2017

Using a Create CFX Clip for Caching or Versioning
Use Create CFX within ConnectFX to create a CFX clip that can be useful for disk caching and offer the
flexibility of re-using or versioning complex pipelines.
A CFX clip is a nested group or container that has benefits over Group nodes in ConnectFX.
Creating a CFX Clip
To create a CFX clip, right-click a node in the schematic, and select Create CFX. A new clip node is created
that includes the selected node and all downstream inputs node to the left. Old nodes can be deleted and
the new CFX clip connect to the pipeline.
Disk Caching Capabilities
To improve performance, switch to the ConnectFX Timing view, select a CFX clip in the timeline, and click
Render. ConnectFX Once the complete ConnectFX pipeline is ready to be rendered, the CFX clip does not
need to be re-rendered if unmodified.
Flexibility
Another benefit of using a CFX clip is the flexibility it offers for versioning or re-using a clip. Use the offset
feature in the Timing view to offset the start time of the CFX clip, or even slide or trim the media and
animation keyframes contained within the clip. Created CFX clips reside in the CFX Sources folder in the
Media panel. The clip can be copied into another folder in the Media Library, and re-used in another timeline
segment or project.
Exploding CFX Clips
To return a CFX clip to its original separate nodes, right-click the clip, and select Explode CFX. This action
is non-destructive, but does discard any rendering.
Because a CFX clip can be nested inside another CFX clip, the explode operation only explodes to one level.
In the Basic menu for the CFX clip, there is an option to Explode All levels of the clip back to its original
nodes.
Using the Timing View to Offset Clips
When you offset a clip, you simultaneously offset all its segments on each track. You can also offset multiple
clips simultaneously, including all clips in a group.
To offset clips:
1 To access the ConnectFX Timing view, click the Timing button.
2 Select the clips and/or segments to offset. If you are offsetting all clips in a group, select one clip or
segment in the group and then click Select All Clips in Group. To select all clips on a track, click the
clip proxy to the left of the track.
3 Drag left or right in the Offset field, or enter the number of frames by which to offset the clip.
428 | Chapter 14 Procedural Compositing with ConnectFX