DaVinci Resolve 21.1.1 Adds Async APIs

For those who don’t know the tool: DaVinci Resolve is Blackmagic Design’s integrated application for editing, colour grading, visual effects, motion graphics and audio postproduction. Its Cut and Edit pages handle editorial work, Fusion provides compositing, and Fairlight handles sound. The desktop application is available for macOS, Windows and Linux in free and paid Studio editions.

The mouse gets a speaking part

DaVinci Resolve 21.1.1 gives editors more control inside the trim viewer and pipeline developers new ways to put the application to work. The additions span audio-only trimming, audible feedback during mouse edits, asynchronous scripting APIs and extra decoding support. Small version number, several useful new verbs.

The trim viewer can now edit audio-only clips, and mouse-based trim actions include audio previews. For dialogue editing, that puts the sound of an adjustment alongside the adjustment itself. A waveform is an excellent witness, but occasionally it helps to let it speak. Blackmagic’s announcement also describes a highlight identifying the side of the edit being adjusted.

Viewer actions now affect all selected edit points. That gives a single operation a wider reach when a group of edits needs attention. It also makes the selection worth a second glance: “all selected” is admirably literal software vocabulary, even when the selection was made before coffee.

Give the scripts a job

The 21.1.1 release notes add asynchronous APIs for Quick Export, transcription, scene cut detection, Smart Reframe and subtitle creation. These expose existing operations through new scripting options. For a pipeline developer, the interesting part is the ability to organise potentially lengthy jobs around asynchronous calls; asynchronous is a way of coordinating work, not a promise that the pixels have started running faster.

That makes completion handling part of the integration design. For example, a tool that requests transcription should establish when that job has finished before starting an operation that depends on the result. The release summary names the new API areas but leaves signatures and completion details. “Probably finished by now” remains a scheduling policy best reserved for the kettle.

Resolve Studio’s scripting support includes Python and Lua. ApplyGradeFromDRX also gains an option to apply changes to all node layers, giving grade-application scripts an explicit choice about the scope of the operation. When a saved grade is intended to travel across the complete layer structure, that is a useful instruction to give the software rather than a sentiment to express near it.

Two more things the decoder can read

The update adds CR3 RAW decoding for the EOS R8 Mark II and USAC audio decoding on Windows 11. The Windows qualification belongs specifically to the USAC addition, so an operating system capable of running Resolve does not automatically qualify for this particular new capability.

Both additions concern reading media. They do not announce matching export encoders, however much one might enjoy a pleasingly symmetrical feature table. For teams receiving these sources, the relevant question is whether Resolve can now decode the incoming material directly; the delivery specification remains a separate conversation.

Feet, frames and fewer interpretive arts

New data-burn options can show source feet and frames. That provides another way to put a source reference visibly onto the image for a review or handoff. “The bit just before the other bit” can keep its place in the creative discussion, while the reference copy carries something a little more reproducible.

DaVinci Resolve 21.1.1 is available from the Blackmagic Support Center as a free download; the Studio installer still requires a Studio licence dongle, software activation code or Blackmagic Cloud licence. For a new Studio purchase, the US product page lists US$295, with duties included and sales tax and shipping excluded. The free Resolve edition is a separate download.

Blackmagic distinguishes project-library access from individual-project compatibility: its Studio 21.1.1 notes retain library compatibility with Resolve 20.3.2, but projects created or opened in 21.1.1 cannot subsequently be opened in 20.3.2. Back up the full project library and the individual projects before migration. Test the update on representative production assets, effects and delivery settings before deploying it into active work.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve