I'm convinced that Resolve's node system is superior to a layer system, and people hate on it because they have been locked into Adobe for so long that they don't know any other way. Once you learn node trees, it offers so many advantages and flexibility over a layer based system.
"Once you learn node trees", And there in lies the problem just Grabbing the COMPLEXITY of NODEs. I'm sure once it Clicks it will become second nature but for some that never happen.
@@HoundDogMech Davinci Resolve was the first editing software I practiced and I was good with the node system from the very beginning. Maybe people have to unlearn layer based composting habit or something.
100% agree. Having jumped straight into Fusion from the start of learning video editing, using layer based systems feels so limiting so I usually end up doing even the simplest of things in Fusion anyway.
My problem with nodes is that it's way more difficult than layers for 90% of what I do. Yes, it's more powerful and flexible, but I'm just faster in layer-based apps. I am comfortable with nodes, I just don't like them for most work. For some work, it's fantastic. Maybe the multimerge node will get me rethinking that.
I was around back in the day when it was Digital Fusion, and was a hugely expensive tool intended for film production. It was the node system, which was groundbreaking for me. I was also on a few message boards/email lists/whatever with some of the folks that "wrote the book" on compositing in Digital Fusion and a few other really nifty folks. It was a glorious time to learn from the pioneers and sometimes keep them entertained with mock technical papers on DSP "solutions" To have that technology available to me now for free (I have since purchased the Speed Editor and Studio license) blows my mind. I appreciate the way in which you organize the workflow from background to foreground and work with Merge Nodes as the equivalent of a Layer, like if you took the layer model and rotated it clockwise along the Y-axis. It makes for a good translation from one mindset to the other.
Hey Casey, the multimerge has saved me when I needed to create a map of the world with circles on different cities, 30 of them, and I needed all of the circles to expand and then contract simultaneously in two or three pulses… the multimerge made this easier when trying to have all of the circles which are the same size pulse with exactly the same animation. If there was a way to do this without having 30+ nodes, without the multimerge, I’d love to hear. Oh, and er Lassie was cool…for a dog…almost as good as a cat 😊
Not knowing DR well, and especially not Fusion; I struggled to make a custom footer for videos to put singer text box over song title text box, both right aligned and a song book text box left aligned, all in a nearly translucent shaded box. To export, so I could add any time, and change the text on the Edit page as a layer at the start of a song. Fusion nodes with multiple merges to get things layered and lined up the way I wanted was a nightmare. With this new multi-merge, I am going to remake footer. In doing so, I foresee a few smaller normal merges pumped into a multi-merge. How I plan on keeping up with what is what is to group things together prior to going into the new multi-merge.
Casey!! I have two choices either use Fusion or stick pins in my eyes, at the moment sticking pins is the easier option, Fusion is my Nemisis been trying for a while and still struggling 😩😩 Regards Rob
When l'm in the Edit tab l can get inspiration from the tools that are there to edit a video and have a play around with everything to see what works, in Fusion it' just a number of "blocks" that l don't know what they do and l don't know how to see what a node will do? Does this make sense? Your Video tutorials are great l have followed some of your Fusion tutorials step by step and l don't see able to get them to work 😩 Rob
Whilst in the Edit tab l can see all the tools that are there and try them out on my time line to see what effect l get, easy enough. However on the Fusion page l just have a number of blocks or nodes l can't see what they do and what works with what, does this make sense?
@@SimplyMotorhoming Okay. So most of the node names are pretty self-explanatory, they do as what's their names. But if you don't what it means, you can just google the name of the node or press F1 after selecting the node you don't know of and it will open the Fusion manual on your browser. Honestly most of the nodes/effects in Fusion are very universal, so you don't really have to learn the Fusion vocabulary if you already have some experience with compositing.
@@fusionresolved Thankyou for your response, I am now going through your Fusion Video to give me inspiration and thankyou to all you guys who replied really appreciate your input 👍
I think there is another aspect of the multimerge node that could be beneficial that wasn't talked about. Expression driven layer swapping. As I'm not overly familiar with how deep into node control one can get with Fusion expressions, I'm not sure if it's possible to have Fusion dynamically alter node flow without piping multiple branches through additional merge nodes for each potential composite "layer" using classic Fusion nodes, but with the multimerge I would think one could code dynamic fusion layer swapping that could be accessable from a Timeline Fusion plug-in. To create a deep layer equivalent effect accessable in the timeline using traditional nodes would become exponentially more complex as the layer count increases, but with this node one could in theory handle all that with relative ease. So long as these layers can be swapped by expressions.
Nice to see this as an official tool. It's been available through Reactor for ages. I use it often when combining multiple additive layers such as mattes or even light passes. For example, combining four object mattes into a single matte - it ends up being visually cleaner to combine them using a single node rather than an entire string of merge nodes. Great for CG compositing.
That's what the old Autodesk Combustion node based compositor offered. It had a MultiMerge node way back in 2008 with a switch between 2d and 3d mode, and it also had an interesting timeline like AE but hybrid with nodes system. Like a 2 in one thing.
Thanks for another terrific tutorial. I especially enjoyed watching you dance around, trying not to say, "this feature is ill-conceived and is only good for those who are unwilling to learn how to use nodes." It came out as, "It may be confusing in some applications, but I could see myself using it in certain situations, but not all the time."
Great node, but I think they shoud've used the name of the node that you're merging as the input instead of calling is layer1/2/3 etc, it's a cool new addition for Fusion but it adds those downsides of layer based compositing, would've preferred some other features in Fusion honestly like more up to date EXR workflow.
I’d really like them to revamp how text is done in both the edit and Fusion pages. That’s the one thing I miss from Adobe is how much easier it was to manipulate and animate text. The Essential Graphics panel really made things streamlined. The node system in Fusion doesn’t really bother me, but it’s how the text attributes are laid out and how things really seem to be buried in the settings. After Effects is still king with ease of text animation, I hate to admit.
@@SethBlackMedia Yeah pretty much, as much as I dislike AE, it does have an edge when it comes to mograph but Fusion still has more mograph tools than other node-based VFX compositing tools like Nuke and Flame. But I'm afraid that BM cares much less about Fusion and they've been treating Fusion as like a secondary software rather than a primary compositing tool to compete with Nuke. They've added features over the years after they bought Fusion from Eyeon but the development has been very slow and they haven't updated the core of Fusion for very long time. It's a great software that the core was so much ahead of it's time that it had full GPU acceleration back in 2012 when most programs like AE still doesn't have it so it's still holding up but not sure for how long.
Thanks Casey - I agree with most of your concerns with the MultiMerge node with the exception of how it might hide things like scaling or otherwise transforming layers - meaning that it's not obvious by just looking at the node graph. Regular merge nodes hide just as much in that sense. Yes you have to click on a layer in the layer list of a MultiMerge node, but that's pretty intuitive? Another point - I think they should add the "background" node to the Layer list so that it's easy to reorder *everything* that's being merged - I know with regular merge nodes how often I need to swap foreground and background nodes and I can imagine that would happen with MultiMerge nodes too.
Might be good to quickly prototype a layout. Then you could split each one to its own merge. Then you could apply masks. It might be good to have simple character animations like the eye monster on one merge. That way you’re not jumping to different nodes to adjust each movement.
Thank you Casey, again and again and again. I learned so much from you. I think this MultiMerge node is pretty cool and makes sense. I wish Davinci would update the Layer names automatically in the Inspector page. Thats anoying rename the nodes for organisation and then rename the layers too. If I name a node "Smoke" or "Glass" it would be helpful Davinci would autoname or update the layer names into "Smoke" or "Glass". A reset button for every single layer would be helpful as well. But I will definitly use this MultiMerge node for my upcoming workflow. Thank you from Germany.
I played around with the MultiMerge node which was in Reactor a few month before the beta and was like, "I will not use it often", it feels strange and also ruins a bit the flow of the nodes. I mean mostly you can talk down the nodes like "i use a mask on my main footage, then i put a text over that, then i blur everything a little bit and its finished". I think the only way i used the multimerge was to combine some graphics to one new thing, after that i used other effects and piped it on the main thing...
I advise grouping nodes when using the multi merge node. This might keep your node tree less confusing. Open up the group when changes are needed then close it back when finished. Oh, the mask tool will affect everything connected to the multi merge node so use with 6:25 caution. EDIT: You might want to use a vertical node tree and place your foreground layer at the top of the graph followed by arranging your effect nodes in a horizontal fashion.
Great video thank you! I've not used MultiMerge yet, great to see the overview. Your overview makes me think MultiMerge is a great compliment to fit into otherwise mostly node-based work... such as quickly stacking things without the need for separate nodes.
I think this will be great for people transitioning from other applications who haven't quite got their heads wrapped around the node concept, but ultimately, they're better off learning and sticking with nodes. Cheers!
Quite a helpful addition! I was (am) still layering in the timeline because the merge tool stills fakes me out sometimes. I think I can grasp the multimerge tool now though - Thanks!
I don't think the multi merge was created, to be used in complex setups. I think it's more intended for simple things, like if you want to make an intro graphics of a billiard ball hitting some other balls, the multi merge would be strong for the animation of the balls, that were hit. You could drastically cut down on the merge nodes for the compositition.
I'm relatively new to Resolve, but wouldn't this make some things much easier? I am currently animating a logo that is basically 2 Xs on their side. They start black and I want to animate each line of the X to a different color, representing the branch of the company. Without Multi-Merge I would need to basically mask out the middle of the back line when it changes color. But from what I see in this video I can key frame the layers, removing the need for masking. Or was there an easier way of doing this before that I am not aware of?
Do the multi merge nodes auto update the names between the node and the node list now? Haven’t played around with these since the 2nd beta was released.
This will be perfect for motion graphics and animated characters. Can put all the character pieces in one multi-merge and then adjust them through the layers
Ahhh. You can rename the layers? Ok. That might make it more useful, yes. I just saw the demos others did and all I could think was "That's gonna get real confusing real fast on a big comp". I am a long time AE user (v6 to cc2018 or something like that) and I very quickly relearned how to layer with nodes when I went cold turky on Adobe and switched. So I never saw it as that big of a need to get multimerges for layers. Keeping an organized node tree just made layers obsolete for me. :)
Same story with me. I don't feel like I miss layers too much, but I've been using multi merge to put a LOT of stuff into a little group, usually things tha don't overlap instead of having 10 merge nodes I can just spiderweb them all into one multimerge. I can see it as useful for that.
Since this is Beta, does this mean I have to download / install manually and not get it via the Check for Updates function? Is it better to wait for the actual release or is Beta ok for work use?
As fun as working with the new features is, if u are working on an actual project, especially for a client, do not get beta. Since it's in beta, it can be prone to multiple problems and fuck up what you are doing, including currupting the file, so it's best to sticking with the actual stable release. As for having to manually downloading, the answer is yes.
Hey Casey, would absolutely love some coverage into a potential workflow for using the new AI transcribing and ending up with proper text or text+ layers. This is something that has been possible with Premiere for quite a while, and is would be extremely potent for creators of online content.
Thanks again for a very insightful video! Coming from After Effects I would consider this Multimerge Node as a precompose in my humble opinion! I think it is good to have this I was always ending up with a multitude of merge nodes especially in motion graphics! You can always use an Underlay to identify the merges!
I think the power of multimerge lies in multiple multimerges, not in stacking everything into a single one. As you said, a simple comp could easily be one multimerge and that already makes things faster. If the complexity is 3x, just use 3x multimerges for each element group, for example one multimerge for background elements and another one for text. What about connecting 3x multimerges into another multimerge, so you can alter the layering configuration of those groups? Multimerge makes changing the relationships between elements much faster, since you can just drag them around in the layer panel. With multimerge we're getting the best of layers and the node based workflow.
it would be convenient if it were like the merge node in Houdini, that is, if you change the order in the inspector, the order of the nodes also updates, so if I move the 4th layer above in place of the first, the nodes also reflect the change
I find it easier coming form Adobe and FCPX but i wish there was an option to go fully layered in DaVinci like in PR and FCPX they would crush every software if they did so.
I need help. I have gone through every manual, tutorial and went down to file concerting and compressing and all - but still, my mp4 files won't open in Davinchi Resolve. The original file yes, but I am doing a reacting video so I need to put frame in frame. The og video is in H.264 mp4+AAC, fps30. I checked and my video files to add are not corrupted, same aspects and nothing happens when I try to inport them into the media pool. Please help, I have been stuck for 3 days 😭
I'll probably just end up using Fusion like I did Mistika... just use Multimerge for everything, but treat them like regular merges that I can add extra inputs to when I don't need to separate them.
I keep searching for the possibility to put different images on top of each other in Fusion, mask parts out, move them to another position etc. and see the result in the viewer of Fusion. Is it possible? Because the only thing I see over and over again is putting text on top of an image, or in this case, a copy of media1 in masked and merged on top of the original media1.
I've been trying to learn nodes. DaVinci is so powerful for things like keying a green screen. I like using nodes for something like that. But once the thing is cut out I find stacking layers more intuitive and faster. I wish after effects would implement a node view in their effects control. That would be literally the best of both worlds. You could build out a node tree for all the effects in one clip. For example multiple instances of a keying effect. But then just stack your layers and move on with your life. I still find DaVinci isn't as powerful or easy to use as after effects for complicated compositing. If only Adobe could figure out colour grading the same way DaVinci has.
Stacking layers might be faster depending on what you're doing but it can be slower as well. IMO nodes are way more intuitive and made for much complex stuff than layers which are easier to basic stuff and then you get completely lost in precomps of precomps in AE hence almost all professional software made for complex job are node based or at least has nodes like Resolve, Fusion, Nuke, Houdini, Maya, Blender, Katana, Mari etc. Pretty much everything outside of adobe are node based that are used in Hollywood. If AE wanna implement nodes then they have to rewrite AE and they are most likely never gonna do it, they are still running the 20 year old source code. I'm not sure how can't you find Resolve/Fusion as powerful as AE for compositing complicated shots when it's been used in thousands of movies for compositing. I definitely had this same resentment towards nodes when I got started, after I learned the basics of nodes which took me couple weeks, I realized why pretty much no VFX company making Hollywood stuff use AE for comp and use Nuke, Fusione etc.
@@fusionresolved , good thing I'm not making "Hollywood movies." 🤣🤣 I don't disagree with you, precomposing is the worst thing about AE. They will never change their program because they can keep making money off dudes like me who don't want to waste their time learning something else. But I don't find the "everyone else is doing it" argument very persuasive. I just want to get my shots to look the best in the least amount of time as possible. For me nodes are tedious and feel like the way a programmers brain thinks. I prefer layers because that how I have been doing it for almost 20 years. There is no wrong way to make art.
I don't think AE will ever change. It's very strong for 2D/text, and the others for 3D/VFX. They each have their market. And they are all used in Hollywood, and very often 3, 4, 5 or more compositors in the same movie, from different VFX studios.
@@pootmcphoot Yeah that's cool but if I can get the software that was used by studios for decades to make Hollywood movies and used to cost $6K but for free now, I'd rather use it over the software that has been mostly used to UA-camrs and freelancers. I don't think they can because they'd have to rewrite the core of AE to work with Nodes becaseu currenty the whole AE architecture is tool old and not build for nodes. Well, it goes down to those who wanna learn something new and invest time so the future can be less stressful and better and would let you do things that were previously impossible or complex. Well if you don't find the argument "everyone is using it", here are some of the reasons Nodes are procedural, nothing is hidden in precomps, you can have a birds eye view of your whole comp, you can come back to any stage of your node graph and make fast changes without hunting dow the elements you wanna change, you can copy paste whole node groups and apply it to new comps and have everything work since it's all procedural and that's the point of Nodes. That's just a few, I've been using AE since 2015 and I switched to fusion and then Nuke and back to Fusion 2-3 years ago after watching 2 videos from School of motion (which is an AE based channel) and one from Hugo's desk about AE vs Nuke and after that I never touched AE lol. I mean why you might prefer layers over nodes has to do with more with the fact you've been using AE for 20+ years and not the functionality because Nodes are pretty much made for complex stuff as you can get pretty good results with AE as long as you're project is not too big (VFX) but it becomes pretty much a mess trying to do any large comp or do anything complex with 3D projections, matte painting, multi pass composiitng etc. Yeah sure, there's no right way to make ART, you can editing each frame in photoshop and stitch it to a movie but no one in their right mind would do that especially if they knew that there are better ways to do it and the same way if you can use Fusion or Nuke, you should maybe use it for compositing over AE when it has been proven that Nodes are much more intuitive and flexible for compositing and has been used for VFX since the dawn of VFX industry in Hollywood(ILM, Flame). The reason why I commented is because I didn't agree with the statement, "I still find DaVinci isn't as powerful or easy to use as after effects for complicated compositing" because this is something anyone working in VFX industry (movies, tv shows) would disagree lol.
All I want to do is place an image that has a transparent space (read: border) over my video so that i don't have to size it to perfection, which is also not easy.
"Once you learn node trees", And there in lies the problem just Grabbing the COMPLEXITY of NODEs. I'm sure once it Clicks it will become second nature but for some that never happen.
Well it only takes couple weeks of practice to learn the nodes. It's basically like a pipe system where any media/footage/image etc are being transferred through the pipes to the media out node, if you wanna add any effect then add that effect between the media/footage/image node and if you wanna add any other mdei/footage/iamge on top or behind the previous one then you'd only need the merge node. That's basically it. It's basically a flow chart of a data flow. It's pretty simple and intuitive. Cons of learning nodes, you might need some time to learn it and probably have to think a bit logically. Pros of learning nodes, pretty much every pro software outside of adobe uses Nodes. Nuke, Fusion, Houdini etc and some Adobe software as well. Nodes are much more professional than layers in general and lets you do more complex stuff and let you come back any stage and make necessary changes which happens a lot in client work without hunting down in precomps. You still don't have to use it if you don't want to or if you're doing very basic video editing, you can just use other easy to use, limited features software like Clipchamp, Shotcut, Kdenlive, VSDC, VideoProc Vlogger, Capcut, lightworks etc.
4:44 I really don't get this form-over-function philosophy of DaVinci. It should be easy to have coloured dots in the the layer list do show which layer comes from which input. But like so many things of this new Fusion interface, it is made to look like a cool software, not to act like one. Eyeon was so much better at designing their interface.
this will work for some folks, but this is an example of fixing what is not broken/bowing to a population that does not want to learn anything new. This feels to me like, "Resolve is free, so I want to use that, but make it like the other app I am tired of paying for". I am sure that is not the case, just how it feels to me.
I can see this being really helpful for text where there are multiple lines that need organizing. That being said, I would really love to see more powerful text based tools, like text wrapping, relative kerning, etc.
![DaVinci Resolve - The Fusion Crash Course [Perfect for Beginners!]](/img/n.gif)
I'm convinced that Resolve's node system is superior to a layer system, and people hate on it because they have been locked into Adobe for so long that they don't know any other way. Once you learn node trees, it offers so many advantages and flexibility over a layer based system.
"Once you learn node trees", And there in lies the problem just Grabbing the COMPLEXITY of NODEs. I'm sure once it Clicks it will become second nature but for some that never happen.
@@HoundDogMech It's a different way of thinking for sure. You just have to give it a chance :)
@@HoundDogMech Davinci Resolve was the first editing software I practiced and I was good with the node system from the very beginning. Maybe people have to unlearn layer based composting habit or something.
100% agree. Having jumped straight into Fusion from the start of learning video editing, using layer based systems feels so limiting so I usually end up doing even the simplest of things in Fusion anyway.
My problem with nodes is that it's way more difficult than layers for 90% of what I do. Yes, it's more powerful and flexible, but I'm just faster in layer-based apps. I am comfortable with nodes, I just don't like them for most work. For some work, it's fantastic.
Maybe the multimerge node will get me rethinking that.
I was around back in the day when it was Digital Fusion, and was a hugely expensive tool intended for film production. It was the node system, which was groundbreaking for me. I was also on a few message boards/email lists/whatever with some of the folks that "wrote the book" on compositing in Digital Fusion and a few other really nifty folks. It was a glorious time to learn from the pioneers and sometimes keep them entertained with mock technical papers on DSP "solutions"
To have that technology available to me now for free (I have since purchased the Speed Editor and Studio license) blows my mind.
I appreciate the way in which you organize the workflow from background to foreground and work with Merge Nodes as the equivalent of a Layer, like if you took the layer model and rotated it clockwise along the Y-axis. It makes for a good translation from one mindset to the other.
Hey Casey, the multimerge has saved me when I needed to create a map of the world with circles on different cities, 30 of them, and I needed all of the circles to expand and then contract simultaneously in two or three pulses… the multimerge made this easier when trying to have all of the circles which are the same size pulse with exactly the same animation. If there was a way to do this without having 30+ nodes, without the multimerge, I’d love to hear. Oh, and er Lassie was cool…for a dog…almost as good as a cat 😊
Not knowing DR well, and especially not Fusion; I struggled to make a custom footer for videos to put singer text box over song title text box, both right aligned and a song book text box left aligned, all in a nearly translucent shaded box. To export, so I could add any time, and change the text on the Edit page as a layer at the start of a song.
Fusion nodes with multiple merges to get things layered and lined up the way I wanted was a nightmare. With this new multi-merge, I am going to remake footer.
In doing so, I foresee a few smaller normal merges pumped into a multi-merge. How I plan on keeping up with what is what is to group things together prior to going into the new multi-merge.
Casey!! I have two choices either use Fusion or stick pins in my eyes, at the moment sticking pins is the easier option, Fusion is my Nemisis been trying for a while and still struggling 😩😩 Regards Rob
What's exactly in Fusion you're having problems with?
When l'm in the Edit tab l can get inspiration from the tools that are there to edit a video and have a play around with everything to see what works, in Fusion it' just a number of "blocks" that l don't know what they do and l don't know how to see what a node will do? Does this make sense? Your Video tutorials are great l have followed some of your Fusion tutorials step by step and l don't see able to get them to work 😩 Rob
Whilst in the Edit tab l can see all the tools that are there and try them out on my time line to see what effect l get, easy enough. However on the Fusion page l just have a number of blocks or nodes l can't see what they do and what works with what, does this make sense?
@@SimplyMotorhoming Okay. So most of the node names are pretty self-explanatory, they do as what's their names. But if you don't what it means, you can just google the name of the node or press F1 after selecting the node you don't know of and it will open the Fusion manual on your browser. Honestly most of the nodes/effects in Fusion are very universal, so you don't really have to learn the Fusion vocabulary if you already have some experience with compositing.
@@fusionresolved Thankyou for your response, I am now going through your Fusion Video to give me inspiration and thankyou to all you guys who replied really appreciate your input 👍
I think there is another aspect of the multimerge node that could be beneficial that wasn't talked about. Expression driven layer swapping. As I'm not overly familiar with how deep into node control one can get with Fusion expressions, I'm not sure if it's possible to have Fusion dynamically alter node flow without piping multiple branches through additional merge nodes for each potential composite "layer" using classic Fusion nodes, but with the multimerge I would think one could code dynamic fusion layer swapping that could be accessable from a Timeline Fusion plug-in. To create a deep layer equivalent effect accessable in the timeline using traditional nodes would become exponentially more complex as the layer count increases, but with this node one could in theory handle all that with relative ease. So long as these layers can be swapped by expressions.
Good point!
Nice to see this as an official tool. It's been available through Reactor for ages.
I use it often when combining multiple additive layers such as mattes or even light passes. For example, combining four object mattes into a single matte - it ends up being visually cleaner to combine them using a single node rather than an entire string of merge nodes. Great for CG compositing.
That's what the old Autodesk Combustion node based compositor offered. It had a MultiMerge node way back in 2008 with a switch between 2d and 3d mode, and it also had an interesting timeline like AE but hybrid with nodes system. Like a 2 in one thing.
Hi Casey. Will Multimerge work with 3d camera type projects?
Thanks for another terrific tutorial. I especially enjoyed watching you dance around, trying not to say, "this feature is ill-conceived and is only good for those who are unwilling to learn how to use nodes." It came out as, "It may be confusing in some applications, but I could see myself using it in certain situations, but not all the time."
Great node, but I think they shoud've used the name of the node that you're merging as the input instead of calling is layer1/2/3 etc, it's a cool new addition for Fusion but it adds those downsides of layer based compositing, would've preferred some other features in Fusion honestly like more up to date EXR workflow.
Totally agree.
I’d really like them to revamp how text is done in both the edit and Fusion pages. That’s the one thing I miss from Adobe is how much easier it was to manipulate and animate text. The Essential Graphics panel really made things streamlined. The node system in Fusion doesn’t really bother me, but it’s how the text attributes are laid out and how things really seem to be buried in the settings. After Effects is still king with ease of text animation, I hate to admit.
@@SethBlackMedia Yeah pretty much, as much as I dislike AE, it does have an edge when it comes to mograph but Fusion still has more mograph tools than other node-based VFX compositing tools like Nuke and Flame. But I'm afraid that BM cares much less about Fusion and they've been treating Fusion as like a secondary software rather than a primary compositing tool to compete with Nuke. They've added features over the years after they bought Fusion from Eyeon but the development has been very slow and they haven't updated the core of Fusion for very long time. It's a great software that the core was so much ahead of it's time that it had full GPU acceleration back in 2012 when most programs like AE still doesn't have it so it's still holding up but not sure for how long.
Thanks Casey - I agree with most of your concerns with the MultiMerge node with the exception of how it might hide things like scaling or otherwise transforming layers - meaning that it's not obvious by just looking at the node graph. Regular merge nodes hide just as much in that sense. Yes you have to click on a layer in the layer list of a MultiMerge node, but that's pretty intuitive? Another point - I think they should add the "background" node to the Layer list so that it's easy to reorder *everything* that's being merged - I know with regular merge nodes how often I need to swap foreground and background nodes and I can imagine that would happen with MultiMerge nodes too.
Might be good to quickly prototype a layout. Then you could split each one to its own merge. Then you could apply masks. It might be good to have simple character animations like the eye monster on one merge. That way you’re not jumping to different nodes to adjust each movement.
I’m going to try this. I’m pretty new at this editing thing. I work on sport highlights so trying to improve with each one. Thank you for the tips.
Thank you Casey, again and again and again. I learned so much from you. I think this MultiMerge node is pretty cool and makes sense. I wish Davinci would update the Layer names automatically in the Inspector page. Thats anoying rename the nodes for organisation and then rename the layers too. If I name a node "Smoke" or "Glass" it would be helpful Davinci would autoname or update the layer names into "Smoke" or "Glass". A reset button for every single layer would be helpful as well. But I will definitly use this MultiMerge node for my upcoming workflow. Thank you from Germany.
Do you think this is just a placeholder for something big that's coming in v. 19?
I played around with the MultiMerge node which was in Reactor a few month before the beta and was like, "I will not use it often", it feels strange and also ruins a bit the flow of the nodes. I mean mostly you can talk down the nodes like "i use a mask on my main footage, then i put a text over that, then i blur everything a little bit and its finished". I think the only way i used the multimerge was to combine some graphics to one new thing, after that i used other effects and piped it on the main thing...
I advise grouping nodes when using the multi merge node. This might keep your node tree less confusing. Open up the group when changes are needed then close it back when finished. Oh, the mask tool will affect everything connected to the multi merge node so use with 6:25 caution. EDIT: You might want to use a vertical node tree and place your foreground layer at the top of the graph followed by arranging your effect nodes in a horizontal fashion.
Great video thank you! I've not used MultiMerge yet, great to see the overview. Your overview makes me think MultiMerge is a great compliment to fit into otherwise mostly node-based work... such as quickly stacking things without the need for separate nodes.
I think I will stick to conventional merge nodes, on larger comps it's far easier to fathom what is going on.
I think this will be great for people transitioning from other applications who haven't quite got their heads wrapped around the node concept, but ultimately, they're better off learning and sticking with nodes.
Cheers!
Quite a helpful addition! I was (am) still layering in the timeline because the merge tool stills fakes me out sometimes. I think I can grasp the multimerge tool now though - Thanks!
Awesome! Yeah it's def something to get your head around!
I don't think the multi merge was created, to be used in complex setups. I think it's more intended for simple things, like if you want to make an intro graphics of a billiard ball hitting some other balls, the multi merge would be strong for the animation of the balls, that were hit.
You could drastically cut down on the merge nodes for the compositition.
I'm relatively new to Resolve, but wouldn't this make some things much easier? I am currently animating a logo that is basically 2 Xs on their side. They start black and I want to animate each line of the X to a different color, representing the branch of the company. Without Multi-Merge I would need to basically mask out the middle of the back line when it changes color. But from what I see in this video I can key frame the layers, removing the need for masking. Or was there an easier way of doing this before that I am not aware of?
Great video. This new node is gonna be helpful.
Do the multi merge nodes auto update the names between the node and the node list now? Haven’t played around with these since the 2nd beta was released.
This is crazy, layers in fusion, dang, didn't see that one coming.
This will be perfect for motion graphics and animated characters. Can put all the character pieces in one multi-merge and then adjust them through the layers
Ahhh. You can rename the layers? Ok. That might make it more useful, yes. I just saw the demos others did and all I could think was "That's gonna get real confusing real fast on a big comp".
I am a long time AE user (v6 to cc2018 or something like that) and I very quickly relearned how to layer with nodes when I went cold turky on Adobe and switched. So I never saw it as that big of a need to get multimerges for layers. Keeping an organized node tree just made layers obsolete for me. :)
Same story with me. I don't feel like I miss layers too much, but I've been using multi merge to put a LOT of stuff into a little group, usually things tha don't overlap instead of having 10 merge nodes I can just spiderweb them all into one multimerge. I can see it as useful for that.
10000% how I felt after learning nodes, Fusion and Nuke.
So it’s like a precomp but you have access to everything, well, almost everything
Maybe ill actually use the fusion tab now.
Don't go crazy! Too much too soon....
Since this is Beta, does this mean I have to download / install manually and not get it via the Check for Updates function?
Is it better to wait for the actual release or is Beta ok for work use?
As fun as working with the new features is, if u are working on an actual project, especially for a client, do not get beta. Since it's in beta, it can be prone to multiple problems and fuck up what you are doing, including currupting the file, so it's best to sticking with the actual stable release. As for having to manually downloading, the answer is yes.
Hey Casey, would absolutely love some coverage into a potential workflow for using the new AI transcribing and ending up with proper text or text+ layers. This is something that has been possible with Premiere for quite a while, and is would be extremely potent for creators of online content.
Could be nice if we could import psd (Photoshop project) and have it as it's own multimerge in fusion.
Multinode Have a Problem... Base Layer(Layer1) only if add any new Layer Thats call Layer 1 but Main Layer is Layer1 and its call layer0
Thanks again for a very insightful video! Coming from After Effects I would consider this Multimerge Node as a precompose in my humble opinion! I think it is good to have this I was always ending up with a multitude of merge nodes especially in motion graphics! You can always use an Underlay to identify the merges!
I think the power of multimerge lies in multiple multimerges, not in stacking everything into a single one. As you said, a simple comp could easily be one multimerge and that already makes things faster. If the complexity is 3x, just use 3x multimerges for each element group, for example one multimerge for background elements and another one for text. What about connecting 3x multimerges into another multimerge, so you can alter the layering configuration of those groups?
Multimerge makes changing the relationships between elements much faster, since you can just drag them around in the layer panel.
With multimerge we're getting the best of layers and the node based workflow.
Yeah that might be a good way to do it!
it would be convenient if it were like the merge node in Houdini, that is, if you change the order in the inspector, the order of the nodes also updates, so if I move the 4th layer above in place of the first, the nodes also reflect the change
Yeah that'd be ideal id say
I find it easier coming form Adobe and FCPX but i wish there was an option to go fully layered in DaVinci like in PR and FCPX they would crush every software if they did so.
I need help. I have gone through every manual, tutorial and went down to file concerting and compressing and all - but still, my mp4 files won't open in Davinchi Resolve. The original file yes, but I am doing a reacting video so I need to put frame in frame. The og video is in H.264 mp4+AAC, fps30. I checked and my video files to add are not corrupted, same aspects and nothing happens when I try to inport them into the media pool. Please help, I have been stuck for 3 days 😭
I'll probably just end up using Fusion like I did Mistika... just use Multimerge for everything, but treat them like regular merges that I can add extra inputs to when I don't need to separate them.
I always liked the node based system much more than layer based. Perhaps it's just a habit. Thanks for much for the intro to this new tool!
I keep searching for the possibility to put different images on top of each other in Fusion, mask parts out, move them to another position etc. and see the result in the viewer of Fusion. Is it possible? Because the only thing I see over and over again is putting text on top of an image, or in this case, a copy of media1 in masked and merged on top of the original media1.
I much prefer nodes once I got used to them. I hope layers don’t creep,in any further
Perfect. Keep it coming
I've been trying to learn nodes. DaVinci is so powerful for things like keying a green screen. I like using nodes for something like that. But once the thing is cut out I find stacking layers more intuitive and faster. I wish after effects would implement a node view in their effects control. That would be literally the best of both worlds. You could build out a node tree for all the effects in one clip. For example multiple instances of a keying effect. But then just stack your layers and move on with your life. I still find DaVinci isn't as powerful or easy to use as after effects for complicated compositing. If only Adobe could figure out colour grading the same way DaVinci has.
Stacking layers might be faster depending on what you're doing but it can be slower as well. IMO nodes are way more intuitive and made for much complex stuff than layers which are easier to basic stuff and then you get completely lost in precomps of precomps in AE hence almost all professional software made for complex job are node based or at least has nodes like Resolve, Fusion, Nuke, Houdini, Maya, Blender, Katana, Mari etc. Pretty much everything outside of adobe are node based that are used in Hollywood. If AE wanna implement nodes then they have to rewrite AE and they are most likely never gonna do it, they are still running the 20 year old source code. I'm not sure how can't you find Resolve/Fusion as powerful as AE for compositing complicated shots when it's been used in thousands of movies for compositing. I definitely had this same resentment towards nodes when I got started, after I learned the basics of nodes which took me couple weeks, I realized why pretty much no VFX company making Hollywood stuff use AE for comp and use Nuke, Fusione etc.
@@fusionresolved , good thing I'm not making "Hollywood movies." 🤣🤣 I don't disagree with you, precomposing is the worst thing about AE. They will never change their program because they can keep making money off dudes like me who don't want to waste their time learning something else. But I don't find the "everyone else is doing it" argument very persuasive. I just want to get my shots to look the best in the least amount of time as possible. For me nodes are tedious and feel like the way a programmers brain thinks. I prefer layers because that how I have been doing it for almost 20 years. There is no wrong way to make art.
I don't think AE will ever change. It's very strong for 2D/text, and the others for 3D/VFX. They each have their market.
And they are all used in Hollywood, and very often 3, 4, 5 or more compositors in the same movie, from different VFX studios.
@@pootmcphoot Yeah that's cool but if I can get the software that was used by studios for decades to make Hollywood movies and used to cost $6K but for free now, I'd rather use it over the software that has been mostly used to UA-camrs and freelancers.
I don't think they can because they'd have to rewrite the core of AE to work with Nodes becaseu currenty the whole AE architecture is tool old and not build for nodes.
Well, it goes down to those who wanna learn something new and invest time so the future can be less stressful and better and would let you do things that were previously impossible or complex.
Well if you don't find the argument "everyone is using it", here are some of the reasons
Nodes are procedural, nothing is hidden in precomps, you can have a birds eye view of your whole comp, you can come back to any stage of your node graph and make fast changes without hunting dow the elements you wanna change, you can copy paste whole node groups and apply it to new comps and have everything work since it's all procedural and that's the point of Nodes. That's just a few, I've been using AE since 2015 and I switched to fusion and then Nuke and back to Fusion 2-3 years ago after watching 2 videos from School of motion (which is an AE based channel) and one from Hugo's desk about AE vs Nuke and after that I never touched AE lol.
I mean why you might prefer layers over nodes has to do with more with the fact you've been using AE for 20+ years and not the functionality because Nodes are pretty much made for complex stuff as you can get pretty good results with AE as long as you're project is not too big (VFX) but it becomes pretty much a mess trying to do any large comp or do anything complex with 3D projections, matte painting, multi pass composiitng etc. Yeah sure, there's no right way to make ART, you can editing each frame in photoshop and stitch it to a movie but no one in their right mind would do that especially if they knew that there are better ways to do it and the same way if you can use Fusion or Nuke, you should maybe use it for compositing over AE when it has been proven that Nodes are much more intuitive and flexible for compositing and has been used for VFX since the dawn of VFX industry in Hollywood(ILM, Flame). The reason why I commented is because I didn't agree with the statement, "I still find DaVinci isn't as powerful or easy to use as after effects for complicated compositing" because this is something anyone working in VFX industry (movies, tv shows) would disagree lol.
Thank you very much! Your tutorials are so good!
All I want to do is place an image that has a transparent space (read: border) over my video so that i don't have to size it to perfection, which is also not easy.
HI CASEY MY TEACHER ,
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024 FROM IRAN . I WISH THE VERY BEST FOR YOU . I LEARNED A LOT FROM YOU , THANK'S A LOT
Great job
You've done great job convincing me to not use MultiMerge 😆
Now if BM will introduce a "magnetic timeline," I might leave FCPX.
Woah look like Casey good finally good finally editing but good finally at talking…
toast
"Once you learn node trees", And there in lies the problem just Grabbing the COMPLEXITY of NODEs. I'm sure once it Clicks it will become second nature but for some that never happen.
I understand it, I just hate it. I also hate precomposing in other software. If only there was a true mix.
Well it only takes couple weeks of practice to learn the nodes. It's basically like a pipe system where any media/footage/image etc are being transferred through the pipes to the media out node, if you wanna add any effect then add that effect between the media/footage/image node and if you wanna add any other mdei/footage/iamge on top or behind the previous one then you'd only need the merge node. That's basically it. It's basically a flow chart of a data flow. It's pretty simple and intuitive.
Cons of learning nodes, you might need some time to learn it and probably have to think a bit logically.
Pros of learning nodes, pretty much every pro software outside of adobe uses Nodes. Nuke, Fusion, Houdini etc and some Adobe software as well. Nodes are much more professional than layers in general and lets you do more complex stuff and let you come back any stage and make necessary changes which happens a lot in client work without hunting down in precomps.
You still don't have to use it if you don't want to or if you're doing very basic video editing, you can just use other easy to use, limited features software like Clipchamp, Shotcut, Kdenlive, VSDC, VideoProc Vlogger, Capcut, lightworks etc.
4:44 I really don't get this form-over-function philosophy of DaVinci. It should be easy to have coloured dots in the the layer list do show which layer comes from which input. But like so many things of this new Fusion interface, it is made to look like a cool software, not to act like one. Eyeon was so much better at designing their interface.
this will work for some folks, but this is an example of fixing what is not broken/bowing to a population that does not want to learn anything new. This feels to me like, "Resolve is free, so I want to use that, but make it like the other app I am tired of paying for". I am sure that is not the case, just how it feels to me.
Fair. I think it's been a long requested feature and some people will really like it. I'm undecided. I really like nodes so idk.
@@CaseyFaris agree, prefer nodes
I can see this being really helpful for text where there are multiple lines that need organizing. That being said, I would really love to see more powerful text based tools, like text wrapping, relative kerning, etc.
I like you Casey
This is me.. why is not applying my fkn node lol... Thank you
The end of Adobe
THIS...IS....A...GAME...CHANGER 😍