DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve 21: A Deep Dive into the New AI Features
Intermediate
10 min mins
KK
Kabeer Khan
Creator
Overview
An in-depth look at the revolutionary new features in DaVinci Resolve 21, focusing on the powerful AI tools that transform editing, color grading, and visual effects workflows.
Tools Used
DaVinci Resolve 21
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
9 Steps
AI IntelliSearch: Smart Media Organization
Discover the AI IntelliSearch feature, which automatically analyzes and tags your footage based on faces, audio, transcription, objects, and locations. This allows for incredibly fast and intuitive searching within your media pool.
Use this to quickly find all clips featuring a specific person or containing a particular spoken word, saving hours in logging footage.
AI Speech Generator: Inbuilt Text-to-Speech
DaVinci Resolve 21 now includes a built-in text-to-speech generator. You can type text and have it converted into voiceovers using several included voice models or even create your own custom voice.
This feature eliminates the need for third-party text-to-speech services, keeping your entire voiceover workflow inside Resolve.
AI CineFocus: Cinematic Depth Effects
Learn how to use AI CineFocus to create a shallow depth-of-field effect. Simply tap on a subject or object on the screen to make it sharp while the rest of the scene becomes artfully blurred.
This is perfect for adding a professional, cinematic look to footage that was shot with a deep depth of field, like on a smartphone.
AI Blemish Removal and Face Tools
Explore the new suite of AI-powered face tools. AI Blemish Removal cleans up skin imperfections while preserving texture. AI Face Transformer can de-age or age subjects, and AI Face Reshaper allows you to subtly or dramatically alter facial features.
These tools replace the need for many expensive third-party beauty work plugins, streamlining your retouching process.
AI Image Enhancement: Sharpen and Deblur
Two new tools help improve image quality. AI Ultra Sharpen intelligently enhances details and clarity in your footage. AI Remove Motion Blur can salvage shots that were previously unusable due to motion blur.
Use Remove Motion Blur sparingly on parts of a clip where clarity is essential, as it is a computationally intensive process.
Dedicated Photo Page for Color Grading
DaVinci Resolve 21 introduces a new, dedicated page for editing and color grading still photos. You can use all the familiar color wheels, curves, masks, and LUTs from the Color Page on your RAW or JPG images.
This integrates your photo and video color workflow, ensuring a consistent look across all your project's media.
Edit Page Enhancements: Keyframes, Fonts, and Workflow
The Edit Page receives several upgrades, including an improved keyframe editor for adjusting multiple clips and Fusion effects. A new font browser provides live previews on hover. Background tasks for proxies and transcription allow you to edit without interruption.
Manage Fusion effect keyframes directly in the Edit Page's inspector to avoid round-tripping to the Fusion page for simple animations.
Color Page Updates: Magic Mask and Node Management
The AI Magic Mask has been improved for faster and more accurate tracking. You can also now render the mask in place to lock it in. Nodes can now be viewed as a traditional graph or a more organized list view.
Use the 'Render in Place' option for complex Magic Mask tracks to improve playback performance significantly.
Fairlight and Fusion Page Upgrades
In Fairlight, you can now group audio tracks into folders for better organization. The Fusion page gets a major overhaul with the new USD 3D render engine, an improved macro creator, a dedicated Speed Ramp node, and integrated Crocodove motion graphics effects.
The new Speed Ramp node in Fusion offers far more precise control over retiming effects compared to the tools on the Edit Page.
Transcript
DaVinci Resolve 21 has officially launched, bringing a host of new features, especially related to AI, across the Edit, Color, and Fusion pages. Let's explore what's new. First up are the AI features. AI IntelliSearch automatically analyzes your footage, organizing clips based on faces, audio, and transcription, making it incredibly easy to find specific moments, objects, or locations. Next is the AI Speech Generator, an inbuilt text-to-speech tool with multiple voice models and the option to create custom ones, eliminating the need for third-party platforms like ElevenLabs. The AI CineFocus feature allows you to create a cinematic depth-of-field effect by simply tapping on a subject to bring them into focus while blurring the background. For beauty work, the new AI Blemish Removal tool lets you clean up skin imperfections with a simple drag-and-drop effect, preserving skin texture. The AI Face Transformer can alter a subject's age, making them look older or younger, while the AI Face Reshaper allows for modifications to facial features. Enhance your footage with AI Ultra Sharpen, which intelligently improves details without needing external plugins. You can also salvage shaky footage with the AI Remove Motion Blur tool. A major addition is the dedicated Photo Page, allowing you to color correct and grade photos with the same powerful tools used for video, effectively replacing the need for Photoshop or Lightroom for grading. The Edit Page has seen significant UI and feature updates. The keyframe panel is more advanced, allowing you to adjust keyframes for multiple clips at once and easily manage Fusion plugin keyframes directly on the Edit page. The font browser now shows a live preview on hover, and you can use HTML typography animations. Background tasks for transcription and proxy generation let you continue editing without waiting. Other Edit page improvements include a segment view in the media pool, Edit Suite Chat for collaboration, spell checking for text, emoji support, a built-in Picture-in-Picture (PIP) effect, and the ability to open multiple bins as tabs. Subtitle workflow is also improved; you can now import any subtitle file and synchronize it word-by-word. The Color Page enhances the AI Magic Mask for faster, more accurate tracking and adds an option to render the mask in place. You can now view nodes in both graph and list views. Fairlight introduces track grouping and folder organization for better audio management. The Fusion page gets a major boost with the USD Render engine for real-time 3D rendering, an improved Macro creator, CryptoMatte support, a Relief Map tool for generating 3D depth from textures, new 3D shapes, a dedicated Speed Ramp node, and integrated Crocodove effects for advanced motion graphics.