19 new features in DaVinci Resolve 19

Another option that was previously only available in Cut, now goes to Edit as well. It allows you to precisely move frame by frame with a preview between two clips that are connected to each other. To launch it, simply double-click between clips or select Trim Editor from the Trim menu. It is worth remembering the abbreviations “,” (comma) and “.” (dot) to move 1 frame left and right.

In this case, we are talking about several new products, such as: detecting interlocutors in the transcription, assigning them names, trimming clips by removing words and pauses between statements, searching and replacing words or parts of words with others, or a column with a time code in the transcription window. All these new functions, together with the existing ones, seem to be a really interesting alternative to classic editing, increasing work efficiency in many situations, but unfortunately, from the perspective of a Polish editor, a big disadvantage is still the lack of support for our native language… It’s a pity.

Previously, to change the channel options for a given audio clip, you had to navigate to the Clip Attributes menu. Now it is possible directly in Inspector, in the File tab. Moreover, changes can also be made to multiple clips at once. Additionally, there is a visualization of the track and the ability to listen, also divided into channels. However, for now this option only works for clips still in the Media Pool, and not in the Timeline. However, the first update will most likely solve this problem, as Blackmagic Design claims that it should work in both cases.

Animating Open FX effects in Edit using keyframes is now also possible using Bezier curves. Obviously, “smoothed” effects usually look better!

Colorslice has appeared in the palette of tools available in the Color tab, between Curves and Color Warper. Some may already be familiar with similar tools previously available via DCTL plugins, but now it’s native. The principle of operation of Colorslice is to use the so-called six color vectors, or actually seven, because in addition to red, green, blue, yellow, cyan and magenta, there is also skin color. Within each vector (color), we can change its angle, but above all, its saturation and brightness (Density). Of course, there are also global sliders for Density, Hue and Saturation. Most importantly, this saturation is an emulation of the so-called Subtractive Saturation, which differs from the traditional Additive Saturation used standardly in Primaries and HDR palettes. Adding subtractive saturation does not increase the brightness of colors, allowing for more organic and cinematic effects.

In Project Settings you can now change the so-called Node Stacks (1 to 4) and even give them a name. This option allows you to display specific “parts” of nodes separately in the Color tab at the Clip level (e.g. Primaries, Secondaries separately, etc.), which, together with the group function, allows for transparent work, especially on very complex so-called Node Trees. The Node Stacks functionality can also be used creatively to copy and paste parts of corrections between clips.

This new FX effect was already compared to a different, but external plug-in called Dehancer during the presentation of version 19. Unlike it, Film Look Creator does not contain ready-made presets with film tape emulation. However, its built-in options mean that you can practically build your own in one place, containing all the elements commonly perceived as the so-called movie look. You can therefore change the Color Space Transform and influence the image using numerous sliders, including: photometric exposure (Exposure), subtractive saturation (Saturation), or even introduce the so-called Bleach Bypass. In addition, options such as vignette, hallation, noise (Grain), and various formats (Filmgate) are available. Additionally, the effect includes an option that checks the applicability of the given settings in the context of the possibility of exporting to a 3D LUT table (3D LUT Compatible).

The RGB mixer is an underestimated tool that works great, for example, in difficult shots with a dominant light in a given color. Using it, you can benefit from, among others: Preserve Luminance option, which maintains the brightness level for all channels. However, if you wanted to make changes in a given channel without affecting the others and at the same time maintain the luminance level, you had to uncheck Preserve Luminance and manually compensate for RGB changes inside this channel. From now on, this changes thanks to the possibility of automatic normalization for each channel separately.

Sometimes the structure of nodes in Color, e.g. after copying the entire correction from another clip, becomes disordered and not very transparent. This is easily remedied with the Cleanup Node Graph option, but if multiple clips are affected, the operation will need to be repeated for each one. In DaVinci Resolve 19, it is now possible to perform “cleaning” for many clips at once. Just select the appropriate clips and then right-click on the node structure field of one of them and select Cleanup Selected Node Graphs.

This tool now allows the detection of more than one person (face), but above all it allows manual tracking correction, keyframe interpolation and adds more options for face retouching.

When using color management at the Timeline settings level, especially in the case of DaVinci WG/Intermediate as Timeline Color Space, despite various “manual” solutions, it was never 100% certain that the previews inside and outside Fusion were compatible. Now that’s about to change! Yessss…

The new MultiPoly tool in Fusion allows you to create multiple masks and control them separately within one Node, which will greatly facilitate work, e.g. with rotoscoping. You will no longer need to create separate nodes!

Blackmagic Design declares that using Magic Mask in Fusion in DaVinci Resolve 19 provides up to three times better performance of this tool. Well, I guess this has to be taken as a good omen, especially since Magic Mask can be resource-intensive, but like few other tools it saves a lot of time when performing rotoscoping tasks.

The new default tracking method in Fusion Tracker is now IntelliTrack. This is a new tracking method based on DaVinci Neural Engine, which according to Blackmagic Design is much more accurate than a “standard” point tracker. Well, it needs to be tested longer to be fully confirmed, but it is promising!

Automatic correction of the volume of the soundtrack relative to the dialogue is one of the possibilities that everyone has probably been waiting for. Yes, it was possible to achieve this effect before using certain functions in Fairlight, but it was certainly not very simple and intuitive. In DaVinci Resolve 19 this has changed. Ducker is available in both Fairlight and Edit. The dialogue path is the Duck Source. If there is more than one, they can be combined into the so-called bus (Bus) and this is then the source. However, there can only be one path we want to influence (maybe this will change in the next updates?). The tool allows you to adjust the effect using several knobs, including: Duck Level, Lookahead, Rise Time, etc. Finally!

Both of these tools allow you to intelligently isolate and change the “components” of the audio track; in the case of Dialog Separator, we are talking about speech, as well as other background sounds, the echo effect or the so-called ambient. One note here; Dialog Separator only supports mono tracks, so the stereo track would need to be split into two separate mono tracks and the effect applied twice. In the case of Music Remixer, we are talking about layers of vocals, drums, basses, guitars and other sounds.

The previously mentioned new tracking method can also be used in Fairlight, and the tracked people or objects can serve as a dynamically moving sound source, automatically creating a surround sound effect.

Without going into details, Reference Fusion Composition, recovery of deleted Timelines from a backup, the possibility of purchasing a Studio license for up to one month, and the Replay option for live productions are also worth noting. Additionally, an interesting product related to DaVinci Resolve, especially for people starting their adventure with color correction, is the new Micro panel.