User Manual

Effectively, this is a “pre-Color page” cache. By caching all processor-intensive clips in the
Timeline, you’ll experience vastly improved trimming and grading performance. However, you
also have the option to turn the Fusion Output Cache on or off for individual clips, or for multiple
selected clips all at once. This lets you switch between using the native source of each clip with
live effects, or the cached clip in the cache format you’ve chosen.
The advantage of the Fusion Output Cache over Optimized Media is that you only cache clips
that are used in a timeline, which is ideal for finishing workflows. However, the Smart and User
caches aren’t useful for speeding up work done with source media in the Media Pool and
Source Viewer when you’re at the very beginning of an edit; that’s what Optimized Media is for
(as described in the previous section).
If Optimized media exists for a given clip, and “Use Optimized Media if available” is turned on,
then Optimized media will be used instead of the Fusion Output Cache if there are no Speed
effects or Fusion Effects applied to a particular clip.
Second, Node Caching
The Node Cache, which is a separate level of caching from the Fusion Output Cache, can be
triggered in several different ways, corresponding to the three different purposes it serves.
 When enabled by turning on the Smart Cache, nodes with processor-intensive
operations (along with all nodes appearing upstream in that grade’s node tree) are
automatically cached, meaning that, for example, if Nodes 1 and 2 are cached, you
can continue adjusting Nodes 3, 4, and 5 to your heart’s content without needing
to re-render your grade to the cache. Operations that trigger caching include Noise
Reduction, Motion Blur, and any ResolveFX or OFX plug-in that’s added to a node. If
you’ve added a ResolveFX to a node that’s capable of playing in real time but that node
is being flagged for caching anyway, you can force caching off for that node by right-
clicking it and choosing Node Cache > Off from the contextual menu.
 You can manually force any node to cache if it and its upstream nodes are
compromising performance but somehow not being automatically flagged, by right-
clicking a node and choosing Node Cache > On from the contextual menu.
 You can also turn on the “Render Cache Color Output” option for a clip in the Timeline
of either the Edit or Color pages. This forces that clip’s entire grade to be cached via
the Node Cache, all the way through the Node tree’s output. This can result in higher
real time performance in the Edit page, at the expense of needing to completely re-
cache that clip whenever you adjust any part of its grade.
 If you apply ResolveFX or OFX filters to clips in the Edit page, these will also be cached
via the Node Cache. If necessary, you can choose which OFX to cache via the Render
Cache OFX Filter submenu in the contextual menu for clips in the Timeline. This is
useful when you have a combination of realtime and non-realtime filters applied to a
clip; caching the non-realtime filters only enables you to continue adjusting realtime
filters without the need to re-cache. However, be aware that making changes to a filter
being cached in the Edit page timeline will force that clip’s grade to be re-cached in the
Color page, and vice versa.
If multiple nodes are flagged for caching in a particular node tree, then each node will be
individually cached. That way, you can turn a cached node off and on to get a before-and-after
look without needing to re-cache the entire node tree. If a clip is part of a group in the Color
page, you can enable a Group Cache in the Group Pre-Clip and Group Post-Clip Node Editor
modes, which cache these parts of a group grade as part of the Node Cache.
Chapter – 6 Improving Performance, Proxies, andthe RenderCache 209