How to Split Compound Clips in DaVinci Resolve

If you're still learning DaVinci Resolve and have created compound clips but now need to access the individual clips and graphics inside them, this guide is for you. In this article, you'll learn how to quickly and easily decompose compound clips in DaVinci Resolve. The good news? You can create and break apart compound clips as many times as needed, and doing so offers several advantages to streamline your editing process.

What is a Compound Clip inside Davinci Resolve?

A compound clip in DaVinci Resolve is a feature that allows you to group multiple video and audio clips, effects, and adjustments into a single clip. This helps streamline editing by reducing clutter in the timeline. It works similarly to "nesting" in other editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro.

Why Use Compound Clips in Davinci Resolve?

Compound clips are super handy and work in a similar way to groups in Photoshop or folders on Windows. If you're working on a large project with multiple layers of video, audio, effects, and transitions, the timeline can quickly become overwhelming. Compound clips help simplify your workflow by grouping related clips into one, making the timeline cleaner and easier to navigate.

1. Applying Effects to Multiple Clips:Sometimes, you want to apply the same effect, colour correction, or transition to multiple clips. Instead of adjusting each clip individually, you can combine them into a compound clip and apply the effects once. This saves time and ensures consistency.

2. Creating Reusable Sequences:You can save compound clips in the media pool and reuse them across different timelines or projects. This is useful for things like:

Intro or outro sequences
Commonly used lower-thirds or graphics
Repeated animations or effects

3. Simplifying Speed Changes:When you apply speed ramping or time remapping to multiple clips, keeping everything in sync can be challenging. By grouping clips into a compound clip first, you can apply speed adjustments to the entire sequence at once, ensuring smooth transitions.

4. Preserving Edits When Moving Clips:If you need to move a section of your timeline to another position, creating a compound clip ensures that all cuts, transitions, and effects remain intact when repositioning. This is especially useful for rearranging sequences during rough cuts.

Before you Decompose a Clip Consider the Following.

Decomposing a compound clip restores the original clips to the timeline without affecting the source media.
If effects were applied to the compound clip, decomposing it will remove those effects unless they were applied to the original clips before grouping.
Audio and video stay in sync when decomposed, so your edits remain intact.

How to Split Compound Clips in DaVinci Resolve (Decompose Compound Clips in Davinci Resolve)

There are currently two different ways you can split (decompose) compound clips inside of Davinci Resolve. Both work the same but the process is a little different.

Method 1: Decomposing a Compound Clip

Select the Compound Clip: Click on the compound clip in the timeline.
Right-click: Open the context menu.
Choose "Decompose in Place": This will break the compound clip back into its individual clips while maintaining their placement, transitions, and settings.

Method 2: Manually Splitting a Compound Clip

If you want to split a compound clip at a specific point, follow these steps:

Select the Blade Tool (B) or press Ctrl + B (Windows) / Cmd + B (Mac).
Click on the Compound Clip at the point where you want to split it.
Right-click each Section and choose "Decompose in Place" if you need to further separate the clips.

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