CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO DAVINCI RESOLVE 20
Overview of DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve is a professional video editing software that is frequently employed for duties such as video editing, color grading, audio post-production, and visual effects (VFX). It is recognized for its sophisticated capabilities and is employed in both independent filmmaking and large-scale productions.
DaVinci Resolve's potent color-grading tools are one of its most notable features. The software is particularly adept at granting precise control over the appearance of colors in a video, as it was initially designed as a color grading system. This makes it a popular choice among professionals who are seeking to achieve the ideal aesthetic for their films.
DaVinci Resolve includes four primary workspaces, also called pages:
- Media Page: This is where you import and organize all of your media files like video, audio, and images.
- Edit Page: The core of the software, where you cut and arrange your video clips to create your timeline.
- Fusion Page: A space for creating visual effects and motion graphics. This page is where you can do compositing and work with 3D visuals.
- Color Page: The powerhouse for color correction and grading. You can adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation, and hues of your clips to create the exact look you're going for.
- Fairlight Page: This page is dedicated to audio post-production. You can edit, mix, and enhance the sound in your video projects.
- Deliver Page: Once everything is done, this page is where you export your project into different formats.
DaVinci Resolve is recognized for its ability to adapt to the needs of both novice and professional users. DaVinci Resolve Studio is a paid version that features more sophisticated tools and additional effects, in addition to a free version that offers a plethora of features.
It is also distinctive in that all of these features are integrated into a singular software, which simplifies the process of transitioning between audio work, editing, and grading without the necessity of exiting the platform.
DaVinci Resolve is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux, and it supports a variety of high-quality formats. Consequently, it is equipped with the necessary tools to handle professional-grade cameras and 4K footage.
Key New Features in DaVinci Resolve 20
DaVinci Resolve 20 introduces over 100 new features, including powerful AI tools that are specifically designed to help customers with all phases of their workflow. Utilize AI IntelliScript to generate timelines from a text script, AI Animated Subtitles to animate words as they are spoken, and AI Multicam SmartSwitch to construct a timeline with camera angles based on speaker detection.
The AI Audio Assistant intelligently generates a professional audio mix by analyzing the timeline audio, and the cut and edit pages introduce a dedicated keyframe editor and voiceover palettes. Investigate sophisticated multilayer compositing workflows in Fusion. The Color Warper has been extended to include Chroma Warp, as well as significant enhancements to the Magic Mask and Depth Map.
New features in Blackmagic Cloud include Cloud folders, which enable customers to effortlessly share additional clips, images, or visuals for a project with other collaborators. Until it is utilized in a project, all cloud content is presented as virtual clips and folders. Subsequently, it is synced locally. Customers can maintain the organization of their media pool while having access to a substantial quantity of media.
Customers who do not have a Blackmagic Cloud account can now view projects in Presentations with clients who do. Guest access can be activated by generating a URL link for the presentation that consumers wish to review and sharing it with clients. Customers can view clips, use markers to make notes on the timeline, and even participate in group chats.
Customers can now visually identify and manage their media by utilizing the icon view in cloud storage, which displays thumbnails of all clips. Customers can quickly evaluate media by hovering over thumbnails. Camera and clip metadata, as well as production notes, are displayed in the inspector panel.
When a vertical timeline or project is displayed on the cut, edit, and color pages, the page layouts are automatically rearranged to facilitate the use of a vertical viewer. In order to guarantee that customers utilize the entire screen without the necessity of constantly zooming and without wasting space, tools and palettes are relocated.
During timeline playback, the voiceover palette on the cut page records a voice-over track. Customers receive prompt access to voice isolation and dialogue normalization tools, as well as cue, record, and stop controls. Automatically, a dedicated track is incorporated. The prompter script and a countdown can be loaded and used by customers.
The cut and edit pages feature a dedicated keyframe editor that enables the animation of parameters with greater precision. Edit keyframes and easily change the geometry of an animation with the help of parameter modes and keyframe curves. Keyframes can be reviewed and navigated by customers by utilizing the keyframe tray located beneath the timeline.
The Text+ tool has been updated to incorporate the layout's point, text box, circle, or path styles, enabling customers to have more precise control over the structure of their text graphics. PSD files can be divided in place to facilitate the manipulation of each layer when working with them on a timeline.
For increased adaptability, the MultiText tool generates numerous text layers in a single location. Individual style parameters within each text layer, such as appearance, layout, warping, and keyframe animation, can be configured by customers through the inspector sections. The text list enables customers to navigate, rearrange, secure, and delete layers.
Customers can now drag directly into the viewer on the cut page to live overwrite a camera angle directly into the timeline. Customers can drag down to convert the angle into a draggable clip when the sync bin is active or when using multi-source mode.
In order to prevent the inadvertent overwriting of critical edits, the cut page now includes a safe trimming mode. The timeline can be rapidly filled by customers by dragging trim points. DaVinci Resolve will halt when they reach a cut point. In the event that they wish to modify the edit, they should continue to drag in order to trim the adjacent clip.
Additionally, the cut page now includes a full audio mixer with professional loudness metering. Professional panning, EQ, Dynamics, and FX controls are included in each channel strip, in addition to fader, solo, and mute keys. Additionally, each channel strip features a left-right pan slider. Customers can now record, edit, and complete their performance while mixing and monitoring audio.
The voiceover utility allows customers to record directly into the timeline on the edit page. The file name, audio input, and destination track can be easily configured using the fast controls. Creating a voice-over has never been simpler with automatic track selection and customization options such as input monitoring and countdown.
The new chroma warp feature on the color page enables customers to intuitively modify color and saturation with a single motion in the viewer. The point-to-point mode isolates regions for more precise chroma correction, while the stroke control moves colors in a single direction. Regions that consumers do not wish to influence can be isolated by incorporating pinpoints.
The reference monitor can be configured to display power windows and other overlays when streaming remotely. This is beneficial for remote workflows in which the grading system is located in a different location from the colorist, their client, and their local monitor. Customers can now stream H.265 4:2:2 as well.
The depth data contained in deep image EXR files can now be accessed by clients through the use of deep image compositing tools offered by Fusion. Customers can now merge, transform, resize, crop, recolor, and generate holdouts using a variety of new nodes. With the Fusion saver node, export deep EXRs and render from Fusion's 3D environment.
Additionally, support for multi-layer images has been implemented on all nodes. The viewer allows for the visualization of multi-layer EXRs or Photoshop files, and Fusion can access and manipulate any layer in any node. Artists now have the ability to interact with layers in a continuous manner without the need for independent renders of the source file.
Vector warp, vector transform, and vector alias are novel optical flow vector tools that have been integrated into Fusion. These tools utilize motion vectors to facilitate complex temporal effects. By utilizing the natural movement of a clip for warping and denoising, artists are presented with a potent time-saving solution.
Fusion's PanoMap, spherical stabilizer, LatLong patcher, 3D VR camera, and 3D viewers have been updated to accommodate a 180-degree angle of view, thereby enabling the creation of immersive content. A spherical camera and Renderer3D can also be employed by customers to simplify the production process by rendering 3D scenes to VR180.
A 3D tool that replicates natural ambient illumination in a 3D scene is the enhanced Dome light. It enables the incorporation of 360 HDRI images to achieve precise reflections and global illumination. Customers can now generate environments that are more realistic,...
