of the clips


The current behavior of moving the transition along with the clip can be assigned to a modifier key while moving the clip. In addition, Ctlr+click could be used to select both the clip and its transition to move together at the same time.

#5) Different editing behavior for left, right and center aligned transitions

Solution: the left, right, center options should only affect where a transition is added and where the original cut is restored when a transition is deleted. All transitions should look and behave exactly the same after they are added.
I made some custom images in Paint to show what this could look like:


Selecting left and right clips should extend through to the other side of the transition:


Features:
* By default each edge should move independently without affecting the other edge.
* Modifier key + drag edge for symmetrical editing to move both edges at the same time in opposite directions (current behavior for centered transition). This can be used at any time without needing to have the transition centered.
* Drag the transition box to move entire transition forward/backward while preserving its length.
* Copy and paste transition to other clips (current behavior).

The current behavior of changing the alignment of a transition in the Inspector and restoring the original cut position when the transition is deleted can be preserved by using a small indicator (I used three small circles in the images above) to show the transition’s alignment. If the alignment of the transition is changed in the inspector, these indicators will change to show its new location. This preserves the current functionality, but does so in a way that does not affect the way the transition is edited which will make it much faster/easier to work with.

#6) Video clip fades can only be linear

Solution: provide more options for video fade in/out curves (currently available for audio clips).

#7) Fade handles currently do not snap to frame when Snapping is enabled

Solution: make fade handles snap to frames when Snapping is enabled and free form when disabled.

I would vote:

1. No
2. No
3. Yes
4. Not sure I follow
5. No
6. Yes
7. Neutral

Hi Jim, thank you for responding.

To better explain #4: my request is after adding a transition between two clips, you can move either clip around without affecting the edge of the other clip. The current behavior where moving a clip also moves the transition does affect the edge of the clip not being moved. What I've had to do is either use the play cursor or I/O markers to mark the original edge of the transition and put it back after moving the clip. It's a workaround, but it's much slower than what I can do in other editors.

For a more detailed explanation, I asked about this in my first post on the forum and the editing behavior I'm asking about in this post is what I'm requesting for #4.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=155965

For #1: would you vote yes to a checkbox in the Editing menu (something like "Overwrite Clips on Overlap") to turn this behavior on or off?

For #2: would you vote yes for an Auto Crossfade mode that would preserve the transitions/crossfades instead of deleting them? Auto Crossfade is a standard feature in DAWs. This is the only behavior in Vegas Pro, but having an option to turn it on/off could be useful.

Then you can customize it to however you want to work. As long as I can turn both of those "auto delete" features off, I'm totally fine with that. I have no problem if others want to keep existing behavior for their workflow. But those are by far my two biggest complaints with Resolve and I really want them off.

For #5: I am pretty sure I was able to preserve all of the existing functionality (unless I missed something) but made transitions easier/faster to work with since there is only one uniform transition behavior. However, using modifier keys you could access the symmetrical editing (moving both edges in opposite directions at the same time) at any time without needing to have the transition centered on the cut. What downside do you see to this suggestion?

IMO for editing it's better to have more functions accessible quickly so you can do the task you need at that moment without having to go through a lot of steps, which only slows you down and makes it more frustrating to work with. There is so much I love about Resolve, but coming from editing primarily in DAWs and a little in Vegas Pro, many editing tasks that used to be very fast and simple are clunky and slow in Resolve. A few minor changes would make a world of difference in this area, then everyone can be happy!

Thanks again!

For #1: would you vote yes to a checkbox in the Editing menu (something like "Overwrite Clips on Overlap") to turn this behavior on or off?

DaVinci already supports layers for audio (Timeline -> Layered Audio Editing).
I guess would not be that hard to add an extra option for video.

DaVinci already supports layers for audio (Timeline -> Layered Audio Editing). I guess would not be that hard to add an extra option for video.

YES, that's it! I haven't done much experimenting with audio features yet, but I just tried it out and that is exactly the behavior I'm looking for. If they could add that option for video too, that would be perfect. I just edited my original comment to include this. Thank you for pointing this out.