Video Production and Editing Guides: Editing in DaVinci Resolve

Getting Started with DaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve is a video editing application created by Blackmagic Design. There are two versions available for both Mac and PC, DaVinci Resolve and DaVinci Resolve Studio. DaVinci Resolve is a free download and allows you to edit video of resolutions up to 4K (3840x2160 pixels) and frame rates up to 60 fps. DaVinci Resolve Studio is a one time purchase of $295 and allows you to edit video of resolutions higher than 4K and frame rates of up to 120 fps, and comes with a number of built in video effects and their Neural Engine AI tools. You can find both versions on their website.

Collaborative Cloud Editing

Both the free and paid versions of DaVinci Resolve allow for collaborative cloud editing, allowing multiple people to work on a video project simultaneously across different computers. To do so, you must create a DaVinci Cloud account on their website. The account is free, but in order to create a collaborative cloud project, you must upgrade to one of their subscriptions, the bare minimum of which gives you 2 GB of cloud storage and 1 cloud project library for $5/month. As footage can be rather large, it would likely make more sense to use the option for 500 GB of storage and 1 project library for $15/month if you plan to use collaborative cloud editing in earnest. To create a cloud project library, when creating a new project, switch to the cloud tab in the project manager.

Transferring Projects

If you have started working on a project on one computer and need to transfer it to another, there are a few steps you need to take depending on whether or not you have your media files stored separately or on the same hard drive. The video below explains how to transfer just the project file, or the project file alongside all the media used in the project.

Importing Media

DaVinci Resolve has a number of workspaces you can switch between by clicking on the icons at the bottom of the window. The first workspace is the Media workspace, where you can use the file navigation tools on the top left of the workspace to find media on your computer to add to the project. Alternately, in either the Media, Cut, or Edit workspaces you can use the shortcut Ctrl+i on Windows or Command+i on Mac to quickly bring up a file explorer window to import footage.

Cutting Clips

Once you've imported your media, you can cut your clips in either the Cut or Edit workspaces. The Cut workspace is designed to quickly let you make rough edits and add footage to your timeline. The Edit workspace is where you will do the majority of your editing and is designed to give you more control.

To cut clips in Cut, double click on the desired media you want to work with. It will appear in the source monitor in the top right. You can play the clip by pressing play or pressing the space bar, or you can scrub through the clip by clicking and dragging the red playhead. To set in and out points for the clip, I recommend using the shortcuts: pressing "i" will set the in point to wherever the playhead currently is on the clip, and pressing "o" will set the out point wherever the playhead currently is on the clip. Once you've made your cuts, you can click and drag the video from the source monitor into the timeline below it to add it to your project's timeline.

To cut clips in Edit, it functions much the same, except now the source monitor is centrally located, flanked by the media on the left and the timeline preview on the right. You can still scrub through the selected clip and set in and out points, and then drag it into the timeline below.

Editing in the Timeline

If you have undesired content in the middle of a clip that you have added to the timeline, you can use the Blade tool to cut the clip into separate clips, allowing you to delete a specific section in the middle. You can use it by either clicking on the razor icon on the toolbar beneath the source monitor and timeline preview or using the keyboard shortcut "b". If you want to separate the audio from a clip, either to delete it or move it around your project freely, right click on a clip and uncheck "Link Clips". This will allow you to select the video track and the audio track separately. 

Adding Text and Transitions

Text and transitions are found in the Effects tab in the Edit workspace. Text is found in the Titles section, with a number of presets you can use. To add one to your project, click and drag the desired title style into your timeline. Placing it in line with your main video track will result in white text on a black background, or you can place it above your video, in Video track 2 or higher, and it will appear on a transparent layer above your video. You can click and drag the edges of the title in your timeline to make it appear for as long or as short as you like. To edit the text, font, color, etc., select the title in your timeline and open the Inspector tab at the top right of the workspace. There you will see the field for editing the text as well as your text formatting options including font, size, justification, and much more.

To add transitions, they are found under the respective Video Transitions and Audio Transitions section of the Effects tab. Some of the video transitions are premium features that require a paid license, but many are available in the free version of the program. To add a transition, click and drag the desired transition into your timeline where two clips meet. Like the titles, you can click and drag the edges of the transition to make it longer or shorter. Longer transitions are more gradual, shorter transitions are more abrupt.

Basic Audio Editing

Audio clips have a horizontal line running across them, which controls volume. You can click and drag it up to increase the volume of the clip, or drag it down to decrease the volume. You can also right click the audio clip and choose Normalize Audio Levels... to set a target dB range, and DaVinci Resolve will adjust the audio of the clip accordingly. 

Exporting Your Video

Once you've finished editing your video, switch to the Export workspace. Here you can use a variety of presets or custom settings to determine the parameters of your exported video. It is recommended to use H.264 for 1080p and lower resolution videos, and H.265 for 4K videos. MP4 is the most universally accepted format, so that is recommended over Quicktime for compatibility reasons. Once you've selected your save location and settings, click Add to Render Queue. This notably does not immediately start rendering your finalized video, it simply adds it to a queue to render once you are ready. If you are not working on other versions or videos to edit, click Render All to start the render queue and render your video.