Blackmagic announced the DaVinci Resolve 17 Beta in a two hour presentation. We have selected and bookmarked some of the highlights.
Quite a few years ago here on FCP.co, we stated that the battle for dominance in the NLE market was going to be a two horse race, FCPX and Resolve. Quite a few industry experts scoffed when we suggested that Resolve would challenge the established Avid base. They didn't realise that Blackmagic started pouring development money into Resolve as soon as they acquired the well-respected colour grading system. Their goal was to make it the leading NLE, not just a finishing tool.
It has come a long way since we watched how to build a colour correction node tree back in 2010. Here's Grant Petty's presentation of the DaVinci Resolve 17 beta that runs two hours.
Now, if you haven't the time to watch the whole video, here's some interesting timestamps to click on.
31'49" Introduction to the new colour tools. The warper looks a lot like a third party plugin that we have seen, locking the grid and then warping colours looks quick and flexible. Getting the detail back into the highlights looks impressive with the expanded zones in HDR.
In this separate tutorial, Darren Mostyn goes into more detail about the Color Warper:
37'09" Magic Mask. The neural engine powered masking & tracking tool looks amazing. Hours of rotoscoping saved!
42'54" Fairlight Audio. It seems that Blackmagic has really got their eyes (ears?) set on converting Pro Tools users over to Resolve for audio post production. FCPX users will see some very striking GUI similarities here.
53'34" Fairlight Desktop Console. A good looking audio control desk. Having used a similar tool when just editing, the noise of the faders and possible 'clacking' at end stops might make you turn it off after a while. However, for mixing audio after picture lock, it looks a great tool. It's priced at $3,495.
1 04'34" DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor. A new smaller sized dedicated keyboard with jog wheel. Looks very easy and quick to use, we especially like the jog wheel being used to trim clips. Will it stop you reaching for the mouse?
1 37'26" Multicam editing with the Speed Editor. Worth a watch for any FCPX editor to see how Resolve handles Multicam. Watch out for Sync Bins and Source Overwrite.
1 47'51" The Edit Page. A new keyer, good automatic reformatting for social media and flexible use of proxies. The Video Collage looks pretty impressive, a very quick way to build up grid overlays of images and video.
Steve Martin at Ripple Training explores the edit page in this tutorial:
1 58'18" Fusion. A tighter integration with the editing features. We can see a whole new range of effects, titles and transitions being built for Resolve.
So a large update to Resolve with many features that will be used when finishing FCPX edits. We think that Blackmagic have really brought some innovative ideas to editing such as Source Overwrite and Source Clip. However we also feel like they are playing catch up in other areas, splitting the bins into dates or scenes seems like a relatively basic feature if you are used to editing in FCPX.
Either way, breaking new ground or adopting features, it has reinforced our opinion that Resolve and FCPX are leaving the rather antiquated looking Avid and Premiere behind.
DaVinci Resolve 17 Features
- Next generation HDR color correction with customizable wheels and tonal zones.
- Mesh and grid based color warper delivers an entirely new way to transform color.
- Magic mask automatic object isolation powered by the DaVinci Neural Engine.
- Improved color management with tone mapping and color space aware tools.
- Massive DaVinci wide gamut color space for higher quality image processing.
- High speed audio editing with new keyboard and mouse context sensitive tools.
- Fairlight Audio Core engine with auto load balancing and support for 2,000 tracks.
- Revolutionary FlexBus architecture for audio routing without limitations.
- Automatic transient detection for beats, words, and sound effects.
- Support for massive audio projects with thousands of tracks on a single system.
- Metadata based card view in media pool on cut page.
- Precision audio trimming on the cut page timeline and graphical trimmer.
- Smart reframe powered by the DaVinci Neural Engine on cut and edit pages.
- Live effect, title, and transition previews on cut and edit pages.
- Import and edit projects from ATEM Mini Pro ISO.
- Proxy media workflows up to 1/16th resolution in H.264, H.265, ProRes or DNxHR.
- Timeline based clip syncing to create multicam and compound clips.
- Alpha support for keying and compositing on cut and edit pages.
- Render in place command for effects heavy clips on cut and edit timelines.
- Make source side adjustments before editing clips into the timeline.
- Portable timeline and bin files for easy sharing.
- Native interlace processing and realtime 3:2 pulldown removal.
- Node tree bookmarks, customizable Fusion toolbar, and vertical node layouts.
- Support for growing files in media pool.
- Support for frame based metadata for BRAW, ARRI, RED, Sony and EXR.
- Workflow integration API and third party encoder API.
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
