FREMONT, CA — Blackmagic Design has announced DaVinci Resolve 16.1, an update to the company’s editing, color correction, visual effects and audio post production software. DaVinci Resolve 16.1 public beta is now available for download now from the Blackmagic Design Website (www.blackmagicdesign.com).
New features are focused mostly on the new cut page, which the company is continuing to work on in an effort to offer the industry’s fastest editor. Changes in the bin now allow customers to place media in various folders and isolate clips from being used when viewing clips in the source tape, sync bin or sync window. Clips will be seen in all folders below the current level and as customers navigate around the levels in the bin, the source tape will reconfigure in realtime.
A new feature added in the public beta is the ‘smart indicator’, which works by estimating where the editor wants to add an edit or transition and then allows it to be applied without the wasted time of placing in and out points on the exact locations of the clips. This is fast because the software guesses what the editor wants to do and just does it by adding the inset edit, or adding a transition to the edit closest to where the editor has placed the CTI. The new smart indicator constantly live updates as the editor moves around the timeline.
DaVinci Resolve 16.1 now includes a cut clip icon in the user interface. Simply clicking on it will slice the clips in the timeline at the CTI point.
Multiple changes have been made to the DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, including a new adaptive scroll feature on the search dial, which will slow down a job when editors are hunting for an in point, all automatically. The live trimming buttons have been renamed to the same labels as the functions in the edit page, and they have been changed to trim in, trim out, transition duration, slip in and slip out. The function keys along the top of the keyboard have now been taken and used for various editing functions.
There are additional edit models on the function keys allowing more types of editing directly accessed from dedicated keys on the keyboard. There's also a new transition window that uses the F4 key, and pressing and rotating the search dial allows instant selection from all the transition types in DaVinci Resolve. Customers who need quick picture in picture effects can use F5 and apply them instantly.
DaVinci Resolve 16.1 introduces a new ‘boring detector’ that allows the whole timeline to be highlighted where any shot is too long and would be boring for a viewer. The boring detector can also show jump cuts where shots are too short as well. The analysis is constantly showing which parts of the timeline are boring so as editors work and add shots to their edit, they can see the remaining parts of the edit which are considered boring.
The new sync bin is a digital assistant editor that constantly sorts through clips and finds only the clips customers need and displays them synced to the point in the timeline customers are on. The sync bin will show the clips from the cameras on a shoot all stacked by camera number and the viewer will transform into a multi view so customers can see what options customers have for clips that sync to the shot in the timeline. The sync bin uses date and timecode to find and sync clips, and simply by using metadata and locking cameras to time of day, customers can save time in the edit.
The close up edit feature has now been enhanced, and now does face detection and analysis. It can zoom the shot based on positioning and nicely frame the shot.
If users are work on shots from cameras without timecode then the new sync window lets them sort and sync clips from multiple cameras. The sync window supports sync by timecode and it can also detect audio and sync clips by sound. All clips that have been synced will display a sync icon in the media pool so customers can tell which clips are synced and ready for use. Manually syncing clips using the new sync window allows workflows such as multiple action cameras to use new features such as source overwrite editing and the new sync bin.