Multi-Timeline Color & VFX Finishing
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If you work in commercial post-production, you are intimately familiar with the chaos of deliverables. You have the :30, the :15, the :06, and the :10. Then come the alt aspect ratios: 9x16, 4x5, 1x1, and 16x9. These timelines use redundant media, often with different frame ranges due to trims or speed changes. If a colorist renders every single timeline into its own folder, you end up with a mess of duplicate files and confusing versions. There is a better way. This guide covers how to build a Sources Sequence: a method to consolidate media into a single timeline containing one copy of every clip used—with the correct handles—ready for Color and VFX.
Step 1: Generate Dummy Metadata Media
The first step extracts exact frames used across multiple timelines.
Select Timelines: Highlight all your active timelines (30s, 15s, etc.) in your bin.
Media Management: Go to File > Media Management.
Transcode Settings:
Choose Transcode and select Use media and trim.
Define Handles: Set your frame handles here (e.g., 4 frames or 10 frames).
Format: Choose DPX (image sequence). DPX sequences ensure all frames are written to disk.
Resolution: Set this very low (e.g., 320 x 180). These are "dummy" placeholder files used only for metadata and conforming, not for the final image.
Start: Select a destination folder and run the process.
Step 2: Conform to Raw
Once the dummy media is generated, you need to link those specific frame ranges back to your high-quality source footage.
Import & Timeline: Import the new DPX sequence folder into a "Temp" bin and create a new timeline called "Publish".
Reconform from bins: Select all clips in the timeline, uncheck “conform lock enabled”, right-click the specific timeline in the bin, and select Timelines > Reconform from Bins.
Settings: Direct Resolve to your original "Footage" bin containing the Raw files. Match based on Timecode (Reel name is often non-existant on consumer cameras).
Verify: The clips on the timeline should change color, indicating they are now linked to the BRAW or source files.
Pro Tip: To verify accuracy, place the new Raw layer above the old DPX layer. Set the top layer's Composite Mode to Difference. If the screen is black (or near black), the frames match perfectly. If you see a conflict, use the Clip Conflict Badge (the red icon) to select the correct overlapping timecode.
Step 3: Organization and Metadata
Before exporting, the timeline must be organized to automate file naming.
Stacking for VFX: If you have composite shots (e.g., a sky replacement), stack the layers (Foreground on V1, Sky on V2) at the same timecode. This ensures they export to the same folder for the VFX artist. All footage stacked gets output into the same shot folder.
Track Naming: Rename your video tracks in the timeline header. Change "Video 1" to L1 (Layer 1) and "Video 2" to L2.
Scene Metadata: Select all clips and open the Inspector (File tab). In the Scene field, enter a project prefix (e.g., "CAN" for a canoe commercial).
To avoid generic filenames like "V1-001," use a script to give every clip a unique identifier based on its order in the timeline.
Install a Script: You can use "Shot Namer" or Pavle’s "Timeline Clips Renamer" (available via GitHub).
Run Script: Define a pattern, such as starting at 10 and incrementing by 10 (e.g., Shot 10, Shot 20). This leaves room to insert shots later if needed.
Apply: The script renames the "Clip Name" in the Inspector without altering the source file in the bin.
Reel Names: Go to Project Settings > General Options > Conform Options. Check "Assist using reel names from" and select Embed source clip file name in metadata. This allows the original filename to be preserved in the metadata of the new render. Alternatively, I have also made a checkbox on the Shot Namer script to include the original filename in the clip name on the timeline.
Step 4: Color Settings
If working in ACEScg for Commercial VFX, go to Camera Raw settings and set the decode quality to ACES AP1 Linear (ACEScg). This is ideal for working with EXR. You can also go with camera native gamut, and linear transfer function - but that can lead to some confusion.
If you’d rather work with ProRes quicktimes, use camera native log color spaces (for example SGamut3cineSlog3) and be sure to append, write into all rendered filenames.
For Rec 709 footage, you pick - EXR or ProRes - no strict rules there.
Step 5: The Deliver Page
This is where the magic of metadata variable "Tokens" automates your file structure. Use “individual clips”.
Format: EXR (RGB Half Float DWAB) 45 for full HDR dynamic range.
Advanced Settings: Disable "Sizing and Blanking Output" to ensure no edit resizing is baked in. Set "Add Frame Handles" to 0 (you already calculated them in Step 1).
Frame Start: Set "Each clip starts at frame" to 997 (if you used 4-frame handles). This ensures the first frame of the actual shot hits frame 1001.
Filename Tokens: Use metadata tokens to generate unique names.
Custom Name
%{Scene}_%{Clip Name}_%{Track Name}_acescg_v000.
Custom subfolder
%{Scene}/%{Scene}_%{Clip Name}/%{Scene}_%{Clip Name}_%{Track Name}/%{Scene}_%{Clip Name}_%{Track Name}_acescg_v000
Step 6: Roundtrip and Remote Grading
After rendering the EXRs, you can bring them back into Resolve for a clean finishing workflow.
Re-Import: Drag the published folder back into Resolve.
Read Metadata: Go back to Project Settings and change the Reel Name setting to Embedding in source clip file. This reads the original source name embedded in the EXR headers.
Create Sources Timeline: Create a new timeline with these EXRs.
Remote Grading: In Project Settings (Color), enable Use Remote Grades (or right-click the clip and select it).
The Result: You now have a master timeline. Because Remote Grading is on, any grade applied to "Shot 10" on this timeline will automatically populate to every instance of that shot across your 30s, 15s, and social cut timelines. You render once, grade once, and distribute everywhere.
A huge thanks goes out to Finn Jaeger, who is the person that I recently learned this process from. Without his help, I would probably still be doing this in a very slow, potentially error probably method of only using show duplicate frames prior to publishing shots for finishing. Pavle (aka Pinionist) has also been huge in working through traditional modern finishing workflows using the tools we have and API integrations within DaVinci Resolve 20.
