Hello there, and welcome! Let’s gest started with this quick and simple
video on how to use the newest DaVinci Resolve 14 by BlackmagicDesign.
Please leave comments and suggestions inside the video description to
improve our next video guides for this software!
DaVinci Resolve is a professional video editing software, used to create
your own customized videos and slideshows, with the use of advanced audio
and visual effects. In this video, we will see all the basic features you
need to know to start as a beginner.
When you open Resolve, you start with a window called Project Manager,
that lists all your latest projects. You can open one by double-clicking
on it, and come back to the Project Manager by using the home icon in the
bottom right corner.
The Project Manager shows all the projects located inside a specific
Database, that you can check by clicking on Show/Hide Databases. By
default, you have just one database available, called Local Database,
which is a simple link on a Mac folder, that you can check by
right-clicking on it and going to Reveal in Finder. All Resolve projects
are saved as .db files.
To see how to use Resolve, let’s start with a new empty project, by
going to New Project below, and defining its name.
The software interface is composed of five main workspaces, as you can
see at the bottom. The Media workspace is used to manage all the files
imported inside your project; the Edit workspace is used to import and
edit your media to create your own customized videos; the Color one is
used to adjust and correct the visual appearance of your files; Fairlight
is a new interface used to adjust audio. The last tab, called Deliver, is
used to render and export your final video. In this beginner tutorial, we
are going to see just the Edit and the Deliver workspaces.
A Resolve project is fully created inside the Edit workspace, by editing
and managing imported media through its timeline below. So the first
thing to do is to import all the media files you will use, such as
videos, pictures, and sound files. You can do this by dragging and
dropping these files directly from Finder on the project timeline. All
imported files will be listed inside the Media Pool panel on the left,
where you can hover over each file to have a quick preview of these, or
double-click on one to view it with a larger preview, complete with its
player at the bottom.
All files imported are shown as colored rectangles called clips,
complete with their filename. Visual clips, such as pictures and video
frames are in blue color, and are contained inside rows called Video
Tracks, indicated as a V plus a number. Sound files and audio from videos
are in a green color, and contained inside Audio Tracks, with an A letter
plus a number. You can also use the Timeline View Options to show video
thumbnails time by time and audio waveforms directly on the clips.
You can move in time by holding Shift down and using your mouse wheel.
Hold ALT down and use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out around the red
playhead.
The main Video Preview, in the top right corner, is used to check the
overall content inside your project timeline. In particular, this shows
what the project looks like exactly where the red marker is placed. You
can view different frames by clicking directly on the timeline, or check
the project frame by frame by clicking and dragging it in time. For a
professional playback, use the player below the Video Preview.
Now, let’s see how to edit clips with the Normal Edit Mode enabled. You
can move a clip in time by clicking and dragging it. In case you move a
video clip with sound, both the video frames and audio are moved
together, since they are linked. You can unlink these by right-clicking
on them, and unchecking Link Clips.
You can also move clips from one row to another. In this case, a new
Video or Audio Track is created. Multiple Video Tracks are quite useful
to modify the clips visibility in case clips are overlapped in time. In
case these get overlapped on different tracks, the clips on the upper
track are shown above the clips placed on a lower track. In case clips
get overlapped on the same track, the overlapped clip will get cut.
To stretch clips in time, just click and drag from their edges. You can
stretch and shorten pictures freely, but video and audio files have a
limited duration in time. If you shorten these, you will cut part of
their content.
Another way to stretch clips is to modify their playback rate. If you
right-click on a clip, and go to Change Clip Speed, you can regulate the
playback speed as you like. A speed percentage lower than 100%, means
the clip will playback with a lower speed, so it will last longer.
Whereas, a percentage higher than 100% increases the playback rate, so
the clip will be played faster and will be reduced in time. You can also
check Reverse speed to playback the clip in reverse.
Remember to use CMD+Z (or CTRL+Z for Windows) to undo your latest actions
in case you make any mistake.
To delete a clip, just select it and press the Delete key. You can
quickly create a copy of the selected clip by holding ALT down and
clicking and dragging the copy where you like. To split a clip in two,
enable the Razor Edit Mode and click on where you want to split the clip.
On the far left, you have several Track options. Use the first icon from
the left to hide the Track content, which means hiding visual clips on
Video Tracks, and mute sound clips inside Audio Tracks. Use the second
icon to lock a Track. This disables any editing on the clips, unless you
unlock the Track. On Audio Tracks, you also have a number, which
indicates the number of channels composing it.
You can also delete a Track by right-clicking on it and going to Delete
Track. This will also remove all the clips inside the Track.
The main Video Preview is also used to apply basic editing on the clip
appearance, by using several options in the bottom left corner, such as
Transform and Crop.
Transform modifies the basic clip properties. Select the clip from the
timeline, and click and drag the clip to move and place it. Use the
external circle to rotate the clip around its center; and use the other
white nodes to scale the clip. Use the corner nodes to save the clip
aspect ratio if needed.
If you select Crop, you can adjust the size of the clip, by using the
nodes you see on it.
To apply more precise editing, you can use the Inspector panel. This
shows one or more sections, depending on the clip selected, in particular
Video and Audio.
Under Video, you can adjust the clip’s Opacity, its scaling under Zoom,
and its location under Position. Use Rotation Angle to modify the clip
angle, and its rotation point by changing the Anchor Point. You can
also rotate through Pitch and Yaw, and flip by using the Flip buttons.
Use the Cropping section to crop the clip precisely, or add some feather
with Softness.
Under Audio, use the Volume bar to adjust the clip volume, and use the
Clip Equalizer to apply audio filters with customized frequency bandwidth
and gain.
To reset any of the clip properties, use the reset button on the far
right.
Consider that, when you change any of these properties, a waveform
icon appears on the clip. This shows a time graph, used to make a clip
property change in time by applying keyframes.
Keyframes are special points that save a property value in a fixed
instant of time. Multiple keyframes can create a line, where the property
changes in time according to its shape.
To enable keyframes for a property, just click on the rhombus button on
the right, under the Inspector panel. At this point, the property's
envelope appears on the graph, with a single keyframe on it. To make the
property change in time, you have to add a second keyframe.
So place the red marker where you like, and click again on the rhombus
button. With two or more keyframes on the line, you can click and drag on
each point vertically, to change the property value, and horizontally,
to change the instant of time. You can also use the icons on top to tune
each keyframe.
To remove all the keyframes, simply reset the specific property, and
hide the time graph by clicking on the waveform button.
You can also apply effects, transitions and titles on your clips by using
the Effects Library panel. Let's take a look!
Transitions are special effects used to show or hide a clip. Video
Transitions work on the visual clip opacity, and Audio Transitions apply
a volume fade on the sound clips.
To add any Transition, select the clip, and drag and drop the Transition
on the beginning or the ending part of the clip. Then, you can modify the
transition duration by clicking and dragging its edges, and remove it by
right-clicking on it and going to Delete.
If you want to change the Transition effect, just drop another Transition
on the old one. To adjust the Transition effect, just click on it to
select it, and use the Inspector panel.
You can also personalize the Transitions in time as seen for the clip
properties. Just double-click on the transition, and open the time graph
through the waveform button.
Video Transitions can be applied between two different clips that
overlap in time. Just apply the Transition on the following clip, placed
on the upper track.
The Titles section is used to add text and titles. Click and drag Text
inside the timeline, to import a piece of text, represented as a new
white visual clip, that can be edited and managed as seen for the other
clips.
Inside the Inspector panel, this clip also has a Text section, used to
manage the text formatting, styling, content, color and distribution.
You can also apply effects, such as Shadow, Stroke or a colored
background. You can apply keyframes if you want to change the text
properties in time.
You can apply amazing visual and audio effects on your clips through
the OpenFX section. Select the effect, and drag and drop it on the clip.
This will generate an fx icon, and a new section called OpenFX inside the
Inspector panel. This lists all the effects applied on the clip in order,
from top to bottom, complete with their own name.
Double-click on one to show and change its settings. Use the circle next
to the effect name to turn it on and off. Use the arrows to change the
effect position, and the bin button to remove the effect from the list.
Remember to save your project often by using CMD+S (or CTRL+S on Windows)
to ensure that you do not to lose your progress!
Now, let’s see how to render and export your final video by using the
Deliver workspace.
In the top left corner, under the Render Settings panel, select the way
to export your video. Choose Custom for completely personalized settings,
or YouTube or Vimeo to match the best render settings to upload your video
onto these sites. Choose Audio Only to render just the audio part.
There are more at the bottom, to modify the video properties, such as its
format, codec, resolution, frame rate, and overall quality. Switch to the
Audio section to adjust all the audio properties, and, under File, choose
the file name. When you click on Add to Render Queue, select the
destination folder for your video, and then this will be added as a new
Job inside the Render Queue panel on the right. Each Job is saved, and
can be edited or removed by using the two buttons you see.
At the bottom, next to Render, you can choose what to render from the
timeline. Choose Entire Timeline to render it fully, or choose In/Out
Range to select which part of the timeline you want to render by
modifying the edges of the selected and highlighted region.
When region and render settings are defined, select the Job to run,
and go to Start Render below!
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