Wiki · Autograph / Resolve / Fusion / Color

Autograph to Resolve and Fusion color-comp handoff checklist

Published 2026-07-10 · Wiki · Resolve / Fusion / Color / Workflow

A practical checklist for moving Autograph work into DaVinci Resolve or Fusion without confusing creative comp intent, review color, final grade, alpha, or EXR channel meaning.

Why this page exists

Autograph, Resolve, and Fusion can overlap around motion graphics, effects design, compositing, OpenFX plug-ins, EXR image sequences, and color-managed review. The risk is not only whether a file opens. The real risk is a silent ownership error: Autograph may own the designed graphic, Fusion may own node-based comp repair, and Resolve may own editorial timing, grade, audio, delivery, or client review. This page is a handoff contract for deciding which tool owns which decision.

Decide ownership before export

• Autograph-owned: responsive graphic layout, animation timing, Autograph-specific effects stacks, and design variants that should not be rebuilt downstream.
• Fusion-owned: node-based repair, comp integration, tracking, keying, rotoscope, 3D comp, or shot-specific effects that need downstream procedural control.
• Resolve-owned: editorial timing, timeline conform, review assembly, color correction or grading, audio context, deliverables, and approval exports.
• Shared only by contract: color transform, frame range, handles, alpha state, file naming, and whether a review movie is display-referred or only a proxy.

Minimum package from Autograph

• Review movie: a display-referred movie that shows the intended approved look, with burn-in only if it is useful for review.
• Comp image sequence: EXR sequence when downstream color, comp, alpha, or utility-channel work is expected.
• Frame contract: start frame, end frame, frame rate, handles, and whether exported frame numbers match timeline, shot, or local work range.
• Color contract: OCIO config or ACES context if used, working-space note, view transform used for the review movie, and which passes are data.
• Alpha contract: premultiplied, unpremultiplied, or opaque. Include a short alpha-edge test if the shot has glows, blur, particles, or semi-transparent graphics.
• Channel contract: expected channels and layers, including RGB, A, Z, normals, vectors, IDs, mattes, or any renamed utility passes.

Checks in Resolve

• Confirm Resolve is being used as timeline, review, grade, or delivery owner rather than as an accidental comp replacement.
• Compare the Autograph review movie against the imported sequence under the intended timeline color management and viewer transform.
• Check clip frame rate, start frame, timecode interpretation, handles, retimes, and whether the image sequence is being treated as a single clip.
• Verify that the grade is not compensating for a wrong source transform. A grade that merely hides a color-management mismatch should not become the handoff fix.
• Export a short approval sample before committing full-delivery settings, especially when ProRes, EXR, HDR, or broadcast-range requirements are involved.

Checks in Fusion

• Inspect channels, alpha, resolution, and frame range before building nodes on top of the Autograph export.
• Keep data passes as data. Depth, normals, motion vectors, IDs, and mattes should not be transformed as display color.
• Check premultiplication at the first over/merge operation and again after blur, glow, defocus, or resize operations.
• If an OpenFX plug-in is used in both Autograph and Fusion or Resolve, test the same source frame in both hosts rather than assuming identical behavior.
• Keep the approved Autograph review movie beside the Fusion comp as a viewing reference, not as the source of truth for scene-linear pixels.

Failure signs

• The image looks correct in the review movie but wrong in Resolve or Fusion because the view transform or source interpretation differs.
• Edges are dark, bright, or fringed after a merge, usually pointing to premultiplication or filtering mismatch.
• Utility channels are present in the EXR but clipped, renamed, hidden, or treated like display color.
• Resolve timing matches the edit, but the Fusion comp uses a shifted frame range or drops handles.
• A downstream grade is used to hide an upstream export error, making the next revision harder to diagnose.

Decision rule

Use Autograph as the creative design source, Resolve as the timeline/color/delivery owner, and Fusion as the node-based comp owner only when the file contract is explicit. If the contract is not explicit, make a short test export and verify color, alpha, channels, frame range, and delivery path before accepting the handoff.

Useful next pages

• Autograph render review and delivery checklist
• Autograph color transform troubleshooting checklist
• Autograph EXR channel and data-pass checklist

Sources checked

• Maxon Autograph product page — checked 2026-07-10. Used for Autograph context around motion graphics, VFX/compositing positioning, OpenFX, EXR, ACES, OCIO, and related host-surface claims.
• Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve product page — checked 2026-07-10. Used for Resolve page/workspace context: edit, Fusion, color, Fairlight, media, deliver, and OpenFX extension context.
• Blackmagic Design Fusion product page — checked 2026-07-10. Used for Fusion context: node-based compositing, VFX, motion graphics, 3D, templates, and Resolve/Fusion relationship.
• OpenEXR Technical Introduction — checked 2026-07-10. Used for arbitrary channels, alpha convention, display window versus data window, data types, and multi-part context.
• OpenColorIO documentation — checked 2026-07-10. Used for color-management vocabulary and the need to distinguish display/view transforms from source data.
• ACES documentation — checked 2026-07-10. Used for ACES/OCIO color-management context, not for host-specific behavior.