Welcome to DaVinci Resolve 8 The world’s most powerful color correction now on Linux and Mac! DaVinci color correctors have been the standard in post production since 1984. There are thousands of colorists worldwide who understand the performance, quality and workflow of DaVinci. DaVinci is the name behind more feature films, television commercials, documentaries, television production and music videos than any other grading system. When you’re in a room full of demanding clients with conflicting ideas, colorists know that DaVinci Resolve has the quality, real time performance, creative features, and powerful control panel you need to work fast! DaVinci Resolve is now available for both Mac OS X and the clustered super computer power of Linux! CONTENTS USER MANUAL DaVinci Resolve 8 Chapter 1 Introduction 14 Introducing DaVinci Resolve 15 What’s New in DaVinci Resolve 8 16 Chapter 2 System Setup 22 Media Storage Volumes 23 Video Capture Hardware 24 Control Panel Type 24 Chapter 3 Quick Start Guide 26 Quick Start Project 34 Chapter 4 Control Panels 36 Chapter 5 Getting Started 40 Starting DaVinci Resolve 41 User Login Screen 41 Login To An Existing User 41 Exiting Resolve 41 Creating A New User 42 Deleting An Existing User 42 Changing A User Password 43 Multiple Database Support 43 Selecting the Database 43 Creating a New Database 44 Create a New Database Image 45 Remote Database Server 45 Optimizing a Database 45 Backing up a Database 45 Restoring a Database 45 Chapter 6 Configuration 48 The User List 50 The Configuration List 51 Modifying and Saving an Existing Configuration 51 Creating a Facility Default Configuration 52 Projects List 52 Shared Database And Locked Projects 54 Configuration Screen Tabs 55 Project Tab 56 Timeline Format 56 Image Format Scaling 57 Common use of Input Format Preset 58 Deck Capture and Playback 58 Input Scaling 60 Low Resolution Proxies 61 DAVINCI RESOLVE USER MANUAL Timeline Conform Options 62 Conforming by Reel Number 63 Reel Number Support from Final Cut Pro EDLs 65 Changing the Conform Frame Rates 65 Video Monitoring 66 LUTs Tab 68 Timeline Lookup Tables 68 Generate Soft Clip LUT 69 Generate LUT from Current Grade 69 Apply LUT to Waveform 71 Printer Light Step Calibration 71 Settings Tab 72 Project Settings 73 Dynamic Profiles 76 Timeline Ripple Mode 76 Working Folders 77 Control Panel 78 Autosave Tab 79 Source Tab 80 Master Decode Settings 81 Image Decode Settings 82 Project Image Decoder Settings 83 Chapter 7 Browse 86 Media Storage 88 Splitting Clips Based on an EDL 89 Add Material into the Media Pool Based on an EDL 90 Offsetting the Source Timecode from a Clip 91 Copy and Paste Function For Clips 91 Disk Speed Benchmarking 92 Clip Details 93 Add as an Offline Clip 94 Add into Proxy Manager 94 Scene Cut Detector 94 Changing the Source Timecode In Header 95 Converting a Clip to another File Format 96 Add as Matte 96 Extract Audio From QuickTime 97 The Media Pool 98 Media Pool Folders 98 Media Pool Clips 99 Remove selected Clips 100 Remove from Master Session 100 Remove all Clips 100 Set Reel Number 101 Change Pixel Aspect Ratio 101 DAVINCI RESOLVE USER MANUAL CONTENTS USER MANUAL DaVinci Resolve 8 Source Flip 101 Change Input Format Preset 102 Change Parent Directory 103 Switch Parent Directory 104 The .deleted Folder 104 Clip Replacement and Automatic Proxy Generation 105 Viewer Window 106 Browse Screen Buttons 107 Clip Task Manager 107 Proxy Manager 108 Chapter 8 Conform 110 Overview of the Conform Page 111 Controls of the Conform Page 112 The Media Pool 112 The Timeline Management List 113 The Conform EDL List 115 The Source, Offline, and Timeline Tabs 117 The Timeline 119 The Master Timeline 122 Creating and Importing Sessions 123 Creating the Master Session 123 Creating a Blank Session 124 Importing EDL Files 124 Conforming EDLs to Discrete Media Files 125 Conforming EDLs to “Flattened” Master Media Files 125 About AAF Import 129 About XML Import 130 Supported Effects 130 Unsupported Effects 130 Effects Processing When Finishing in DaVinci Resolve 131 Effects Processing in Round-Trip Workflows 131 Importing AAF and XML Files 132 Dealing With Reel Conflicts 136 Exporting Sessions 139 Rendering Media to Accompany Exported Projects 139 Creating a Session With Handles 139 Exporting EDLs 141 Exporting XML Files Back to Final Cut Pro 141 Exporting CDL Files 142 Exporting ALE Files 143 Editing in Source/Timeline Mode 144 Simple Editing 144 Finding Media 148 Replacing Media in the Timeline 149 DAVINCI RESOLVE USER MANUAL Reconform From Folders 150 Force Conform 152 Working with Transitions 152 Working With Effects 153 Composite Modes 153 Speed Effects 154 Syncing Sessions to Audio 155 Making Comparisons in Offline/ Timeline Mode 158 Setting Up an Offline/Timeline Comparison 160 Adjusting the Offline/Timeline Sync Offset 160 Alternate Online and Offline Comparison Modes 160 Using ColorTrace™ to Apply Grades From One Project to Another 161 Using ColorTrace™ in Automatic Mode 162 Using ColorTrace™ in Manual Mode 165 Importing CDL Data Using ColorTrace™ 167 Example CMX EDL File 168 Example CCC file: 169 Example CDL file: 169 Chapter 9 Color 172 Viewer 174 Interactive Dirt & Dust Removal Tool 176 Viewer Window Options 177 Viewer Stills Display 178 PlayHeads 179 Creating a Stereoscopic Project 179 PlayHeads Via the DaVinci Resolve Control Panel 182 3D Display Modes 185 Waveform displays 186 Show Timecode at 30 fps 186 Stills, PowerGrade and Memories 187 Stills 188 Copying Grades From Stills 190 Preserving Nodes and Parameters When Copying Grades 190 Append Grade 191 Copying Individual Nodes From Stills 192 Export and Import Stills with DaVinci Resolve eXchange (DRX) color correction metadata 193 Sorting Stills 193 Other Still Options 194 Searching For Stills 194 PowerGrade 195 Memories 196 Node Graph 197 Managing Nodes 198 Manually Connecting Corrector Nodes 200 DAVINCI RESOLVE USER MANUAL CONTENTS USER MANUAL DaVinci Resolve 8 Rearranging Your Tree in the Node Graph 202 Toggling Nodes On and Off 203 Resetting Node Trees Using the Base Memory Commands 204 Preview and Base Memory 204 Outside Nodes 205 Parallel Mixer Node 206 Layer Mixer Node 207 Key Mixer Node 208 LUT applied within a node 209 External Matte Support 210 Compositing Using the Alpha Output 211 RED HDR Input Support 215 Timeline 219 Clip Thumbnails/VSRs 219 Correction Management with the Thumbnail Timeline Display 220 Clip Thumbnail Indicators 220 Local and Remote Versions 223 Group Versions 224 Batch Versions 225 Display Node Graph 225 Wipe Timeline 225 Update All VSRs 225 Edit PAR Value (Pixel Aspect Ratio) 225 Change Input Format Preset for Clips 226 Switch Parent Directory 226 DaVinci Revival 226 Render Cache Clip 227 View Clip Details 228 Audio Timeline 228 RED r3d Clip Decoder Control 229 Master RED Decoder Settings 230 Image Decoder Settings 232 Clip Decoder Settings 233 Primary Tab 235 Primary Slider Controls 235 Noise Reduction 237 Using Noise Reduction 238 Limiting Noise Reduction 239 Controlling the Order of Operations for Noise Reduction 239 Using Noise Reduction Controls with the DaVinci Resolve Control Surface 240 Input Sizing Controls 241 Primary Tab System Status 241 3-Way Color Corrector 242 Color Wheels 242 Master Scroll Wheel 243 Resets 244 Hue, Saturation and Lum Mix 244 DAVINCI RESOLVE USER MANUAL Auto Color 243 RGB Mixer Tab 244 RGB Mixer Examples 246 Example 1: Increasing Saturation While Reducing Cross-Talk 246 Example 2: Patching Clipped Color Channels 247 Using the RGB Mixer in Monochrome Mode 250 Using the RGB Mixer Controls with the DaVinci Resolve Control Surface 251 Curves Tab 253 Adjusting Curves Using the Mouse 252 About Custom Curves 254 Ganging and Unganging Custom Curves 255 Copying Color Channel Curves 256 Copying Color Channel Curves 257 Curve Mix Sliders 257 YSFX Sliders 258 Adjusting Custom Curves with the DaVinci Resolve Control Surface 258 About the Soft Clip Tab 260 Ganging and Unganging Soft Clip Curves 262 High Clipping Point 262 High Soft 264 Low Soft Clipping Point 265 Low Soft 265 Using Soft Clipping Controls with the DaVinci Resolve Control Surface 265 About the Hue and Sat Curves 266 Image sampling for Hue and Sat curves 267 Additional Controls in the Hue and Sat Curves 268 Hue vs Hue 269 Hue vs Sat 270 Hue vs Lum 271 Lum vs Sat 272 Using Hue and Sat Curves With the DaVinci Resolve Control Surface 273 Hue, Saturation and Luminance Qualification 275 RGB Qualification 277 Luminance Qualification 278 Qualifier Blur 278 Color Picker Mode 278 Power Windows 279 Adjusting PowerWindows 279 Inside and Outside Window Grades 280 Circular Power Window 280 Linear Power Window 281 Polygon Power Window 281 Power Curve Windows 282 Power Window 3D Object Tracking 283 Blur 284 Sharpen 285 Mist 285 Key 285 DAVINCI RESOLVE USER MANUAL CONTENTS USER MANUAL DaVinci Resolve 8 Dynamics Timeline 286 Dynamics Indicators 287 Adding Dynamics 288 Render Cache Options 289 Other Color Screen Features 290 Switching Between Conforms within the Color Page 290 Scroll Mode 290 Scroll Controls 290 Chapter 10 Viewer 292 Full Screen Viewer 294 Interactive Dirt & Dust Removal Tool 295 Viewer Window Options 296 Viewer Stills Display 297 PlayHeads 298 Waveform displays 299 Show Timecode at 30fps 299 Object Tracking and Image Stabilization 300 Simple Tracking Using the Tracker Menu 300 Simple Ways of Working With Existing Tracking Data 302 Combining Tracking and Dynamics (Keyframing) 303 Object Tracking Controls on the Viewer Page 303 Tracking Type 303 Object Tracking 304 Interactive 305 Interpolate 306 Adjust 307 Track 307