Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 9, 2013. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Anyone currently at NAB might want to stroll over to Blackmagic Design. Resolve 10, which will be available in the second half of the year, has been expanded particularly in its on-set tools, connections to a wide range of workflows and an interface for OpenFX plug-ins.
Overall, Resolve 10 is a huge update. Alongside OpenCL support for AMD GPUs under Windows, one of the most interesting features is certainly "Resolve Live", which allows whatever comes in via SDI to be graded "live". The settings made there are stored as snapshots with metadata and stills. This means that, at least according to the manufacturer, as we have not yet tested it, material can be graded live from the camera and the media files linked after the shoot. Node-based material of different sizes could even be used here already, allowing "colour tests" of the material to be carried out quickly and easily on set. You can imagine the potential improvement in coordination between the set, post-production and production.
Editing
Resolve continues to grow. With multitrack video and audio editing, clip trimming, crawl titles, compound clips, 3- or 4-point "fit-to-fill" editing, video effects, XML and AAF round-tripping, built-in test-pattern generators and stereoscopic editing, Resolve is on its way to becoming finishing’s all-purpose knife.
Colour Correction
According to Blackmagic Design, an unlimited number of OpenFX plug-ins can now be applied to each clip, as can "Power Windows", which can now be applied to every node in any quantity.
Anyone who likes Power Windows will appreciate the new "Gradient Power Window" and Power Window presets, which allow multiple windows to be linked. Tracking information can easily be exchanged between windows by copy and paste.
The following functions are restricted to the full version of Resolve (a link to the comparison list can be found below):
• Motion Effects Palette
• Chrominance Control for Spatial Noise Reduction
• Temporal Noise Reduction
• Motion Blur
• Keyframe Timeline metadata is now stored together with the Gallery Stills
There are also many further improvements to handling and operation, plus expanded and improved tools and functions.
Media Support and Finishing
Media support has also been revised, from the display, now with side-by-side audio waveform and VU display, to audio-video matching of dailies via timecode and Log ACES support, including Sony Slog2 IDT and Canon 500 IDT. You can read what this means in the DP issue focusing on "Grading", which appears on 29 May. Audio tracks are now visible in the timeline during delivery, JPEG2000 is supported for DCPs, further render-resolution templates are included, and anyone who already has an easyDCP licence can even connect it directly. More about easyDCP will appear in one of the next issues of Digital Production. You can find all features, old and new, from the manufacturer at: Resolve Compare
And for anyone who wants to see the demo and handling on video: the colleagues from FreshDV had a camera on site.
NAB 2013 – Davinci Resolve and Scopes from FreshDV on Vimeo.
