FREMONT, CA — Blackmagic Design recently introduced the public beta of DaVinci Resolve 18, a major new cloud collaboration update that allows multiple editors, colorists, VFX artists and audio engineers to simultaneously collaborate on the same project from anywhere. DaVinci Resolve 18 supports the Blackmagic Cloud for hosting and sharing projects, as well as a new DaVinci proxy workflow. The update also includes new Resolve FX AI tools powered by the DaVinci Neural Engine, as well as time-saving tools for editors, Fairlight legacy fixed bus to FlexBus conversion, and GPU accelerated paint in Fusion.
Resolve 18 adds intelligent media location management so that when customers are collaborating, they can quickly link media to their unique file paths. Now, Resolve users don’t need to manually relink or search for assets when working remotely. The collaboration update also provides major performance enhancements if customers are using a secure private network. Users can receive immediate updates of editorial and color changes when collaborating on a remotely hosted project library.
Using Blackmagic’s via DeckLink, Resolve users can live stream their Resolve Studio viewer and display of a remote computer monitor or a reference grading monitor to anywhere in the world. The low latency, high quality 12-bit image is well suited for remote editing or color grading. Some of the new tools for colorists include a new object mask that is able to recognize and track the movement of thousands of unique objects. The DaVinci Neural Engine intuitively isolates animals, vehicles, people and food, plus many other elements for advanced secondary grading and effects application.
The new depth map effect lets Resolve users instantly generate a 3D depth matte of a scene to quickly grade the foreground separately from the background, and vice versa. Users can also apply graphics to surfaces that warp or change perspective, including t-shirts, flags, or the side of a face. Developed with professional colorists, the ultra beauty tool helps to address general imperfections by smoothing skin and then recovering detail to produce natural and complimentary results to the subject.
Subtitle support has been expanded to include TTML and XML timed texts and embedded MXF/IMF subtitles. And transitions in the effects library’s shape, iris and wipe categories now have a checkbox, allowing users to easily reverse the direction of the transition.
A new 5x5 option in the multicam viewer allows users to view up to 25 different angles in a single multicam clip at the same time. This is beneficial for large multicam projects, helping to make viewing, cutting and switching between angles easy, rather than moving between pages to see different angles.
New GPU acceleration allows paint brush strokes to be generated and displayed in realtime for a more intuitive approach when performing cover-up work or graphic design. Text, text+ and shape templates also have improved speed and playback performance in Resolve 18. And new memory management and data handling means that Fusion templates are up to 200 percent faster.
On the audio side, the Dolby Atmos deliverable toolset has been expanded to support rendering of a binaural output from a complex Dolby Atmos mix. Now a Dolby 7.1.4 mix can be rendered to playback in a pair of headphones while maintaining the immersive sound experience from just two audio channels.
New options in the decompose menu enhance collaboration, allowing editors to compile their work to a single timeline. Nested timelines can now be decomposed with all track data, including FX and automation. Assignments will connect using new busses, existing paths or new tracks can be left unpatched.
DaVinci Resolve supports the latest industry standard audio formats natively, including immersive audio formats like Dolby Atmos, Auro 3D, MPEG-H, NHK 22.2, and SMPTE. The space view scope displays a realtime view of every object and its relationship to the room and other objects in 3D space.
The public beta of Resolve 18 is available for download now from the Blackmagic Design website (www.blackmagicdesign.com).