Polygon

Use Polygon when Rectangle or Ellipse is no longer precise enough: the subject has an irregular silhouette, the edge must deform over time, or the matte itself is part of a custom graphic. The node generates coverage internally; the video plate does not need to feed Polygon.

Polygon has one optional Effect Mask input. It accepts another mask for matte combination. Paint Mode becomes relevant when that second mask is connected and determines how incoming coverage combines with the locally drawn Polygon.

The Resolve 21 reference describes Polygon as a Bézier polyline. Points are appended by clicking in the Viewer, the shape closes by clicking the first point again, and closed splines can then receive inserted or modified points. Polygon and B-Spline solve similar jobs but use different curve models.

Polygon shape animation is automatic by default: creating the tool establishes shape animation at the current time, and changing the contour at a different frame creates another shape state. Check the current frame before the first edit and inspect interpolation between keys, not only the keyed frames themselves.

For rotoscoping, preserve semantic point correspondence from key to key. A corner of the subject should remain the same logical Polygon point instead of silently swapping order. Too many points make animation fragile; too few fail to describe the edge.

Soft Edge changes the coverage transition around the spline. Feathering does not repair a misplaced contour and does not replace motion blur already present in the plate. Fix geometry first, then match softness to the photographed edge.

Solid chooses a filled matte versus outline behavior. With Solid off, Border Width creates a line. Position and Length can expose only part of that outline for write-on/HUD animation; color still comes from a separate image branch such as Background → Glow → Merge.

Fill Method controls how overlapping regions of the same polyline are interpreted. Resolve 21 documents Alternate and Non Zero Winding. These are fill rules for self-intersections/nested regions, not image-fit or scaling modes.

The Image tab is the technical raster layer of the mask. Output Size sets mask resolution; Custom exposes Width, Height, Pixel Aspect and Depth; Clipping Mode controls domain-of-definition behavior, especially where Soft Edge needs samples beyond the current domain.

The Settings tab uses common mask-tool controls. Motion Blur has Quality, Shutter Angle, Center Bias and Sample Spread. That temporal sampling is separate from the manual roto task and cannot compensate for wrong point trajectories.

The site's real Inspector capture also shows Border Style, Position, Length and Fast Gaussian selected in Filter. The Resolve 21 prose reference documents the core Polygon model and explicitly lists Box, Bartlett, Multi-box and Gaussian for Filter. This article therefore distinguishes manual-verified behavior from labels visible in a particular captured UI.

Polygon is not a Tracker or Planar Tracker. Use tracking where rigid or planar motion can be measured reliably, then keep Polygon for silhouette shape, holdouts and occlusions that genuinely need manual geometry.