DaVinci Resolve might
very well be the best
free video editing software out there,
but if you only go with the free version,
you are definitely missing out
on some really amazing features.
When I first decided to
give DaVinci Resolve a try,
it was so obvious to me to upgrade
that I only use the
free version for three days
before pulling out my wallet
and I have never looked back.
So I'm gonna share with you
some of the standout features
that I use on a regular basis,
and I feel like now I
couldn't live without.
And if you get to the end
of this video and think,
you know what, I don't
actually need any of that,
then you can probably
just save yourself some money
and stick with the free version instead.
So, secure the cup and let's get into it.
(upbeat music)
The first thing that pulled
me towards the paid version
of DaVinci Resolve was the ability to
edit 10-bit footage.
This was huge for me
when I first got the program
because I wanted to be able to use
my camera's 10-bit recording options.
Now, more recently, I've
heard some debate about this
claiming that some
10-bit files will open fine
in the free version, but my
experience is that you need
to have Resolve Studio,
which is what they call
the paid version, to
guarantee all of those files
to work for sure.
And speaking of files
that you can and can't use,
DaVinci Resolve Studio can handle up to
120 frames per second
and up to 32K resolution.
Now, am I working in 32K at any point?
Absolutely not, but I do dabble in 8K
every once in a while
and I definitely shoot
4K 120 frames per second
here and there as well.
The free version will
handle 4K video up to 60 frames
per second, which should do
fine for a lot of the people
who are using it.
One of the more recent
updates to DaVinci Resolve Studio
is the transcription and
transcription editing feature.
This allows me to take long, rambling
shots of me talking,
transcribe the audio from
them, and then automatically cut
all the silent bits out.
After that, I can even
get a rough edit done right
from the transcript instead
of having to scroll through
and watch all of the video footage.
Waiting for me to get the right take
can be kind of painful sometimes.
Is the transcription
editing process perfect?
No.
Has it saved me a ton of
time by making that first pass
at the edit way quicker?
Yes.
Similarly to the transcription feature,
DaVinci Resolve Studio can also create
automatic subtitles.
I use this like crazy
on my short form videos
because I like to have captions on the
screen in case people
are watching without sound.
Once I have my edit
done, I'll create subtitles,
select the settings that I want, and
apply my custom default
style, and I'm done in no time.
I can easily fix any transcription issues
that I run into and customize
individual captions if I want
as well.
The next feature blows my mind so much
that I actually made an
entire video all about it,
and that is the voice isolation.
If you're filming in a noisy environment
and you want to hear the voice better by
removing traffic, wind,
music, or pretty much
anything from the background,
the voice isolation effect is magic.
On top of that, it's
absolutely dead simple to use.
You just turn it on, and then you
can dial in the amount to
how much isolation you want.
This has gotten me out
of a jam so many times
where my audio didn't
turn out how I wanted it
in the recording process.
And speaking of magic, we
also have the magic mask effect,
which works both in the
color page and the fusion page.
This is a quick and easy
way to create masks of people
or objects so that you can
do things like adding text
behind someone, replacing a background,
or even having cloned
subjects in a scene.
And while it isn't necessarily going
to give you Hollywood green
screen results every time,
it does a really decent job,
and it takes barely any time
or effort to do.
Noise reduction is
one of the main features
that got me to upgrade
to the studio version back
when it was version 16.
And now that we're on version 18,
it's still awesome to have.
There are a handful of
third-party noise reduction plugins
out there that you can buy
for whatever editing software
you use, but having it
built right into the software,
included in the price,
especially when it's this powerful,
is wonderful.
The warning here is
that this can be a very CPU
and GPU intensive effect to use,
and definitely tends to slow things down.
But I still find myself reaching for it
reasonably regularly to
fix my noise problems.
For those of you who are
multi-platform creators
or who have clients that
want their deliverables
both in horizontal and vertical versions,
you will love Smart Reframe.
Let's say that we shot
a video in horizontal
and we wanna make a
vertical version of it.
Place it on a vertical timeline,
zoom in enough to cover that frame,
and then enable Smart Reframe,
and DaVinci Resolve will
automatically keyframe the clip
so that it follows the
subject, keeping them in the center.
Again, it's dead
simple, and in my experience,
it gives pretty decent results.
And since it's just creating keyframes,
you can always tweak it as you need.
Another feature that
I know a lot of people
commonly use third-party plugins for
is creating smooth slow motion from clips
that weren't necessarily
shot in higher frame rates.
But in DaVinci Resolve Studio,
we've got something called Speed Warp,
and it has incredible
results slowing down footage.
All you have to do is choose Optical Flow
for the clip retime
process and Speed Warp
for the motion estimation type,
and it looks so much smoother
than other types of slowed down footage.
This is another one of those things
that can really bog
down your computer though,
so you may want to render your clip
after getting the
speed set how you want it.
There are a ton of great
effects that you can use
for color grading functions
in DaVinci Resolve Studio,
and lately, I've heard a
lot of people talking about
the Relight effect where you
can try to relight a scene,
and while that is great,
one that I've found coming
in handy more often for me
is actually the Face Refinement tool.
If you add this in your
color grading workflow
and hit Analyze, it'll
find and track the face,
and then you can adjust
things like the skin smoothing,
eye sharpness, try to
move shine from the face
or bags under the eyes.
That being said, it is super
easy to go overboard with this
and have it look bad,
but if it's used gently,
it can be a really great
way to make a subject pop
a bit more without too
much manual fiddling around.
The next one is a bit more of a category,
more so than a single feature,
but DaVinci Resolve
Studio offers remote viewing
and color grading features,
as well as cloud collaboration too.
Things like being able to
remotely view my timeline
from my iPhone so I can check how it
looks before exporting
or remote grading if
you have someone else
color grading your project,
and then full cloud collaboration,
which allows multiple users to be working
on the same project at once.
They can be super handy if
you have a remote editor,
but you still wanna work on
it a bit for yourself as well.
These features can be super handy
and are well worth looking into,
especially if you work with a team.
And one of the most mind-boggling things
that I still have trouble believing is
that as of right now,
DaVinci Resolve Studio is
still a one-time purchase
with unlimited upgrades for new versions.
No subscription, no paying for updates.
I've had DaVinci Resolve
Studio since it was version 16,
and I'm still getting all
the major updates for free.
I have no idea how
sustainable that is for their business
or how long it'll go on for,
but it's a really nice
thing to have it while it lasts.
Now, if you're just
switching over to DaVinci Resolve
from another editing software,
or maybe you're getting
into it as your first one,
you definitely wanna check
out my DaVinci Resolve 101 video
to get a leg up and begin your journey.
Beyond that, make sure that you subscribe
and hit the bell notification
so you don't miss out on
future Resolve tutorials
as well as other videos.
And leave a comment down below
if you wanna see me
cover anything specific
in DaVinci Resolve.
Thank you so much for watching,
and I'll see you next time.