February 2025

Reference Manual

DaVinci
Resolve 19.1

EDIT COLOR FAIRLIGHT

Welcome
Welcome to DaVinci Resolve for Mac, Linux and Windows!

DaVinci is the world’s most trusted name in color and has been used to grade more
Hollywood films, TV shows, and commercials than anything else. With DaVinci Resolve,
you get a complete set of editing, advanced color correction, professional Fairlight audio
post production tools and Fusion visual effects combined in one application so you can
edit, compose, grade, mix and master deliverables from start to finish, all in a single tool!

DaVinci Resolve has the features professional editors, colorists, audio engineers and
VFX artists need, and is built on completely modern technology with advanced audio,
color and image processing that goes far beyond what any other system can do.
With this release, we hope to inspire creativity by letting you work in a comfortable,
familiar way, while also giving you an entirely new creative toolset that will help you cut
and finish projects at higher quality than ever before!

We hope you enjoy reading this manual. With its customizable interface and
keyboard shortcuts, DaVinci Resolve is easy to learn, especially if you’re switching from
another editor, and has all of the tools you need to create breathtaking, high end work!

The DaVinci Resolve Engineering Team

Grant Petty
CEO Blackmagic Design
Contents

INTRO
Getting Started............................................................................................................................................................... 11

DaVinci Resolve Interface

MEDIA
1 Introduction to DaVinci Resolve............................................................................................................................ 14

2 Using the DaVinci Resolve User Interface ...................................................................................................... 55

Setup and Workflows

CUT
3 Managing Projects and Project Libraries......................................................................................................... 74

4 System and User Preferences............................................................................................................................... 95

5 DaVinci Control Panels Setup ............................................................................................................................. 128

6 Project Settings ......................................................................................................................................................... 134

EDIT
7 Camera Raw Settings............................................................................................................................................... 161

8 Improving Performance, Proxies, and the Render Cache ...................................................................... 187

9 Data Levels, Color Management, and ACES ................................................................................................ 215

FUSION
10 HDR Setup and Grading ....................................................................................................................................... 249

11 Image Sizing and Resolution Independence............................................................................................... 276

12 Data Burn-In ................................................................................................................................................................ 291

13 Frame.io and Dropbox Replay Integration ................................................................................................... 297

COLOR
14 Resolve Live ............................................................................................................................................................... 306

15 Stereoscopic Workflows ........................................................................................................................................ 314

16 Using Variables and Keywords........................................................................................................................... 337

FAIRLIGHT
Ingest and Organize Media
17 Using the Media Page............................................................................................................................................ 344

18 Adding and Organizing Media with the Media Pool ................................................................................ 364
DELIVER

19 Using Clip Metadata ................................................................................................................................................ 401

20 Using the Inspector in the Media Page .......................................................................................................... 416

21 Syncing Audio and Video..................................................................................................................................... 430

22 Modifying Clips and Clip Attributes.................................................................................................................. 437

MENU

23 Using Scene Detection.......................................................................................................................................... 450

24 Ingesting From Tape............................................................................................................................................... 458

25 Capturing From the Cintel Film Scanner ....................................................................................................... 466

Contents 3
 The Cut Page

INTRO
26 Using the Cut Page ................................................................................................................................................. 488

27 Importing and Organizing Media in the Cut Page .................................................................................... 504

28 Fast Editing in the Cut Page................................................................................................................................ 522

29 Trimming in the Cut Page ..................................................................................................................................... 556

MEDIA
30 Using the Inspector in the Cut Page ................................................................................................................ 571

31 Video and Audio Effects in the Cut Page ..................................................................................................... 592

32 Quick Export............................................................................................................................................................... 609

CUT
Edit
33 Using the Edit Page.................................................................................................................................................. 612

34 Creating and Working with Timelines............................................................................................................. 654

35 Preparing Clips for Editing and Viewer Playback...................................................................................... 675

EDIT
36 Editing Basics ............................................................................................................................................................ 695

37 Using the Inspector in the Edit Page .............................................................................................................. 725

38 Modifying Clips in the Timeline.......................................................................................................................... 746

FUSION
39 Three- and Four-Point Editing............................................................................................................................. 767

40 Text Based Editing................................................................................................................................................... 795

41 Marking and Finding Clips in the Timeline................................................................................................... 809

42 Multicam Editing ....................................................................................................................................................... 834

COLOR
43 Take Selectors, Compound Clips, and Nested Timelines..................................................................... 845

44 Trimming....................................................................................................................................................................... 856

45 Working with Audio in the Edit Page............................................................................................................... 890

FAIRLIGHT
46 Media Management................................................................................................................................................. 919

Editing Effects and Transitions

DELIVER

47 Editing, Adding, and Copying Effects and Filters ..................................................................................... 928

48 Using Transitions...................................................................................................................................................... 942

49 Titles, Generators, and Stills............................................................................................................................... 962

50 Compositing and Transforms in the Timeline .............................................................................................. 977

MENU

51 Speed Effects ............................................................................................................................................................ 994

52 Subtitles and Closed Captioning .................................................................................................................... 1007

53 Keyframing Effects in the Edit Page.............................................................................................................. 1026

54 VFX Connect............................................................................................................................................................ 1039

Contents 4
 Import and Conform Projects

INTRO
55 Preparing Timelines for Import and Comparison .................................................................................... 1048

56 Conforming and Relinking Clips...................................................................................................................... 1062

57 Creating Digital Dailies for Round Trip Workflows ................................................................................. 1088

58 Conforming XML Files ......................................................................................................................................... 1095

MEDIA
59 Conforming AAF Files........................................................................................................................................... 1100

60 Conforming EDL Files ............................................................................................................................................. 1114

61 Conforming OTIO Files ........................................................................................................................................ 1120

62 Conforming ADL Files............................................................................................................................................ 1125

CUT
Fusion Fundamentals
63 Introduction to Compositing in Fusion........................................................................................................... 1128

EDIT
64 Exploring the Fusion Interface........................................................................................................................... 1134

65 Getting Clips into Fusion ....................................................................................................................................... 1181

66 Rendering Using Saver Nodes......................................................................................................................... 1208

67 Working in the Node Editor ................................................................................................................................ 1232

FUSION
68 Node Groups, Macros, and Fusion Templates ......................................................................................... 1280

69 Using Viewers.......................................................................................................................................................... 1303

70 Editing Parameters in the Inspector.............................................................................................................. 1346

COLOR
71 Animating in Fusion’s Keyframes Editor ....................................................................................................... 1372

72 Animating in Fusion’s Spline Editor ............................................................................................................... 1389

73 Animating with Motion Paths.............................................................................................................................. 1421

74 Using Modifiers, Expressions, and Custom Controls ............................................................................. 1439

FAIRLIGHT
75 Preferences................................................................................................................................................................. 1451

76 Controlling Image Processing and Resolution ......................................................................................... 1500

77 Managing Color for Visual Effects .................................................................................................................... 1511

78 Understanding Image Channels ...................................................................................................................... 1524

DELIVER

79 Compositing Layers in Fusion.......................................................................................................................... 1560

80 Rotoscoping with Masks..................................................................................................................................... 1585

81 Paint ............................................................................................................................................................................. 1608

82 Using the Tracker Node ...................................................................................................................................... 1636

MENU

83 Planar Tracking.......................................................................................................................................................... 1671

84 Using Open FX, Resolve FX, and Fuse Plugins ........................................................................................ 1678

85 3D Compositing Basics ....................................................................................................................................... 1683

Contents 5
86 3D Camera Tracking.............................................................................................................................................. 1738

87 Particle Systems ...................................................................................................................................................... 1756

INTRO
88 Optical Flow and Stereoscopic Nodes.......................................................................................................... 1765

Fusion Page Effects

MEDIA
89 3D Nodes.................................................................................................................................................................... 1778

90 3D Light Nodes ....................................................................................................................................................... 1896

91 3D Material Nodes.................................................................................................................................................. 1910

92 3D Texture Nodes.................................................................................................................................................. 1939

CUT
93 Blur Nodes ................................................................................................................................................................ 1964

94 Color Nodes ............................................................................................................................................................. 1989

95 Composite Nodes................................................................................................................................................. 2064

96 Deep Pixel Nodes ................................................................................................................................................. 2084

EDIT
97 Effect Nodes............................................................................................................................................................. 2100

98 Film Nodes ................................................................................................................................................................. 2137

99 Filter Nodes .............................................................................................................................................................. 2156

FUSION
100 Flow Nodes................................................................................................................................................................ 2173

101 Flow Organizational Nodes................................................................................................................................ 2176

102 Fuses............................................................................................................................................................................. 2181

103 Generator Nodes ................................................................................................................................................... 2183

COLOR
104 I/O Nodes.................................................................................................................................................................. 2225

105 LUT Nodes ............................................................................................................................................................... 2250

106 Mask Nodes............................................................................................................................................................. 2259

FAIRLIGHT
107 Matte Nodes............................................................................................................................................................ 2300

108 Metadata Nodes.................................................................................................................................................... 2368

109 Miscellaneous Nodes........................................................................................................................................... 2376

110 Optical Flow............................................................................................................................................................... 2415

DELIVER

111 Paint Node................................................................................................................................................................ 2430

112 Particle Nodes........................................................................................................................................................ 2440

113 Position Nodes....................................................................................................................................................... 2500

114 Resolve Connect .................................................................................................................................................... 2519

MENU

115 Shape Nodes .......................................................................................................................................................... 2525

116 Stereo Nodes.......................................................................................................................................................... 2565

117 Tracking Nodes....................................................................................................................................................... 2597

Contents 6
118 Transform Nodes................................................................................................................................................... 2652

119 USD Nodes ............................................................................................................................................................... 2679

INTRO
120 VR Nodes................................................................................................................................................................... 2732

121 Warp Nodes.............................................................................................................................................................. 2742

122 Modifiers .................................................................................................................................................................... 2772

MEDIA
Color
123 Introduction to Color Grading .......................................................................................................................... 2815

124 Using the Color Page ........................................................................................................................................... 2827

CUT
125 Viewers, Monitoring, and Video Scopes.................................................................................................... 2845

126 Color Page Timeline and Lightbox................................................................................................................ 2884

127 Automated Grading Commands and Imported Grades ...................................................................... 2899

EDIT
128 Camera Raw Palette ............................................................................................................................................. 2914

129 Primaries Palette ................................................................................................................................................... 2920

130 HDR Palette ............................................................................................................................................................. 2939

FUSION
131 Primary Grading Controls.................................................................................................................................. 2962

132 Curves ........................................................................................................................................................................ 2968

133 ColorSlice ................................................................................................................................................................. 2988

134 Color Warper........................................................................................................................................................... 2995

COLOR
135 Secondary Qualifiers............................................................................................................................................ 3013

136 Secondary Windows............................................................................................................................................. 3041

137 Magic Mask.............................................................................................................................................................. 3057

FAIRLIGHT
138 Motion Tracking Windows.................................................................................................................................. 3078

139 Using the Gallery.................................................................................................................................................... 3104

140 Grade Management.............................................................................................................................................. 3120

141 Node Editing Basics.............................................................................................................................................. 3155

DELIVER

142 Image Processing Order of Operations........................................................................................................ 3176

143 Serial, Parallel, and Layer Nodes..................................................................................................................... 3179

144 Combining Keys and Using Mattes................................................................................................................. 3187

145 Channel Splitting and Image Compositing ................................................................................................ 3212

MENU

146 Keyframing in the Color Page .......................................................................................................................... 3227

147 Copying and Importing Grades Using ColorTrace.................................................................................. 3242

148 Using LUTs ............................................................................................................................................................... 3252

Contents 7
 Color Page Effects

INTRO
149 Using Open FX and Resolve FX..................................................................................................................... 3263

150 Sizing and Image Stabilization ......................................................................................................................... 3275

151 The Motion Effects and Blur Palettes ........................................................................................................... 3291

MEDIA
Resolve FX Overview
152 Resolve FX ............................................................................................................................................................... 3304

153 Resolve FX Blur....................................................................................................................................................... 3307

154 Resolve FX Color .................................................................................................................................................... 3313

CUT
155 Resolve FX Film Emulation ............................................................................................................................... 3326

156 Resolve FX Generate ............................................................................................................................................ 3341

157 Resolve FX Key ....................................................................................................................................................... 3343

EDIT
158 Resolve FX Light.................................................................................................................................................... 3356

159 Resolve FX Refine ................................................................................................................................................ 3368

160 Resolve FX Revival............................................................................................................................................... 3394

FUSION
161 Resolve FX Sharpen .............................................................................................................................................. 3416

162 Resolve FX Stylize ................................................................................................................................................ 3420

163 Resolve FX Temporal ........................................................................................................................................... 3443

164 Resolve FX Texture ............................................................................................................................................... 3447

COLOR
165 Resolve FX Transform......................................................................................................................................... 3458

166 Resolve FX Warp .................................................................................................................................................. 3496

FAIRLIGHT
Fairlight
167 Using the Fairlight Page..................................................................................................................................... 3505

168 Setting Up Tracks, Busses, and Patching .................................................................................................. 3560

169 Transport Controls, Timeline Navigation, and Markers....................................................................... 3582

DELIVER

170 Recording .................................................................................................................................................................. 3591

171 ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement)........................................................................................................ 3601

172 Editing Basics in the Fairlight Page ............................................................................................................... 3610

173 The Fairlight Inspector........................................................................................................................................ 3653

MENU

174 Mixing in the Fairlight Page............................................................................................................................... 3673

175 Mix Automation ....................................................................................................................................................... 3720

176 Track Groups............................................................................................................................................................ 3743

Contents 8
177 Audio Effects............................................................................................................................................................ 3749

178 Fairlight FX................................................................................................................................................................ 3762

INTRO
179 Audio Meters and Audio Monitoring ............................................................................................................. 3799

180 Signal Flow Diagrams............................................................................................................................................ 3811

181 Immersive Audio Workflows ............................................................................................................................. 3813

MEDIA
Deliver
182 Delivery Effects Processing ............................................................................................................................. 3839

183 Using the Deliver Page....................................................................................................................................... 3844

CUT
184 Rendering Media................................................................................................................................................... 3853

185 Delivering DCP and IMF...................................................................................................................................... 3887

186 Delivering to Tape ................................................................................................................................................ 3902

187 Exporting Timelines to Other Applications........................................................................................................ 3909

EDIT
Blackmagic Cloud
188 Blackmagic Cloud Project Server................................................................................................................... 3921

FUSION
189 Blackmagic Cloud Storage ............................................................................................................................... 3930

190 Blackmagic Cloud Presentations................................................................................................................... 3936

191 Live Sync................................................................................................................................................................... 3948

COLOR
Project Libraries, Collaborative, and Remote Workflows
192 Managing Project Libraries and Project Servers.................................................................................... 3956

FAIRLIGHT
193 Collaborative Workflow....................................................................................................................................... 3976

194 Remote Grading and Remote Monitor.......................................................................................................... 3991

Advanced Workflows
DELIVER

195 Workflow Integrations ........................................................................................................................................ 4001

196 Creating DCTL LUTs ............................................................................................................................................ 4008

197 TCP Protocol for DaVinci Resolve Transport Control ............................................................................ 4013
MENU

Contents 9
Menu Descriptions

INTRO
DaVinci Resolve...................................................................................................................................................... 4018

File ................................................................................................................................................................................ 4019

Edit............................................................................................................................................................................... 4020

Trim............................................................................................................................................................................... 4021

MEDIA
Timeline..................................................................................................................................................................... 4022

Clip............................................................................................................................................................................... 4023

Mark ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4024

View ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4025

CUT
Playback.................................................................................................................................................................... 4026

Fusion.......................................................................................................................................................................... 4027

Color ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4028

Fairlight...................................................................................................................................................................... 4029

EDIT
Workspace ............................................................................................................................................................... 4030

Help.............................................................................................................................................................................. 4031

FUSION
COLOR
FAIRLIGHT
DELIVER
MENU

Contents 10
DaVinci Resolve 19.1

INTRO
Getting Started
When you install DaVinci Resolve and then open it for the first time, there are a few things you’re going
to want to know before you begin learning how to work.

Automatic DaVinci Resolve Updates

To make it easier to ensure you’re using the latest version of DaVinci Resolve, you can now
choose DaVinci Resolve > Check For Updates to notify you of new versions and download them
when available.

Why Is This Manual So Big?

Over the years, DaVinci Resolve has evolved to encompass professional editing, compositing, and
audio mixing tools and workflows in addition to the grading tools that were the original core of
DaVinci Resolve. Each one of these domains of functionality is incredibly deep. Consequently, the
documentation has grown with each new page, tool, and parameter that’s been added, to make life
easier and to solve the countless problems that can emerge during the postproduction process.
While it is regretted that this user manual contains such a staggeringly overwhelming amount of
information, our emphasis has always been to ensure that (hopefully) every control and workflow
you encounter in DaVinci Resolve is explained somewhere within the contents of these pages.
Consequently, we hope that you find the hyperlinked table of contents (TOC) and search functionality
of your preferred PDF browser helpful in finding the information you need, along with context and tips
to help you get the most out of the tools provided.

DaVinci Resolve 19.1 Getting Started 11

Navigation Guide
For ease of use navigating this manual, each table of contents (TOC) listed on this manual are

INTRO
hyperlinked, and by clicking on each title or page number, you will be taken to the appropriate
part of the manual. On the right hand side of each page includes a hyperlink tab. As you hover the
pointer over the tab and by clicking on the tab you will be taken to main TOC page.

Chapter Number Page Number

118 Transform Nodes................................................................................................................................................... 2652

119 USD Nodes ............................................................................................................................................................... 2679

INTRO
120 VR Nodes................................................................................................................................................................... 2732

121 Warp Nodes.............................................................................................................................................................. 2742

122 Modifiers .................................................................................................................................................................... 2772

MEDIA
Color

Color
123 Introduction to Color Grading .......................................................................................................................... 2815

124 Using the Color Page ........................................................................................................................................... 2827

CUT
125 Viewers, Monitoring, and Video Scopes.................................................................................................... 2845

126 Color Page Timeline and Lightbox................................................................................................................ 2884

127 Automated Grading Commands and Imported Grades ...................................................................... 2899

EDIT
128 Camera Raw Palette ............................................................................................................................................. 2914

129 Primaries Palette ................................................................................................................................................... 2920

130 HDR Palette ............................................................................................................................................................. 2939

FUSION
131 Primary Grading Controls.................................................................................................................................. 2962

CONTENTS 132 Curves ........................................................................................................................................................................ 2968

Hyperlink Tab
133 ColorSlice ................................................................................................................................................................. 2988

123 Introduction to Color Grading..... 2815 137 Magic Mask......................................... 3057 134 Color Warper........................................................................................................................................................... 2995
COLOR

COLOR
124 Using the Color Page ..................... 2827 138 Motion Tracking Windows ............ 3078 135 Secondary Qualifiers............................................................................................................................................ 3013

125 Viewers, Monitoring, 139 Using the Gallery ............................. 3104 136 Secondary Windows............................................................................................................................................. 3041
and Video Scopes .......................... 2845 137 Magic Mask.............................................................................................................................................................. 3057
140 Grade Management ........................ 3120

FAIRLIGHT
126 Color Page Timeline 138 Motion Tracking Windows.................................................................................................................................. 3078
141 Node Editing Basics......................... 3155
and Lightbox ..................................... 2884
142 Image Processing 139 Using the Gallery.................................................................................................................................................... 3104
127 Automated Grading Commands
and Imported Grades .................... 2899 Order of Operations......................... 3176 140 Grade Management.............................................................................................................................................. 3120

128 Camera Raw Palette ........................ 2914 143 Serial, Parallel, 141 Node Editing Basics.............................................................................................................................................. 3155

DELIVER
and Layer Nodes ............................... 3179
129 Primaries Palette ............................. 2920 142 Image Processing Order of Operations........................................................................................................ 3176
144 Combining Keys
130 HDR Palette....................................... 2939 143 Serial, Parallel, and Layer Nodes..................................................................................................................... 3179
and Using Mattes .............................. 3187
131 Primary Grading Controls ............ 2962 144 Combining Keys and Using Mattes................................................................................................................. 3187
145 Channel Splitting
132 Curves ................................................. 2968 and Image Compositing ................. 3212 145 Channel Splitting and Image Compositing ................................................................................................ 3212

MENU
133 ColorSlice........................................... 2988 146 Keyframing in the Color Page..... 3227 146 Keyframing in the Color Page .......................................................................................................................... 3227
134 Color Warper..................................... 2995 147 Copying and Importing 147 Copying and Importing Grades Using ColorTrace.................................................................................. 3242 Page Number
135 Secondary Qualifiers....................... 3013 Grades Using ColorTrace.............. 3242
148 Using LUTs ............................................................................................................................................................... 3252
136 Secondary Windows........................ 3041 148 Using LUTs.......................................... 3252

Contents 7

Section Page Main TOC

There are two ways of using the Log mode controls. The first takes advantage of the way these
Chapter 129 controls work to make fast, filmic adjustments to log-encoded media prior to it being normalized or
“de-logged” by operations that are performed using nodes appearing after it in the image processing
pipeline of your node tree. Normalizing or de-logging the image can be done via Color Space

Primaries Palette
Transform operations, LUTs, and manual adjustments if you’re grading using DaVinci YRGB color
science. If you’re using color management, they can be done via the Output Color Space setting of
Resolve Color Management (RCM), or via the ACES Output Device Transform (ODT).
The other way of using the Log controls is to take advantage of the more restrictive, but adjustable
tonal range of the Shadow/Midtone/Highlight controls to stylize normalized clips by tinting or adjusting
the contrast of tonally-specific regions of the image.
This chapter focuses on the core color adjustments that you’ll be making to
create “primary” corrections that alter the overall color and contrast of the image
using both the Lift/Gamma/Gain adjustments in the Wheels and Bars modes of Whether or Not to Use Legacy Log Grading Ranges and Curve
the Primaries palette, and the Shadow/Midtone/Highlight/Offset controls in the DaVinci Resolve 12.5 introduced a modification to the Log grading controls that provides
Log mode, both of which have traditionally formed the foundation of most grades. smoother, more pleasing results using the same controls. To maintain backward compatibility
with older projects, a “Use legacy Log grading ranges and curve” checkbox in the General
Options panel of the Project Settings lets you switch your project between the older Log
control behavior and the newer one. Older projects that are opened in DaVinci Resolve have
this checkbox turned on by default, while new projects have this turned off by default.
Contents
Introduction to the Primaries Palette............... 2920 Color Bars Mode ......................................................... 2928 Using the Log Mode Controls to Grade Log-Encoded Media
HDR Grading With the Primaries Palette.......... 2921 Log Wheels Mode ...................................................... 2929 The Log controls are so named because they’re designed to work specifically with media with Log-C
Which Do I Start With, Using the Log Mode Controls or similar gamma and color encoding, derived from the Cineon Log gamma curve, developed by
the Primaries or HDR Palette? ............................... 2921 to Grade Log-Encoded Media .............................. 2930
Kodak to digitally store flat-contrast, wide-gamut image data that preserves image detail with a wide
latitude for adjustment.
Shared Controls in the Primaries Palette........ 2921 Using the Log Mode Controls
Switching Between Primaries Tools.................... 2921 to Stylize Normalized Media.................................. 2932
Color Balance Controls............................................ 2922 Adjusting the Default Tone
COLOR

COLOR

Master Wheels.............................................................. 2922 Ranges in Log Mode.................................................. 2934

Numeric Parameters.................................................. 2923 Adjusting Contrast in Log Mode.......................... 2934

Shared Adjustment Controls ................................. 2923 Log Offset Color and Master Controls.............. 2934
Auto Correction ........................................................... 2925 Offset and Printer Points........................................ 2935
Reset Controls.............................................................. 2925 Adjusting Printer Points in the Bars Mode...... 2935
Color Wheels and Bars............................................ 2926 Adjusting Printer Points
An example of a log-encoded clip (left), and the same clip after being normalized (right)
3-Way Master Wheel Adjustments ...................... 2927 Via Keyboard Shortcuts........................................... 2936
Offset Color and Master Controls....................... 2928 Printer Light Step Project Settings ...................... 2937 You can debayer most raw formats to a log-encoded image in order to derive the maximum amount of
image data and adjustable latitude from that source.

For more information, see Chapter 7, “Camera Raw Settings.” However, the resulting image
needs to be normalized to occupy the final range of color and contrast that you intend for the
final result.

Chapter Name
Color | Chapter 129 Primaries Palette 2919 Color | Chapter 129 Primaries Palette 2930

Chapter Page

Section Name

DaVinci Resolve 19.1 Getting Started 12

 INTRO
DaVinci Resolve
Interface

CONTENTS

1 Introduction to DaVinci Resolve .......................................................................................................... 14

2 Using the DaVinci Resolve User Interface...................................................................................... 55
Chapter 1

INTRO
Introduction to
DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve integrates editing, compositing and motion graphics,
color correction, audio recording and mixing, and finishing within a single,
easy to learn application.

The editing, compositing, grading, and audio tools found in DaVinci Resolve should be immediately
familiar to experienced artists who’ve used other applications, but they’re also approachable to folks
who are new to post-production.
Additionally, dedicated tools available for on-set workflows integrate tasks such as media duplication,
shot and metadata organization, and on-location look management into a complete toolset that lets
you smoothly segue from the camera original media being acquired in the field to the organization and
use of that media in a wide variety of post-production workflows with DaVinci Resolve at their heart.
In particular, the tight integration in DaVinci Resolve means that you can freely move from one task to
the next of your project’s workflow without skipping a beat, making it easy to back up and organize a
shoot’s media before immediately diving into editing, while switching over to add a quick composite
or to color-correct clips in the middle of your editing spree, and then getting right back to cutting,
with a bit of mixing to make sure things sound right, all without needing to export projects or launch
other applications.
And you can go further, using the collaborative features of DaVinci Resolve to enable multiple artists,
for example an editor, a colorist, and assistants, to work together on the same timeline simultaneously,
for the ultimate integrated workflow.
Of course, no post-production professional works in a vacuum, and DaVinci Resolve makes it easy to
work with other facilities by importing projects and exporting project exchange formats and rendered
or managed media among applications such as Apple’s Final Cut Pro X, Adobe’s Premiere Pro, Avid’s
Media Composer and Pro Tools, Autodesk’s Flame Premium, and many other applications via robust
support of XML, AAF, and EDL import and export workflows.
This chapter introduces the DaVinci Resolve user interface (UI), explaining where to find each group
of features, and how the highly focused and tightly integrated Media, Edit, Fusion, Color, Fairlight,
and Deliver pages work together to let you pursue nearly any post-production workflow you can
imagine. After this brief tour, the rest of Part 1 of this manual provides much more in-depth information
about project management, preferences, project settings, and other topics of general interest for
getting started.

DaVinci Resolve Interface | Chapter 1 Introduction to DaVinci Resolve 14

Contents

INTRO
The Project Manager ..................................................... 16 Motion Graphics and
Visual Effects in DaVinci Resolve .......................... 33
Preferences and Project Settings ........................... 16
VFX Connect..................................................................... 34
Individual Preferences
and Settings Based on Login ..................................... 17 The Fusion Page ............................................................. 35

Preferences......................................................................... 17 The Work Area.................................................................. 35

System Preferences........................................................ 18 Viewers ................................................................................ 36

User Preferences ............................................................. 19 Toolbar ................................................................................. 36

Project Settings................................................................. 19 Effects Library................................................................... 37

Switching Among Pages.............................................. 21 Node Editor........................................................................ 37

Inspector ............................................................................. 38
Minimizing the Resolve Page Bar............................. 21
Thumbnail Timeline........................................................ 39
Switching Pages Using Keyboard Shortcuts ...... 21
Media Pool ......................................................................... 39
Hide Pages You Don’t Use .......................................... 21
Status Bar........................................................................... 40
Hide Page Navigation Altogether............................ 21
The Console ..................................................................... 40
The Media Page ............................................................. 22
The Color Page................................................................. 41
The Media Storage Browser...................................... 23
Viewer.................................................................................... 41
Viewer................................................................................... 23
Gallery .................................................................................. 42
Media Pool.......................................................................... 24
Node Editor........................................................................ 43
Metadata Editor ............................................................... 24
Timeline ............................................................................... 43
Audio Panel........................................................................ 25
Left Palettes....................................................................... 44
The Cut Page .................................................................... 25
Center Palettes ................................................................ 44
The Media Pool ................................................................ 26
Keyframe Editor ............................................................... 45
The Viewer ......................................................................... 27
The Fairlight Page.......................................................... 46
Audio Meter ....................................................................... 28
The Audio Timeline........................................................ 46
The Timeline...................................................................... 28 Toolbar ................................................................................. 48
The Edit Page .................................................................. 29 Mixer ..................................................................................... 48
The Media Pool ............................................................... 29 Dedicated Channel Strip Controls.......................... 49
Effects Library Browsing............................................. 30 The Monitoring Panel.................................................. 50
Edit Index ........................................................................... 30 Floating Timecode Window........................................ 51
Source/Offline and Timeline Viewers .................... 31 The Deliver Page ............................................................. 51
Inspector ............................................................................. 32 The Render Settings List............................................. 52
Toolbar ................................................................................. 32 The Deliver Page Timeline ......................................... 52
Timeline ............................................................................... 32 The Viewer ......................................................................... 53
Floating Timecode Window....................................... 33 The Render Queue......................................................... 54

DaVinci Resolve Interface | Chapter 1 Introduction to DaVinci Resolve 15

The Project Manager

INTRO
For most users, Project Manager is the first window you’ll see when you open DaVinci Resolve.
The Project Manager is a centralized interface for managing all projects belonging to the user
who’s currently logged in, whose name appears at the upper right-hand corner in a project title bar.
The Project Manager is also the place where you import and export projects to and from DaVinci
Resolve, whether you’re moving projects around from user to user, or moving projects from one
DaVinci Resolve workstation to another. Finally, the Project Manager also lets you organize the project
libraries that are used to manage everything in DaVinci Resolve using the Project Library sidebar.
To open any project, double-click it. To create a new project, double-click the Untitled Project icon,
or click the New Project button.

The Project Manager shows all projects belonging to the current user.

For more information about the Project Manager, see Chapter 3, “Managing Projects and
Project Libraries.”

Preferences and Project Settings

Once you open a project, you have the option of adjusting the System and User Preferences that
govern the installation of DaVinci Resolve on your workstation, and the Project Settings governing the
currently open project. When you first install DaVinci Resolve, the most important of these settings are
selected via the installer’s on boarding questions. However, if you’re opening DaVinci Resolve for the
first time, you should probably check these settings to make sure they’re optimal for your system.

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Individual Preferences and Settings Based on Login
As of DaVinci Resolve 16, there are individual preferences and settings for each login account on a

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given computer. This means that multiple artists can each have their own login, and DaVinci Resolve
will maintain separate workspace layouts and preference states for each artist, depending on who’s
logged in.

Preferences
The Preferences window, divided into System preferences and User preferences panels, lets you set
up the overall environment of your DaVinci workstation, choosing what hardware to use with DaVinci
Resolve and what user interface settings you prefer as you work.

The DaVinci Resolve preferences let you set up your environment

A quick overview of the most important System and User preferences appears below, with
guidance about the first settings you should adjust when you first set DaVinci Resolve up
on your workstation. However, for a comprehensive overview and for more information, see
Chapter 4, “System and User Preferences.”

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System Preferences
The System preferences let you configure the hardware DaVinci Resolve works with. If you have a

INTRO
system that doesn’t change very often, then you may only rarely use the Preferences window. On the
other hand, if you’re working with a mobile system with changing video interfaces, control panels, and
scratch volumes, then you may use this window more frequently.

NOTE: Whenever you change certain core System Settings in the Preferences, you may have
to quit and restart DaVinci Resolve for those changes to take effect.

Memory and GPU

Lets you choose various options governing how to use the GPUs attached to your computer, and
how to configure Viewers in different pages. This panel also provides an overview, for reference,
of all hardware and computer characteristics that are relevant to DaVinci Resolve running smoothly,
including a listing of installed GPUs.

Media Storage
This is a list within which you define the scratch disk used by your system. The first volume in this list
is where Gallery stills and cache files are stored, so you want to make sure that you choose the fastest
storage volume that’s connected.

Decode Options
These settings let you select various hardware options for decoding RAW files and H.264/H.265. It
also lets you choose to use the easy DCP decoder and the ability to refresh growing any files (files that
are in the process of being written) in the Media Pool.

Video and Audio I/O

The preferences in this panel let you choose which video and audio Capture and Monitor interfaces
you want DaVinci Resolve to use on your workstation. If you have multiple Blackmagic Design
I/O interfaces connected to your computer, you can choose between them.

Video Plugins
If you have any third-party Open FX plugins installed, you can see them and enable/disable them here.

Audio Plugins
If you have any third-party VST plugins installed, you can see them and enable/disable them here.

Control Panels
Lets you choose and configure (if necessary) a control panel that’s connected for use during grading in
DaVinci Resolve.

General
Lets you choose from a variety of settings that modify DaVinci Resolve’s behavior. The LUT Locations
section lets you point DaVinci Resolve to any external folders containing LUTs for use in your project.

Internet Accounts
The Internet Accounts panel serves as a login manager for the Blackmagic Cloud and other social
media sites.

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Advanced
This tab is used for special DaVinci Resolve configurations and SAN parameters that are applicable to

INTRO
older file systems.

User Preferences
User preferences govern the setup of the user interface in DaVinci Resolve, letting you customize
it to work the way you like.

UI Settings
A Language drop-down menu at the top lets you specify which language the DaVinci Resolve user
interface displays. DaVinci Resolve currently supports English, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish,
Portuguese, French, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean. Additional checkboxes let you choose
options for which project to open during startup, and how to configure the Viewers that appear in
every page of DaVinci Resolve.

Project Save and Load

This panel contains the all-important auto-save controls, including the Live Save option that enables
Resolve to incrementally save your changes as you work.

Editing
Numerous controls in this panel let you customize the editing experience in the Edit page, including
default settings to use when making new timelines, and general settings that govern standard effects
durations and trim behaviors.

Color
These controls let you customize the grading experience in the Color page, with options controlling
video scope display, the look of UI overlays, and other color-specific functions.

Fairlight
These controls let you customize the editing experience in the Fairlight page with options controlling
video offset, automation, and general settings.

Playback Settings
These controls let you customize how DaVinci Resolves handles video playback. If your playback is
too slow, adjusting these settings may help.

Control Panels
These controls let you customize the settings of your connected control surface.

Metadata
These controls let you customize the Metadata Presets.

Project Settings
Once you’ve created a project, all project-specific settings are found in the Project Settings window.
To open the Project Settings window, just click the gear button at the bottom right on any page.

Project Manager and

Project Settings buttons

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The Project Settings open in the middle of the screen, divided into a series of panels which can be
selected from a sidebar to the left. Each panel contains a collection of related settings that affects

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some category of DaVinci Resolve functionality. To open a panel of settings, simply click its name in
the sidebar at the left.

The Project Settings show all project-specific settings and attributes.

The Master Settings define the principal attributes of a project, such as the timeline resolution, timeline
frame rate, color science, and bit depth. Image Scaling settings define how clips that don’t match
the timeline resolution are scaled to fit. There are other panels for Color Management, Camera Raw,
Capture and Playback, etc.

For more information about Project Settings, see Chapter 4, “System and User Preferences.”

DaVinci Resolve Interface | Chapter 1 Introduction to DaVinci Resolve 20

Switching Among Pages

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Buttons for switching pages appear at the bottom of the UI.

DaVinci Resolve is divided into seven main pages of functionality, each of which facilitates a different
specialization of a typical post production workflow, and each of which can be accessed using buttons
at the very bottom of the DaVinci Resolve interface. These buttons are organized in order of workflow,
and they’re always available, letting you quickly switch between importing media, fast editing, detailed
editing, compositing, grading, audio mixing, and outputting your project in a structured manner.

Minimizing the Resolve Page Bar

If you right-click anywhere within the Resolve Page bar at the bottom of the DaVinci Resolve UI,
two options appear in a contextual menu: “Show Icons and Labels” and “ Show Icons Only.” If you
show icons only, the Resolve Page bar at the bottom takes less room.

The Page bar showing icons only, to save space

Switching Pages Using Keyboard Shortcuts

You can also switch pages using the following keyboard shortcuts, which can be referenced from the
Workspace > Switch to Page submenu.

Hide Pages You Don’t Use

You can leave the page navigation bar showing and just hide the buttons of specific pages.
For example:
‚ If you like the quick navigation of this bar but there are pages you simply don’t want to use
‚ If you’re setting up a DaVinci Resolve workstation for an artist making specific contributions to a
project, and you want to hide easy access to pages of functionality they won’t (or shouldn’t) be
using; this can be especially useful in collaborative workflow projects

You can disable/re-enable each page’s buttons using the Workspace > Show Page submenu.
Effects and adjustments that have been applied on hidden pages continue to affect the current
project, they’re only hidden, and you can still navigate to them using the Workspace > Switch to Page
submenu commands or keyboard shortcuts.

Hide Page Navigation Altogether

If you’re an artist that only uses a single page of the DaVinci Resolve experience, or if you want more
screen real estate to work with given your existing computer display’s limited resolution, you can
choose Workspace > Show Page Navigation to hide the page navigation bar at the bottom of the
DaVinci Resolve user interface. While this bar is closed, you can still navigate to other pages using the
Workspace > Switch to Page submenu commands or keyboard shortcuts.

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To toggle the Show Page Navigation function:
‚ Check Workspace > Show Page Navigation.

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With this interface element hidden, you can use keyboard shortcuts to access the individual
pages (Shift - 2 through 8), Project manager (Shift - 1), and Project settings (Shift - 9). You can
also access these functions from DaVinci Resolve’s main menu bar.

The Media Page

The Media page is the primary interface for clip import, media management, and clip organization in
DaVinci Resolve. It’s central to the way DaVinci Resolve works that the source media used by a project
is organized separately from the project data that you import and manage in the Edit page. In this way,
you can manage and update the clips used by timelines in the current project with ease, switching
between offline and online media, reorganizing clips, and troubleshooting any problems that occur.

Media page

The Media page also contains much of the core functionality that will be used for on-set workflows,
and in the ingest, organizational, and sound-syncing steps of digital dailies workflows. This chapter
covers most of the functionality found in the Media page, including functions in detail that are
referenced throughout this manual.
The Media page is divided into six different areas, designed to make it easy to find, select, and work
with media in your project. Much of the functionality and most of the commands are found within the
contextual menus that appear when you right-click clips in the Library, File Browser, or Media Pool.

For more information on using the Media page, see Chapter 17, “Using the Media Page.”

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The Media Storage Browser
The Media Storage browser shows a list of all volumes that are currently available to your Resolve

INTRO
workstation. It’s used to locate media that you want to import manually into your project.

Media Storage with scrubbable Clip view

Viewer
Clips that you select in any area of the Media page show their contents in the Viewer. A jog bar appears
at the bottom, letting you drag the playhead directly with the pointer, while a jog control between the
mode drop-down and transport controls lets you move through a long clip more slowly. The full width
of the jog bar represents the full duration of the clip in the Viewer. The current position of the playhead
is shown in the timecode field at the upper right-hand corner of the Viewer. Simple transport controls
appear underneath the jog bar, letting you Jump to First Frame, Play/Stop, and Jump to Last Frame.
Audio levels can be adjusted by right-clicking on the speaker icon and dragging the slider.

Media page Viewer

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You can also put the Viewer into Cinema Viewer mode by choosing Workspace > Viewer Mode >
Cinema Viewer (Command-F), so that it fills the entire screen. This command toggles Cinema Viewer

INTRO
mode on and off.
If you have two monitors connected to your computer, you can make the Viewer fill one entire screen
and keep the Resolve UI in the other monitor by choosing Workspace > Full Screen Viewer On, and
selecting the display you wish to use for the Viewer.

Media Pool
The Media Pool contains all of the video, audio, and still image media that you import into the current
project. It also contains any media that’s automatically imported along with timelines that have been
imported into DaVinci Resolve. Ordinarily, all media imported into a project goes into the Master bin,
however the Media Pool can be organized into as many user-definable bins as you like, depending
on your needs. Media can be freely moved from one bin to another from within the Media Pool. The
Media Pool also appears on the Edit, Fusion, Color, and Fairlight pages, making it possible to browse
and open clips and timelines everywhere they’re relevant.

Media Pool showing the selected bins’ clips

Metadata Editor
When you select a clip in any area of the Media page, its metadata is displayed within the Metadata
Editor. If you select multiple clips, only the last clip’s information appears. The Metadata Editor’s header
contains uneditable information about the selected clip, including the file name, directory, duration,
frame rate, resolution, and codec.

Clip Metadata Editor

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A series of editable fields within the Metadata Editor lets you review and edit the different metadata
items that are available. A drop-down menu at the upper right of the Metadata Editor lets you choose

INTRO
from many different sets of metadata fields and checkboxes, each grouped for a specific task
or workflow.

Audio Panel
The Audio panel can be put into one of two modes via a pair of buttons above the audio meters. In the
default Meters mode, Audio Meters are displayed that show the levels of audio in clips you’re playing.
In Waveform mode, you can load audio clips side by side with video clips opened in the Viewer in
order to sync them together manually. The Audio panel can also be hidden.

Audio Meters exposed

The Cut Page

The Cut page is a focused environment for fast editing. It’s useful in situations where you need
to quickly cut a news segment, build an episode of web content, edit a straightforward program,
experiment with multiple arrangements of a scene, or put together a first assembly edit.
The Cut page is also a good introductory editing interface for people who are new to editing, as it
presents a streamlined set of tools that are fast to learn and simple to use. Whatever your background,
you’ll find the Cut page to be a valuable addition to your editing experience in DaVinci Resolve.
The default workspace of the Cut page consists of the Media Pool, a single Viewer, and the Timeline
area. These three regions let you quickly import and organize clips, edit clips, and even export the
result, all from within the Cut page.

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 INTRO
The Cut page

For more information on the Cut page, see Chapter 26, “Using the Cut Page.”

The Media Pool

The Media Pool appears in the Cut page as well, and contains all video clips, audio clips, graphics,
and other media that you import into your project. You can create Bins with which to organize all of this
media, to make it easier to find what you need quickly. These bins are opened via the bin drop-down
at the upper left-hand corner.
Each piece of media you import, whether it’s video, audio, or graphics, appears as an individual clip,
and they can be selected, scrubbed for fast viewing, reorganized into bins, opened into the Viewer for
playback, or edited into a timeline using the edit buttons or via drag and drop.
Owing to the Cut page’s mission to make editing faster, the Media Pool has different options for
viewing (such as the filmstrip view) and customizing.

The Filmstrip View mode

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The Viewer
The Viewer lets you see clips from the Media Pool or clips in the Timeline play, and has numerous

INTRO
controls to control what you see and how things play.

The single Viewer in the Cut page

The Viewer has four mode options. Which option is currently in use can be seen, and switched, by four
buttons in the upper left-hand corner of the Viewer.

The Viewer modes buttons

The Different options are entered automatically by various actions (from left to right):
‚ You can double-click any clip to open it into the Viewer as a Source Clip.
‚ You can view an entire bin full of clips in the Source Tape.
‚ You can play your edited program in the Timeline.
‚ You can see all of your synced material at the same time in the Multi Source Viewer.

Clicking the Tools button in the lower left of the Viewer reveals an effects toolbar that you can use
to add and edit clip effects, right within the Viewer with no Inspector needed. The Tools button
reveals a variety of controls over sizing, cropping, audio, speed effects, stabilization, dynamic zoom,
and compositing.

The Tools bar shown opened

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Audio Meter
An audio meter to the right of the Viewer shows you a graphical representation of the audio levels

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playing in the current clip or in the Timeline as you play through the Viewer, via animated vertical bars
that are tinted to indicate how loud the levels are.

The Timeline
The word “timeline” refers both to an edited sequence of clips which constitutes a program that is
stored in the Media Pool, and to the area of the Cut page interface where you can open this sequence
of clips to see its contents, and for playback and editing.
For the Cut page user, the timeline is divided into an Upper Timeline at the top, and a larger and more
detailed Timeline Editor showing a zoomed in portion of the timeline around the playhead at the
bottom. Working together, these two views of your edited sequence make it possible to navigate your
entire project and cut in great detail.

The Timeline of the Cut page, comprising the Upper Timeline and the zoomed in Timeline

Three icons at the upper left-hand corner of the Timeline lets you choose a variety of timeline tasks.
They are composed of Timeline Options, Timeline Actions, and Edit Actions.
The Timeline is divided into multiple tracks, with each track capable of holding a sequence of clips in
order to create a program. The main tracks, which are labeled numerically, combine a clip’s video and
audio into a single item in the Timeline, for simplicity. Editing the In or Out point of a clip edits the video
and audio together.

The Action icons Video+Audio tracks

in the Cut page in the Cut page Timeline

TIP: In the Edit page, Video+Audio clips are presented as separated Video and Audio items
on different tracks. When you open the Fairlight page, audio is presented on tracks with
lanes, where each audio channel can be seen. In this way, each page gives you different sets
of controls over the contents of the timeline that are appropriate for each page.

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The Edit Page

INTRO
The Edit page exposes a source-record style NLE that incorporates many specialized features for both
creative editing and finishing. The Edit page is divided into three main regions: the browsers found at
the left, the Viewers at the top, and the Timeline at the bottom, all of which work together to let you
import, edit, and trim timelines with a flexible variety of tools and methods.

The Edit page

For more information on the Edit page, see Chapter 33, “Using the Edit Page.”

The Media Pool

As with everywhere else it appears in DaVinci Resolve, the Media Pool lets you organize and peruse
all of the media and timelines in a project. DaVinci Resolve projects may contain one or more edited
timelines (sometimes called a sequence in other applications).
The Media Pool in the Edit page is identical to that shown on the Media, Fusion, Color, and Fairlight
pages, and shows you all of the source clips and timelines that are available for editing. A Bin list at the
left shows a hierarchical list of folders that you can use to organize your media.
By default, the Media Pool has a single bin, named “Master,” but you can add more bins as necessary
to organize your clips, opening any of them to expose their contents with a single click. The Bin list can
be hidden or shown via the button at the upper-left of the Media Pool. A browser to the right shows
the contents of the currently selected bin.

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 INTRO
The Media Pool in Thumbnail mode The Effects Library

Effects Library Browsing

The Effects Library contains a folder with the different Video Transitions, Title Effects, Generators, and
Filters that are available for editing in the Timeline. The Effects Library has two panels, a Toolbox panel
that contains the default Transitions, Titles, and Generators that Resolve comes with, and an OpenFX
panel that contains any OpenFX transitions and generators you might have installed on your system.

Edit Index
Clicking the Index button opens the Edit Index. By default, this shows an EDL-style list view of all the
edit events in the current timeline. Whichever timeline is selected in the Timeline list displays its events
here; each clip and transition is shown as an individual event, each of which contains multiple columns
of information. If you re-edit a timeline, your changes are automatically reflected in this list.

Edit Index List shown open

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Source/Offline and Timeline Viewers
The Source Viewer lets you view individual clips from the Media Pool to prepare them for editing.

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Meanwhile, the Timeline Viewer shows the frame at the position of the playhead in the Timeline. You
can select either viewer by clicking, and the name of the viewer that currently has focus appears in
orange. The color shown in the Source Viewer usually reflects that of the original source media, while
the Timeline Viewer shows whatever grading you’ve done in the Color page.

Source and Timeline Viewers

If you want to change the Edit page layout to hide the Source Viewer, you can choose Workspace >
Single Viewer Mode to hide the Source Viewer and instead use just a single viewer to contextually
display either a selected Source Clip or the current frame of the Timeline.

Single Viewer mode

In Single Viewer mode, whatever you select in the Media Pool or Timeline determines which controls
appear in the Viewer, which lets you do nearly everything you can do with two simultaneously
open viewers.
You can also put either the Source or Timeline Viewers into Cinema Viewer mode by choosing
Workspace > Viewer Mode > Cinema Viewer (Command-F), causing whichever viewer is currently
selected to fill the entire screen. This command toggles Cinema Viewer mode on and off.

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Inspector
The Inspector can be opened to let you customize compositing, transform, and cropping parameters

INTRO
for clips, as well as clip-specific retime and scaling options. Furthermore, the Inspector lets you edit
the parameters of transitions, titles, and generators used in the Timeline, in order to customize their
effect. Ordinarily, the Inspector opens alongside the Source and Timeline Viewers, but on smaller
displays, opening the Inspector switches the Edit page to a single-viewer mode, showing you the
Timeline item that you’re inspecting alongside the Inspector with that clip’s parameters.

The Inspector, opened and showing a clip’s parameters

Toolbar
Eleven buttons starting from the left, running along the top of the Timeline, let you choose different
tools for performing various editing functions.

Buttons in the toolbar

Timeline
The Timeline shows whichever timeline you’ve double-clicked in the Timelines browser. It’s the
workspace where you either edit programs together from scratch, or import sequences from other
applications to work on inside of Resolve. You can only have one Timeline open at a time.
The Timeline is divided into audio and video tracks, each of which has a series of header controls
at the left that let you choose destination tracks for editing, name tracks, and turn tracks on and off,
among other things. The appearance of the Timeline can be customized using the Timeline View
Options drop-down in the toolbar.

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An edited timeline

Floating Timecode Window

A timecode window is available from the Workspace menu on every page, including the Edit page.
Choosing this option displays a floating timecode window that shows the timecode of the Viewer
or Timeline that currently has focus. This window is resizable so you can make the timecode larger
or smaller.

A new floating timecode window is available

Motion Graphics and

Visual Effects in DaVinci Resolve
To begin with, DaVinci Resolve has a wealth of effects in both the Edit and Color pages for creating
titles, transforming and animating clips, compositing and creating transparency effects, cutting mattes,
applying filters, image stabilization, lens dewarping, and so on.
Then of course there’s the Fusion page, which adds considerably more powerful VFX and motion
graphics capabilities via its node-based interface and deep toolset of effects nodes, keyframing and
curve editing controls, and 2D and 3D compositing features.

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 To use DaVinci Resolve to the best effect, it’s prudent to begin to think of the Edit, Fusion, and
Color pages as complementary sets of controls.

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• For editors, the Fusion and Color pages are really just two giant inspectors; one filled with
every compositing tool you could hope to use, and the other filled with every control for
color and visual adjustment you could want, each of which are only one click away.
• For compositing artists, the Edit page can be considered a robust shot management
interface as well as an opportunity to do VFX work that’s deeply integrated with the edit of
the program you’re working on.
• For colorists, the Edit page is a refined environment for dealing with conform issues and
taking care of myriad finishing tasks quickly and easily, that itself is only one click away.
For more information on the effects that are available in DaVinci Resolve, see the
chapters available within Part 6, “Editing Effects and Transitions” and Part 11, “Color
Page Effects”.

VFX Connect
As robust as the built-in compositing capabilities of DaVinci Resolve now are, when you run into
instances where the various capabilities found in the Edit, Fusion, and Color pages aren’t enough to
achieve the effect you require, you can use the VFX Connect features of DaVinci Resolve to send one
or more clips from the Edit page Timeline to Blackmagic Fusion, the powerful node-based compositing
application from Blackmagic Design, in order to do more robust compositing and effects work there.
Furthermore, the VFX Connect feature can also be used to round-trip media to and render results from
third-party applications such as The Foundry’s Nuke, Autodesk Flame, or Blender.

The New VFX Connect Clip dialo

This is a simple round-trip operation that lets you send clips from the DaVinci Resolve timeline to
Fusion or another application, where you’ll add effects and do whatever work needs to be done
before rendering a finished effect file that, if properly named, will automatically appear back in your
timeline. When you use VFX Connect with Blackmagic Fusion, a project file is automatically generated
and the render path is automatically named for automatic linking from the DaVinci Resolve timeline.
If you use this feature with third-party applications, you’ll need to set up the naming of your rendered
effect file manually.

For more information, see Chapter 63, “Introduction to Compositing in Fusion.”

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The Fusion Page

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The Fusion page is intended, eventually, to be a feature-complete integration of Blackmagic Design
Fusion, a powerful 2D and 3D compositing application with over thirty years of evolution serving
the film and broadcast industry, creating effects that have been seen in countless films and
television series.
Merged right into DaVinci Resolve with a newly updated user interface, the Fusion page makes it
possible to jump immediately from editing right into compositing, with no need to export media, relink
files, or launch another application to get your work done. Everything you need now lives right inside
DaVinci Resolve.

The Fusion page showing Viewers, the Node Editor, and the Inspector

For more information on using the Fusion page, see Chapter 63, “Introduction to Compositing
in Fusion.”

The Work Area

You’ll probably not see this term used much, in favor of the specific panels within the work area that
you’ll be using, but the area referred to as the Work Area is the region at the bottom half of the Fusion
page UI, within which you can expose the three main panels used to construct compositions and edit
animations in the Fusion page. These are the Node Editor, the Spline Editor, and the Keyframes Editor.
By default, the Node Editor is the first thing you’ll see, and the main area you’ll be working within, but it
can sit side-by-side with the Spline Editor and Keyframes Editor as necessary, and you can make more
horizontal room on your display for these three panels by putting the Effects Library and Inspector into
half-height mode, if necessary.

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 INTRO
The Work Area showing the Node Editor, the Spline Editor, and Keyframes Editor

Viewers
The Viewer Area area encompasses the Time Ruler and transport controls. The Time Ruler is the
principal “timeline” of the Fusion page, which focuses exclusively on the current composition you’re
working on and may consist of one clip or several. This area can be set to display either one or two
viewers at the top of the Fusion page, chosen via the Viewer button at the far right of the Viewer title
bar. Each viewer can show a single node’s output from anywhere in the node tree. You assign which
node is displayed in which viewer. This makes it easy to load separate nodes into each viewer for
comparison. For example, you can load a Keyer node into the left Viewer and the final composite into
the right Viewer, so you can see the image you’re adjusting and the final result at the same time.

Dual viewers let you edit an upstream node in one while seeing its effect on the overall composition in the other

Ordinarily, each viewer shows 2D nodes from your composition as a single image. However, when
you’re viewing a 3D node, you have the option to set that viewer to one of several 3D views, including
a perspective view that gives you a repositionable stage on which to arrange the elements of the
world you’re creating, or a quad view that lets you see your composition from four angles, making
it easier to arrange and edit objects and layers within the XYZ axes of the 3D space in which
you’re working.

Toolbar
The toolbar, located underneath the Time Ruler, contains buttons that let you quickly add commonly
used nodes to the Node Editor. Clicking any of these buttons adds that node after the currently
selected node in the node tree, or adds an unconnected instance of that node if no nodes
are selected.

The toolbar has buttons for adding commonly used nodes to the Node Editor

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 The toolbar is divided into six sections that group commonly used nodes together. As you
hover the pointer over any button, a tooltip shows you that node’s name.

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Effects Library
The Effects Library on the Fusion page shows all of the nodes and effects that are available in the
Fusion page, including effects that come with DaVinci Resolve and third-party OFX, if available. While
the toolbar shows many of the most common nodes you’ll be using in any composite, the Effects
Library contains every single tool available in the Fusion page, organized by category, with each node
ready to be quickly added to the Node Editor. Suffice it to say there are many, many more nodes
available in the Effects Library than on the toolbar, spanning a wide range of uses.

The Effects Library with Tools open

Node Editor
The Node Editor is the heart of the Fusion page, because it’s where you build the tree of nodes that
makes up each composition. Each node you add to the node tree adds a specific operation that
creates one effect, whether it’s blurring the image, adjusting color, painting strokes, drawing and
adding a mask, extracting a key, creating text, or compositing two images into one.

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 INTRO
The Node Editor displaying a node tree creating a composition

Inspector
The Inspector is a panel on the right side of the Fusion page that you use to display and manipulate
the parameters of one or more selected nodes. When a node is selected in the Node Editor, its
parameters and settings appear in the Inspector, ready for you to modify. The Fusion Inspector is
divided into two panels. The Tools panel shows you the parameters of selected nodes.
The Modifiers panel shows you different things for different nodes. For all nodes, it shows you
the controls for Modifiers, or adjustable expressions, that you’ve added to specific parameters to
automatically animate them in different ways.

The Inspector shows parameters Nodes with several tabs worth of parameters
from one or more selected nodes

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 Additionally, many nodes expose multiple tabs’ worth of controls in the Inspector,
seen as icons at the top of the parameter section for each node. Click any tab to

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expose that set of controls.

Thumbnail Timeline
Hidden by default, the Thumbnail timeline can be opened by clicking the Clips button in the UI Toolbar
and appears underneath the Node Editor when it’s open. The Thumbnail timeline shows you every
clip in the current Timeline, giving you a way to navigate from one clip to another when working on
multiple compositions in your project and providing an interface for creating and switching among
multiple versions of compositions and resetting the current composition, when necessary.

The Thumbnail timeline lets you navigate the Timeline and manage versions of compositions

Media Pool
In the Fusion page, the Media Pool continues to serve its purpose as the repository of all media you’ve
imported into your project. This makes it easy to add additional clips to your compositions simply by
dragging the clip you want from the Media Pool into the Node Editor. The media you add appears as a
new MediaIn node in your composition, ready to be integrated into your node tree however you need.

The Media Pool in Thumbnail mode showing video clips

Status Bar
The status bar at the bottom of the Fusion page, immediately above the Resolve Page bar, shows
you a variety of up-to-date information about things you’re selecting and what’s happening in the
Fusion page.

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 For example, hovering the pointer over any node displays information about that node in the
status bar (as well as in a floating tooltip), while the currently achieved frame rate appears

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whenever you initiate playback, and the percentage of the RAM cache that’s used appears at
all times. Other information, updates, and warnings appears in this area as you work.

The status bar under the Node Editor showing you

information about a node under the pointer and a floating tooltip

The Console
The console, available by choosing Workspace > Console, is a window in which you can see the error,
log, script, and input messages that may explain something the Fusion page is trying to do in greater
detail. The console is also where you can read FusionScript outputs or input FusionScripts directly.
Occasionally, the status bar (described above) will display a badge to let you know there’s a message
in the console you might be interested in. The badge will indicate if the message is an error, log,
or script message.

The Console window

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The Color Page

INTRO
The Color page is where you color correct, or grade, your program. It has all of the controls available
for manipulating color and contrast, reducing noise, creating limited secondary color corrections,
building image effects of different kinds, adjusting clip geometry, and making many other corrective
and stylistic adjustments. The Color page is divided into seven main areas that work together to let
you build a grade.

For more detailed information about the Color page, see Chapter 124, “Using the Color Page.”

The Color page

Viewer
The Viewer shows the frame at the current position of the playhead in the Timeline. The contents
of the Viewer are almost always output to video via whichever I/O interface you have connected.
At the top of the Viewer is a header that displays the Project and Timeline names, as well as a Viewer
Timecode display that shows the source timecode of each clip by default. The Timeline name is also
a drop-down display that lets you switch to any other timeline in the project. A jog bar (sometimes
referred to as a scrubber bar) underneath the image lets you drag the playhead across the entire
duration of the clip, while transport controls underneath that let you control playback. A toolbar at the
top provides controls governing Image Wipes, Split-Screen controls, and Highlight display. Additional
controls let you turn audio playback on and off, or adjust them by right-clicking on the speaker icon
and dragging the slider. You can also choose which onscreen controls are currently displayed.

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 INTRO
Viewer with transport controls

You can also put the Viewer into Cinema Viewer mode by choosing Workspace > Viewer Mode >
Cinema Viewer (Command-F), so that it fills the entire screen. This command toggles Cinema Viewer
mode on and off. Two other modes, Enhanced Viewer (Option-F) and Full Screen Viewer (Shift-F), are
available to provide more working area for tasks such as window positioning and rotoscoping.

Gallery
The Gallery is used for storing still frames to use as reference when comparing clips to one another.
Each still frame also stores that clip’s grade so you can copy it later; stills and grades are stored
together. A button lets you open up the Album browser, used for organizing your stills. At the top of the
Gallery, Memories let you store grade information that you can apply using a control panel or keyboard
shortcuts. You can also open a larger Gallery window within the Color page that provides more room
for organizing your saved stills and grades.

For more information on the Gallery page, see Chapter 139, “Using the Gallery.”

The Gallery has Memories, stills saved in albums, and your PowerGrades

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Node Editor
The Node Editor is where you assemble one or more individual corrections (nodes) together to create

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multi-correction grades (seen as node trees). This is a powerful way of assembling grades, since
different combinations of nodes let you create different corrections and very specific adjustments by
reordering operations, combining keys, or changing the layer order of different adjustments.

For more information about the Node Editor, see Chapter 141, “Node Editing Basics.”

Node Editor to construct your grade processing signal flow

Timeline
The Timeline in the Color page reflects the contents of the Timeline in the Edit page, but has a
different appearance that’s tailored to the requirements of the colorist. However, the content is
identical, and changes made to the Timeline in the Edit page are immediately seen in the Color page
as you switch back and forth. The Color page Timeline provides several ways of navigating the clips in
your project, as well as keeping track of what has been done to which clips.

The Color page Timeline

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The Timeline is divided into three parts, each of which shows different information and provides
differing controls. A Timeline Ruler at the top lets you scrub the playhead across multiple clips,

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and can be zoomed out enough to show every clip in your entire program. Underneath, the Mini-
Timeline (which can be opened or closed via a button at the right of the palette bar) shows a small
representation of the Timeline in the Edit page wherein each clip is as long as its actual duration.
At the bottom of the Timeline is the Thumbnail timeline, in which each clip is represented by a single
frame. The currently selected clip is outlined in orange, and information appears above and below
each thumbnail such as each clip’s source timecode, clip number and track number, version name,
whether it’s been graded, whether it’s been tracked, if it’s been flagged, and so on.

Left Palettes
A series of palettes at the bottom left of the Color page provide access to different sets of grading
tools, used principally for manipulating color, contrast, and raw media format settings. Each individual
palette is opened by clicking the corresponding icon at the top of the Palette panel.

Left palette selection buttons in the top bar

The available palettes are the Camera Raw palette (for making metadata adjustments to raw media
formats), the Color Match palette (for creating automatic grades by sampling on-camera color charts),
the Color Wheels (graphical color balance controls and master wheels or sliders for adjusting YRGB
Lift/Gamma/Gain), HDR Grade for enhanced High Dynamic Range grading, the RGB Mixer (for mixing
color channels into one another), and the Motion Effects palette (with controls for noise reduction and
artificial motion blur).

Center Palettes
At 1920x1080 resolution or higher, a second set of palettes is organized at the bottom center of the
Color page. These palettes span a wide range of functionality, and the adjustments you make with
them can be combined with those made using the Color palettes.

Center palette selection buttons

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 NOTE: At lower resolutions, the Left and Center palettes are merged to fit the

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DaVinci Resolve interface into a smaller area.

The eight available Center palettes include the Curves palette, the Color Warper palette, the Qualifiers
palette, the Windows palette, the Tracker palette, the Magic Mask palette, the Blur palette, the Key
palette, the Sizing palette, and the Stereoscopic 3D palette.

Keyframe Editor
The Keyframe Editor provides an interface for animating Color, Sizing, and Stereo Format adjustments
over time. Each node in the Node Editor corresponds to a track in the Keyframe Editor, which lets you
animate each node’s adjustments independently.

Keyframe Editor displaying dynamic grade changes

Furthermore, each node’s track can be opened up to reveal parameter groups, so that you
can animate subsets of an individual node’s functions independently of other functions within
the same node.

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The Fairlight Page

INTRO
In single monitor mode, the Fairlight page is an optimized look at the audio tracks of your project, with
an expanded mixer and custom monitoring controls that make it easy to evaluate and adjust the levels
of your program in order to create a smooth and harmonious mix.

Fairlight page

About Audio Monitoring and Audio Input

The audio processing throughout DaVinci Resolve, including on the Fairlight page and
audio processing using Fairlight FX plugins, is equally compatible with all platforms that
DaVinci Resolve runs on, including macOS, Windows, and Linux.
DaVinci Resolve supports audio monitoring using:
• The audio of a supported Blackmagic Design I/O device such as an UltraStudio or Decklink.
• Your macOS, Windows, or Linux workstation’s on-board audio.
• Any Core Audio compatible, Windows compatible, or Advanced Linux Sound
Architecture (ALSA)-supported third-party audio interface.
• The Fairlight Audio Accelerator, MADI Upgrade, and Fairlight Audio Interface.
DaVinci Resolve supports audio input using the embedded audio on an incoming
SDI video feed when capturing incoming A/V source, via system audio and also via the
Fairlight Audio Accelerator, MADI Upgrade, and Fairlight Audio Interface.

The Audio Timeline

The heart of the Fairlight page, the Audio Timeline presents the audio channels and tracks of the
currently selected timeline differently than the Edit page does, in a one-channel-per-track format that’s
optimized for audio mixing and sweetening. The Audio page Timeline cannot be closed.

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The Audio Timeline

Audio layering in a mono audio track

The Fairlight page of DaVinci Resolve supports multiple audio tracks, and each audio track may
contain multiple lanes. The clips edited into the Timeline appear within each track, with the recorded
channels within each clip occupying as many lanes as that clip has available. At the left of each track is
a header area that contains a number of controls.
The Fairlight page differs in another unique respect from the Edit page Timeline, in that it supports
audio layering. Audio layering is a special audio editing mode that lets you superimpose multiple audio
clips in the same track, and whatever audio clip is on top dictates which audio will play. In a way, when
audio layering is enabled, superimposed audio clips are treated the same as superimposed video clips
that all have opacity set to 100%, with clips on top obscuring (or muting) clips underneath.

Turning on Track Layers opens up space to edit more audio into each track

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Audio layering is incredibly useful for any situation where you’re combining pieces of multiple takes
together to create a single VO, audio vocal track, or dramatic performance, as you can choose which

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pieces to prioritize via their superimposed position in the track, while you’re preserving the other takes
underneath in case you want them later.

TIP: Track Layering can be used on the Edit page as well.

Toolbar
The toolbar has buttons that let you choose modes of audio-specific functionality and other buttons
that let you execute commands, such as placing markers and flags.

Buttons in the Fairlight page toolbar

Mixer
The Audio Mixer provides a set of graphical
controls you can use to assign track channels to
output channels, adjust EQ and Dynamics, set
levels and record automation, pan stereo and
surround audio, and mute and solo tracks, all
while you continue to edit.
The Audio Mixer exposes a set of channel strips
with controls that correspond to the tracks in
the Timeline, one for each track, plus a Master
strip corresponding to the Master audio track in
the Timeline, that lets you choose the number
of audio channels to output, and also lets you
adjust the overall level of the mix.

The Audio Mixer, with

channel strips corresponding
to the tracks in the Timeline

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Dedicated Channel Strip Controls
The Mixer also has a series of dedicated channel strip controls that add powerful mastering

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capabilities to DaVinci Resolve. These include:

EQ: Double-clicking exposes a four-band parametric equalizer with additional Hi and Lo Pass
filters, that has both graphical and numeric controls for tuning the frequencies of the audio on
each track. You can select from among four types of EQ filtering from the Equalizer Type drop-
down menu, with options for Earth (the default), Air, Ice, and Fire. Each band has controls for the
filter type (Bell, Lo-Shelf, Hi-Shelf, Notch), Frequency, Gain, and Q-factor (sharpness of the band).

The channel strip EQ window

Dynamics: Double-clicking exposes a set of dynamics controls with compressor, limiter, and
expander or gate sections. The Equalizer button at the upper left-hand corner lets you turn all
EQ on and off. The first section can be switched between working as an Expander or a Gate,
with attendant Threshold/Range/Ratio and Attack/Hold/Release controls. The second section
provides Compressor controls, while the third section provides Limiter controls. These controls
may be used either singly or in concert to manage the dynamics of the audio on that track.

The channel strip Dynamics control window

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 Pan: A pan control compatible with stereo and surround panning. You can drag within this
control to adjust pan, or you can double-click to expose a Pan window. What controls are

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available in the Pan window depend on the mapping of the audio track, but both stereo and
surround panning controls are available, with corresponding numeric controls.

The Pan control window

The Monitoring Panel

The Monitoring panel shows all of the audio meters corresponding to the tracks in the Timeline, as well
as the Master Output meter, Control Room meters, and a video viewer.

The Monitoring panel

At left, a row of audio meters corresponds to the channel strips of the Mixer, one meter for every audio
track in the Timeline. To the right of these, all buses appear, showing you meters for the Mains and
Subs (submixes) you’re using to mix down your show. Farther to the right of these, a set of Control
Room meters show you the monitored output and loudness meters for a precise analysis of your mix’s
perceived loudness.
Finally, a small viewer to the right of the Monitoring panel shows the frame of video at the position of
the playhead. This viewer can be undocked via a button at the lower right-hand corner.

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Floating Timecode Window
A timecode window is available from the Workspace menu on every page, including the Fairlight page.

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Choosing this option displays a floating timecode window that shows the timecode of the Viewer
or Timeline that currently has focus. This window is resizable so you can make the timecode larger
or smaller.

A new floating timecode window is available

The Deliver Page

Once you’ve finished grading your project, you need to either render it, or output it to tape to deliver it
to your client. This is where the Deliver page comes in. The Deliver page can be used both to output
digital deliverables, or to output tape, depending on which mode you enable. Either way, the Deliver
page is divided into five areas of functionality, each of which lets you set up a different part of a render
or output to tape.
The Deliver page is set up to let you queue a series of individual jobs, each of which can have different
settings, or be set up to render different parts of the Timeline. In this way, you can output multiple
deliverables, or re-render multiple areas of a timeline, as your needs require.

For more information about using the Deliver page, see Chapter 183, “Using the Deliver Page.”

The Deliver page

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The Render Settings List
The Render Settings list contains the customizable settings that affect how media is rendered out of

INTRO
DaVinci Resolve.
These settings are covered in more detail later in “Output Scaling.” The Render Settings you can
choose from for outputting from DaVinci Resolve appear in three panels, separating the Video, Audio,
and File information-based settings in a logical fashion. By default, this list shows only the most
important criteria necessary for defining a render. However, additional controls can be exposed by
clicking the “Advanced settings” disclosure triangle at the bottom of each group of settings.

Render settings

The Deliver Page Timeline

The Timeline mirrors the Timeline seen in the Color page. You can use the Timeline in the Deliver
page to turn off tracks with clips you don’t want to include in the operation, define the range of clips
you want to render or output to tape, and to choose which versions for each clip you want to output.
You also have the option of switching the Deliver page Timeline to look like the Color page Timeline
instead, if that’s what you’re more comfortable with.
The Deliver page Timeline also has the Timeline Filter drop-down at the right-hand side of the toolbar.
Using this drop-down to filter the contents of the Timeline lets you restrict the range of media you
want to output in different ways. For example, if you’ve already rendered a timeline, but you’ve since
made some changes, you can use the “Show Modified Clips” option to display only the clips that have

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changed within a particular timeframe. Another possibility is to choose the “Show Unrendered Clips”
option to show all clips that have not yet been rendered.

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The Deliver page’s Thumbnail and Mini-Timeline match the Color page

The Viewer
When rendering file-based media, the Viewer shows you exactly how the media being output will
look using the current settings, and the transport controls move the playhead throughout the current
Timeline. Audio levels can be adjusted by right-clicking on the speaker icon,and dragging the slider.
When outputting to tape, the Viewer shows you the tape output so you can set up insert or assembly
edit points, and the transport controls move the tape in the deck if device control is enabled. You
can also put the Viewer into Cinema Viewer mode by choosing Workspace > Viewer Mode > Cinema
Viewer (Command-F), so that it fills the entire screen. This command toggles Cinema Viewer mode
on and off.

Deliver page Viewer

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The Render Queue
The Render Queue is a list of all the jobs you’ve queued up for file-based rendering. Each job can

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have an individualized range of clips and render settings, which you can use to render multiple
sections or clips of a timeline, the same timeline output to multiple formats, or multiple timelines.
The Render Queue also has the option to show either just the jobs within the current project, or jobs
queued up and saved within all projects for the current user.

The Render Queue displays all jobs

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Chapter 2

INTRO
Using the
DaVinci Resolve
User Interface
This chapter provides an overview of the various unspoken conventions and
interaction methods employed by the DaVinci Resolve graphical user interface (GUI).

These include how the various buttons of your mouse, pen and tablet, or trackpad are used by different
windows and interface widgets, how commands are distributed throughout the application using the
menu bar, contextual menus, and option menus, and how to interact with fields and other controls.
While many of these conventions overlap with common user interface conventions found in the file system
of your platform of choice, and with other media applications, some of these are unique to DaVinci Resolve,
so this chapter is worth reviewing even if you consider yourself an expert user of other applications.

Contents
Basic Documentation Terminology........................ 56 Video Clean Feed (Studio Version Only) .............. 62
What Is the “UI” or “GUI”.............................................. 56 Saving Custom Screen Layouts................................ 62
What Is “the Pointer” ...................................................... 56 Resetting to the Default Layout ................................ 62
About Keyboard Shortcuts.......................................... 56 Undocking Specific Panels of the Interface........ 62
Customizing the DaVinci Resolve Interface ...... 56
DaVinci Resolve User Interface Conventions... 64
Working Full Screen vs.
Contextual Menus............................................................ 64
Within a Floating Window ............................................ 56
Drop-Down Menus.......................................................... 65
Panels and Panel Focus................................................ 56
Showing and Hiding Panels Adjusting Parameters .................................................... 66
Using the Interface Toolbar ........................................ 57 Using a Mouse or Other Input Device .................. 67
Showing and Hiding Panels in Mouse, Trackpad, and Tablet Behaviors ............. 68
the Workspace Submenu............................................. 58
Timeline Scroll Behavior............................................... 68
Adjusting the Size of Different Panels ................... 58
Viewer Behavior ............................................................... 69
Using Single- vs. Dual-Monitor Layouts................ 60
Keyboard Shortcuts ....................................................... 70
Using the Full Screen
Timeline Option in the Edit Page .............................. 61 Undo and Redo in DaVinci Resolve ........................ 71

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Basic Documentation Terminology

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Here is a brief word about some of the basic terminology used in this manual for brand new users.

What Is the “UI” or “GUI”

In this documentation, UI refers to “user interface,” while GUI refers to “graphical user interface.”
This refers to the windows, screens, and controls that let you create in DaVinci Resolve. If you didn’t
know this, don’t be embarrassed, you’d be surprised how many times this question gets asked.

What Is “the Pointer”

Whenever this documentation refers to “the pointer,” the reference is to the on-screen arrow you use
to click on elements of the user interface, which is controlled by the mouse, trackpad, pen and tablet,
trackball, or any other device you may be using. Because there are so many different ways to control
computers, simply referring to “the mouse” is inaccurate.

About Keyboard Shortcuts

This manual presents all keyboard shortcuts using the macOS conventions of the Command key
and the Option key. For compatibility with Windows and Linux, the Control key in macOS is not
used by default for any keyboard shortcuts (although it can be assigned if you customize your
keyboard shortcuts).
All keyboard shortcuts that use the Option key in macOS use the ALT key in Windows and Linux,
and all keyboard shortcuts that use the Command key in macOS use the Control key in Windows
and Linux.

Customizing the DaVinci Resolve Interface

While the DaVinci Resolve interface may not seem very customizable at first, there are actually many
ways in which you can tailor the panels found within each page to your specific needs.

Working Full Screen vs. Within a Floating Window

Depending on how you like to work, you can choose to work with DaVinci Resolve in a floating window
with a title bar that can be resized, moved, minimized, and used alongside other windows. Or, you can
choose Workspace > Full Screen to put DaVinci Resolve into Full Screen mode, where the title bar
disappears and DaVinci Resolve takes up the full dimensions of your computer display.
Editors may prefer to work within a window if they’re working among multiple applications.
Colorists and mixers may prefer Full Screen mode as it hides the light-colored title bar that some find
distracting and provides a tiny bit more screen real estate for the rest of the application.

Panels and Panel Focus

Each page of DaVinci Resolve consists of multiple panels. Each panel contains all the controls and
information necessary for a particular aspect of that page’s functionality. In the following partial
screenshot of the top of the Media page, the Media Storage panel lets you browse files, the Viewer is
a panel that lets you watch video, and the Audio panel lets you see the strength of audio playing back
via a set of audio meters. Each of these panels has separate controls, but they all appear within the
main window of the DaVinci Resolve user interface.

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Three panels side by side on the Media Page, showing Media Storage, the Viewer, and the Audio panel

Each panel you use has “focus,” meaning that clicking an item or control within a particular panel
makes that panel the active panel, which serves to direct keyboard shortcuts that are shared among
many panels to the particular panel you’re using. If you want to see which panel is in focus, you can
turn on the “Show focus indicators in the User Interface” checkbox in the UI Settings panel of the User
Preferences. When on, a red line at the top of the active panel indicates that it has focus.

A red line at the top of the Media Pool in the Edit page shows that it has focus

Showing and Hiding Panels Using the Interface Toolbar

Each page in DaVinci Resolve has an Interface Toolbar that runs along the top. This toolbar contains
buttons that let you show and hide different panels of functionality to accomplish different things:
‚ You can show panels that aren’t displayed by default, since most pages have many available
panels of functionality that are hidden until you need them.
‚ You can assign keyboard shortcuts to show and hide individual panels in your workspace for
instant configuration of the UI. Keyboard shortcuts to toggle these panels on or off can be
assigned using the Keyboard Customization window.
‚ You can switch which panel appears within a particular geographical location of the UI, for
example switching between showing the Media Pool or Effects in the upper-lefthand corner of the
Cut or Edit pages.
‚ You can hide panels you don’t need in order to create more room in the specific panels
you’re working within.

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The Interface toolbar for the Color page lets you customize the Color page controls

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If you right-click anywhere within the UI toolbar, two options appear: “Show Icons and Labels” and
“Show Icons Only.” If you show icons only, the UI toolbar becomes less cluttered.
Each page has a different set of options that reflect the capabilities of that page.

The UI Toolbar for the Edit page, showing icons only, to save space

Showing and Hiding Panels in the Workspace Submenu

This function provides the ability to turn on or off panels by choosing them in the Workspace >
Show Panel in Workspace drop-down menu. The exact panels, such as Inspector, Media Pool,
Metadata, etc., are dependent on which page you are working in. Alternatively, you can assign these
panels keyboard shortcuts as well.

Adjusting the Size of Different Panels

You can resize adjacent panels in the interface by positioning the pointer at the border between any
two panels, and dragging it to enlarge one and shrink the other.

(Before/After) Resizing UI regions

Certain panels and palettes can be expanded, in the process rearranging another part of the UI, by
clicking a small gray Expand button. For example, an expand button at the top right of the Keyframe
Editor in the Color page can be clicked to make the Keyframe Editor wider, while at the same time
hiding controls at the center to make room.

(Before/After) Expanding the Keyframe Editor

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Certain vertically oriented panels, such as the Media Pool, Effects Library, Metadata Editor, and
Inspector, can be set to either half-display-height or full-display-height sizes to quickly create more or

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less room for contents or controls whenever necessary. This is done by clicking a small button in the
UI toolbar that toggles between expanding or contracting the UI element it controls.

The button for expanding

a panel to full height

The button for contracting

a panel to half height

The result is that the panel in question expands or contracts. The following screenshots show the
Inspector of the Edit page in half height mode, where the Timeline is given room to expand, and in full
height mode, where the Timeline becomes shorter, but there’s more room in the Inspector to see all of
the controls.

(Left) A half-height Inspector with more room for the Timeline,

(Right) A full-height Inspector with more room for controls

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Using Single- vs. Dual-Monitor Layouts
The Media, Edit, Color, and Fairlight pages can be switched between single-screen and dual-screen

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layouts by choosing Workspace > Dual Screen > On. Each dual-screen layout makes it possible to see
many more controls at once, often in a larger workspace that lets you manage more clips, more Gallery
stills, etc. The second screen of a dual-screen layout can be resized but not reorganized.

The Edit page in Dual-screen mode

In Single-screen mode, you can choose which display shows the DaVinci Resolve UI by choosing
Workspace > Primary Display > (Monitor Name). In Dual-screen mode, this reverses the contents of
both monitors.

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Using the Full Screen Timeline Option in the Edit Page
If you’re working in the Edit page in Dual-screen mode and you need the biggest timeline you can get

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for working through your program, you can choose Workspace > Dual Screen > Full Screen Timeline
to expose a layout with one large full-screen timeline, and all the other Edit page panels on the
other screen.

The Edit page in Dual-screen Timeline mode

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Video Clean Feed (Studio Version Only)
A full-screen Viewer for a secondary monitor connected directly to your computer is now available.

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To activate this monitor select Workspace > Video Clean Feed, and select your display in the submenu.

Selecting a monitor for full-screen display

Saving Custom Screen Layouts

If you’ve created a particular set of resized panels that you’ll want to use often, you can save it,
alongside other frequently useful screen layouts you may have saved.

Methods of working with custom screen layouts:

‚ To save a custom screen preset: Customize the various pages of DaVinci Resolve for the purpose
at hand, then choose Workspace > Layout Presets > Save Layout As Preset. Enter a name into the
Save Layout as Preset dialog, and click OK.
‚ To choose a previously saved screen preset: Choose Workspace > Layout Presets > LAYOUT
NAME > Load. You can assign keyboard shortcuts for up to five different presets in the Keyboard
Customization window (Application > Workspace > Layout Presets).
‚ To update a previously saved screen preset: Choose the layout you want from the Workspace >
Layout submenu, make your changes, and then choose Workspace > Layout Presets > LAYOUT
NAME > Update Preset.
‚ To delete a screen preset: Choose Workspace > Layout Presets > LAYOUT NAME > Delete Preset.
‚ To export a screen preset for use on another DaVinci Resolve installation: Choose Workspace >
Layout Presets > LAYOUT NAME > Export Preset.
‚ To import a screen preset: Choose Workspace > Layout Presets > Import Layout as Preset.

Resetting to the Default Layout

If you don’t like the current layout and you want to go back to the default, choose Workspace >
Reset UI Layout.

Undocking Specific Panels of the Interface

There are certain interface elements that can either be docked in their respective pages, or opened in
separate windows.
Media Pool bins can be opened into floating windows simply by right-clicking on the bin and choosing
Open As a New Window in the contextual menu. Even though you’re opening up the contents of the
selected bin, you’re really creating another Media Pool, complete with Bin list, Browsing area, and all
of the organizational controls found in the docked Media Pool. You can have as many floating Media
Pools as you like. They can be dragged to other monitors, and they can be closed via a button at the
upper left-hand corner of the title bar.

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 INTRO
A floating Media Pool window

The video scopes let you precisely analyze the color and contrast of clips in the Color page.
They can be exposed in their docked position to the right of the Color page palettes by clicking the
Video Scope button in the Color page toolbar.

The video scope, docked next to the other palettes at the bottom of the Color page

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Optionally, you can click the expand button at the top right of the video scope to open the video
scopes into a floating window, within which you can display all four video scopes together, or

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individually, on any monitor connected to your workstation.

Video scopes in a floating window

Additionally, the Audio Mixer and video scopes are available in many of the dual-screen layouts
available in DaVinci Resolve. The video scopes aren’t just available in the Color page. They’re also
available in the Media and Deliver pages for whenever you need to evaluate the video signal more
objectively, such as when you’re setting up to capture from tape or scan from film, or when you’re
setting up for output.
In the DaVinci Resolve single screen layout, the video scopes can be moved to a second computer
display, if one’s available, and will disappear temporarily if you change pages or switch to
another application.

DaVinci Resolve User

Interface Conventions
While each chapter covers the unique onscreen controls found in each page of DaVinci Resolve, this
section summarizes how to use some of the more common controls you’ll see.

Contextual Menus
Nearly every panel on every page exposes additional functionality via contextual menus, which
appear when you right-click on the appropriate item. Sometimes, different commands become
available depending on whether you right-click the background of a particular panel, or directly on an
item such as a still or node.

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 INTRO
Contextual menus expose additional controls in the Color page Viewer

Drop-Down Menus
Most of the buttons and drop-down menus that appear in various toolbars are activated with a single
click. For example, many panels, palettes, and windows expose an Option menu, that appears as three
horizontal dots (people like to refer to these as the “three dot menus,” but they’re option menus), which
expose additional options and/or commands that are related to that particular panel’s function.

Option menus Mode drop-down

Additionally, many (but not all) panels and palettes appear with a “Mode” drop-down at the upper
right-hand corner that lets you choose a different type of function within that palette.
Some buttons, such as transport controls and toolbar icons, display a little downward facing arrow
when you hover the pointer over them, to indicate that you can right-click on these controls to access
checkmark options that govern the functionality of those controls.

(Left) Hovering over a button to reveal it has a hidden menu,

(Right) Right-clicking a button to reveal options in a drop-down menu

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Adjusting Parameters
Numeric parameters can usually be edited in a few different ways.

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Sliders and Dials
Sliders can be dragged to change the value of a parameter within a specific range. If you see a dial,
that means a value can be endlessly edited with no restrictions to the value. Sliders are typically best
for making large coarse adjustments to parameters. The “virtual sliders” described next let you make
finer adjustments.

A slider and a dial with their Using virtual

accompanying number fields sliders

Virtual Sliders and Fields

When number fields appear, they can be used as a “virtual slider” by hovering the pointer over them
until you see the “virtual slider cursor” and then clicking and dragging to the right to raise the value,
or to the left to lower the value (white arrows indicate the direction of change). Typically, using a field’s
virtual slider lets you make more precise adjustments than the actual slider to the left.
Double-clicking fields containing most number values highlights the number so that you can type a
new value using the keyboard, pressing Return to confirm the change.

Editing of Number Field Values Using Arrow Keys

You can manually edit numerical parameter values by using the arrow keys to navigate and make
adjustments to the decimal level in number fields.

To use the arrow keys to adjust numerical parameters:

1 Double-click to select a numeric value in a field, and a highlight appears around that value.
2 Use the left/right arrows to navigate the cursor to the right of the decimal value you want to adjust.
3 Use the Up/Down arrows to change the value of that decimal place.
4 If you select the entire number, the Up/Down arrows will adjust the minimum value.

This cursor is in place to adjust the tenths

position using the Up and Down arrows.

Copy and Pasting of Number Field Values in Virtual Sliders

You can do standard copy/paste functions of any value in a field to any other field.

To copy and paste numerical parameters from a field:

1 Right-click on the source field and choose copy (Command-C) from the drop-down menu.
2 Right-click on the destination field and choose paste (Command-V) from the drop-down menu.

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Icons and Buttons Resetting Parameters
Some controls are exposed as icons and To reset any editable parameter to its default

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buttons, which you simply click to invoke setting, double-click its text label, or click the
whatever functionality they encompass. reset button, if one appears. Master reset buttons,
typically found in the headers of groups of controls,
reset all controls in that group. Individual reset
controls that appear to the right of parameters
typically only reset that one parameter. If you don’t
A pair of buttons with icons to see a reset control, then double-clicking the name
illustrate their functionality of the parameter should work.

Reset button

Using a Mouse or Other Input Device

Resolve uses all three buttons of a multi-button mouse, or the three buttons available on other type
of input devices, when available. This section provides a brief summary of all the different ways these
three mouse buttons can be used.

Left Button
The left button is always referred to as a click, as in, “click the auto select button.” You click to turn
buttons or other controls on or off, to make selections, and to give areas of the Resolve UI focus so
that keyboard shortcuts will do whatever is specific to that panel or area of the user interface.
Double-clicking the left button usually opens items that are openable, such as opening a clip from the
Media Pool into the Source Viewer. You can also use double-clicking to do things like selecting nodes
in the Node Editor of the Color page.

Right Button
The right button is referred to as a right-click, as in, “right-click a clip in the Media Pool.” Right-clicking
an item or area of the Resolve interface usually opens a contextual menu, exposing additional
commands that are specific to the item or area you’ve right-clicked.
However, some areas of the UI use right-clicking in special ways. For example, when you’re using a
color adjustment curve in the Curve palette of the Color page, right-clicking a control point deletes
that point.

Middle Button
The middle button (usually the scroll wheel button, but you may have to turn this on in the Mouse
panel of the System Preferences) is referred to as a middle-click, which does different things in
different places.
‚ In all pages, rolling the scroll wheel while the pointer is within a viewer lets you zoom into and out
of the image being displayed when you need to do more detailed work.
‚ In all pages and panels, pressing and holding middle-click and dragging inside a panel allows you
to scroll the view of the panel’s data in the direction that you drag.

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 ‚ In the Color page, you can move the pointer over the Thumbnail timeline and roll up to scroll to the
right or roll down to scroll to the left. You can also roll the scroll wheel while the pointer is within

INTRO
the Mini-timeline to zoom into or out of the currently displayed area. Rolling up zooms out, while
rolling down zooms in.
‚ Middle-clicking and dragging within a viewer lets you drag the image to pan it around, which is
useful after you’ve used the scroll wheel (or scroll behavior) of your mouse to zoom in.
‚ You can middle-click and drag within the Edit page Timeline to quickly pan around your edit.
‚ You can also use middle-click to copy a grade in the Thumbnail timeline of the Color page, by first
selecting the clip that you want to copy TO (with a simple click) and then middle-clicking the clip or
gallery still you want to copy a grade FROM.
‚ Lastly, if you’re drawing a Bezier window in the Color page Viewer using the Window palette, then
middle-clicking a control point will delete that point.

TIP: If you’re using a pointing device that lacks a third button option, check to see if there are
any third party utilities or drivers that can enable this for you.

Mouse, Trackpad, and Tablet Behaviors

Different input devices use different gestures to trigger specific behaviors in DaVinci Resolve.
Here is a current breakdown of these gestures and the behaviors that they control.

Timeline Scroll Behavior

Standard Mouse Mac Magic Mouse Trackpad Tablet and Pen

Scroll timeline Magic Mouse 2 Finger —

vertically 1 Finger Pan Pan
Vertical and Vertical and
Scroll Horizontal Horizontal
panning panning

Scroll timeline Magic Mouse 2 Finger —

horizontally 1 Finger Pan Pan
Vertical and Vertical and
Scroll Horizontal Horizontal
panning panning

Zoom timeline — — —
width
horizontally
With ability to Scroll
zoom where
cursor points
Can be
enabled in User
Workspace
preferences

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 Standard Mouse Mac Magic Mouse Trackpad Tablet and Pen

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Zoom — — —
timeline track
height vertically
Zooms Video and Scroll
Audio section
separately

Drag Timeline — —
with Hand Tool

Middle Left
Mouse Button
Button

Viewer Behavior
Standard Mouse Mac Magic Mouse Trackpad Tablet and Pen

Zoom towards — Pinch to Press and

mouse pointer Zoom hold the
Can change in middle
preferences pen button
Scroll
2 Finger Wwhile
Pan moving it
left and
right on the
tablet.

Free Pan Magic Mouse 2 Finger Press and

1 Finger Pan Pan hold the
middle
Middle pen button
Mouse Lift the pen
Button nib a few
millimeters
above the
pad, moving
the pen will
move the
frame in
the viewer.

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 Standard Mouse Mac Magic Mouse Trackpad Tablet and Pen

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Pan with — Press and
Hand Cursor hold the
middle
Middle Left pen button
Mouse Button Lift the pen
Button nib a few
millimeters
above the
pad, moving
the pen
will move
the hand in
the viewer.

Tilt Up and — — —
Down

Scroll

Pan Left — — —
and Right

Scroll

Context Menu — 2 Finger Right

Touch button
on the pen.
Right
Button

Gestures used in DaVinci Resolve for common input devices

Keyboard Shortcuts
Since the majority of DaVinci Resolve users are on macOS, this manual presents all keyboard
shortcuts using the macOS conventions of the Command key and the Option key. For users of other
systems, all keyboard shortcuts that use the Option key in macOS use the ALT key in Windows
and Linux, and all keyboard shortcuts that use the Command key in macOS use the Control key in
Windows and Linux.

TIP: To keep controls identical between macOS, Windows, and Linux, the Control key in
macOS is not used by default for any keyboard shortcuts. However, you can assign your own
keyboard shortcuts to the Control key if you like, opening up a whole new set of keyboard
shortcuts for your own use on macOS.

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Undo and Redo in DaVinci Resolve

INTRO
No matter where you are in DaVinci Resolve, Undo and Redo commands let you back out of steps
you’ve taken or commands you’ve executed, and reapply them if you change your mind. DaVinci
Resolve is capable of undoing the entire history of things you’ve done since creating or opening a
particular project. When you close a project, its entire undo history is purged. The next time you begin
work on a project, its undo history starts anew.
Because DaVinci Resolve integrates so much functionality in one application, there are three separate
sets of undo “stacks” to help you manage your work.
‚ The Media, Edit and Fairlight pages share the same multiple-undo stack, which lets you backtrack
out of changes made in the Media Pool, the Timeline, the Metadata Editor, and the Viewers.
‚ Each clip in the Fusion page has its own undo stack, so that you can undo changes you make to
the composition of each clip, independently.
‚ Each clip in the Color page has its own undo stack, so that you can undo changes you make to
grades in each clip, independently.

In all cases, there is no practical limit to the number of steps that are undoable (although there may be
a limit to what you can remember). To take advantage of this, there are three ways you can undo work
to go to a previous state of your project, no matter what page you’re in.

To simply undo or redo changes you’ve made one at a time:

‚ Choose Edit > Undo (Command-Z) to undo the previous change.
‚ Choose Edit > Redo (Shift-Command-Z) to redo to the next change.

You can also undo several steps at a time using the History submenu and window. At the time of this
writing, this only works for multiple undo steps in the Media, Cut, Edit, and Fairlight pages.

To undo and redo using the History submenu:

1 Open the Edit > History submenu, which shows (up to) the last twenty things you’ve done.
2 Choose an item on the list to undo back to that point. The most recent thing you’ve done appears
at the top of this list, and the change you’ve just made appears with a check next to it. Steps
that have been undone but that can still be redone remain in this menu, so you can see what’s
possible. However, if you’ve undone several changes at once and then you make a new change,
you cannot undo any more and those steps disappear from the menu.

The History submenu, which lets you undo several steps at once

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Once you’ve selected a step to undo to, the menu closes and the project updates to show you its
current state.

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To undo and redo using the Undo window:
1 Choose Edit > History > Open History Window.
When the History dialog appears, click an item on the list to undo back to that point. Unlike
the menu, in this window the most recent thing you’ve done appears at the bottom of this list.
Selecting a change here grays out changes that can still be redone, as the project updates to
show you its current state.

The Undo History window that lets you

browse the entire available undo stack
of the current page

2 When you’re done, close the History window.

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