Thoughts/Experience with Resolve Editor

[Michael Gissing]

I am mostly a grader who does some basic editing. I used to use FCP7/Color and Switched to CS6/Resolve for a while now just staying and finishing in Resolve.

It seems to me an improvement on FCP7 as an editor. Similar to CS6 but I can’t offer any meaningful comparison to CC. The big thing is it isn’t optimised for laptop or underpowered computers. In a way this makes sense because the grading dictates a fairly powerful computer. Blackmagic still have a way to go with OFX to have real time plugins and smoother playback and response. That said they are improving faster than anyone so I have faith they will get there.

Again I am mostly interested in the NLE as part of a finishing tool for picture. Audio has improved dramatically with VST plugins but it is still primitive compared to Vegas which is arguably the best for audio. They recently purchased Fairlight so expect the audio to get a lot better and file interchange which the Fairlight people do exceptionally well.

[Marc Wielage]

Walter Biscardi did a whole write-up of this here on Creative Cow:

https://library.creativecow.net/biscardi_walter/DaVinci-Resolve-12-5/1

[Ron Whitaker]

Thanks, but I wasn’t asking for a boring writeup.

I want people’s personal EXPERIENCES with the product.

[Trevor Asquerthian]

Did you read the boring write up of Walters personal experiences with the programme?

He does have editing experience on quite a few NLEs so can review (for free for you) with some gravitas. He has a tendency to love the latest new thing, but that is an endearing trait if it means he takes the arrows for the rest of us.

I would say that Resolve has very few serious editors using it for cutting, or there would be a Resolve-‘for editors’ forum. Plenty of them using it for colour though.

That’s not to say that it isn’t ready for prime time yet – only that there is a lot invested (muscle memory, workflows, workarounds, clients) in an NLE and the case for putting time in for a switch (as Walter does regularly) is not always compelling.

That all said, I would also love to hear personal experiences of editors using R12.5 (particularly any more from Walter Biscardi)

[Shane Ross]

I’ve used Avid for over 20 years. I’ve used FCP 7 for over 10 years. I have used Premiere on and off (mostly off) for 14 years, but go to it more often that before.

Resolve, to me, is an online editing and grading app. Meaning that it’s great for grading footage, and making tweaks to the cut as often is needed when we screen, or if a last minute change comes along. I love being able to add shots, add text, throw in a replacement still and do a move on it. But as my MAIN editing app? Not yet. Reasons why not:

The track sizes are WAY to big. Adjusting them to the smallest size and they are still about 4-5 times larger than what I use in FCP and Avid. And I can’t make them smaller. Why do I need this? Because I’ll work with 3-5 video layers, and 16-22 audio tracks. And I want to see that ALL at once…I don’t like scrolling up and down. I can’t make the tracks smaller to accommodate for this.

I can’t adjust the size of the interface bits. I can’t adjust my SOURCE and PROGRAM montiors to be smaller, to make room for a timeline that I need bigger. EVERY OTHER editing interface allows you to do this.

Maneuvering around the timeline is still a tad clumsy. Using the keyboard to go from clip to clip, it still might jump farther ahead than I want because some clip is selected on a different track.

That’s really it for now. Those basic things stop me from going further. It’s all interface and UI, but that’s a BIG thing for me. Those issues slow down my process so much I can’t really dig in much further. But I really dig it’s editing capabilities for all the stuff I need to do to the cuts after I get them. Some still need a lot of work before I can grade them.

Shane
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Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Bill Ravens]

I cut my last job with Resolve 12.5. In my experience, using Resolve was a bit tedious, at first. After I developed the muscle memory for the keyboard shortcuts, I enjoyed using it. One of the things that made the job exceptionally easy was the custom setup I made for my Ripple/Element external control panels. Very Nice.

Having said this, I’ll note that my timeline was pretty simple. Simple transitions and limited compositing and special FX. I use, also, Media Composer. In comparison, I’ll add that Resolve doesn’t come near to the file management capabilities of the Avid. In the future, for the time being, I’ll be using Resolve for simpler jobs. For the long form jobs, I’ll be sticking with Media Composer.

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Shane Ross] “Maneuvering around the timeline is still a tad clumsy. Using the keyboard to go from clip to clip, it still might jump farther ahead than I want because some clip is selected on a different track.”

Which clip the playhead moves to when using the arrow keys is contingent upon which track or tracks are selected using the track selector buttons. I haven’t found the behaviour to be inconsistent.

It is the exact same way that Premiere works, which is in turn is similar to Media Composer. The difference is that if two tracks are selected, the playhead will stop on the first and last frames of all the clips on both tracks, whereas in MC it is the top selected track that determines this.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Malcolm Matusky]

I went from VP to Premiere to Resolve, and like Resolve 12.5 a lot. You do need an audio program and I chose Reaper as it’s powerful and inexpensive; ProTools is the obvious choice for Resolve as it renders out a ProTools compatible file. I also picked up Borris Contininum Complete, a great package and works with Resolve, you can also find OpenFX plugins that work with Resolve, but not all do, so choose wisely, Audio FX is an issue, the Sony ones do not work, but the Reaper ones do! Now if they would enable an audio control surface operation I would be very happy, I hate doing a scratch mix with a mouse.

Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com