DaVinci Resolve Fusion Page Keyboard Shortcuts
Fusion is built entirely around a node graph rather than a layer stack, and that architectural difference shapes its shortcut set more than anything else — most of Fusion's essential shortcuts exist to insert, connect, or navigate nodes rather than the timeline-scrubbing shortcuts that dominate Resolve's Cut and Edit pages. Because Fusion shares a window with the rest of Resolve, some shortcuts (spacebar for play/pause) carry over identically, but the node-specific ones are unique to this page and won't do anything useful elsewhere in the application. Tab to add a Merge node is arguably the single most important shortcut for anyone doing compositing work here, since combining a foreground and background is the most fundamental operation in node-based compositing and comes up constantly. Viewer shortcuts (assigning a node's output to Viewer 1 or 2) matter more in Fusion than in most other tools too, since comparing two points in a node chain side by side is core to how compositors debug a graph. Editors coming from a layer-based tool like After Effects tend to find Fusion's node model genuinely disorienting at first, since there's no direct visual equivalent of a layer stack to reason about — instead you have to think in terms of data flowing left to right (or top to bottom, depending on layout) through a chain of discrete operations, a mental model shared with other node-based compositors like Nuke rather than with layer-based tools.
Node Graph
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insert Merge node | M | M | Adds a Merge node connected to the currently selected node, the fundamental compositing operation for layering a foreground over a background — arguably the single most-used node in any Fusion graph. |
| Insert selected tool into chain | Tab | Tab | Inserts the tool currently under the mouse cursor directly into the connected node chain at that point, rewiring connections automatically rather than requiring manual re-linking. |
| Select all nodes | Ctrl+A | Cmd+A | Selects every node in the current composition, standard convention shared with the rest of Resolve's other pages. |
| Frame all nodes in view | Home | Home | Zooms and centers the node editor to fit the entire graph in view, useful for reorienting after zooming into a small cluster of nodes in a large composition. |
| Delete selected node | Delete | Delete | Removes the selected node from the composition, automatically leaving surrounding connections disconnected rather than attempting to reroute them around the deleted node, which usually requires manually reconnecting the chain afterward. |
Viewers Playback
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send selected node to Viewer 1 | 1 | 1 | Routes the output of the selected node to the left preview viewer, letting you inspect the result of any point in the node chain, not just the final output. |
| Send selected node to Viewer 2 | 2 | 2 | Routes the selected node's output to the right preview viewer, commonly paired with Viewer 1 to compare two stages of a composite side by side — a core debugging habit in node-based work. |
| Play / pause | Space | Space | Toggles playback of the current composition in the viewer, shared with the rest of Resolve's pages using the same universal spacebar convention. |
| Toggle loop playback | Ctrl+L (varies) | Cmd+L | Toggles whether playback loops back to the start automatically upon reaching the end of the composition's frame range, useful for reviewing a short looping effect repeatedly without manually restarting playback each time. |
Tools
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add Paint node | P (context menu shortcut varies) | P | Adds a Paint node for rotoscoping, cleanup, or hand-painted mattes directly onto the image, one of Fusion's core tools for tasks that can't be solved with tracking or keying alone. |
| Add Tracker node | Right-click canvas > Tracking > Tracker | — | Adds a Tracker node for analyzing motion within a clip, generating tracking data that other nodes (like a Planar Tracker's stabilizer or a text element being pinned to a moving surface) can then reference. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Fusion shortcuts work the same way when Fusion is opened as a standalone app versus inside Resolve?
Blackmagic also ships a standalone Fusion Studio application separate from the page embedded in Resolve, and the node-editing shortcuts are essentially identical between them, since it's the same underlying compositing engine — the main differences are around project/media management shortcuts, which differ because standalone Fusion doesn't have Resolve's Media Pool or timeline structure around it.
Why does pressing Tab sometimes insert a node in the wrong place?
Insert (Tab) depends on exactly where your mouse cursor is hovering relative to the existing connection line when you press it — Fusion inserts the tool onto whichever wire the cursor is nearest, so an imprecise mouse position can insert it into an unintended branch of a complex node tree.
Can I use more than two viewers at once in Fusion?
The default layout provides two primary viewers (1 and 2) for side-by-side comparison, which covers most compositing debugging needs; some custom layouts and floating viewer windows can add more, but the standard keyboard-driven viewer-assignment workflow is built around the two-viewer pair as the default working setup.
What happens to connected nodes when I delete a node in the middle of a chain?
Fusion doesn't automatically bridge the gap by reconnecting the upstream and downstream nodes directly — removing one link from a chain of nodes leaves both severed ends dangling, so you'll typically need to manually drag a new connection between the now-adjacent nodes to restore the flow, unlike some other node tools that attempt an automatic reconnect.
Is learning Fusion's node model transferable to other compositing software?
Yes, to a meaningful degree — the fundamental concept of connecting discrete processing nodes in a directed graph is shared with other node-based compositors like Nuke, so time invested understanding Fusion's node logic, including concepts like merges, masks, and viewer-based debugging, carries over reasonably well even though the specific keyboard shortcuts and node names differ between applications.
Do keyboard shortcuts in Fusion's node graph conflict with shortcuts used elsewhere in Resolve, like the Edit page?
Generally no, because Resolve splits its interface into separate workspace Pages (Cut, Edit, Fusion, Color, Fairlight, Deliver), and each one maintains its own largely independent shortcut context tied to what's relevant on that specific page, so a key like M means something entirely different (Insert Merge node in Fusion versus a marker or menu action elsewhere) depending on which page currently has focus, without the two colliding.
Is there a shortcut for adding a new node directly between two already-connected nodes in Fusion?
Yes — dragging a new tool directly onto the connection line between two existing nodes automatically splices it into that exact position in the node tree, reconnecting both existing links through the new node without needing to manually rewire each connection by hand afterward.