The Visual Effects Guide to DaVinci Resolve 17 Download DAVINCI RESOLVE 17 Free! Author: Dion Scoppettuolo, Damian Allen, Tony Gallard The Visual Effects Guide to DaVinci Resolve 17 The Visual Effects Guide to DaVinci Resolve 17 Damian Allen, Tony Gallardo, and Dion Scoppettuolo © 2021 by Blackmagic Design Pty Ltd Blackmagic Design www.blackmagicdesign.com To report errors, please send a note to [email protected]. Series Editor: Patricia Montesion Editor: Dan Foster Technical Review: David Hover Cover Design: Blackmagic Design Notice of Rights All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on obtaining permission for reprints and excerpts, contact [email protected]. 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ISBN 13: 978-1-7369825-4-9 Contents iii Foreword viii Acknowledgments ix About the Authors ix Contents Who This Book Is For x Getting Started xi 1 Quick Start: Learning the Fusion Page 1 Exploring the Fusion Interface 2 Adding the First Effect 5 Masking Effects 7 Adding Clips from the Media Pool 10 Understanding the Merge Node 12 Chaining Merge Nodes Together 14 Inserting and Adjusting Effects 16 Adding Effects from the Effects Library 17 Rearranging Nodes in the Node Editor 20 Adding Text 22 Animating with Keyframes 26 Using Modifiers 31 Lesson Review 35 Part I: Visual Effects Creation 37 2 Compositing Split Screens 39 Using Layers from the Edit Page 40 Tracking in the Fusion Page 43 Drawing a Matte 48 Constructing the Split Screen 54 Adding Back Camera Motion 56 Lesson Review 59 iv 3 Replacing a Sky 61 Retaining a Clip’s Resolution 62 Controlling a Composition’s Resolution 66 Combining Tools to Create a Matte 70 Contents Fixing Holes in a Key 73 Embedding Alpha into an Image 75 Tracking the Sky into Position 77 Fixing Interrupted Trackers 81 Blending In the Original Sky 82 Practice Exercise 84 Lesson Review 85 4 Replacing Signs and Screens 87 Tracking Planar Surfaces 88 Painting with the Clone Tool 92 Using Photoshop PSD Layers 96 Corner Pinning an Image 101 Combining Mattes and Images 103 Match Moving with the Planar Transform 106 Finalizing the Composite 107 Practice Exercise 110 Lesson Review 111 5 Compositing Green-Screen Content 113 Managing Color for Visual Effects 114 Why Use Linear Color Space? 118 Pulling a Green-Screen Key 120 Refining a Matte 123 Rotoscoping Auxiliary Mattes 127 Lining Up the Background 132 Color Correcting Elements 134 Sending a Matte to the Color Page 136 Lesson Review 139 Part II: Titling and Motion Graphics 141 v 6 The Art of the Credit Roll 143 Starting with a Fusion Generator 144 Adding a Text+ Node 145 Contents Aligning Text with Tabs 147 Formatting a Single Line 151 Inserting Logos and Graphics 153 Making Credits Roll 156 Converting to Pixel Values 157 Setting and Looping Keyframes 158 Lesson Review 161 7 Creating Title Templates 163 Styling Text in the Edit Page 164 Moving Text to the Fusion Page 169 Creating a Background Banner 170 Revealing Text with Mattes 173 Animating with the Follower 175 Adjusting Keyframe Timing 178 Trying Out Versions 182 Saving a Template 186 Lesson Review 189 8 Animating with Keyframes and Modifiers 191 Identifying a Clip’s Resolution 192 Keyframing a Motion Path 193 Auto-Orienting Objects 197 Straightening Out Alpha Channels 198 Painting a Motion Path 199 Linking Parameters 203 Making Acceleration Adjustments 207 Applying Random Animation Modifiers 209 vi Customizing Motion Blur 212 Practice Exercise 214 Lesson Review 215 Contents Part III: 3D Compositing 217 9 Setting Up a 3D Scene 219 Placing Elements on 3D Shapes 220 Navigating in 3D 225 Using Shapes in 3D 228 Entering Simple Expressions 231 Creating Multiple Axes of Rotation 234 Adding Lights and Cameras 237 Practice Exercise 245 Lesson Review 245 10 Designing 3D Broadcast Graphics 247 Adding 3D Text to a Scene 248 Animating 3D Text 251 Playing Around with 3D Shapes 256 Working with Materials 263 Converting 3D into a 2D Image 272 Adding 2D Look Design 278 Lesson Review 281 11 Exploring 3D Particle Systems 283 Setting Up a Particle System 284 Adding Motion to Particles 288 Defining the Emitter Shape 289 Using Images for Particle Cells 291 Optimizing Performance 293 Controlling the Timing and Look of Particles 294 Introducing Particle Forces 298 Lesson Review 299 12 3D Camera Tracking 301 vii Rotoscoping for 3D Tracking 302 Combining Garbage Mattes 307 Preparing the Camera Tracker 309 Contents Solving for the Camera 312 Refining the Solve 314 Setting the Ground Plane and Exporting the Scene 317 Positioning Objects in a 3D Set 320 Matching Color and Light 323 Practice Exercise 329 Lesson Review 329 A Creating a Light Wrap 331 Overview of a Light Wrap 332 Staying Organized with Color 334 Combining Mattes 337 Merging the Light Wrap and Foreground 338 B Creating Smoke with Fast Noise 341 Using Fast Noise for Particle Cells 342 Rendering from the Fusion Page 345 C Fusion Keyboard Shortcuts 347 General 348 Node Editor 348 Navigation 349 Inspector 349 Viewers 350 3D Viewers 350 Splines 351 Advanced Spline Transforms 351 Spline Editor 352 Index 353 viii Foreword Welcome to The Visual Effects Guide to DaVinci Resolve 17. DaVinci Resolve 17 is the only postproduction solution that brings editing, color correction, Foreword audio post, and visual effects together in the same software application! The most exciting thing about DaVinci Resolve 17 is the revolutionary new cut page, which is designed specifically for the fastest possible editing when working with tight deadlines. It’s an alternative edit page with a newly styled editing interface that eliminates unnecessary steps to edit, plus it’s combined with new tools, all designed to help you work faster than ever before. DaVinci Resolve 17 also includes even more advanced color correction, powerful new editing options on the traditional edit page, vastly improved Fairlight digital audio tools, and even faster 2D and 3D visual effects compositing on the Fusion page. DaVinci Resolve 17 enables you to switch between creative tasks without having to export or translate files between different applications! Best of all, DaVinci Resolve 17 is absolutely free! Plus, we’ve made sure that the free version of DaVinci Resolve actually includes more features than any paid editing system. That’s because at Blackmagic Design we believe everybody should have the tools to create professional, Hollywood-caliber content without having to spend thousands of dollars. I hope you’ll enjoy using DaVinci Resolve 17, and we can’t wait to see the amazing work you produce! Grant Petty Blackmagic Design Acknowledgments ix We would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions of media used throughout the book: Nguyen-Ahn Nguyen, for Hyperlight, a short film produced and directed by Nguyen-Ahn Nguyen. Property of Nguyen-Ahn Nguyen. Rafa Garcia, for the VAN clip. Directed and edited by Rafa Garcia. Property of Authors the out Rafa Garcia Films. Ab • Lukas Colombo, for the Steve Val: Dark Matter music video. Visual effects supervisor Nic Torres. Property of Moai Films. Sherwin Lau, Creative Media Institute for the short film Driver’s Ed. HDRHaven.com for italian_nights.exr. Living in the Age of Airplanes Brian J. Terwilliger, for documentary. Acknowledgments About the Authors Damian Allen is a visual effects and animation consultant, developer, and supervisor in Hollywood. He is the owner of VFX company Pixerati LLC, with a focus on picture-lock visual effects emergencies and VR and animation tool development. Damian is also a core contributor to the moviola.com training site for filmmakers. Tony Gallardo, ever since picking up his first VHS camera, has been hooked and cut his teeth at a very early age making short films and promo videos for his school and church. A story editor from the start, Tony quickly expanded to all aspects of post production and production. From designing award-winning motion graphics to directing tear jerking real-life stories, his passion for the craft and tools is endless. After co-running an award- winning production facility in San Antonio, Texas for a little over 14 years, he branched out and now runs his own post boutique, Tomiga. Tomiga is a hybrid creative boutique focusing on short form content from brand commercials to informative PSAs to promotional media. When he’s not creating brand commercial campaigns or social media ads, Tony is learning and educating about all his favorite creative tools—Davinci Resolve and Fusion being at the top of his list.