Find your work. Keep it organised.
Understand where you are editing, how comps place objects in time, and what a saved project contains.
- Know the editing surfaces.
- Save the source, keep dependencies.
- Comp time and clip placement are different.
- Confirm selection and nesting.
- Understand what Undo can restore.
Know the editing surfaces.
| Surface | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Project | Comps and imported media |
| Navigator | Find a comp, nested group or use of a shared comp |
| Library | Starting items and animation presets |
| Canvas | View and edit the current picture |
| Layers | Identify objects and real nested children |
| Properties / Controls | Adjust the selected object and exposed parameters |
| Timeline | Arrange clips and edit timing |
| Basement | Detailed parameters, effects and relationships |
| Deliver | Review and produce output |
Navigating changes the view. Entering an instance opens its shared source, so source edits can affect several uses.
Save the source, keep dependencies.
New Project starts a document; New Composition adds a comp within it. Open Project opens a .carverproj. Import Media adds media. Save As chooses a new path; later Save writes there. Confirm success before closing.
- Keep a backup copy before updating carvercat.
- Do not assume the project embeds original media or fonts.
- Check the project after moving it to another machine.
- Save often; do not rely on crash recovery.
Comp time and clip placement are different.
A comp has its own dimensions, frame rate and duration. Its duration is not automatically the longest clip. A clip is the timed placement of an object; trimming it does not change the comp duration. Comp start is a clock origin, not a substitute for moving a clip.
In/Out bounds are explicit, and Out is exclusive. In 0/Out 90 covers frames 0–89. Check the work range, visible clip range and export range together.
Confirm selection and nesting.
Select the object you mean and confirm the active comp or Group before editing. A Group owns children; an instance references a shared comp. Locked tracks refuse changes. Hiding a track and disabling a clip have different effects.
Moving and collapsing panels changes the workspace. Preferences and tool defaults can carry over between projects.
Understand what Undo can restore.
When closing with unsaved changes you can save, discard or cancel. Cancel keeps your current work. Undo cannot bring back content you chose to discard, and it does not reverse exported files or files written to Resolve.
Use the menus and shortcuts shown in the app for your platform.