Resolve Workflow Test Results

Hey guys,

Sam here. Did some pretty comprehensive FCPX roundtrip tests today using a whole bunch of different types of media in the new Resolve 11 Beta (#2)… tests were done in a 1080p 23.98 timeline… but so far, the results are really promising. At this time, there are only two major issues with the roundtrip:

1. Synchronized clips were not working at all.
2. Synchronized clips created through Sync N Link were also not working (might be part of the same problem).

If you’re using synchronized clips, the workaround right now is to use “Break Apart Clip Items” in your FCPX timeline and then send to Resolve. The only real issue about this is that you’ll need to reapply keyframes and transforms in your timeline after you do this if you want those to come through into Resolve, as they get wiped away when you break apart your sync clips. As always, before getting into the conform stage, you should duplicate your master timeline beforehand so that you can reapply anything you need to later by using Paste Attributes.

Anyway, while there was some other weirdness, this is pretty much ready for primetime on big projects for roundtripping so far as I can tell… and there are some MAJOR XML roundtrip improvements with the new version of Resolve 11. Here’s a quick rundown of what is/isn’t working:

Spatial Conform – Correct (although it doesn’t appear so right away as you have to set the renders back to Fill when you roundtrip into FCPX)
Markers – don’t roundtrip
Multicam – Works
Transform – works, even with keyframes
Crop – Ken Burns does not work… only exports with “end” animation
Primary Color – sort of works… Color tab mostly correct except for slight highlights adjustment, exposure tab works, saturation tab not accurate at all
Secondary Color – Secondary and masks don’t work
Effects – Didn’t translate/roundtrip correctly (settings went back to default on roundtrip)
3rd party plugins – The one i tried from Luca VFX actually works… even bringing over the adjustments I made to it. This was surprising
Titles – worked correctly, except that font didn’t carry over on roundtrip
Compound clips – kind of worked… compound clip came in as a single clip, but there were a whole bunch of inconsistencies inside it. In general, these probably aren’t too functional for color correction anyway. You should break apart before sending to Resolve.
Speed changes:
HUGE improvements here over previous versions. Here’s what I found-

Worked on import and roundtrip:

• Fast speed
• Slow speed
• Reverse
• Normal speed quality
• Blade speed (variable)
• Range speed (variable)
• Custom speed
• Ramp to 0
• Ramp from 0

What didn’t work:

* Frame Blending and Optical Flow didn’t carry over (reset to normal on roundtrip and couldn’t determine what they were set to in Resolve). You should set these after the roundtrip in FCPX.
* Instant replay (combining a forward and reverse speed adjustment in the same clip)

Overall – the fact that the speed changes worked so well was HUGE, and most of the issues I described above are holdovers from the current XML implementation (although Spatial Conform works considerably better). Really, if the BMD team can get Sync clips (as well as Sync N Link versions of those) working, the FCPX-Resolve roundtrip becomes about as good as anyone can reasonably ask for… and I think it’s already better that what any of the other NLE’s can do as it currently is right now. Lots of progress here.

Comments