What's new

BM releases Davinci Resolve 21 Public Beta 1

T

Tony Sal

Blackmagic releases Davinci Resolve 21 Public beta with new AI tools. Full details and Beta Download on this webpage.

Per Grant Petty the upgrade to Resolve 21 and Resolve 21 Studio is free. :)


DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design

Professional video editing, color correction, visual effects and audio post production all in a single application. Free and paid versions for Mac, Windows and Linux.
www.blackmagicdesign.com

What's new in Resolve 21 Public Beta 1
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/whatsnew


At long last still photo color grading has been added to Resolve. :)

DaVinci Resolve – Photo | Blackmagic Design

Professional video editing, color correction, visual effects and audio post production all in a single application. Free and paid versions for Mac, Windows and Linux.
www.blackmagicdesign.com

Grant Petty Pre NAB 2026 update video.

Daria FIssoun CSI presents the new features and tools in Resolve 21 starting at 01:57:53 to 02:21:05 in the video.

 
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What's new in DaVinci Resolve 21 Public Beta 1​

The following features have been added or updated.

Photo Page​

  • New photo image editing now fully integrated within DaVinci Resolve.
  • Image library with tagging, favorites, ratings and album collections.
  • Albums let you build, manage and tweak photos at source resolution.
  • Native RAW support for major camera formats.
  • Import media from Apple Photos on macOS.
  • Import Lightroom Catalog files into the media pool.
  • Use Resolve multi-user collaboration and Blackmagic Cloud syncing.
  • Support for DaVinci color control toolset and grading panels.
  • Looks, LUTs, ResolveFX and OpenFX for your images.
  • GPU accelerated batch exports and conversions.

Cut and Edit Page​

  • Keyframing provides powerful retime controls with 4-point bezier.
  • Keyframe and add curves for multiple selected clips.
  • Keyframing ease options, loop, ping pong, reverse and stretch.
  • Keyframe Fusion effects, generators and text along with edit effects.
  • Subframe support for keyframing and markers.
  • Native support for OGraf HTML graphics.
  • Native support for Lottie animations.
  • Resolve FX Picture in Picture effect.
  • Font browser window for text and subtitle elements.
  • Preview fonts during font selection as a preference.
  • Spell checking for all text elements.
  • Emoji and color fonts for Text+ and MultiText.
  • Multicam angle previews in clean feed and video outputs.
  • Multicams can include all audio tracks for each angle.
  • Multicams can use full clip extents on creation and during sync.
  • Replay control to limit view to the last 5 minutes of recorded media.
  • Replay editor allows timeline selection from search dial.
  • Replay now allows independent start and end stingers.
  • Replay title palette allows up to 6 favorite titles.
  • Mono audio now plays on left and right channels of stereo tracks.
  • Improved waveforms, markers and fades for short edit tracks.
  • Source timelines support auto track selectors.
  • DRT timeline import supports link and conform options.
  • Compare timelines with timeline backup snapshots.
  • Subtitle inspector now supports search and replace.
  • Edit page lets you show or hide tracks from the index.
  • Support for editing EDL clip name in the edit index.
  • Affinity .af file support with group and individual layer control.
  • Edit page timecode options for frames, subframes or audio samples.
  • Duration timecode option to show duration for clip selection.
  • Improved timeline view options with presets and clip name option.
  • View remote color versions in the source viewer.
  • Local color grade versions use remote grades on new clip creation.
  • Timeline menu action to select transitions in the cut and edit page.
  • Paste and remove attributes for clip color, markers and flags.
  • Paste and remove attributes to retain image position under crop.
  • Switch audio channels for multi-clip selections via the context menu.
  • Edit page source tape includes multicam clips.
  • Match frame finds source media for nested clips and multicams.
  • Resolve FX Video Collage with separate tile fill and border controls.
  • Subtitle support for fade in and out.

Media Pool and Metadata​

  • Support for tabbed layouts.
  • Thumbnail, list and metadata views can be set for each bin.
  • Star rating support for clips.
  • Cut page supports smart bin views.
  • Export media bin thumbnails as a PDF.
  • Automatic smart bin and clip filter for offline clips.
  • Custom metadata for smart bins, filters, data burn and naming tags.
  • Customize your project poster frames.
  • Show input colorspace and gamma in metadata view.
  • Transcription column support in list view.
  • Custom keyboard shortcuts to set thumbnail, list or metadata views.
  • Ability to reset audio clip attributes to the original configuration.

Color Page​

  • Clip groups now support grade versions.
  • Node graphs can now be viewed as a layer list.
  • Node stacks now support up to 8 layers.
  • Customizable HDR and nit scopes ranges.
  • ACES AMF improvements, with transform name and custom folders.
  • Adobe RGB colorspace and gamma support.
  • OpenFX 1.5 color management APIs for colorspace aware effects.
  • Advanced panel controls for 2.39 and 2.4 safe area aspect ratios.
  • Multi-user projects can bypass color management on the color page.
  • Pasting tracking data between power windows retains original shape.

Fairlight Page​

  • Folder tracks allow a group of tracks to be folded down or expanded.
  • Go to mouse pointer support using the C key.

Fusion Page​

  • Support for Krokodove motion graphics effects.
  • Over 100 new motion graphics effects and tools.
  • New Macro Editor with inspector view and publishing to edit effects.
  • Fusion animation can be creatively driven by Fairlight audio.
  • Native support for OGraf HTML graphics.
  • Native support for Lottie animations.
  • Text+ and MultiText support spell checking.
  • Font improvements include emoji, color fonts and more.
  • Improved MultiText for position, pivot, alignment and CSV import.
  • Support for USD SDK 25.11 with Hydra 2.0 API for Storm renderer.
  • USD support for 3D matte objects and textures.
  • Support for USD Texture Projector and Catcher.
  • Global in-out controls for USD Loader.
  • Native support for creating Relief Maps.
  • Change inspector properties for multi-tool selections.
  • Change common inspector values in all selected multi-tool layers.
  • User defined metadata variables in paths, expressions and scripts.
  • Lens Distort offers checkerboard calibration and GPU acceleration.
  • Guides and rulers persistence, presets and improved snapping.
  • MediaIn nodes show clip name.
  • Open keyframes and spline as a new window.

Codecs and I/O​

  • Enhanced MXF growing file support for broadcast workflows.
  • MXF OP1A support for MPEG2 bitrate and other encode options.
  • Canon CR3 RAW decode support.
  • Fujifilm RAF RAW decode support.
  • Apple ProRAW decode support.
  • Support for compressed ARW from Sony A7V and newer cameras.
  • Improved Nikon NEF RAW decode support.
  • HDR decode support for HEIC, JPEG, PNG and TIFF images.
  • HEIC encode support on macOS and Windows.
  • HDR encode support for HEIC, JPEG, PNG and TIFF images.
  • Improved EXIF metadata support for stills formats.
  • Intel QuickSync AV1 4:4:4 decode and encode support.
  • Windows ARM H.265 10-bit 4:2:2 decode support.
  • Per render job option to override RCM or ACES outputs.

General Improvements​

  • Powerful, expanded and flexible data burn-in window.
  • Preferences and project settings can now be searched.
  • Multi-user projects support dynamic project switching.
  • Up to 3x faster file sync performance to Blackmagic Cloud.
  • General performance and stability improvements.
Note: Sony camera control on Windows needs the Sony IEDT application to be installed from the Sony website.

Minimum system requirements for Mac OS​

  • macOS 15 Sequoia or later.
  • 8 GB of system memory or 16 GB when using Fusion.
  • For monitoring, Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
  • Apple Silicon based computer.

Minimum system requirements for Windows​

  • Windows 10 Creators Update.
  • 16 GB of system memory or 32 GB when using Fusion.
  • For monitoring, Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
  • Integrated GPU or discrete GPU with at least 4 GB of VRAM.
  • GPU which supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.8.
  • AMD/Intel official drivers from your GPU manufacturer.
  • NVIDIA Studio driver 581.57 or newer.

Minimum system requirements for Windows for Arm​

  • Windows 11 for ARM.
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite series processor.
  • 16 GB of system memory or 32 GB for 4K or when using Fusion.

Minimum system requirements for Linux​

  • Rocky Linux 8.6.
  • 32 GB of system memory.
  • For monitoring, Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
  • Discrete GPU with at least 4 GB of VRAM.
  • GPU which supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.8.
  • AMD official drivers from your GPU manufacturer.
  • NVIDIA Studio driver 580.119.02 or newer.

Additional Information​

You will also need to download and install the latest Blackmagic Design Desktop Video software for monitoring with your Blackmagic Design video hardware. Desktop Video is available from www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.
 
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Adding a photo page is a great idea. It's a useful, natural addition that a lot of people were trying to do anyway, but now it's properly handled. The AI features look helpful as well, but it also looks like the end of an era as 21 does not support Intel Macs. It was good while it lasted and thankfully Resolve 20 is a nice release to conclude on for Intel machines.

On a side note, they have also broken Fairlight out into it's own app which is very smart. It was too constrained inside Resolve and really deserved to be it's own app. Assuming interop with Resolve on complex timelines works well, there is really no loss and Resolve could be relieved of the tech burden of carrying a full DAW around hopefully making it easier for the developers and end users. If Resolve can elegantly handle more of an audio stems or mastering formats role in the Fairlight tab that would be plenty.

Edit: I tested the beta and Fairlight Live is essentially a virtual mixing console only. No editing, but still a step in the right direction. Thoughts above still stand, so maybe one day it will be a full fledged DAW. One nice thing is that it runs on Intel Macs which I think a lot of audio people will appreciate.
 
Jason Myres said:
Adding a photo page is a great idea. It's a useful, natural addition that a lot of people were trying to do anyway, but now it's properly handled. The AI features look helpful as well, but it also looks like the end of an era as 21 does not support Intel Macs. It was good while it lasted and thankfully Resolve 20 is a nice release to conclude on for Intel machines.

On a side note, they have also broken Fairlight out into it's own app which is very smart. It was too constrained inside Resolve and really deserved to be it's own app. Assuming interop with Resolve on complex timelines works well, there is really no loss and Resolve could be relieved of the tech burden of carrying a full DAW around hopefully making it easier for the developers and end users. If Resolve can elegantly handle more of an audio stems or finishing formats role in the Fairlight tab that would be plenty.
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For years I have been grading stills in Resolve but it has been awkward given the lack of RAW support . I am looking forward to testing out the photo page. I foresee many Adobe users migrating from Lightroom to Resolve Photo page given the features, tools and one time purchase price.
 
I wonder how they now deal with the VRAM and the stills, as Resolve has traditionally crashed or given an "out of VRAM" error, if the timeline resolution is too high for the GPU.
 
This all seems pretty neat. I was already doing some stills in Resolve as it’s so much easier with a control panel. Now I just need a way to work with negatives and I can ditch Lightroom, but Negative Lab Pro just has it figured out. Hopefully a DCTL or OFX can do a similar job eventually
 
Did they showcase any of the customization you can do with the HDR scopes on the color page? Curious what that would look like and if they'd let you tweak the PQ view at all.
 
I am working more than 15 years on stop-motion animation projects, where image acquisition is done with stills cameras, mostly Canon 5D MkII. Every project we are reinventing pipilene how to deal with raw still images, create an intermediate .exr file for compositing and proper colour for cinema. As we are preparing for a new project at the moment, I have run test how Resolve is debayering RAW still images and could we use it for this workflow? No, RAW debayering is not done right. You can not get a proper Linear gamma or even if using any other option (Canon log,...) they are offering is just simple transform SDR sRGB -> whatever you choose, even when adjusting exposure and contrast in RAW settings there is no proper implementation of still images to anything close to video/film cameras RAW formats and debayring, processing. I was expecting a lot more from them as they could do their own debayering in proper way as thay do for BMD cameras.

Hope this could change in future...
 
Teo Riznar said:
I am working more than 15 years on stop-motion animation projects, where image acquisition is done with stills cameras, mostly Canon 5D MkII. Every project we are reinventing pipilene how to deal with raw still images, create an intermediate .exr file for compositing and proper colour for cinema. As we are preparing for a new project at the moment, I have run test how Resolve is debayering RAW still images and could we use it for this workflow? No, RAW debayering is not done right. You can not get a proper Linear gamma or even if using any other option (Canon log,...) they are offering is just simple transform SDR sRGB -> whatever you choose, even when adjusting exposure and contrast in RAW settings there is no proper implementation of still images to anything close to video/film cameras RAW formats and debayring, processing. I was expecting a lot more from them as they could do their own debayering in proper way as thay do for BMD cameras.

Hope this could change in future...
Click to expand...
You can debayer to linear ACES from the RAW menu, turn off color management otherwise the options don't show.
 
Tony Sal said:
Resolve 21 Beta reviews

Ai Age transformer (allows user to change an actor's age by analyzing their face and adjusting age-related features like wrinkles and facial fullness) and other face beauty tools are a must watch in this video.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGY...2x2ZSAyMSByZXZpZXdz&themeRefresh=1&theme=dark
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Fantastic line-up, Tony -- I agree, the internet pundits were very quick at getting these done less than 12 hours after launch. Chadwick Shoults did a particularly incisive job.


Jason Myres said:
Adding a photo page is a great idea. It's a useful, natural addition that a lot of people were trying to do anyway, but now it's properly handled. The AI features look helpful as well, but it also looks like the end of an era as 21 does not support Intel Macs. It was good while it lasted and thankfully Resolve 20 is a nice release to conclude on for Intel machines.
Click to expand...
You know, I was personally kind of "eh" on the idea of a Photo page for Resolve, but I could see that it's been asked for many, many, many times on Blackmagic's website, so I understand why they included it. If hardcore post people don't want it, they can always turn that page off under the Workspace menu.

There's a ton of "Quality of Life" improvements in Resolve 21 -- they did a terrific job.
 
Wietse van Bezooijen said:
You can debayer to linear ACES from the RAW menu, turn off color management otherwise the options don't show.
Click to expand...
I have tried and am saying it is not a proper linear signal from sensor, highlights are clipped, I see in other RAW debayering software there is still information in these highlights. It is also just an inverse transform. No matter if I use color managed or unmanaged project settings.
 
Teo Riznar said:
I have tried and am saying it is not a proper linear signal from sensor, highlights are clipped, I see in other RAW debayering software there is still information in these highlights. It is also just an inverse transform.
Click to expand...
Are you certain about this? Most photo apps use highlight reconstruction to obtain more dynamic range giving the illusion the 'raw' has more. From my brief tests the debayering/highlight reconstruction in Resolve v21 is somewhat broken. Some pictures give pink highlights suggesting suboptimal algorithms or parameters are used. With Canon raw, a user toggle for 'highlight recovery' is available. With Sony I believe it's disabled.

I hope BMD will provide better user control over this.

The other part that really lacks at the moment is lens corrections from raw metadata. It would be good if we can individually toggle vignetting, distortion and chromatic aberration corrections on/off.
 
There are many "oh, now I can finally ditch Adobe" reactions to this. But as much as I like BMD's efforts and general value proposition, Lightroom has not been asleep at the wheel for the last two or so, years. I feel that the Photography plan (Ps+Lr) is a fair deal.

After having tried many different, highly praised development apps, I keep coming back to Lr for its ever improving toolset (meaningful additions), but perhaps more importantly, the way the image data responds to control input. I find the way that the image responds to changes in Exposure, Highlight, Shadows and so on, feels very natural in Lr. But maybe that's subjective.
 
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