One of the best bargains highlighted at NAB 2019 was Blackmagic’s new version of Davinci Resolve. Currently available as a public beta, Resolve 16 comes packed with a slew of new tools aimed at making basic editing faster and more intuitive, particularly on jobs with tight deadlines.
The most newsworthy feature is a new Cut Page, intended for quick turn-around projects like TV commercials, news, and YouTube content. The Cut Page is an alternate Edit Page with a streamlined interface. It allows users to import, edit, and trim footage, add transitions and titles, match colors, mix audio, and more. The old familiar Edit Page is still available and users may switch between them freely mid-project.
The Edit Page itself also received new features: Adjustment Clips allow users to place effects that are applied to any clips below them on the timeline, and several Resolve effects (including vignettes) have been added so users don’t have to switch to the Color Page to apply them.
While Adobe’s After Effects introduced AI-driven object removal from video at NAB, Resolve wasn’t far behind. Blackmagic’s new AI “Neural Engine” is used to drive features on the Color Page, such as removing objects by selecting and tracking them, and new auto-balance and shot-matching features.
Reinforcing Resolve’s comfortable niche as an all-in-one editing, color grading, audio, and VFX tool, the Audio Page also received several improvements. A new Elastic Wave tool aids in dialogue replacement by allowing replacement waveforms to be stretched and manipulated to match the original, ensuring that the cadence of the dubbed audio will match the original lip sync. Additionally, new loudness meters have been added to meter audio volume specs and identify where any violations might occur.
Davinci Resolve 16 is available for download on the Blackmagic product page here. Resolve 16 is free, though Resolve Studio 16 (which includes additional Neural Engine features, multi-user collaboration, dozens of plugins, and more) is priced at $299. Several proprietary peripherals including an editing keyboard, consoles, and control panels are also available at an additional cost to speed up the editing workflow.
For a more in-depth look at the new features introduced with Davinci Resolve 16, check out Studio Daily’s article on the topic here. If you have questions about integrating Resolve into your editing workflow, reach out to Nodal!