Use Create CFX within ConnectFX to create a CFX clip that can be useful for disk caching and give you flexibility for re-use or versioning of complex pipelines.
A CFX clip is a nested group or container that has benefits over Group nodes in ConnectFX.
To create a CFX clip, right-click a node in the schematic, and select Create CFX. A new clip node is created that included the node you selected, and all downstream inputs to the node (that is, everything connected to the left of the node). At this point, you can delete the old nodes, and connect the new CFX clip into your pipeline.
You can switch to the ConnectFX Timing view, select your CFX clip in the timeline, and click Render. Working in ConnectFX is now faster, since all the nodes that make up the CFX clip are now rendered. Once you are ready to render your complete ConnectFX pipeline, the CFX clip does not need to be re-rendered if you haven't modified it.
Another benefit of using a CFX clip is the flexibility it offers for versioning or re-using the clip. You can 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. When you create a CFX clip, it resides in the CFX Sources folder in the Workspace Media panel. You can copy this clip into another folder in the Media Library, and re-use it in another timeline segment, or even another project.
To return a CFX clip to its original separate nodes, right-click the clip, and select Explode CFX. This action is non-destructive, but it does delete the rendered frames (if you had rendered the CFX clip).
Since you can nest a CFX clip inside another CFX clip, the explode operation only explodes to one level. In the Basic menu for the CFX clip, you have an option to Explode All levels of the clip back to its original nodes.
