For those who don’t know the tool: DaVinci Resolve is a page-based post suite for edit, grading, VFX, and audio, with collaboration via Blackmagic Cloud. The Studio edition adds higher end finishing and advanced features on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

What beta 2 actually adds

Blackmagic Design turns DaVinci Resolve 21 into a photo app

The Studio installer now includes additional software for remote monitoring, alongside utilities for hardware control panels. It also installs Blackmagic RAW Player and Blackmagic Proxy Generator into the applications folder. On the Photo page, Studio adds direct image capture via tethered cameras from Sony or Canon. Studio also enables using Resolve’s native AI toolset in this workflow, including AI IntelliSearch.

Also: The new Handbook with the new features and their explanations is online: Resolve_21_New_Features_Guide.pdf

Studio leans hard into AI

Studio adds AI IntelliSearch for searching people or objects, plus AI SlateFinder and AI SlateID for detecting slates and populating clip metadata. It also adds AI Speech Generator for turning written text into spoken voice, and AI CineFocus for refocus with bokeh and lens effects.

Studio also imporves AI Face Age Transformer, AI Face Reshaper, and AI Blemish Removal, plus AI UltraSharpen and AI Motion Deblur. Studio lists improved AI UltraNR quality for UHD and higher timelines, and this is where you should test early, because AI fixes can be brilliant right up to the frame where they are not.

Background work and heavier workflows

Studio adds background renders, quick exports and porxy generation, plus background analysis for transcription and audio classification. It also adds support for remote monitoring of Fusion previews, tying the workflow closer to real review patterns on set and in facilities.

For immersive and VR, Studio lists initial VR180 and VR360 standard immersive workflow support, viewing source clips as immersive or viewport, immersive transform controls, and deliver presets for Meta Quest and YouTube. Apple Immersive workflows add foveated rendering support.

Practical warnings, still the same rule

Resolve 21 aims to keep project libraries compatible with Resolve 20.3.2, but projects created or opened in 21 no longer open in 20.3.2. A full project library backup plus individual project backups stays the smart move before opening real jobs.

Pricing stays simple in the available info: the public beta is a free download, and DaVinci Resolve Studio is listed at $295. If you touch the Color page changes, keep your usual discipline: validate scopes, transforms, and deliverables in your own colro pipeline before you call anything production-ready.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/release/20260414-01

The post Blackmagic Design updates Resolve 21 beta 2 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

You’ve managed to get your footage into Resolve and create your first cut. But what if your project gets a little more complex? When recording Interviews with more than one camera, you’ll probably be looking for the easiest way to synchronise and edit your footage. For this reason, we’re going to take a look at working with timecode and multicam editing, as well as levelling your audio, refining your Clips, and adding Titles in Davinci Resolve Studio.

Previously in this series

1. Getting your bearings: Switching from Premiere to Resolve
2. Switching to Resolve: Your first cut
3. Switching to Resolve: Selects and assembly in Multicam editing
4. Switching to Resolve: Sharing and delivery

Working with timecode for your Interviews

When recording with multiple cameras, timecode is a useful tool for synchronising multiple recording devices for easier post-production. Even though they are popular, many cameras don’t support timecode recording. For this reason, it is possible to use external devices like Tentacle Syncs to record timecode via the camera’s audio input and store it on the audio track.

When opening files in Resolve, I usually like to scrub through footage to get a first impression. Recording timecode on the audio track is a mistake. Why? The time code on the audio track sounds horrible and loud! To fix this and get a usable timecode track, there’s an easy way. In the mediapool or mediapool panel, right-click on the clip, then navigate to Audio Sync and choose Update Timecode from Audio Track. This will update the video’s timecode to the one recorded on the audiotrack.

If you’re combining cameras that can record timecode with those that can’t, that’s no problem. Resolve supports embedded timecode as well as audio timecode.

Fixing interview audio channels

Now that we’ve got our time code right, it’s time to take a look at our clips’ audio. Often when working in a multicamera setup, I get multiple mono-audios from interviews recorded on one camera. Resolve might interpret these as a single stereotrack rather than individual mono-tracks. To fix this, right-click the Clip and select Clip Attributes. In the now open menu, go to Audio. To change your Stereo track into mono tracks, click on stereo at format and set it to mono, and when you want to set the source for that channel, choose the wanted audio at Source Channel.

To add a new track, choose your format below the top menu under Format, then set the number of tracks to add under Tracks. Then click Add. This can be configured like before.

Building Multicam: Two Ways to get started

After getting the audio settings right, it’s time to build the multicam edit. Resolve offers two options for setting up your multicam source timeline: manually or automatically. If you choose to set up the multicam source manually, it should be familiar to you if you’re switching from Premiere Pro. Start by creating a new Timeline and adding your footage with the different angles on different videotracks. To sync the footage, highlight it, then right-click and choose Auto Align Clips.

In the now-open window, choose whether to sync with timecode or waveform, then hit Sync.

Personally, I like to use option two: letting Resolve handle multicam creation for me. To do this, I like to set some metadata first. In the Media page, highlight all Clips from one camera angle and open the shot and scene Metadata from the Metadata Panel.

At Angle, define what to name your Camera Angle. To make your Multicam source more structured, do this for all your multicam camera angles. If you don’t want to name your Angles, you can skip this part, and the Angles will be named as the Clips.

When all your footage is correctly tagged, right-click the footage bin and choose Create multicam using selected Bin.

In the window that opens, choose whether to sync the angles by Timecode. To choose the angle name set before the Metadata Angle, choose Metadata – Angle from Angle Name. What I do like is the option ‘Detect clips from the same camera’. When you check this checkbox, Resolve will place clips from the same camera in a single videotrack instead of creating multiple tracks when working with multiple clips from the same camera.

With everything set to your liking, click Create to let Resolve automatically create your multicam source timeline.

Multicam editing basics

Now we’re ready to start editing. Firstly, create a new Timeline to edit your Interview into. When double-clicking the multicam source, it opens in the source viewer, just like a normal clip. You’ll notice that instead of one big image, you’ll see multiple angles, depending on the number of tracks in your source Timeline. When first opened in the Source Viewer, it will be set to Source Mode, which lets you use your insert methods as usual. By clicking on an angle, you can choose which one will be active when inserting into the Timeline.

Since this is only a first assembly, it’s normal that some of the angles need to be switched afterwards. To do so, you’ve got two options. If you do remember which camera is which angle, simply right-click on the clip in the timeline and choose Switch Multicam Clip Angle. It’s a quick way but doesn’t give you any visual information of the angle you’re choosing.

For this reason, I most times prefer to use option two: setting the source viewer to multicam mode. To do so, click on the filmstrip below the Source Viewer to open its menu. Choose Multicam from the appearing options. Now here comes the irritating part when switching from Premiere, since it’s exactly the opposite of what you’re used to: to switch the angle, use Alt / Opt + click on the new angle, to set a new cut, only click on the new angle.

When switching angles, I often want to stay with one audio track rather than switching between video and audio. This can be easily done by clicking on one of the matching icons below the source viewer: the film strip for just video, the musical notes for just audio and the combination for both. Once chosen, this will stay until you click on another option.

Lastly, I want to point out one feature I learned about way too late. Ever had the need to not just mark an individual point in your timeline but a whole duration? No problem. If you want to give a specific title to one part of your interview for fast editing, you can use a duration marker. For this, set an in-out range for the wanted duration, right-click and choose convert in and out to duration markers. Just like with usual markers, Name, Notes, Keywords and Colour can be added when double clicking on the marker.

Interview Trimmed Workflow: getting rid of gaps

The soundbites in the Timeline are only our starting point. To refine the interviews, you might want to eliminate some gaps. An easy way to do this is by using the waveform to identify gaps first and then simply cutting before and after the gap using the blade. The found gap can then be deleted using backspace.

A note: when using backspace, Resolve will leave the gap empty. If you want to ripple delete and let Resolve close the gap for you, you’ll need to use the delete key instead. You’re deleting lots of silence in the middle of clips and have lots of gaps? Try navigating to Edit in the top menu and choosing ” delete gaps to let Resolve close all the gaps for you.

If the gap is at the start or end of the clip, a quick way to remove it is to ripple. By hovering over the clip near an edit point, a ripple icon will appear, showing which side of the edit point will be rippled. Note that it makes a difference whether you’re in Selection Mode or Trim Edit Mode. When using the ripple in Selection Mode, it will leave a gap that you’ll need to close manually with the delete key if desired. When using ripple in Trim Edit mode, the clip will be shortened and the rest of the clips will move to close the gap.

If you like to replay your footage and combine this with deleting gaps, Trimming start and end with shortcuts could be the way for you: Simply play to the point the gap starts and press Shift + [ to Trim from the start of the clip to the playhead and  Shift + ] to trim from the playhead to the end of the clip. Note that Trim Start and Trim End will ripple if you are in Trim Edit Mode. If you want your gap closed directly in Selection Mode, you can use cmd or ctrl + shift + [ or ] to ripple trim the start or end. 

Making shortcuts work in Multicam

When deleting gaps, you might note that, depending on whether your keyboard has [] or not, these might need to be reassigned. When using some non-English keyboards, you might notice that certain shortcuts aren’t fully optimised yet. This will hopefully be improved soon. To assign the needed shortcuts, go to Davinci Resolve > Keyboard Customisation or press Ctrl/cmd + alt + K. You’ve now opened the space where you can see which Shortcuts are assigned and what operations are assignable.

Personally, I love this Window, since it also offers a visual way to explore existing and possible shortcuts. To assign the Trim Start to a shortcut, type Trim Start into the search field in the lower right. Enter the new shortcut after double-clicking on the existing keystroke. When the shortcut is already assigned to something else on the same page, Resolve will give you a warning before overwriting. To save your custom keyboard, go to the three-dotted menu in the top right and choose Save as new Preset.

Structuring the Timeline

With the cleaned-up Timeline, it’s usually a good point to make a backup of the work done until now. This can be done by duplicating the Timeline, just like in Premiere Pro. To do this, go to the Media Pool Panel and right-click on Timeline. Then choose Duplicate Timeline or copy and paste into the Media Pool Panel. Don’t forget to rename the timeline with an up-counting number to keep track.

Extra tip: When right-clicking the now-obsolete version, you can deactivate the timeline by clicking Deactivate Timeline. This will make sure it can not be opened until reactivated. I do like this option, since it prevents me from accidentally working in the wrong Timeline. Especially when working with multiple people in a shared project, this keeps us all from accidentally working in different versions. The Deactivated Timeline will be marked with a crossed-out eye symbol.

Opening the new Timeline, it’s probably a good idea to add some extra structure to make our lives easier in the future. One way to start is to colour-code parts of the interview differently, depending on their content. To change the colour of a clip in the Timeline, right-click the clip and select Clip Colour. From the opening submenu, choose a colour you like. If you like to work with colour coding you’ll be happy to hear that shortcuts can be assigned to all the colours in the Keyboard customisation window.

Sometimes it can also help to elevate powerful comments to higher video tracks. To do this without accidentally moving a clip some frames, use opt/alt + up or opt/alt + down to move a clip up or down a track.

Quick balancing Audio

It’s time to add some music. Most times, the added music is way louder than our current interview. The quick fix for this should be familiar to you when switching from Premiere Pro. Firstly, highlight all the interview clips in the Timeline. Then right-click on them and go to Normalize Audio Levels.

The now open menu gives you different options of Normalization Modes and the possibility to enter a Target Level of your choice. Important to note is the Set Level option. If you want to normalise multiple clips with an already constant audio level, Relative is the option you want to choose, since it analyses as if all the clips were one. If you want to bring clips with different starting levels to one target level, Independent would be the best choice.

Using Normalisation is a fast way to level the music and the interview to reach a good starting point. We’re going to take a look at some more advanced ways later.

Pulling B-roll into the interview timeline with Auto Track Selector

Since we can now see and hear our interview, it’s time to get some b-roll in, possibly without destroying everything established before. To do so it’s a good idea to lock the tracks we don’t want to be influenced by what we’re doing next. This can be done by clicking on the lock in the track header.

There are also other options for influencing which track is used when inserting footage. The track selector is the tool to define on which track the footage will be inserted. The blue rectangle represents the source clip and indicates which track is the one on which footage will be inserted in from the source viewer or media pool. If it is deactivated, it’s not possible to insert any footage. These are independent for audio and video.

Refining and Titles

Some added shots might need a bit of refinement. In addition to what we already looked at in the inspector in the last article, there’s one more feature you won’t find in Premiere Pro: Dynamic Zoom. When activated in the inspector, it will add motion to your clip by zooming between sets of frames. To define the start and end framing, open the drop-down menu in the bottom-left corner of the Timeline viewer and choose Dynamic zoom.

The start framing will be indicated by the green rectangle, and the end framing by the red rectangle. These can be moved and scaled freely, making not only easy zooming, but also panning possible really fast. To define whether the movement should be Linear or have ease in or out, go to the inspector and choose from the Dynamic Zoom dropdown menu. By default, it’s set to Linear. To change the direction of movement, use the Swap button.

If you want to add some speedraming, Resolve offers a Keyframe Editor, which can be found in the top-left corner near the Media Pool Panel. This offers the option to keyframe lots of parameters from Transformation, Cropping, Composite, Lense Correction and Speed and might look familiar to what you’re used to from Premiere Pro. Add keyframes by clicking on the keyframe symbol at the parameter you want to edit.

To change the Clip speed, go to the Inspector and set your speed at Speed Change. To visually see your speed ramp, click on the curve icon in the top left of the keyframe Editor. The Keyframes and changes are now shown in curves, which can be edited by clicking and dragging. If you want to add an ease in or out, click on one of the options at the top of the Panel to add handles, which then can be manually edited.

After all your visuals are set, it’s time to finish the audio. To add some dynamics, we can duck the music either manually with keyframes or using Resolve’s auto ducker. To add keyframes to our music, I start by increasing the audio track height. Keyframes can then be added either by Alt/Option + clicking on the line in the audio clip in the Timeline, like in Premiere Pro, or by clicking on the keyframe symbol in the inspector’s Audio tab at Volume, when the audio Clip is selected.

Alternatively, Resolve’s Ducker can be used. This can be found in the inspector as well, but only when the whole audio track is selected, since it can only be applied to the entire track. To do so, click on the music tracks header. In the Ducker menu, set the Source to whatever Track you want your music to duck to and define how much and how fast the ducker should attack.

Lastly, you might want to add a Title to your video. Resolve has various Title options available in the Effects panel. What I love about these: they can be live-previewed like clips and transitions before applying. Once added to the Timeline, Titles can be adjusted in the inspector like all other effects. Pro Tip for future editing: In addition to standard Titles, fusion Titles are available. These can be used as normal Titles, but can also be adjusted further in the fusion page if needed.

Your Video should now be ready for delivery. For tips on getting your video ready for different distribution platforms and rendering it fast and easily, stay tuned for the next article.

The post Switching to Resolve: Selects and Assembly in Multicam editing first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jana Johnston.

For those who don’t know the tool: Fusion Studio is a node-based compositor for VFX and motion graphics, living next to DaVinci Resolve and sharing its licensing universe, minus the timeline politics.

Motion graphics gets a bigger toolbox

Fusion Studio 21 adds support for Krokodove motion graphics effects, plus over 70 new motion graphics effects and tools. A new Macro Editor arrives with an inspector view and publishing to macros, aimed at making reusable tool setups less of a scavenger hunt.

Text tools also pick up practical upgrades. Text+ and MultiText add spell checking. Font handling expands with emoji and color fonts, plus a font browser for previewing and selecting fonts. MultiText adds improvements for position, pivot, alignment, and CSV import, and it gains double and triple click selection with drag selection, which should make dense text comps less like surgery with oven mitts.

Roughly a third into testing, expect your existing templates and macros to need a quick sanity pass, because new editors tend to surface old assumptions. That is normal. Test new tools before you trust them in production.

SPEEEEEEEEEED

Fusion 21 also leans harder into retiming with the SpeedWarp node SPDw. SpeedWarp is an AI powered retiming tool that analyzes motion between existing frames to construct new intermediate frames for smooth slow motion without stuttering. It uses DaVinci’s neural network and supposed to be good at reconstructing complex motion where traditional interpolation or frame blending would typically blur or distort.

HTML and JSON graphics walk right in

Fusion Studio 21 adds native support for OGraf HTML graphics and native support for Lottie animations. That combination targets a common pain point in broadcast and social deliverables: motion packages that need to travel cleanly between teams and machines without turning into a pile of fragile renders. And since there is always one more Typo, you want it to work quickly.

We need to talk about OGraf

The OGraf Standard is a web based broadcast graphics specification from the European Broadcasting Union. It targets graphics like lower thirds and over the shoulder elements, and it aims to make them deliverable and renderable across diverse platforms instead of being trapped inside closed vendor systems. The idea is modular graphics workflows where components can be mixed and matched, so teams can create a graphic once and render it on traditional broadcast outputs, digital platforms, web streams, and even inside video editing tools.

At the spec level, OGraf defines what a compliant graphic looks like and how a renderer should interpret it, so a graphic can be created once and used in multiple compatible renderers. A graphic must include a JSON manifest ending in dot ograf dot json plus a JavaScript file that exports the graphic as a Web Component, along with any resources like images, videos, and fonts. The spec also describes a typical workflow split into editor, controller, server, and renderer, and it explicitly allows those parts to come from different vendors rather than a single all in one stack.

That is excellent news for Fusion Studio users because it adds native support for OGraf HTML graphics, which turns this from a broadcast only niche into something you can pull directly into comp land without reinventing the pipeline.

If your shop already gets OGraf packages from a broadcast graphics team, or you need to hand off the same graphic logic across multiple renderers, native OGraf support means fewer bespoke conversion steps and less glue code that breaks at the worst possible time. It also gives Fusion users a more standardized on ramp for HTML graphics workflows, which is the kind of boring interoperability that saves hours.

USD and the 3D side of comps

Fusion Studio 21 updates its USD stack with support for USD SDK 25.11, including the Hydra 2.0 API for the Storm renderer. USD support expands to 3D matte objects and textures, plus a USD Texture Projector and Catcher. The USD Loader also gains global in and out controls. On the compositing side of 3D, the 3D Renderer adds support for Cryptomatte. Fusion Studio 21 also adds native support for creating Relief Maps.

There are also workflow improvements that focus on day-to-day graph hygiene. Fusion Studio 21 lets you change common inspector properties for multi-tool selections, and it can change common inspector values across all selected multi-tool layers. That should reduce the classic Fsuion ritual of clicking twelve nodes to change the same one value.

Deep, stereo, vectors, metadata, and lens work

Fusion Studio 21 adds multilayer support for stereoscopic 3D clips and deep images. Deep images gain color correction. Vector channel support is added for multilayer workflows.

Metadata handling gets more flexible: user defined metadata variables can be used in paths, expressions and scripts. Lens Distort adds checkerboard calibration and GPU acceleration.

Fusion Studio 21 also allows keyframes and spline views to open as a floating window, which is a small quality-of-life feature that tends to matter a lot once you animate all day.

Installer scope and the extra apps

Fusion Studio 21’s installer puts the core application on your system and also adds utilities for setting up hardware control panels. It also installs Blackmagic RAW Player and Blackmagic Proxy Generator into the applications folder. On macOS, installation runs via the Fusion Studio Installer icon, and removal uses the Uninstall Resolve icon. On Windows, uninstall goes through Programs and Features, selecting Fusion Studio and running Uninstall. On Linux, uninstall comes from choosing the uninstall option after running the installer.

Minimum system requirements to actually run it

The macOS minimum requires macOS 15 Sequoia or later, an Apple Silicon based computer, and 16 GB of system memory or 32 GB for improved performance. For monitoring, it lists Desktop Video 12.9 or later.

The Windows minimum requires Windows 10 Creators Update, 16 GB of system memory or 32 GB for improved performance, and a GPU with at least 4 GB of VRAM. It lists a GPU that supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.8, AMD and Intel official drivers from the GPU manufacturer, and an NVIDIA Studio Driver 570.65 or newer. For monitoring, it lists Desktop Video 12.9 or later.

For Windows on Arm, the minimum calls for Windows 11 for ARM on a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite series processor, with 16 GB of system memory or 32 GB for 4K.

On Linux, the minimum calls for Rocky Linux 8.6 and 32 GB of system memory, plus a discrete GPU with at least 4 GB of VRAM. It lists OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.8 support, AMD official drivers from the GPU manufacturer, and an NVIDIA Studio driver 570.26 or newer. For monitoring, it lists Desktop Video 12.9 or later.

Pricing and licensing reality check

Fusion Studio is listed at $295. As always, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production, preferably on a clone of the job, not the only copy of the job.

Link Citation Block

// Quoted info
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/compare
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support
https://www.komkomdoorn.com/krokodove/
https://ograf.ebu.io/
https://lottie.github.io/
https://openusd.org/
https://github.com/Psyop/Cryptomatte
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicraw
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicproxygenerator
https://www.apple.com/macos/
https://www.microsoft.com/windows
https://www.kernel.org/
https://www.khronos.org/opencl/
https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-zone
https://www.nvidia.com/download/index.aspx
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/mobile/snapdragon/pcs-and-tablets/snapdragon-x-elite
https://rockylinux.org/
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve

The post Fusion Studio 21 beta is here first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Blackmagic Camera turns an iPhone into a manual camera app that can feed directly into Resolve workflows, now with wrist control via Apple Watch on iOS. Or the other professional controllers you might have.

A wrist remote for phone rigs

Phone cameras already live in all the inconvenient places. High on a stand. Gaffer-taped to a car. Wedged into a tiny corner for a cheat shot. The update to Blackmagic Camera targets that exact pain point with a companion app for Apple Watch that can control and monitor the iPhone camera remotely.

The Watch companion focuses on practical set tasks. It can start and stop recording, show framing, and display audio levels. It also exposes key controls from the wrist, including exposure, focus, and LUT selection. The whole point is simple: keep all hands off the phone when a touch would wobble the shot, it is too far away, or the camera’s protection against the environment (Animals, Art Directors, the Public) is already in place. The Watch companion installs through the Watch app on the iPhone, and it pairs up as a remote control surface for the camera app. If you want to see it in action, have a look at this video from 9 to 5 Mac:

New hooks for studio style control

This update also adds support for ATEM camera control when you use Blackmagic Camera with ATEM workflows. That matters for anyone building iPhone based multicam setups that need consistent shading and control.

The same update adds support for Blackmagic Focus and Zoom demands when used with Blackmagic Camera ProDock. That pairs the app with physical lens style controls, aimed at a more traditional camera operating feel on a phone rig. Those demands already exist as hardware controls for compatible lenses in Blackmagic’s camera ecosystem. Here, they extend into the phone rig world when you connect through the ProDock.

HDMI portrait output and other workflow fixes

The App Store release notes for the current version list several production-facing additions and fixes beyond the Watch comanion.

The update adds support for full-screen portrait mode HDMI output. That targets vertical capture pipelines where you still want proper monitoring on external displays, without awkward letterboxing or UI clutter.

Pricing and availability

Blackmagic Camera on the App Store is free. Hardware mentioned in the update, including Blackmagic Camera ProDock, carries its own pricing and availability outside the app listing. But you know that, don’t you?

The boring advice that saves shoots

New features feel exciting right up until they meet real world constraints like wireless congestion, rigging compromises, heat, storage, and a director who wants the fifth take to roll instantly. Treat the companion like any other control surface: test it, rehearse it, and build a fallback plan before you rely on it in production.

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

The post Apple Watch control for the Blackmagic Camera? first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: DaVinci Resolve is an all-in-one post app with pages for Edit, Color, Fusion, and Fairlight. Version 21 adds a dedicated Photo page, so stills get the same node-based treatment as motion.

A platform update, not a party trick

DaVinci Resolve 21 lands as a broad update that touches media management, editing, colour, Fusion, Fairlight, and immersive delivery. The headline is not a single new transition or a one-button grade, but an expansion of what the application wants to be: a hub that can ingest, organise, finish all media – and now also treat still photography as a first-class citizen.

Resolve already built its reputation on page-based workflows that keep tools focused while staying inside one project. Version 21 leans further into that idea. The new pieces mostly aim to save time in real sessions: faster material finding, less metadata drudgery, tighter editorial control surfaces, clearer node management, and less timeline chaos as audio tracks multiply.

The Photo page puts stills on the same rails as grades

The most visible addition is the Photo page, integrated directly into the interface. It is not a tiny import dialogue or a bolt-on viewer. It is a dedicated workspace for photo management and image editing, tied into the same grading approach used for motion.

Photographs can be imported and managed as albums, with adjustments intended to preserve original source resolution and aspect ratio while reframing and cropping. A LightBox view shows an overview of an album with grades applied, and grades can update across the collection in real time as you work. Albums can also appear as timelines on other pages, keeping access consistent when you jump between tasks.

The Photo page also supports direct image capture through tethering for select cameras, with live capture saving directly into an album. Camera settings such as ISO, exposure, and white balance can be adjusted from within the application during capture. Collaboration extends into this photo workflow via Blackmagic Cloud, with album contents, metadata, tags, grades, and effects available for multiuser work.

AI search and analysis aim at real-world editorial pain.

Resolve 21 adds new AI-driven (Because of course, nothing these days without…) media tools built around analysis and retrieval. AI IntelliSearch is designed to search for people and content after media analysis, including individual faces, specific objects, and dialogue keywords. Results can appear as clips in the media pool, targeting faster clip organisation and faster assembly decisions when you already know what you need but cannot remember where it lives.

AI Speech Generator expands the AI toolset into synthetic voice creation. Written text can be transformed into spoken audio using prebuilt voice models or a custom voice created from a sample. A unique voice can be created from as little as a 10-second clip, and speed, pitch, and inflexion can be adjusted to shape multiple performances for voiceover or narration.

AI CineFocus targets focus and depth of field adjustments. A focal point can be defined by clicking, then aperture and focal range can be adjusted to change the depth of field. Controls include aperture shape and optical effects such as bokeh, and parameters can be keyframed for rack focus style moves.

Even more ML Tools

Additional AI tools in the release include Face Age Transformer, Face Reshaper, Blemish Removal, UltraSharpen, Motion Deblur, and Slate ID, which extracts slate clapperboard details into metadata fields. The slate tool is described as working even when clips are dark or out of focus, which is exactly where human assistants are usually dragged into data-entry duty.

All of this sounds like a lot, because it is. The practical question is whether it reduces the time spent hunting, tagging, and rebuilding context. That is the part worth testing on your own footage, in your own bin structure, with your own mix of accents, lighting, and, of course, the slate handwriting. New tools and innovations should always be tested before use in production.

Cut and Edit focus on friction, not reinvention.

The Cut and Edit pages get workflow refinements centred on keyframes, curves, and graphics handling. Keyframing updates include new ease animations with loop, pingpong, and relative modes, plus simultaneous adjustments to multiple clips. The curves editor adds a normalised zoom mode that scales curves to fill available vertical space, and four-point Bezier easing supports complex retiming.

Fusion effects can now be adjusted directly in the keyframes and curves editors on the Cut and Edit pages. That aims to keep motion graphics tweaks closer to editorial timing, instead of forcing constant page hopping for small parameter changes.

For titles and text, multi-language spell check is available, a font browser window allows previewing fonts, and text tools add support for colour fonts and emoji. Character-level styling allows different attributes within a single text box.

Graphics format support also expands with native handling for OGraf HTML graphics and Lottie animations. JSON and Lottie files can be dragged into the media pool and treated like rendered animation clips, with alpha channel recognition for compositing over video.

Some of these changes are quiet, almost boring. That is the point. They target the daily grind where small delays stack up into lost hours and extra coffee.

Colour tools add deliverables, logic, and node clarity

Resolve 21 adds tools meant for finishing multiple versions from one timeline. MultiMaster trim passes allow generating multiple trim deliverables from a single timeline. When enabled, additional layers appear in the node editor for trim operations, aiming at managing different output standards in one go.

The node editor also gains a layer list view that lists nodes in rows by count. The intent is a less-crowded interface and easier node-management actions, such as switching, locking, bypassing, and removing nodes. If you have ever stared at a dense node graph at 2 a m and wondered which branch you are about to break, that alone could be a quality of life win.

Group workflows also expand with group versions, allowing alternate looks to be compared within group-based grading. The scopes can be customised to display a chosen nit range for monitoring.

Magic Mask adds a render-in-place option to cache a tracked mask as a travelling matte node that links to the active node, enabling continued work with lighter processing.

Fusion gets Krokodove and a sharper macro workflow.w

Fusion in Resolve 21 adds the Krokodove toolset as an integrated collection of motion graphics and compositing tools, described as over 70 new graphics. The tools are intended to be editable starting points, so they can be customised and used as the basis for building your own looks.

If your team has been building internal macros for years, this is the kind of content library that can speed up onboarding and prototype work, as long as you still keep a consistent house style.

Macro building also gets an updated macro editor with interface improvements, a new inspector view, and support for publishing macros for immediate use.

Fusion connects more tightly to Fairlight through an Animator modifier that can drive animation based on audio analysis. Audio levels from timeline clips or media pool sources can drive parameters for animation.

Fusion also updates its USD toolset to support OpenUSD SDK 25.11 with the Hydra 2.0 API for the renderer, along with features such as 3D matte objects and textures, texture projector and catcher tools, and global in and out controls for the USD loader.

The result is a more connected motion graphics and VFX environment inside the same project that holds your edit and grade, without forcing a round trip through exports just to try a different lower third.

Fairlight organises the chaos with folder tracks.

Fairlight adds folder tracks for audio organisation. Tracks can be assigned to a folder and collapsed into a composite view, with mini rectangles representing folder contents, including number and duration of clips. Folders can be expanded back to individual tracks when detailed work is needed.

A mixer should not have to scroll for days just to find the one track somebody muted in the wrong place. This kind of structure also plays nicely with the reality of modern sessions where deliverables, versions, and language tracks multiply faster than anyone wants to admit. Anybody wants in on the bet when Connected Conform gets re-invented?

Immersive delivery keeps getting attention.

Resolve 21 continues immersive workflow development with VR180 and VR36, delivering presets for Meta Quest and YouTube. Immersive orientation can be handled using spherical Panomap rotation with pitch, tilt, pan, yaw, and roll adjustments. ILPD retargeting data can be applied in Fusion for stereoscopic handling and compositing.

Apple Immersive workflows add support for foveated rendering for improved playback and viewer experience on Apple Vision Pro. If your shop lives entirely in flat frames, you can ignore this. If you deliver immersive content, having presets and orientation tools inside the same project beats stitching together a toolchain of specialised “utilities”.

A few more practical add-ons

Resolve 21 adds a Picture-in-Picture effect that lets you quickly resize and position a clip over another clip as a floating frame, with adjustable parameters such as size, placement, frame rounding, and drop shadow. This fits nicely with “Fast turnaround” YouTube / podcast productions, or if you want to record a tutorial – maybe about this tool in Resolve, for maximum recursion?

IntelliScript expands screenplay import support for Final Draft and plain text formats, creating a cut by comparing script text to transcribed audio, then allowing refinements with standard editing tools.

Metadata handling improves with star ratings and tagging (useful for photos), plus new media pool columns to expose those fields for filtering takes.

Availability and pricing

DaVinci Resolve 21 is available as a public beta now. The software is offered as a free download, and DaVinci Resolve Studio is listed at $295.

Resolve 21 is big enough that you should treat it like any major platform. Shift: install it alongside your stable version, throw real projects at it, and see where it helps and where it still trips over the weird corners of your projects. It is easy to get distracted by confusing AI features and shiny new pages, but the real win is whether the day-to-day work gets smoother.

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

The post Blackmagic Design turns DaVinci Resolve 21 into a photo app first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.