FAQ New version of Davinci Resolve

[starcentral]

As much as I hate Adobe for cloud based subscription services (and refuse to rent software over owning it) personally I'd rather not see NLE in Resolve or at least make it an installable option. It will just make the app bigger than it really needs to be for grading, not to mention possibly introduce more bugs that will only consume BMD development resources to fix issues caused by it when I'd rather see continued improvement to the actual grading tool that Resolve is suppose to be.

But that's just me.

 

[ChristopherA]

I've been testing Resolve 11 and just now installed 12 beta.

It seems like v12 isn't showing the full 4K image though. I thought proxy image was enabled, but it's not. It's only filling a small portion of my 4K monitor when I set it to display 'actual size'. Am I missing something?

Are you using an external monitor via one of Blackmagic's devices? Davinci doesn't support two-monitor setups like you are describing without either one of their PCI-e cards or their thunderbolt capture/playback boxes.

If not, that's your problem. If so go to the project settings > master project settings > video monitoring. You should have a dropdown box that allows you to select from a number of resolutions.

Also of note, the free version is limited to 2k delivery. I would not be surprised if monitoring is also limited to 2k, although I don't know for certain.

Another thing is I can't get the 4K video to display full screen on the 4K monitor and have the UI on the 2.5K monitor, like I'm used to with Premiere. Is there a particular trick to this, or a limitation of Resolve?

Version 12 gives you more ability to customize your workspace than Resolve has ever had before. That being said, it's pretty much limited to moving the scopes around or being able to dock them over your keyframe panel in the lower right.

I'd love the ability to really customize my workspace like in premiere, but Blackmagic has decided to standardize their UI—no matter where you are, if they are running resolve it will look the same.

The color and effects stuff is alien to me though. It reminds me of Maya's ShaderFX shader, with it's "connect the nodes" approach which I could never wrap my brain around. The UI also seems to lack many common Premiere functions, like the ability to normalize audio by right clicking the audio, or to determine the handling of frame blending, interlace removal, etc. Maybe it's buried in there somewhere, but for a Premiere user, this is completely alien and opaque as far as slogging my way through other than on the most basic level of import a clip, make a timeline, etc.

The node structure just takes some getting used to. Think of it like layers in Photoshop—the left most layer is the bottom and the right most layer is the top. Remember, this is a color grading app that has gotten better at being an NLE. Remember, the base level of this program is free.

Regarding specific features, the Resolve manual is incredible. If you go to the help menu and click Davinci Resolve help, it will open. The audio section starts on page 457, and it details how to do the things that Resolve supports. If you're trying to find a feature, I'd start there.

 

[ChristopherA]

As much as I hate Adobe for cloud based subscription services (and refuse to rent software over owning it) personally I'd rather not see NLE in Resolve or at least make it an installable option. It will just make the app bigger than it really needs to be for grading, not to mention possibly introduce more bugs that will only consume BMD development resources to fix issues caused by it when I'd rather see continued improvement to the actual grading tool that Resolve is suppose to be.

But that's just me.

Actually the NLE in resolve is absolutely essential to successfully conforming projects for color work. It's quite rare that an XML from final cut/premiere opens and drops onto the timeline without any issues.

 

[cuervo]

As much as I hate Adobe for cloud based subscription services (and refuse to rent software over owning it) personally I'd rather not see NLE in Resolve or at least make it an installable option. It will just make the app bigger than it really needs to be for grading, not to mention possibly introduce more bugs that will only consume BMD development resources to fix issues caused by it when I'd rather see continued improvement to the actual grading tool that Resolve is suppose to be.

But that's just me.

I tend to agree, Dennis. Some fundamental tools are nice to have, to save having to jump back and forth, but, that's where I feel it should stop. I'd really like to see better integration with Media Composer, much more than FilmLight does. Meanwhile, there's the iMovie faithful who'll never see the depth that really is needed for TV or film. Some of these folks need to spend a week on a series TV show, as Art has pointed out.

 

[Grug]

Can't say I'm seeing a particularly deep NLE component built into this beta, unless I'm missing an 'editing features' button that will reveal a whole lot more tools, it remains a simplistic system that's only really good for fixing up bad .xml/.aaf imports.

 

[Nirv]

I tend to agree, Dennis. Some fundamental tools are nice to have, to save having to jump back and forth, but, that's where I feel it should stop. I'd really like to see better integration with Media Composer, much more than FilmLight does. Meanwhile, there's the iMovie faithful who'll never see the depth that really is needed for TV or film. Some of these folks need to spend a week on a series TV show, as Art has pointed out.

Was the pejorative use of "iMovie" aimed at anyone not using Media Composer or working in TV and Film?

Some of us have only hours to finish work with a room full of rubbernecks breathing over their necks. When one of these hooray suits pipes up eager to make an impression and insists on more than shaving a frame here and there you'll be very glad to have a complete NLE toolset. IMO, BMD should fuse Fusion into Resolve and compete directly with Smoke and Mistika et al.

 

[basspig]

I always find it a bit disconcerting when people who have not been around this biz very long start being critical of apps that are in wide acceptance and use. It's sufficient to know that Davinci has always been a color grading tool. BMD has been slowly...SLOWLY...adding editing capability to what is originally a grading tool. There are many features still lacking in Davinci, if one is expecting a full up NLE. Novices criticize applications like Media Composer for its difficulty. The thing is, unless you have a need for very deep editing capability, apps like Davinci or Apple Movie will work just fine for you. If you make a living at editing, eventually you'll run into a capability you won't find in these consumer level editing tools. I'm not sayin' Resolve is a consumer level tool. I'm just sayin' that it's really not (yet) a fully capable NLE.

When I first started doing video work, there were no computers and all editing was done by bouncing between Betacam decks. I've been using Premiere in its various forms for about 15 years now, and am accustomed to that workflow. I've also used Sony Vegas. What I can say is that Resolve is going to require complete retraining. Yes, from an outsider viewpoint, it does look like Resolve started as a grading tool, not an editor.

I am a heavy multi-cam user, given my larger productions employ multiple cameras throughout a concert hall, so I need strong multicam editing and the ability to handle dozens of tracks of audio, something which Premiere has excelled at.

 

[basspig]

Are you using an external monitor via one of Blackmagic's devices? Davinci doesn't support two-monitor setups like you are describing without either one of their PCI-e cards or their thunderbolt capture/playback boxes.

If not, that's your problem. If so go to the project settings > master project settings > video monitoring. You should have a dropdown box that allows you to select from a number of resolutions.

Also of note, the free version is limited to 2k delivery. I would not be surprised if monitoring is also limited to 2k, although I don't know for certain.




Version 12 gives you more ability to customize your workspace than Resolve has ever had before. That being said, it's pretty much limited to moving the scopes around or being able to dock them over your keyframe panel in the lower right.

I'd love the ability to really customize my workspace like in premiere, but Blackmagic has decided to standardize their UI—no matter where you are, if they are running resolve it will look the same.




The node structure just takes some getting used to. Think of it like layers in Photoshop—the left most layer is the bottom and the right most layer is the top. Remember, this is a color grading app that has gotten better at being an NLE. Remember, the base level of this program is free.

Regarding specific features, the Resolve manual is incredible. If you go to the help menu and click Davinci Resolve help, it will open. The audio section starts on page 457, and it details how to do the things that Resolve supports. If you're trying to find a feature, I'd start there.

So this application is designed not to work with a multiple monitor system with a generic nVidia GPU, but instead forces you to invest in BMD hardware to unlock full screen playback features? I knew there had to be a hitch to the free version.

The 2K (actually HD) limitation seems to be new in v12. The v11 was limited to UHD.
Thanks for the tip about master project settings.. that appears to be it.

However, I cannot figure out how to get the video to fill monitor 2, the client monitor. The way my studio is set up with Premiere, I have the 12' projection screen for the client, and a 31" 4K display next to the editor for client review, in addition to the main UI on a 2.5K 30" display. That arrangement suites me perfectly. But how to duplicate it in Resolve?

The UI doesn't fully adhere to the Windows standard, so there's no Help top level menu. Where is it hiding?

Layers=nodes.. fascinating. So if I just imagine everything's rotated 90°, it relates nicely to Photoshop layers. Okay.

 

[Nirv]

So this application is designed not to work with a multiple monitor system with a generic nVidia GPU, but instead forces you to invest in BMD hardware to unlock full screen playback features? I knew there had to be a hitch to the free version.

No, Resolve is designed as a serious A1 level grading and finishing tool for serious professionals who do not grade off an nVidia GPU connected to consumer flat panel. At $1k it's a steal and the 2K limitation in Free is absolutely fair IMO. BMD are absolute heroes for bringing this software to the masses and continuing to develop it at such a pace.

Resolve used to cost $200,000 for the cheapest 1 GPU version and you're quibbling over having to buy a BMD card to unlock fullscreen playback? No one ever sees the value in free.

 

[Tom Roper]

If the free version is 2k limited for delivery, then I have amazing talent since I rendered several 4k uhd files last night.

 

[broughtonfilm]

When I first started doing video work, there were no computers and all editing was done by bouncing between Betacam decks. I've been using Premiere in its various forms for about 15 years now, and am accustomed to that workflow. I've also used Sony Vegas. What I can say is that Resolve is going to require complete retraining. Yes, from an outsider viewpoint, it does look like Resolve started as a grading tool, not an editor.

I am a heavy multi-cam user, given my larger productions employ multiple cameras throughout a concert hall, so I need strong multicam editing and the ability to handle dozens of tracks of audio, something which Premiere has excelled at.

What's wrong with Premiere then?

 

[basspig]

What's wrong with Premiere then?

No XAVC support. And they won't sell me a version that does support it. Adobe no longer is in the software sales market.


Re: DaVinci Resolve, they certainly have a right to lock their software into their hardware, though technically I think it's not necessary, with modern GPUs having thousands of cores, but then, it's a free market, and I'm free to look elsewhere. Maybe Sony Vegas, Grass Valley Edius, etc. There are options. I haven't given up on CS6.. I'm halfwave there with the rewrapping of XAVC to another format.. so far transport stream and MP4, but neither wrapper supports PCM audio. If I can automate the process of ingesting footage, rewrapping it and re muxing it with PCM audio, all in a batch automation process, I can do this work under CS6. The MP4 playback was much smoother on CS6 than on DaVinci Resolve.

 

[Andrew Stone]

No XAVC support. And they won't sell me a version that does support it. Adobe no longer is in the software sales market.


Re: DaVinci Resolve, they certainly have a right to lock their software into their hardware, though technically I think it's not necessary, with modern GPUs having thousands of cores, but then, it's a free market, and I'm free to look elsewhere. Maybe Sony Vegas, Grass Valley Edius, etc. There are options. I haven't given up on CS6.. I'm halfwave there with the rewrapping of XAVC to another format.. so far transport stream and MP4, but neither wrapper supports PCM audio. If I can automate the process of ingesting footage, rewrapping it and re muxing it with PCM audio, all in a batch automation process, I can do this work under CS6. The MP4 playback was much smoother on CS6 than on DaVinci Resolve.

About half-way down the following page...

https://howgreenisyourgarden.wordpress.com/tag/using-smartffmpeg/

it explains how to do a rewrap with SmartFFMpeg.

It works on XAVC S from the Sony a7S in Premiere Pro CS6. I presume it will work on the other flavors of XAVC. The PCM audio is the right sample and bitrate it simply has to be rewrapped. There are other solutions using FFMpeg with commandline scripts but the one above is simpler. There is no muxing involved, just a simple rewrap. The content is there in the right file formats, just the wrong container to be seen by Premiere Pro CS6.

 

[broughtonfilm]

No XAVC support. And they won't sell me a version that does support it. Adobe no longer is in the software sales market.


Re: DaVinci Resolve, they certainly have a right to lock their software into their hardware, though technically I think it's not necessary, with modern GPUs having thousands of cores, but then, it's a free market, and I'm free to look elsewhere. Maybe Sony Vegas, Grass Valley Edius, etc. There are options. I haven't given up on CS6.. I'm halfwave there with the rewrapping of XAVC to another format.. so far transport stream and MP4, but neither wrapper supports PCM audio. If I can automate the process of ingesting footage, rewrapping it and re muxing it with PCM audio, all in a batch automation process, I can do this work under CS6. The MP4 playback was much smoother on CS6 than on DaVinci Resolve.

Not sure what you are talking about - I mean, I actually think I know : you won't use newer versions of Premiere which supports XAVC because you don't like to rent it from them? If you own a business, how does this obstacle compare to all the time you spend writing about it on various forums?

 

[jshbckr]

Not sure what you are talking about - I mean, I actually think I know : you won't use newer versions of Premiere which supports XAVC because you don't like to rent it from them? If you own a business, how does this obstacle compare to all the time you spend writing about it on various forums?

Also, they've been updating the software with a ton of great new features. In the past purchasing the Master Collection was $2600. Every 1.5 years or so, when a new version rolled out, it would be $525 to upgrade (as long as you didn't skip a year or two, which would cost more or require a full new purchase of Master Collection). Right now, Creative Cloud is $50/mo. The $2600 Master Collection price, divided by $50 (per month for the subscription), would be FIFTY TWO months of usage. That's 4.3 years, nearly enough for THREE updates to come out. If you wanted to keep up to date, that would be $525 x3. That makes your total investment to buy Master Collection + 4.5 years of upgrades... $4175. The cost of 4.5 years of Creative Cloud... $2700. A measly $100 more than buying Master Collection, but you're kept up to date and can have it installed on two machines. So even if you considered your Adobe software to be a once-every-five-years purchase (master collection only, no upgrades), you're BARELY spending more money. But in the meantime, you're getting every upgrade immediately.

The cost of Master Collection + 3 upgrades (over 4.5 years) costs the same as nearly seven years of the subscription. That also comes with a pretty hefty initial down payment on the Master Collection. Personally, the $50/mo is a pretty incredible deal that I'm more than happy to pay for the software I use to make a living.

 

[alaskacameradude]

Also, they've been updating the software with a ton of great new features. In the past purchasing the Master Collection was $2600. Every 1.5 years or so, when a new version rolled out, it would be $525 to upgrade (as long as you didn't skip a year or two, which would cost more or require a full new purchase of Master Collection). Right now, Creative Cloud is $50/mo. The $2600 Master Collection price, divided by $50 (per month for the subscription), would be FIFTY TWO months of usage. That's 4.3 years, nearly enough for THREE updates to come out. If you wanted to keep up to date, that would be $525 x3. That makes your total investment to buy Master Collection + 4.5 years of upgrades... $4175. The cost of 4.5 years of Creative Cloud... $2700. A measly $100 more than buying Master Collection, but you're kept up to date and can have it installed on two machines. So even if you considered your Adobe software to be a once-every-five-years purchase (master collection only, no upgrades), you're BARELY spending more money. But in the meantime, you're getting every upgrade immediately.

The cost of Master Collection + 3 upgrades (over 4.5 years) costs the same as nearly seven years of the subscription. That also comes with a pretty hefty initial down payment on the Master Collection. Personally, the $50/mo is a pretty incredible deal that I'm more than happy to pay for the software I use to make a living.

Well, I'm about as far from that opinion as possible and basically have decided I will never spend a dime on an Adobe
product again so long as they stay with subscription only. That being said, it DOES work well for some people.
And further, I think that if you don't want to pay monthly, you have to pay somewhere else. For example, Resolve has
hefty hardware requirements. FCP X requires a Mac. Everyone has to make their money somewhere. So you either
pay more upfront for Avid (they have subscriptions in addition to permanent license), pay for a Mac (which I have)
use the free Resolve but maybe pay for a BMD card. Like most things in life there are pluses and minuses to each choice.

 

[jshbckr]

Well, I'm about as far from that opinion as possible and basically have decided I will never spend a dime on an Adobe
product again so long as they stay with subscription only. That being said, it DOES work well for some people.
And further, I think that if you don't want to pay monthly, you have to pay somewhere else. For example, Resolve has
hefty hardware requirements. FCP X requires a Mac. Everyone has to make their money somewhere. So you either
pay more upfront for Avid (they have subscriptions in addition to permanent license), pay for a Mac (which I have)
use the free Resolve but maybe pay for a BMD card. Like most things in life there are pluses and minuses to each choice.

Fair enough, and for someone who only needs an editing solution, those are options. But for me, having Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects are all important programs for motion graphics/visual effects. Plus, 99% of people I collaborate with (both Mac and PC) are using Creative Cloud, so cross platform + everyone being on the same version has been incredible. Massively improved over issues of collaborating in the past: "oh, you're using CS6? I didn't upgrade from CS5... Do you know anyone with CS 5.5 so you can downgrade to that version and have them downgrade it to CS5 for me?"

 

[Nirv]

If you own a business, how does this obstacle compare to all the time you spend writing about it on various forums?

I can only assume there's a bit of gentle trolling going on because it's inconceivable, to me at least, that a business would lose productivity in rewrapping XAVC rather than spend an insignificant sum of $50/m on software that would handle it natively.

Why sweat bullets and misuse braincells with an insane workflow when you can be using them on the creativity and producing the very best deliverable? Clients don't pay for a torturous workflow they pay for the end product.

The rental issue is a completely different argument. I don't use Adobe software but I haven't done since way before they went rental so the new position hasn't affected me. There are plenty of other options but if I absolutely had to have an Adobe application for the workflow it would be a no-brainer to sign up.

 

[alaskacameradude]

Fair enough, and for someone who only needs an editing solution, those are options. But for me, having Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects are all important programs for motion graphics/visual effects. Plus, 99% of people I collaborate with (both Mac and PC) are using Creative Cloud, so cross platform + everyone being on the same version has been incredible. Massively improved over issues of collaborating in the past: "oh, you're using CS6? I didn't upgrade from CS5... Do you know anyone with CS 5.5 so you can downgrade to that version and have them downgrade it to CS5 for me?"

I do motion graphics and so on. I use Motion and Affinity. However, I mostly do 'end to end'
productions, so I don't have a lot of collaboration with others, which means I don't have to
worry about what everyone else is using and what is the popular choice of the moment.
When I do collaborate (and I have 5 or 6 clients I do collaborations with) none of them
use Creative Cloud. I mean, I get why people use it, if you have a 4 clients and each is
paying you 2 or 3 grand but they need to send you files in CC and you need to interface with
them.....shoot, $50 for that month is worth it. I'm not knocking those who use it, I think it can be a
great business decision for plenty of people.

I just have very unique circumstances. I basically live on an island, no roads in
or out...and a small town. I need to be very 'lean'. Some months are pretty slow
and I'm not going to incur costs that I don't need to....I can pay less than 6 months of
CC and have FCP X and Motion and I get all updates, just like you CC users.....only I get
them for free. Now sure, that limits me to a Mac, but I actually prefer Macs and I already
have one, so it is pretty much a no brainer for me. Could I 'afford' CC? Sure I could.
I just don't see why I 'should'. It's not going to make me more money, it's just going
to cost me money. But the reverse is true for many people so yeah, I'm probably just the crazy
'anti rent' guy here. I live in Alaska too, so take anything I say with a grain of ice.

As an aside, I see that Resolve 12 includes a 'get rid of jump cut' feature in their
new program. I wonder if any of Adobe's 'people' saw that? It sure didn't take them
long to include that feature (which received a fair amount of press in one of the newer
versions of CC).

 

[broughtonfilm]

I can only assume there's a bit of gentle trolling going on because it's inconceivable, to me at least, that a business would lose productivity in rewrapping XAVC rather than spend an insignificant sum of $50/m on software that would handle it natively.

Why sweat bullets and misuse braincells with an insane workflow when you can be using them on the creativity and producing the very best deliverable? Clients don't pay for a torturous workflow they pay for the end product.

The rental issue is a completely different argument. I don't use Adobe software but I haven't done since way before they went rental so the new position hasn't affected me. There are plenty of other options but if I absolutely had to have an Adobe application for the workflow it would be a no-brainer to sign up.

Exactly what I meant, you agree with me! In case it wasn't clear, I meant that the fact that the new Premiere is a rental appears to be an "obstacle" for Basspig, which I don't understand how it can be for someone who owns a business and can only benefit from a simpler workflow. Why someone would waste time rewrapping a video is just beyond me.