Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve now with customisable voices!

In nuce: Blackmagic Design has today released updates to its Fusion compositing software and DaVinci Resolve all-in-one editing, slash colour grading and slash tool. This can be seen in the corresponding announcement on blackmagicdesign.com, in which DaVinciResolve Studio 18.1 and Fusion Studio 18.1 are announced.

The new features: The most eye-catching new features that have been added relate primarily to DaVinci; more specifically, the output of content tailored to the needs of social media and streaming platforms; an individual timeline lock that allows multiple editors to work on different timelines within the same bin at the same time and – the new feature that is likely to attract the most user interest – the new Voice Isolation and Dialogue Leveler functions are noteworthy. They can be used to isolate voices and adjust their volume in relation to each other – automatically, without manual keyframing.

What’s new in DaVinci Resolve 18.1

In toto: The new functions of DaVinciResolve Studio 18.1 at a glance (the half-hour video above takes you through the new functions using practical examples).

• Voice Isolation Tool: This new function is based on a neural engine that isolates human voices. The video uses various disturbing background noises as examples to show how a voice can be freed from these. In the example, a cheering audience, a rattling helicopter, an explosion and traffic noise are removed. A slider can be used to adjust how much background noise is faded in or out. Voice Isolation can be selected via the Edit Page, Cut Page or the Failight Mixer.
• Dialogue Leveler (dialogue leveller): This makes it possible, for example, to improve the dialogue section of a film. A scenario in which two people are talking to each other is conceivable – but the audio recording of one person is noticeably quieter than that of the other. Or a podcast interview in which the audio of the other person is clearly too loud; Dialogue Leveler cuts off the peaks here. This should eliminate the need to manually edit such critical audio via keyframing. Just like Voice Isolation, Dialogue Leveler can be controlled via Edit Page and Cut Page.

  

• One of Blackmagic’s flagship features of DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.1 is the ability to edit in either vertical or square aspect ratio – ideal for preparing content for social networks such as Twitter, TickTock or Snapchat. There are also new default project settings that are geared towards vertical and square aspect ratios. By clicking on the three-dot menu, it is possible to define a selected aspect ratio as the default setting. After clicking on the three-dot menu, a drop-down menu opens where the option “Set Current Settings as Default Preset…” can be selected.

  

  

• New option for the deliver page: Appropriate templates are offered for extracting content for YouTube, Vimeo or other video platforms – the same templates can be customised again (for example in terms of resolution, frame rate or video codec). In addition, a customised thumbnail can be defined for YouTube videos to be uploaded, for example.

  

• Support for individual timeline locks: This function should make collaboration much easier. This makes it possible to lock only the timeline in which you are currently working. This means that editors can now work on different timelines – as the video says – even though the different timelines are located in the same bin. This eliminates the need to place the different timelines in different bins – if several editors are working together. If required, it is still possible to lock an entire bin.
• Vector-based keyframes: According to our colleague Rudi Schmidts from slashcam.de, these functions have been sorely missed until now. Vector-based keyframes can be used to define transitions between two keyframes using Bezier curves. As Rudi writes, this should lead to clearly natural-looking transitions – especially in contrast to the comparatively inferior results that a linear change would offer.

In toto: The new functions of Blackmagic Fusion Studio 18 at a glance.

• Support for Magic Mask
• Up to 10x faster text playback and rendering performance
• Fusion nodes can now be searched by common keywords and categories
• Faster Fusion VariBlur with GPU acceleration
• Faster Fusion FilmGrain with GPU acceleration
• Support for ARRI LogC4 and ARRI Wide Gamut 4

Click further: All other features of DaVinciResolve Studio 18.1 and Fusion Studio 18.1 can be viewed at blackmagicdesign.com (Usage note: Scroll down the page until the box with the header for “Latest Downloads”, “Latest Support Nodes” and “Latest News” appears. Under “Latest Downloads” there are corresponding entries for the releases – click on “Read more” to view the lists with the new features). The lead image for this news item was taken from the linked video at minute 19:40.

Sources: blackmagicdesign.com ( news about DaVinci Resolve and Fusion), slashcam.com ( news from Rudi Schmidts)