Even if you really want to, you have your workflow and rarely have the time to really get to know the new software. In the end, I was tired of getting slowed down by a constantly crashing software and not being able to render without artefacts. I thought the time spent on these issues with Premiere would have been better spent switching, especially since I was already colour grading in Davinci Resolve. To make the transition easier, here are some tips for switching from Premiere Pro to Davinci Resolve so you can get started as quickly and efficiently as possible:

Project Manager: Wait, where did I save my project?

One big difference between Davinci Resolve and Premiere Pro is how projects are managed. For this, the first thing you will see when opening the software is the Project Manager. This is the place to create and manage your projects. I’m honest: when switching, that was something that needed some time to adapt to, but it’s worth it.

While Premiere Pro projects are saved as files where you decide where, Davinci Resolve works with managed Libraries. These are structured containers that serve as a central repository for all project data. Libraries are managed via the Project Manager and can be hosted on your computer, on a networked server or in the Blackmagic Cloud. To switch between the three options, simply click on the one you choose in the top left corner of the Project Manager.

If you tend to make copies of your project on your computer to keep backups, this will change your workflow. But we’ll take a look at that later. For now, it’s important to know that projects saved in your active project library can easily be exported to your hard drive as a .drp file for a manual backup or transfer to another system. To export your project, right-click it and choose export.

Libraries come with some advantages. My favourite one: multiuser collaboration. I can’t describe how useful this is! Editors, colourists, VFX artists and sound engineers – everybody can work with the same project file on different workstations. Even at the same time, in the same timeline. Brilliant and timesaving.

Also speeding me up: powerbins. These are useful when working with media I use in multiple projects. They make media easily accessible across different projects, as long as it is in the same Project Library.  

Pages: Where do I start?

When switching from Premiere Pro, you’ll probably be used to using Dynamic Linking to get your edit into Audition, After Effects and Media Encoder to complete your postproduction process. In Resolve, this is what the Pages are for.

These follow the typical postproduction process from ingest to delivery, which provides a great advantage: you can have your whole postproduction in just one software. No exporting timelines for audio postproduction, visual effects or colour and no translation issues between software. There’s no need to manage multiple project files or export assets to get them from one project into another. Changes made in one page are instantly accessible in others, and you can quickly go back and forth as needed to change things.

I think to start, it’s important to say: Most things can be achieved in the Edit Page. Don’t get scared away by the masses of pages and functions! There are different ways to achieve your goal when editing, and you will get around very well, mostly by starting in Edit Page. Lots of functions from other pages are also available there. If you like, you can even turn off pages you don’t want to use in the preferences. To still give you a bit of orientation, here’s a quick overview of what the different pages are for:

The Media Page is for ingesting and organising. Right next to it we find the Cut page, which is an editing interface designed for speed. In the Edit Page, we have the traditional editing interface, which should be very familiar to you, coming from Premiere Pro. Quite different from After Effects is Fusion, the node-based workspace for compositing and VFX. The Colorpage – quite self-explanatory – is made for colour grading. Fairlight is the page where you can mix and master your audio after editing to then, finally, render your video out in the Deliver Page.

Interface basics: Where to find what you need

It will probably need some time for you to adapt to what’s different. One of the things that took me a while to get used to was the fixed panel places. While we’re used to being able to move everything around freely in Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve allows only view windows to pop out and be moved freely throughout all pages. But once I adapted, it made total sense where everything is.

In the Edit Page, one big part of the window is the timeline in the lower part of the screen. Above that, we’ve got the source viewer and timeline viewer. Note: When your screen is too small or your screen resolution is too low, you might only see one viewer. Don’t worry, you can easily switch between those pressing Q.

In the Edit Page there are nine panels you can open and close by clicking their buttons located in the upper part of the screen. The ones on the upper left side will then open on the left and vice versa. The Media Pool on the upper left will give you fast access to your footage. It’s the same Media Pool as in the Media Page which we’ll look at later. The Effects panel, the index, and the mixer should be intuitive when switching from Premiere, though the feature I love most in the panels is the Inspector on the upper left side.

It could be compared to the effects controls in Premiere but has basic effects like crop already integrated, as well as more advanced effects like stabilisation, speed change, retime, and scaling.

Even though most panels are fixed, you can give yourself some more space by closing the panels you don’t need. Depending on whether you have opened multiple panels from both sides or not, they can be full-screen height or half-screen height. Accidentally messed up your UI? Don’t worry. You can quickly reset your UI layout in the menu Workspace > Reset UI Layout.

You’ll find dual-screen mode, full-screen Timeline, and, using Resolve Studio, permanent full-screen video out in the same menu.

Live Save and Project Backups

When working in Premiere Pro I often feared software crashes. I tried to save after every single thing I did because autosaving just didn’t cut it. Davinci Resolves Auto Save, which is called Live Save, is on a completely different level. I never fear that something is gone! I’ve got way fewer issues with the software crashing, but if it does, I know that what I did last will be there.

To restore the backups, right-click the project in the Project Manager. This won’t overwrite the current project version you’re working in. If you’re used to copying your Premiere Pro Sequence to revert to an earlier version of your edit, you may like to check out the Timeline backup function. It works just like Project Backups and can be activated and customised in the same spot. To restore a Timeline Backup, right-click on the timeline in either the media panel or Media Page. Just note: Timeline Backups will be stored locally, even when working on Network or Cloud Libraries, so they will only be accessible on the system where they were created.

Media Page: Import and Media Organisation

The one time I’d highly recommend switching pages is when importing media into your project. Even though it is possible to import media on all pages except Deliver, the Media Page offers many options for importing and managing your media.

The Media Page is split into Media Storage and Media Pool. The upper-left is Media Storage, which might be familiar to you if you used the Media Browser in Premiere Pro. It’s effectively a file browser for finding or exploring files on drives mounted on your computer. What I find very useful about this: you can quickly review or check footage in the viewer in the top-right corner of your screen, even without importing. A little extra: hovering over the footage lets you scrub through and preview without loading a clip into the viewer.

The lower part of the screen is your Media Pool – the project-specific repository for all the assets you’re importing or creating in Resolve, like footage, audio files, timelines, etc. On the left side, you’ll find the current projects bin list with the master bin. It’s the top level of your projects’ folder structure where all the other bins containing your project’s footage are listed. The right side shows the inside of the currently opened bin.

To get your footage into Resolve, simply drag and drop it from Media Storage, Finder, or Explorer into the Media Pool. If doing so on the Media Storage Bin list, the folder structure will be translated into the bin structure of your project. When adding to the right side, all the footage will be unpacked into the current bin

But there are other import options that let you stay in Resolve, leading to the same results: when you navigate to your folder in the Media Storage and right-click it, you’ll see the option to import your footage folder and all its subfolders into the current bin. This I find useful when working e.g., with Sony in camera folder structures, where you don’t want all the extra bins. Alternatively, you can choose “add folder and Sub folders into Media Pool (creating bins)” to get your complete folder structure as sub bins in the current bin. This is helpful if you already have your folders sorted out on your hard drive and want to copy the structure into Resolve.

Ways to create and work with proxies

Depending on the footage you’re working on, you might want to render some proxies. This is one particularly strong thing in Resolve and speeds me up quite a bit. You’ve got two options: if you’ve already set up your project and imported your footage, it’s super easy to create proxies by right-clicking on some highlighted footage and choosing proxie media > generate proxy media from the project settings.

In this case, it will automatically create proxies for the highlighted clips and save them in the location that is set in the project settings > master setting when scrolling down to working folders.

The Quality of the proxies can be defined in the same menu at optimised media and render cash. The proxy resolution is defined in relation to the original resolution. Possibilities are, for example: original, half of the original, a quarter of the original, etc. By default, it’s set to “choose automatically”, which will generate at the current set timeline resolution. When working with proxies, you can switch fast between disabling All proxies, preferring proxies and preferring camera originals, in the Timeline viewer.

You can also see whether proxies are attached by the white (for high-resolution) or purple (for proxies) icon on your clip, which will be visible in the thumbnail of your clip in the media pool.

If you really want to speed up your preparation process in advance, you should look into the Blackmagic Proxy Generator, an external tool which will automatically be installed with Davinci Resolve. It gives you the opportunity to render proxies in advance, without even having to get your project set up before. The proxies will then automatically be attached when importing the footage into a project.

This process will ensure you can go straight into editing when setting up your project. The strongest part of this tool is the watch folder function, which continues to scan your chosen folders for additional footage even after generating proxies. Very useful when you keep adding footage to folders you’re already working with.

Organising footage with scene metadata and smart bins

After you’ve added everything to your bins, it’s time to organise your footage. With Premiere Pro, I used to either restructure footage directly in bins, which made everything messy quite quickly, or sort my footage into sequences. In Resolve, I recommend using the scene metadata and smart bins. I know that Premiere Pro also lets you create smart bins using metadata, but it wasn’t intuitive enough for me to use back then. Resolve on the other side makes it super easy:

On the Media Page, click one clip or highlight multiple, then navigate to the top-right to close the audio panel. This will give your open Metadata panel more space. Choose “shot and scene” from the three-dotted menu. There, you’ve got lots of options to set metadata. One thing I like to use in this context is Clip colour, since it gives me an easy way to differentiate between different footage, for example, interviews with different people. Other than that, you can set metadata and let Davinci Resolve create smart bins based on it. For a start, I’d recommend you use Keywords. To do so, enter a Keyword you want to sort your footage by into the Keyword cell.

Then navigate to the bottom-left of your screen to find the Smart Bin List. By default, there should be a bin for Keywords. Davinci Resolve automatically generates one smart bin for every keyword you set before. By clicking on ‘Keywords’, a menu with all the smart bins will open.

Personally, I love this feature because it lets me keep my original folder structure while allowing me to sort my footage more intuitively. It also allows me to have the same clip in different bins, e.g., for location and person, which speeds up my process. With all this said, you should have everything you need to make your first steps in the software. Next up: how to get your Project Settings and Timeline right to start your first edit in Davini Resolve.

The post Getting your bearings: Switching from Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jana Johnston.

Blackmagic Design has released Blackmagic Camera 3.0 for iOS and Android. The update introduces a feature users have been requesting since launch: the ability to sync and copy clips from remote phones back to a controller device. For productions that rely on multiple phones (for live events, social content, or indie filmmaking) this reduces both errors and time spent on data wrangling in post.

Until now, the app could act as a controller for other devices: previewing live feeds, changing settings remotely, and starting or stopping recordings. What was missing was media consolidation. Version 3.0 closes that gap by allowing the controller to pull down finished clips automatically, ensuring all material ends up on one device without additional transfers.

Remote Syncing: How It Works

The system runs over Wi-Fi, with one device acting as a controller and others set as clients. After recording, clients upload clips back to the controller. Each synced clip carries its metadata and timecode, allowing immediate conform in DaVinci Resolve or via Blackmagic Cloud. Blackmagic positions it as the core of the 3.0 release, making smartphones more viable for professional, multi-cam acquisition.

Live Streaming Direct from the App

The Android release notes also confirm native live streaming to YouTube, Vimeo and Twitch. For content creators, this is less about cinematic capture and more about direct delivery pipelines. Still, the ability to push high-quality video out in real time has obvious use cases for production teams working on fast-turnaround projects.

Faster Navigation: Swipes and Function Buttons

Version 3.0 revamps navigation with two simple gestures, which we had to seriously tone our Tinder-jokes down for (You are reading version 4 of this news, and no, we are not adults. At all.)

• Swipe left for immediate access to picture presets, slate controls and core camera settings.
• Swipe right for three user-programmable function buttons.

Expanded Control Set

The update also extends existing controls across both platforms:

• LUT handling has been refined, improving both monitoring and baked-in recording workflows.
• Lens and zoom control has been reworked.
• Frame rate settings now cover off-speed shooting and time-lapse capture.
• A new camera light control allows direct adjustment of device lighting hardware.
• Vertical multi-view support improves monitoring when working in portrait orientation, aligning with social-first shooting.

iOS-Specific Additions

The iOS release goes further with an extensive set of refinements:

• Toolbar reorganisation for faster access.
• Single-lens dolly zoom control.
• Expanded FPS options beyond standard ranges.
• HUD enhancements including histogram expansion and live LUT switching (Apple Log, Rec.709, Rec.2020, P3 D65).
• Recording in open-gate mode, with support for 2.0 anamorphic de-squeeze.
• Auto exposure when using automatic mode.

Blackmagic Camera in Context

The update sits within the broader architecture of Blackmagic Camera. At its core, the app is designed to give smartphones a digital film camera interface, complete with heads-up display (HUD) and touch-driven controls for ISO, shutter, white balance, resolution and frame rate.

Recording can be done locally on the device, to external storage via supported accessories, or directly to Blackmagic Cloud. The app includes media management, metadata entry, chat, and integration with DaVinci Resolve project libraries, making it more than just a capture tool. With version 3.0, the gap between acquisition and edit has narrowed further: remote clip syncing reduces ingest time, while Blackmagic Cloud upload pushes material directly into a Resolve timeline for collaborative editing.

Pro Workflows: LUTs, Metadata and Timecode

Professionals will note that the update builds on existing LUT management. LUTs can be loaded for monitoring or burned into the recording. With iOS 3.0, histogram displays can now expand to fill the preview, giving a more accurate look at exposure.

Metadata entry via the slate remains central to the workflow: users can define project, scene, take and notes on-set, with data carrying into Resolve bins. Timecode support with external Bluetooth sync devices continues to make multi-camera shoots viable, now with the addition of automatic media transfer.

Accessories and Expansion

While version 3.0 is primarily a software update, it interacts directly with supported hardware like the Blackmagic Camera ProDock. For productions needing HDMI output, genlock, timecode, or professional audio I/O, the ProDock provides the physical expansion missing from phones. At US$ 325, it’s positioned as the bridge between casual smartphone capture and professional rigs.

Testing Before Deployment

While the features are clear in official documentation, teams should test the update in-house before using it on critical productions. Remote syncing and live streaming are particularly sensitive to network stability and device limitations, which vary across iOS and Android hardware.

The post Blackmagic Camera 3.0: Remote Clip Syncing and Multi-Cam Control Arrive on Smartphones first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Every collaboration begins with the exchange of media. DaVinci Resolve supports this with a proxy workflow, which has been supplemented with an external proxy generator in version 18. In this article, we look at the entire collaboration process – from media exchange to joint work with editing, VFX, colour correction and audio.

Application scenarios

Blackmagic Cloud can be used in a wide range of different application scenarios. Here are three examples with increasing complexity:

Example 1: Solo operator with multiple workstations
If I have one computer in the studio and a second at home or mobile, I can continue working on cloud projects from any workstation without interruption. I don’t have to worry about project import/export or any special IT infrastructure.

Example 2: Outsourcing video editing based on proxies
An external video editor handles the editing independently, based on proxy media that can be quickly shared online. If required, I can open the project read-only and view the current status without intervening. Once the edit is complete, I take over the project, make corrections in the timeline myself as required or do the colour correction based on the original files. Blackmagic Cloud guarantees that I am working on the latest version of the project. No export/import of project files and no confusion with version numbers.

Example 3: Comprehensive multi-user collaboration
During a shoot lasting several days, media is added to a DaVinci Resolve project on a daily basis. Clips are pre-sorted into bins on set and initial metadata is entered manually or via CSV upload. Dailies are created from the project or reviewed directly in Resolve. Proxies are created and automatically synchronised overnight with a cloud service. An editor working remotely starts editing in parallel based on the proxies. It uses the created bins and metadata for orientation. Towards the end of the cut, VFX artists, colourists and sound mixers come on board and work completely in parallel on the original media. If necessary, several VFX artists or colourists work simultaneously on different shots in the timeline. The progress can be viewed live by everyone.

Requirement for network or cloud storage

DaVinci Resolve is agnostic towards the storage solution used. Blackmagic Cloud does not change this. This means that how I store and transfer my media is up to me. From cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive, etc.) to the classic in-house FTP server to the hard drive in the package dispatch, everything is possible – and (as soon as the data is available) has practically no influence on further work.
Blackmagic Design now offers its own storage solutions under the Cloud Store or Cloud Pod. These are on-site network storage solutions with a built-in option for synchronisation via external cloud services. Google Cloud and Dropbox are currently supported. For a more detailed look, see also the article “Teamwork in Resolve 18” by Prof. Uli Plank, which can be found on p. 40 of DP 05:22.

For this article, I carried out tests with the smallest version, the Cloud Pod, to see whether a storage solution from Blackmagic Design brings fundamental advantages to the workflow. This is only partially the case. The device’s internal integration with Dropbox and Google Drive allows media synchronisation without a computer. Anyone who uses these services and wants to synchronise overnight when the computer is switched off will welcome this.

However, this is also possible with storage solutions from other providers. One advantage of the Blackmagic Design solution is that proxies created with the Blackmagic Design Proxy Generator are automatically recognised. These proxies are transferred with priority or synchronisation can also be restricted to proxies only. However, the Proxy Generator is not the best solution for every workflow and a restriction to proxy media is not always sufficient, as we will see below.

Proxy workflow with generator

Despite a broadband connection, sending large quantities of video material is often difficult. Very often, however, the exchange of smaller proxy files is initially sufficient for editing. Original media is later used for VFX and colour correction and only for the material actually used.

Proxy media can be created in various ways in Resolve or externally. Blackmagic Design automatically includes the Blackmagic Proxy Generator with DaVinci Resolve 18. This is a simplified tool for proxy creation with few configuration options. The user selects one or more watch folders for the original media. One of the preset 1080p proxy formats is then selected. Under Windows, two H.264 and one H.265 preset are currently available – under Mac, there is also a ProRes variant.

There are no further setting options. Click on Start and the tool creates proxy files for all videos in the folders and subfolders listed under Watch Folder. As long as the tool is running, it continues to monitor the folders and new videos that are added are automatically picked up. This makes the Proxy Generator very easy to use and it can also run in the background or even on several computers in the network in parallel. For parallel proxy creation with several computers, it is sufficient if they all have access to the same network storage. No further configuration is required. The app is simple and robust, but also not very flexible. One of the main problems is the storage location of the proxies. These end up in “proxy” subfolders of the original folder structure.

This allows DaVinci Resolve to automatically recognise the proxies and make them available in Resolve without additional linking. However, it also means that additional files end up in the original folder structure, which are handled differently from the point of view of backup, archive and online synchronisation with cloud services. Users of the Blackmagic Cloud Store or Cloud Pods have an advantage in the last point. In the settings for synchronisation with the cloud, synchronisation can be restricted to proxy media.

Otherwise, the proxy generator only offers the option of exporting the proxies after stopping the proxy creation. This creates a copy of all proxies from the watch folders in a different location. The original proxies can then be deleted using Delete Proxies. However, if video files are to be added continuously and proxies are to be created repeatedly, this procedure is hardly suitable. Previously exported proxies are copied again (or overwritten) when exporting a second time. Deleted proxies are recreated as soon as the generator is restarted on the same watch folder.

If you still want to use the proxy generator in this situation, you must either manually fish out the proxy subfolders in the file system and copy them yourself or create new folders each time you add new media – and create separate watch folders. There is another catch to mixing proxy files and original media: other files often have to be passed on for collaboration in addition to proxy videos. For example, graphics, photos or separate audio recordings. Even with the Blackmagic Cloud Store, I have to separate these files from the original data in the file path or copy them out in order to be able to transfer them with the proxies but without the original videos.

So it seems logical to create the proxies and any copies of other files in a separate folder right from the start. This folder does not require a backup, can be shared in any way and can be deleted without hesitation once the collaboration has ended.

Proxy workflow within DaVinci Resolve

The proxy workflow within DaVinci Resolve makes exactly this possible. In the project settings, I can set both the format and the resolution of the proxies in the “Master Settings” under “Optimised Media and Render Cache”. All ProRes variants are also available here under Mac and the comparable DNxHR options under Windows. Under the “Working Folders” I can determine the storage location for the
Proxies and, for example, specify a folder here that is synchronised with my preferred cloud solution. I then select all the clips in the media pool for which proxies are to be created and can start the generation by right-clicking “Generate Proxy Media”.

Working with proxies

If I have created proxies using one of the above methods, they are immediately available in DaVinci Resolve. If I have created proxies externally, I must then link them in Resolve. To do this, I select all the media in the Media Pool for which proxies are available and right-click on “Relink Proxy Media”.
Once the proxies have been linked in the project, they are also available to all employees in the cloud project, provided the files have been exchanged and the path mapping has been taken into account (see left). I can see which proxies are available via the List View in the Media Pool. The “Proxy” column shows the resolution of the linked proxy file or “None” if there is no proxy. The “Proxy Media Path” column points to the file on the hard drive. (I can configure the column display by right-clicking on the title bar of the List View). Proxies can be necessary, helpful or undesirable in different phases of the project. In DaVinci Resolve, I can choose between three options under “Playback -> Proxy Handling”:

i select “Disable All Proxies” when I need to be absolutely sure that I am working with the best quality, for example during colour grading or before final rendering. If original files are missing at that time, the corresponding clips are displayed with “Media Offline” and are therefore easily recognisable.

“Prefer Proxys” is recommended for editing if the computer is not powerful enough to work smoothly with the originals.

“Prefer Camera Originals” is particularly helpful if original data arrives with a delay in the remote collaboration. This allows me to start working based on proxies while the original data is being downloaded in the background. As soon as new clips are available in the original, Resolve automatically switches to the original during the next playback.

When proxies are active, Resolve indicates that proxies are being used with a small preview icon in the timeline, in the Media Pool and in the clips bar (Colour, Fusion).

Set up cloud project

Firstly, all project members set up a free account at cloud.blackmagicdesign.com. The accounts remain free of charge and do not require any means of payment. Only the creation of a project library is subject to a fee and is currently charged at USD 5 per month.

Project Library

After logging into the Blackmagic Cloud in the browser, I select “Project Server”. Project Libraries are now created and managed here. A project library in Resolve is a database in which projects are created or loaded. This can be any number of Resolve projects, but it should be noted that only the entire library can be shared in a cloud library and there are no access restrictions within the library. The number of users is also currently limited to 10. A single library should be sufficient for most users. However, if you want to work in parallel with different teams on different projects, you may need several libraries to separate the projects and teams. Libraries can be deactivated at any time (even temporarily); in this case, the remaining monthly credit will be credited.

The Project Library can only be registered and created via the web browser. However, I can also log in directly from the Resolve Project Manager under “Cloud” and manage, share and add projects to the library from there. If necessary, I can use the “Show/Hide Project Libraries” button to expand the Project Libraries on the left. Clicking on “Details” shows details about the library and gives me the option of inviting other employees via “Share”. To share, I only need the e-mail address with which the employee has previously registered. The members of the library receive an email notification and can now also access the library via their Resolve Project Manager.

Cloud Project

A cloud project is essentially nothing more than a regular DaVinci Resolve project that is stored in a cloud library for synchronisation purposes. It can be exported and copied in the same way as other projects. This makes it easy to move a project from “Local” to “Cloud” or vice versa. For example, I can create a project locally and only move it to the cloud later for collaboration. To do this, I select the project under “Local”, click on the “Copy Project to” button – and select the Cloud Library in the dialogue.
Once the collaboration is finished, I copy the project back and can remove the Cloud Library without hesitation – and save the monthly fee. Alternatively, I can also continue to use a library for completely different projects by removing completed projects from the library and then removing or adding members according to new project requirements.

Working in the cloud project: Relinking and path mapping

When working locally, as well as in the cloud, DaVinci Resolve must have linked the media used in the project. This means that Resolve knows the corresponding file path for each clip in the media pool. When new projects are loaded or file paths change, media initially appears as “Media Offline” and can be reassigned by clicking on “Relink Media”. The same procedure now also works in the cloud, but local paths are now created for each user in the path mapping. In our tests, this has always worked without any problems, but we have received isolated reports of problems with proxies. If there is a problem, we recommend the following:

Initially, we limit ourselves to a few “main folders”. For example, a “Media” folder and a “Proxies” folder and agree within the team that the substructure below these main folders will never be changed when exchanging data. This means that a file “Media/Videos/Landscape/0001.mov” also ends up on all computers under the same sub-path of the “Media” folder (i.e. “/Videos/Landscape/”) as soon as it is downloaded.

In the project manager under “Path Mapping” we should now find exactly this “main folder” with the corresponding local path. If something goes wrong, we can change the local paths here again. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can switch off the automatic linking from the start. In this case, I add my “main folders” via “Add” on the computer on which I created the project. I then ask all employees to enter the local paths via “Browse”. The “Relink Media” function is not required.

Not all media must be available when creating the paths. If the data exchange has not yet been completed, media that are not available remain offline until they are available in the paths specified in the path mapping. In this way, an employee can start with the existing media or proxies – and recognise in the media bin as soon as further clips become available.

Single User Project

Regardless of whether I copy an existing project to the cloud or create a new project there via “New Project”: In both cases, the project initially starts as a single user project. This means that it can only be edited by one person at a time. All members of the library have access to the project, but only the first employee who regularly opens the project has write access. If the project is already being edited by another member, a lock symbol appears and the project can only be opened read-only.

If team members are not working on the project in parallel, the single user project has advantages. Everyone has access to the current status at all times if required; there is no risk of versions getting mixed up during handover. At the same time, the person working on the project has full access – and the certainty that no one will change anything in the meantime.

Multi-user collaboration

For closer collaboration, the project can be released for editing by all team members via “File -> Multi User Collaboration” while it is being edited. From now on, all members
Access to all functions in Resolve. A locking mechanism ensures that employees do not get in each other’s way.

Locking mechanism

True to the motto “first come, first served”, DaVinci Resolve allows the user who tackles an object (timeline, bin, …) first to edit it. This object is temporarily blocked for other users. This means that they only have read authorisation and can see the progress. In detail, this works as follows.

Bin

If I click on a bin in the Media Pool that is not being edited by another employee, I automatically receive a lock on this bin. I can edit the bin and, for example, rename clips or create subfolders. Other users see my thumbnail next to the bin name. This allows users to recognise that the bin is locked for editing. If I don’t want to edit it, I can unlock the bin for others by right-clicking via “Unlock Bins”.

Attention: The bin remains locked even if I close the media pool. This makes it very easy to accidentally lock a bin in which another employee wants to work. Unfortunately, Resolve does not show me in the Media Pool whether I have already unlocked a bin manually or not. One solution could be to create a dummy bin with your own name – and get into the habit of always selecting this bin when I’m not doing anything else in the Media Pool. That way, I have a “Bernd_Unlock” bin and know that I’m not disturbing anyone as long as I have this bin selected.
Conversely, if I am organising media while other members are active in the project, it is advisable to lock all relevant bins manually by right-clicking “Lock Bins” at the start of the work. This way, I can be sure that no one will interfere with me in the future. However, the manual lock is cancelled as soon as I close the project.

Timeline

The timeline is also locked as soon as I open it first from the Edit Page, Cut Page or Fairlight. The lock applies to editing and audio, but not to work in the Colour or Fusion workspaces. This means that only one editor or sound mixer can work in a timeline at the same time. If editing assistants or several editors are in the project, they should either work one after the other or on separate timelines in parallel – and merge them later.

However, a locked timeline can be viewed by everyone at any time without editing rights. If I close the timeline, it is automatically unlocked. Alternatively, I can right-click in the Media Pool to manually unlock the timeline via “Timeline -> Unlock Timeline” – and keep it open without editing rights.

Fusion and Colour

If I switch to the Fusion or Colour workspace, all existing timeline locks are automatically removed. Instead, the lock is now at clip level. This means that the clip on which I am in Fusion or in the colour page is locked for editing. This means that several VFX artists and colourists can easily work on different clips in a timeline at the same time. Working on VFX, colour and sound in parallel also generally works smoothly.

Working in parallel with editing is also technically possible, but should be carefully considered and coordinated if at all necessary. It is technically possible for the editor to shorten or remove a clip that the VFX artist or colourist is currently working on.

A problem arises when an employee inadvertently locks timelines or bins. As long as the employee has the Resolve project open, only they can remove the lock. If the employee is not available, there is no way for even the administrator of the Project Library to remove it. Even if I remove the employee from the library, the lock remains active as long as the project is still open. The only way out is to copy the corresponding timeline, the bin or, in the worst case, the entire project – and continue working on the copy. Improvements would be desirable at this point. An administrator unlock and possibly a timeout on inactivity would be useful.

Updates

If I have an object (bin, timeline, clip) open while a colleague is making changes, a small refresh icon appears to indicate that the object has been changed in the meantime. If I click on this icon, the object is refreshed. Otherwise, I always get the current version when I open a new object. This update mechanism is good and simple. It prevents automatic updates, for example during playback, from causing confusing jumps; at the same time, it is easy to stay up to date.

Communication

Communication is the be-all and end-all of any team project. This is where Resolve is only of limited help. The in-built chat function is rudimentary. There is a shared chat for all employees who have opened the project. When a colleague sends a message, a speech bubble lights up red in the bottom right-hand corner of the page navigation. This is easy to overlook or even not visible at all if the page navigation is hidden. The chat is also not saved; it is not possible to write to individual team members privately; there is no status display for members – and no sharing of screenshots.

In the following, I can use the marker function in DaVinci Resolve very well to ask specific questions about individual clips in the timeline or to make comments. Markers can contain “annotations”, i.e. markings directly on the image. Team members can use different colours. In the index, I can see all markers at a glance and click on them to navigate.

Backups

With several employees, the risk of something going wrong increases. DaVinci Resolve does not have a cross-user editing history. In addition, the locking mechanism described above only works as long as I have the project open. This means that there is no way to save your own work progress in the project. If I leave the project, any member of the library can change my work or even delete the entire project without leaving a trace.
Of course, basic trust and discipline should be a matter of course when working in a team. Nevertheless, I want to protect myself from the worst-case scenario. Regular project backups are the best way to do this. Unfortunately, the automatic backups currently (version 18.1.2) do not work for Cloud Library projects. Hopefully Blackmagic Design will improve this soon. If the worst comes to the worst, I would like to be able to view an earlier version of the project, compare it and go back if necessary – or extract and re-import individual older timelines.

If you have the right programming skills, you can automate local backups of your cloud projects using Python script. Otherwise, the only way out is to manually export or copy projects from the project manager; preferably at least daily and definitely after important milestones, such as after the review with the customer.

Another alternative is to use the backup at library level. In the details of the cloud library, I can use “Back Up” to back up the current status of the entire library with all projects in the cloud
back up. However, if I want to view this backup later, I have to restore it as an additional library. This also incurs the monthly fee for the second library. In practice, this is not dramatic, as I can deactivate the additional library again after a short time (the remaining amount of the monthly fee is credited). Nevertheless, the process seems unnecessarily cumbersome and this backup option cannot currently be automated either. No matter what my backup procedure looks like, I should test it once before the worst comes to the worst!

Cloud vs Network

The collaborative elements offered by Blackmagic Cloud are also all available when working together via an in-house network. So if all employees can work in the same network (for example via VPN), then I can set up a network library as a Postgres database on a local server instead of a cloud library. This saves the monthly costs for Blackmagic Cloud and may make sense if the corresponding IT infrastructure with support is available anyway or is also used for other purposes. For smaller companies and freelancers who otherwise do not need a VPN connection and do not operate a server 24 hours a day, the costs of an in-house network solution will probably exceed the costs of Blackmagic Cloud.

Conclusion

Collaboration via Blackmagic Cloud offers many advantages for collaboration over the Internet. It makes teamwork in DaVinci Resolve much easier and also enables parallel work on a joint project without a special network setup. The improved proxy workflow in version 18, with and without proxy generator, also works well in principle; this can be integrated into your own workflow as required. Storage solutions from Blackmagic Design (Cloud Pod, Cloud Store) can be used, but only improve the workflow in certain situations.

If a new storage solution is planned, I would also take a critical look at the Blackmagic Design products independently of DaVinci Resolve from an IT perspective and compare them with alternatives.

Even in the beta phase, Blackmagic Cloud is already productive and useful for me. In my opinion, the lack of automatic backup in the cloud is the biggest stumbling block. For the time being, every project should have a reliable alternative. Other difficulties, such as accidental locks of timelines or bins, can be annoying but won’t stop the project; this should be avoidable with a bit of practice in the team. Good communication within the team is always crucial and that doesn’t change with Blackmagic Cloud. However, it does facilitate handovers between different areas
in post-production – and, above all, enables real parallel work without major overheads.

The post Collaboration with Blackmagic Cloud first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bernd Klimm.