Magic Mask unusable until it behaves like MM in Fusion

Problem :
The constant loss/reset of the tracked MagicMask in the color tab is a big problem.

--Context--
I made the mistake to rely on magic mask for a big comercial.
Every shot is a beer beauty shot, Multiple magic mask by shot, 4 different edits, 10 shots by edits, 2 languages.

I have to re-track Everything! in each timeline by hand every time I open that hell of a project or touch another upstream node. Sometimes I changed nothing, or the magic mask is the first node... and it loses its tracking anyway.
(The "MM auto-retrack" during the export doesn't work because it doesn't do it in the right order, tracking later MM nodes before previous MM node, so it "breaks" the later one after redoing the previous one (facepalm)

p.s : Using the "Nest clip" workaround on every shot is not an option. too complicated on this project. Lot of shots, lot of variations lot of color correction versions/refinements using the magic masks.
-----


Solution :
In Fusion, the Magic Mask effect works correctly, meaning.... It holds the Magic mask track/matte even if you change previous nodes going into it !!!
It doesn't reset until I choose to reset it by clicking "Clear" the disk cache.


So. Please, could you port that beahviour to the Color tab's Magic Mask please ???
So we can really use it.

Thanks

I made the mistake to rely on magic mask for a big comercial.

I think the mistake is not to have used the MM in your commercial, but not enough before starting the commercial, at least for you to be enough experienced to be aware of what it lacks... And I did more or less the same mistake. Also when I thought that locking the MM node could be a solution.

Now, that said, you probably know that you can rely on a few workarounds, since I read that the compound clip is not an option for you.
My favorite ones are :
1/ VFX Connect of any clip which is to use the MM. It stills works, refreshes very well back in Resolve, and can be used intensively without any issue ;
2/ start the clip in Fusion Studio and only exporting when finished. Not very handy in your case I think, but when you know what's at stake with certain clips prior to start a project, you may adapt your workflow sometimes ;
3/ ANY time I use the MM, I export a bitmap alpha mask of the resulted tracked shape... Sometimes considered as too much time consuming, it's not really and can always save your life

Well good luck with your ongoing project now

Merci Sam.

Yeah I will use MM again if BM resolves this issue.
But I'll Try the "VFX connect" workaround first.

Thanks.

As an alternative to VFX Connect in this case... while I've only used it on small projects, I'm hopeful this technique also works for you:
1) In Davinci Resolve's Fusion tab, use the Magic Mask node that's now available there to create a branch (not on your main MediaOut1 path).

2) When you have the mask the way you want, right click the node (or final massaged mask node if you add further manipulations) and choose "Cache to Disk...". I haven't used the "lock node" checkbox, nor the pre-render... Just the default "enable", and OK-ed it.

3) Run the branch into an additional MediaOut2.

Repeat for any additional MagicMasks that you want.

4) In the Color page, in the node graph, right click and Add Source. Use the sources to provide the alpha on nodes where you want the magic mask to guide the color page effects.

I've been able to add nodes in the Fusion tab, and nodes in the Color page, without having to regenerate the masks. I note however that when I did NOT use cache to disk on the fusion tab mask nodes, I *did* have to regenerate the mask.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Jean, what exact Resolve version and OS are you using?

Boy this exact issue has been driving me nuts for days and causing lost sleep.

Here's what I discovered thanks to a tip this morning on another thread. Thanks to Andy Mees.

For me the issue was that once I made the magic mask I could work on the separate elements ( mainly my background) much more easily but the damn Mask kept disappearing . And then The export page wouldn't even render the shot I had a mask on as well. It just seemed to be screwing up my whole system.

The fix was to do whatever work I needed to make the Mask and then before it had a chance to disappear on me I Right clicked the clip in the timeline and hit "Render in place". This made a Pro res HQ version of the shot after the mask was done. Resolve immediately imported that clip and I simply placed it over the original clip .
Next I hit "restore original " or something like that . Now I had my original clip before correction & renders on V1 and a version that had the Magic Mask burned in on V2 . I could still redo render if I changed my mind, but I had a totally stable version on V2 that I could continue to work on .

I previously tried making an external mask from the magic mask but for some reason it wasn't syncing up with the shot - another mystery. This method is very flexible , fast and easy .

I wish there was an option at the node level to lock the magic mask to prevent it from being discarded when the input image changes (forcing the user to take responsibility for the refresh when necessary). I'm not sure where the mask is stored now - is it in the render cache location or did it get moved in a more recent version of Resolve? I do wonder why some users seem to have a harder time with Magic Mask than others.

I'm not sure where the mask is stored now - is it in the render cache location or did it get moved in a more recent version of Resolve?

They are stored within the AlgoCache folder at the project's cache files files location. Don't think the location has changed at all, but certainly 'improved Cache management for Magic Mask' was noted in the 18.5 Beta notes.

Thanks. It used to be if you deleted your render cache, you would lose your magic mask... that no longer appears to be the case. This may have been corrected ages ago, I have no idea.

Hey

Render in place is obviously a workaround, as the compound clip in Edit when in ReFusion, but these are no real serious options...

I've proposed a bunch of options in a lot of MM threads now, because I've worked with it intensively on 3 separate projects and learned how to cope with cache issues, but at the end of the day (among them keeping the MM alone on its "own personal branch"), I've come to the opinion that what really should work rock solid should be : whenever you lock the MM node, no matter if you're in Color, Fusion or Fusion Studio, NOTHING should be allowed to change (parameters or last cache)... Now, later on, or when you close and re-open the project.

About anything changing in the same branch of the node flow : if it's not PTZR related (for instance only a grade/cc or stuff), it shouldn't interfere.

The lock node option is imho the best way to fix everything in one behavior.

That would indeed be confidence boosting. Losing the mask on my first retry in 18.5b2 (in Fusion node) after closing/reopening Resolve, was disheartening.

Ah - locking the node is a great idea which I will try . Frankly I didn't even know that was an option till yesterday when I found a node locked by accident . I have similar problems with Face refinement but they aren't nearly as bad. Will try the locking trick .

BTW - Thanks once again to everyone on this forum for saving my ass repeatedly and often.

@Leonardo, fyi, I don't think the lock currently locks the cache - @Sam is suggesting that it *should*. I believe currently the lock only limits the parameters on the node.

Too bad. Thanks for the warning . Back to Render in Place.

@Sam is suggesting that it *should*. I believe currently the lock only limits the parameters on the node.

Correct...
But you guys try on your own, report your experience. Trust me I'd never write so specifically about it. If the lock could also lock the MM track cache

Shouldn't Davinci itself be investigating and reporting about this? Its a really nasty problem that can cost a huge amount of time and consternation before you realize its the software. Doesn't anyone on the forum have their ear. Someone out to be able to tell us for example if locking the node would make a difference.

I thought it was my computer till I started noticing other complaints. Does it have anything to do with how old or "loaded" your computer is?

Not sure what it is you think BMD should be 'investigating' that they have not obviously already investigated and are well aware of Leonardo, with respect to Magic Mask? It's been explained dozens of times in dozens of threads how Magic Mask works in the Color page, and how to work effectively within those constraints. Plenty of folks already suggested adding an option to manually preserve generated masks.... along with literally hundreds and hundreds of other requests for things they'd like to see. At some point these things get prioritised, or not. All we can do is ask. We don't get to choose if or when requests get granted.

The fix was to do whatever work I needed to make the Mask and then before it had a chance to disappear on me I Right clicked the clip in the timeline and hit "Render in place". This made a Pro res HQ version of the shot after the mask was done. Resolve immediately imported that clip and I simply placed it over the original clip . Next I hit "restore original " or something like that . Now I had my original clip before correction & renders on V1 and a version that had the Magic Mask burned in on V2 . I could still redo render if I changed my mind, but I had a totally stable version on V2 that I could continue to work on .

That is a very clever fix!

the workaroud i asked BM as to be able to right click on any nodes and "export mask to a clip" there, so you effectively make an alpha of the mask.

the workaroud i asked BM as to be able to right click on any nodes and "export mask to a clip" there, so you effectively make an alpha of the mask.

THIS !

In almost any post I wrote to help - and Andy's right, there's a whole bunch of topics here around - , my favorite option has always been to export a bitmap mask and use it later on, just because this latter won't ever vanish in any way and therefore represent a good alternative...
And this is more logical than a "render in place" which needs a finalized clip (or at least which burns lots of things you may not want to), and prevents you to go on working with further nodes on specific and still available selections

I personally work a lot in Fusion so the more obvious way is to add a saver node just once, but in the Edit the export process is not far.

Now, what Walter writes here is not only doing the same a lot quicker but also makes a huge sense : what more than the MM should have a build in "export mask" option, honestly ?

the workaroud i asked BM as to be able to right click on any nodes and "export mask to a clip" there, so you effectively make an alpha of the mask.

+1
It would need to be in full resolution with the original resolution (aka individual clip render). So it will be flexible if you want to reposition the clip later.

I had a lot of diffuiculties with the MM on the 3 projects I used it on.
From constantly loosing cache of the track to not being able to render the timeline as some deactivated MM node inside of a compound node wouldn‘t let Resolve render.. (as it was stuck tracking at 0% when trying to hit render)

I had the same problem with rendering which really freaked me out to be honest.
BTW - I had no idea that there were many posts about the MM problems when I posted a couple of days ago (after staying up all night in frustration), nor what Davinci had done to explain the the issue. Does the manual explain that you are likely to continually lose your cache file? or that it can screw up renders in the deliver page?

I did try to export MM as an external mask since that seemed like a very flexible solution but found the external mask didn't sync up with my shot . The first time I did it it was just a 4 frame offset but the second time I just couldn't figure out what was going on . Why would the external mask derived from MM not be in sync ?

Maybe it was just some kind of error on my part? I admit I was stressed and didn't stick around to try to figure it out for too long .

I had no idea that there were many posts about the MM

No worries, if you're not sure, a quick search here on the forum is always worthwhile ... but the results can be a bit overwhelming if its a popular topic of discussion.

Here's a thread that describes some mask management options:
https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=165470

Here's one where I tried to summarise the 'fragile cache' aspect (and ended up having to send flowers):
https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=167517&p=884074#p883840

Jean, what exact Resolve version and OS are you using?

Mac os Monterey 12.6.5
Resolve studio 18.1.4 BUILD 9

Thanks for those links Andy. I'll check them out later . Fortunately I got through my project and its been exported to client , but man that deadline was so close I hate to even think about it .
I'm pretty scared of magic mask for now I confess.

You should try again with 18.5.b3. There have been a lot of improvements for MM.

One thing I haven't seen anywhere is that I discovered by accident some months ago that if you turn highlight mode on in a Magic Mask mode -- the same one we use for windows and keys -- it'll give you a grey outline for the Mask. (You can even do a high-contrast mask if you prefer.) At the worst, you can see when Magic Mask fails, because the highlight "blinks," so that's useful.

I have not yet tried Magic Mask in 18.5b3, but I'm hoping it'll be improved.

I used highlight mode all the time . It was very useful in showing when MM failed.

I've been reluctant to get 18.5 before it gets out of Beta, especially while I was in the middle of a project.
I assume its hard to go backwards, but maybe that's not true?
Any reported problems yet? If not why is it still in Beta?

You should definitely have backup before trying it.
The beta still has issues, and with every version some get fixed. That’s why it’s a beta.
But if these will affect you is something only you can judge, based on watching the beta subforum.
If the MM is very important for your work, version 3 might be worth a try.

Can you easily switch back to an older version of Resolve? I would get the Beta for sure in that case.
I just didn't want to get stuck being unable to go back.

@Leonardo: Not if you have done work on your projects that you want to keep. From the release notes for 18.5:

Pre-Installation Notes
For DaVinci Resolve 18.5, we have taken efforts to keep the project libraries compatible with DaVinci Resolve 18.1.4. While this allows you to access the project library with 18.1.4, individual projects created or opened in 18.5 will no longer be accessible in 18.1.4.

We recommend a full project library backup as well as individual project backups for projects before opening projects in 18.5.

This has been an issue that has plagued my work for a while.
I came across this thread looking for a way to batch process masks, no luck.

Anyway, for the mask reset hair pulling
I found another solution that might be helpful for some.

The mask resets anytime you change a color option in a node BEFORE the mask.
If you set up the mask as a separate node chain and then combine it with the rest of your edits using a layer mixer, then nothing ever affects the mask node, and it never gets reset.

With this method, the only thing that will affect the mask is an alteration to the original film options; For instance, editing the camera RAW options will reset the node.

I have a gallery grade saved with this node chain pre-built and all the rest of my settings at default so I can quickly drop it onto a clip, run the mask, and THEN start editing colors without worrying about the mask being reset.

Hope that helps!

As an alternative to VFX Connect in this case... while I've only used it on small projects, I'm hopeful this technique also works for you:
1) In Davinci Resolve's Fusion tab, use the Magic Mask node that's now available there to create a branch (not on your main MediaOut1 path).

2) When you have the mask the way you want, right click the node (or final massaged mask node if you add further manipulations) and choose "Cache to Disk...". I haven't used the "lock node" checkbox, nor the pre-render... Just the default "enable", and OK-ed it.

3) Run the branch into an additional MediaOut2.

Repeat for any additional MagicMasks that you want.

4) In the Color page, in the node graph, right click and Add Source. Use the sources to provide the alpha on nodes where you want the magic mask to guide the color page effects.

I've been able to add nodes in the Fusion tab, and nodes in the Color page, without having to regenerate the masks. I note however that when I did NOT use cache to disk on the fusion tab mask nodes, I *did* have to regenerate the mask.

What @bouncehouse states here is what I have been using for the last few weeks, and I must say that it has worked pretty much 100% of the time without losing the mask ! You can even use it with template node structures in the color page where your mask nodes have an input from the source 2 input coming from Fusion.

It's been a real life and time saver doing it this way, and it becomes second nature once you've done it a few times.

Magic Mask has been unusable since its inception. Cool idea but will waste a lot of your time.

Please don't generalise, Paul.
With the workarounds described in this thread it works pretty well. Methods like rendering it out in a codec with alpha channel or a clever node structure, it does what it was made for: secondary grading. And I hope that BM will improve the quirky behaviour.
But nobody should have false expectations: it's not a replacement for greenscreen, and it may be a few years to come until AI can do that.
Actually, it is pretty good at what it can do. Have a look at FCP's "Scene Replacement", which tries to be something like greenscreen. MM is miles ahead of that crap, which is just a slightly improved difference key.
Segmentation (separation of object and background) is a very tricky issue for AI. The new Relighting feature has similar issues. It can be great in some situations, but for a close-up of a person you may experience halos or such and need additional masking. Good human VFX artists are not yet jobless.

Hey

I've not tested these days on 18.5.1 but I think I will soon, but I'm still convinced the Render in Place trick is the more efficient : you do almost nothing to keep your cache and you're able to decompose back anyway.
What bounceHouse suggests is actually a great way to be able to separately grade any masks made in the Fu tab when you're back in the Color tab : you add a MediaOut node after any mask you want to find in the color tab, assign a number to it, and you'll find it back in the Color tab after adding a MediaIn, from 1 to x in the number order it's made in Fu so as much masks as needed..
.
But this is time consuming when the goal is only to keep the cache imho... Hence the render in place trick for me.
Of course, in case of any improvements in the WF, I'll report it...

Hey

I've not tested these days on 18.5.1 but I think I will soon, but I'm still convinced the Render in Place trick is the more efficient : you do almost nothing to keep your cache and you're able to decompose back anyway.
What bounceHouse suggests is actually a great way to be able to separately grade any masks made in the Fu tab when you're back in the Color tab : you add a MediaOut node after any mask you want to find in the color tab, assign a number to it, and you'll find it back in the Color tab after adding a MediaIn, from 1 to x in the number order it's made in Fu so as much masks as needed..
.
But this is time consuming when the goal is only to keep the cache imho... Hence the render in place trick for me.
Of course, in case of any improvements in the WF, I'll report it...

I may be wrong, but I think the 'render in place' will render it at your timeline resolution, which may not what you want if you're for example downscaling 4k footage to 1920x1080 temporarily?

For example if you have 4k footage and set the timeline to 1920x1080 to work in, then deliver at the original 4k, it will 'deliver' the 'render in place' clips at 1920x1080 I believe ?

Please don't generalise, Paul.
With the workarounds described in this thread it works pretty well.

In my opinion, anything in Resolve that doesn’t work “as expected” (by the large majority of Resolve users) makes Resolve a “worse” product. It also damages Resolve’s reputation. This wouldn’t be much of a big deal if Resolve were the market leader - but it’s not.

I think Magic Mask is a great example of this. The forums have been flooded with people exasperated with Magic Mask losing its “cache.” A cache is supposed to be something that can be easily auto generated. But in this case losing the cache requires the user to remake the mask. Many users talk of hours of work being lost.

It’s easy to forget even something “just works.” There’s often no glory in a smoothly-running product. But it’s very hard for a user to forget hours of frustration with a product. It’s often enough to sour them on the product forever. Sometimes those users have large decision making power. Why risk that by shipping a feature that can easily produce frustration?

Well said, Joe
I really like the concept of the program and the concept of its promotion, but it seems that as the project develops, the number of imperfections accumulates. If you do not allocate resources to eliminate them, over time the situation can get out of hand. DR is first and foremost a tool and a tool must be reliable and predictable.

MM is predictable - you will loose the cached mask at some point.

Too soon?

I may be wrong, but I think the 'render in place' will render it at your timeline resolution, which may not what you want if you're for example downscaling 4k footage to 1920x1080 temporarily?
For example if you have 4k footage and set the timeline to 1920x1080 to work in, then deliver at the original 4k, it will 'deliver' the 'render in place' clips at 1920x1080 I believe ?

Actually I don't know, I admit, because I stopped down scaling TLs 4K footage on HD TLs as I had been doing for a while (so my Render in place stuff is rendered in 4K like my TL anyway).
Of course I'll check later on because this question is interesting...

But still, if you think about the basic reason why you render in place, imho it's not a big deal (for me) : this action allows to ensure you won't lose your cache as a workaround, it's not about rendering as a final file right ? Thus you can return to the point it was before this action ("decompose" or whatever term, I don't remember cos' I'm not in front of it).
So even if you want to use this render in place as a safeguard of your MM cache only, it's the quickest way to reach your goal ...

And before I check the render in place resolution in case of the TL has a lower resolution as the clips, for guys working on TL resolution = clips resolution, it's a solid workaround which doesn't waste your time (you wait until the MM clip is ok, you render in place, done forever)

Don't get me wrong, I still call it a workaround, of course I'd prefer MMs not to lose their cache, even more because I spent most of my time in Fusion where the render in place trick alternative is a bit more time consuming, but hey : if you want to use it, you can and solid and quick workarounds exist...

I may be wrong, but I think the 'render in place' will render it at your timeline resolution, which may not what you want if you're for example downscaling 4k footage to 1920x1080 temporarily?
For example if you have 4k footage and set the timeline to 1920x1080 to work in, then deliver at the original 4k, it will 'deliver' the 'render in place' clips at 1920x1080 I believe ?

Actually I don't know, I admit, because I stopped down scaling TLs 4K footage on HD TLs as I had been doing for a while (so my Render in place stuff is rendered in 4K like my TL anyway).
Of course I'll check later on because this question is interesting...

But still, if you think about the basic reason why you render in place, imho it's not a big deal (for me) : this action allows to ensure you won't lose your cache as a workaround, it's not about rendering as a final file right ? Thus you can return to the point it was before this action ("decompose" or whatever term, I don't remember cos' I'm not in front of it).

But doesn't a 'decompose' after a render in place lose all of your grades ? So everything you've done since your render in place will be gone, unless you remember to save a still first?

If this is annoying for you and above all, given it's only a workaround as I explained, make a powergrade of the corrections before rendering in place, then you'll be able to put it back afterwards...

As long as your MM is on its own chain, you can make edits all day without losing your mask.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the issue, though so I'll bow out after I say it one last time and provide an image.
But, I don't lose my MM's anymore.
I have some 100+ clips in my 30-minute educational project and over weeks of color-grade edits, I have yet to lose a mask.

It's a fantastic tool if you know how to use it properly.

Anyone knows MMs won't lose their cache if on their own chain. But keeping a single chain to be added on a layer mixer afterwards is not more than a workaround too...

Anyone knows MMs won't lose their cache if on their own chain. But keeping a single chain to be added on a layer mixer afterwards is not more than a workaround too...

Roger that.
I clearly don't understand the issue then.
Sorry.

It's quite basic actually : no other particular function or node forces to plan a special branch for it to basically keep its cache. Even AI new features and/or complex ones like depth map don't require that...

So a dedicated branch, rendering in place (mine), exporting an alpha mask or whatever compound node, are just workarounds, meaning they fill a gap which shouldn't normally exist, see ?
Finding one's own workaround which is felt satisfying enough doesn't change the original wobbly state...

I'm happy you don't feel bothered by the mandatory single branch, I'm quite happy as well with rendering in place which allows me to go back to the prior state, BUT that shouldn't be the regular WF... Cannot explain better...

Crossposting this from another thread in hope to get some help.

I followed Andy Mees' advice, which worked... errrr... some. Here is how it was:

Andy's advice (16 Sept., 2022):
nest any magic mask generation operations inside a Compound Clip ie create a compound clip from the source clip instance, open the compound clip in its own timeline, add the magic mask to the source image as needed, generate the mask cache, and then finally step back out to the parent timeline... thereafter, when you manipulate the pixels of the compound clip, you are manipulating a separate pre-masked object rather than manipulating the pixels of the source clip itself (ie the mask input), thus the mask is preserved. Do be aware though that nesting magic masks inside compound clips comes with the current drawback that such contained masks can be 'hidden' from other standard software operations. Eg Using the Magic Mask >> Regenerate Object Mask > All Clips function at the main timeline level will not regenerate masks for any such nested clips; similarly, the automatic mask regeneration that's triggered via the Delivery Page 'Render' command will skip any nested masks.

>>FF>> Fast Forward to September, 2023. Davinci Studio 18.5.

I'm having a longish (about 30 seconds) clip that I have to use MM twice on.
First, I need to color correct the object in the foreground, separating it from the rest of the picture.
Second, I need to split the clip into three parts of about 10 secs each.
Third, I need to take one of these parts to Fusion, once again MM-out the same object, and make a 3d text orbiting around it.
A bit of explanation: I don't want to color correct in Fusion, as there are other clips that need to be colorized the same way, and I want to do the coloring on a timeline basis. Besides, when I tried color correcting a MM-separated object in Fusion, there were more surprises, like Lift and Gamma worked as they should (on the object only), but Contrast kept working on the whole frame, as if the object wasn't selected.

My actions:
For the First, I do as advised: compound the whole clip, open in timeline, MM the object, colorize it to my liking, all good, back to main timeline.
For the Second, I split the compound clip - so nice, nothing is lost, everything stays in place. But I'm rejoicing a bit too early, because...
When I proceed to the Third, and open the needed fragment in Fusion, create MM node, draw the mask, and click "track" - nothing happens. The node doesn't blink green, no tracking occurs, no matter what I do (restart DVR, reboot the computer, toggle between Better and Faster MM modes, etc., I literally tried every option available).

Looks like Fusion doesn't like applying MM to compound clips to which MM had already been applied somewhere upstream.

I'm just going to get done with color correcting part, then render the result in max resolution in mfx format, then bring it in, and use it for Fusion... A totally stupid way, but nothing is too stupid when you're using DaVinci Resolve, I guess...

Update
My timeline was in 1080 resolution; I want to render the clip out in 6K (the footage is shot in 6K);
So I changed the timeline settings, and adjusted render settings in Deliver tab;
Now as part of "delivering", DVR is re-tracking the MM all over again.
This is the first time I'm seeing Magic Mask Tracking floating window in Deliver tab.
Looks like there are still so many more surprises coming.

The Magic Mask is terrible. In the color page it's bad, but in Fusion absolutely terrible. In addition to being painfully, excruciatingly slow because it plainly is not using the GPU at all (the speed difference is around 30x), and it regularly loses cache as a result of switching from the Fusion tab to the Deliver tab.

It needs an overhaul, because right now it is not a feature, it's an atrocity masquerading as marketing bullet points.

The fact that people are STILL having MagicMask issues like this (among other problems) after all these years is appalling. I invested in a Mac Studio, Davinci Resolve Studio, and some additional, very expensive hardware because I was "sold" on DaVinci Resolve for my new studio. Boy, do I feel like a sucker.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to get a hang of Magic Mask because it just kept on breaking. Then, FINALLY, I got acceptable results and was able to complete over fifty shots just before going on vacation. I come back, boot up my machine, and the MagicMasks on half the shots are completely missing (YES, everything was saved and backed up, but the same was true of the backed-up files). The ONLY explanation is the files were NOT as completed as I thought before I left, which makes absolutely no sense. The shots were fine.

Now, on this forum, I see how this problem has persisted for years and has not been solved. Again, appalling.

I've put a hold on my company's transition to DaVinci (this project was a test case). We've already wasted an unbelievable amount of time working through these issues and I can't justify it any longer.

If anyone has an actual fix, not a twenty-step workaround, I'd be eternally grateful.