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Davinci Resolve 12 – Flippin’ Fantastic Again

Well. Blackmagic Design has done it again – Davinci Resolve 12 is awesome!!!  I’ve been working with it for about 2 months now and I love all the new features.  Here a quick example:
This week I worked with a long time client who used a new high speed camera from Fastec to shoot an art project.  They were capturing all the footage at 600 fps in DNG raw files and then aiming for a 24p output.  Since this method leaves all the footage in image sequence folders it sometimes makes it a little tricky to review the files and work with them.   
Enter Resolve 12…
Resolve has long been able to read image sequences as clips automatically and then pop them into the media pool as needed.  In this project I simply double clicked each clip folder to load the clip into the source view and then reviewed the clip.  When we found a take we liked I’d pull it from the source viewer into the media pool.  After we found the hero shots I was able to throw them on a timeline and start editing.  BTW this is all in Resolve 12… All in RAW dng – no conversions or proxies.
Once the timelines were built, I went into grading mode and did a little cleanup shot by shot.  The client needed the clips mainly as proof of concept at this point so H264’s were fine.  I simply went to the delivery page, chose 264 and entire sequence, added the job to the render Q and was on my way.
The client had done an After Effects session with the footage to look at it earlier in the week but found that difficult to keep a creative focus as there we many steps to get to the end product.  This was so fast, from ingest to output, he now has great confidence about the project moving forward. 
I think the folks at Blackmagic Design have done it again.  This is a terrific step forward for all departments in the video world.

***UPDATE***

So the day after I posted this blog they released Resolve 12.1
Here’s the official feature scoop:  

Remote rendering on DaVinci Resolve Studio
Support for native display color profiles on OS X
Preferences option to enable 10-bit precision on viewers on OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Ability to select clips when in blade mode
Support for faders on generators and titles
Ability to extend freeze frames from the start of the edit  
Ability to media manage selected clips on a timeline
Ability to perform negative timecode offset in clip attributes
Improved support for sub-clips from FCP7 XML
Improved rendering of audio transitions (cross-fades) and audio faders
Auto scroll during timeline item resize
Improved sorting in media storage and media pool
Support for smart bin filtering based on clip type
Ability to move clips and timelines from a smart bin view
Support for moving files to the trash instead of deleting them permanently when using the media manager on both Mac and Windows systems
Ability to delete multiple projects and folders in project manager
Ability to decompose a compound node
Ability to grade nested timelines  
Ability to filter clips based on whether they have keyframes
Ability to manually keyframe power windows in frame mode even without tracking
Ability to freeze the current frame on an external matte
User option to copy flags and markers when performing ColorTrace
Improved ACEScc support
Support for stereo decision list (SDL) v0.25
Support for RED SDK v6.0.4
Support for embedding timecode in audio output

 

Until next time, good shooting and editing and grading,
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Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is Here!!! And it’s CHEAPER – YAY!!!

I just received word from BMD that the BMPC 4K is shipping as of today.  I checked B&H and a few other sites and they are still showing it as a pre-order item but the press release just hit a few hours ago.  Along with the terrific news of official shipping it is also making it’s debut at a lower price point $2995.  Down $1K from the original MSRP.  It is still shipping with a full copy of Resolve  and appears not to have lost anything in the process.  First thing I checked was the BMD site for the specs and everything still appears to be there so it’s all good.  Hopefully as the units start making their way into the market a few review units will drift into bloggers hands =)  I’ll keep you posted.  For now please see the full press release below and let me know your thoughts.

Fremont, CA – February 10, 2014 – Blackmagic Design today announced the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is now shipping and with a new low price of US$2,995. This new low price will be available for all customers, including existing pre-orders. Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is available now from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for only US$2,995.

“The support from the creative community for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Production Camera 4K has been amazing,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “As with all of our products, we work hard in production to reduce costs so we can pass along the savings, even to our first Blackmagic Production Camera 4K customers. The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is a perfect companion for ATEM Production 4K switchers and we hope the new low price will help more customers to expand their Ultra HD live production set ups with even more camera angles!”

Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is a super high resolution 4K digital production camera for Ultra HD television production. Featuring a large Super 35 sensor, professional global shutter as well as EF and ZE compatible lens mount, the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K captures high quality ProRes™ files, giving customers a complete solution to shoot amazing high resolution music videos, episodic television productions, television commercials, sport and documentaries.

The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K has everything customers need right out of the box including a built in SSD recorder, rechargeable battery and a large 5” LCD touchscreen. In addition to focusing and monitoring shots, the touchscreen also lets customers enter metadata and change camera settings all on a single easy to use interface. Customers also get a full copy of DaVinci Resolve for amazing quality color grading and finishing for Mac OS X and Windows computers.

  • Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 resolution
  • ProRes 422 (HQ)™ recording
  • Super 35 sensor
  • Global shutter
  • EF and ZE compatible lens mount
  • Built-in SSD recorder
  • 5” LCD touchscreen
  • Metadata entry
  • 6G-SDI output for 10-bit HD and Ultra HD
The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is available now for US$2,995 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.

Until next time, Good shooting

TDTrey

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Blackmagic Design has big announcements from IBC

Some really cool stuff coming from Blackmagic Design at this year’s IBC.  Looks like the new Beta 10 version of DaVinci Resolve is now available for download at Blackmagic Design Support.  This is the all new version that was originally announced at NAB earlier this year.  Some of the cool new features are:
  • Resolve Live-live grading of the incoming video signal from the camera
  • Enhanced editing features
  • Multitrack editing with support for up to 16 tracks of audio per clip
  • Expanded support for more NLE’s via XML and EDL
  • Support for OpenFX plugins
  • Support for mixed frame rates and media types
  • Fantastic updated to limiting, qualifiers and power windows
  • Outstanding workflow features for window burns, file naming overlay and audio syncing of secondary tracks to picture
  • and much more
Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design was quoted saying:

 “We are extremely excited to have this public beta of DaVinci Resolve 10 ready for download from the Blackmagic Design web site,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “This is an important update for all DaVinci Resolve customers and dramatically boosts the ease of workflow in the television industry. This new public beta is available for high end DaVinci Resolve systems as well as the exciting free of charge DaVinci Resolve Lite edition which now includes support for UHD timelines and rendering. This is an exciting moment for DaVinci Resolve because its the biggest update to a DaVinci product line in 30 years!”

Another cool announcement was regarding the new Desktop Video version 10.  With the onset of 4K coming faster and faster BMD felt it was time to completely revamp the Desktop Video architecture from the ground up. Aimed at helping the UltraStudio 4K and the DeckLink 4 products, this upgrade will make the ever changing job of managing signals around the edit bay, design center, paint and color correction rooms a breeze.

Please check out all the new goodies at BlackmagicDesign.com

Until next time, Good Shooting
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My F3 Christmas Wish List

OK.  So we didn’t all blow up today – YAY!!!  Now it’s time to start thinking about questions for the big man in red ( and I don’t mean Jim Jannard =)

Here’s my wish list for my Sony F3 from Sony in 2013:
  • Could we get an upgrade for 4:2:2 internal recording with 50 m/bits throughput?
  • Is there enough processing power to give us RAW out of the F3?
  • If the sensor is 4K can it be De-Bayer’d down to 2K to an external recorder?
  • Can we us the new faster SxS cards with an upgrade to the firmware?
  • If not free, could this be done for a purchased upgrade under $2000?
So,  obviously what I’m aiming for here is a 2K RAW F3 upgrade for under $2000 to extend the life of our cameras as we start to save up for the F5 and F55.  I think we’ll need another year or two for 4K to be requested by clients and this gives us a path to stick with and the ability to use our current configurations a little longer.

Seems like there is ‘a storm a brewin’ for the 4K market but we won’t know anything until it passes.  If these cameras can be upgraded for a few bucks now and stay relevant until the new crop (no pun intended ) of sensors is released – could be a good thing.
Just thinking out loud… Santa Sony are you listening???
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.  I look forward to hearing from you in 2013 =)
Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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DaVinci Resolve 9 Flippin’ Fastastic

Black Magic Design released the Beta version of their new DaVinci Resolve 9 Lite week before last.  You can download it for the Mac here.  
It’s a great new look and feel to this wonderful application. I love the new layout.  Still has all the tools you need — they are just in a better placement now.  And, you don’t have to be as much of a rock scientist to figure out how to “make it go”  =)
I decided to jump in with both feet.  My friends are on the home stretch of their first feature and asked if I would be willing to have a go at the grading.  I said…Suuuure, why not.  It’s a fun vampire flick with all sorts of twists and turns.  It was shot on the Panasonic HVX 200.  INT’s, EXT’s and mixed lighting – a real good test.  Check it out here.

The new layout only took a little while to get familiar with and helped to really speed things up.  Things I liked best right out of the gate:
  • Improved Layout
  • Better Scene Detection feature
  • Smarter HSL keying
  • Easier access to Primaries and Wheels
  • Smart gallery access
  • Fantastic Motion Tracking!!!!!!
    • Super easy to use and link
  • Delivery TAB for outputting
  • Premiere Pro 6 support

This is all from me using the Beta 3 version for only about a week.  As I dig into the app I’ll update this post.  Feel free to add comments to help all the readers =)

I got this project as a full length ProRes movie and used the scene detection feature to split it up and conform it.  Took just a little tweaking and it worked great.  A lot of the content is set in a dark or flat location so I had to pickup a few of the cuts as they were hard to discern for the detection threshold I had set – No biggy.
The vignette and power window features are very nice.  Made it easy to correct windows, clothing, walls… everything!!!

The delivery TAB is now super easy to use.  You can make your own custom  output settings and then save them for future use or just take advantage of one of the many presets.  A new feature I like is the fact that you can set multiple outputs and then place them in the render que and walk away.  Each output can have it’s own settings and destination.

Well, that’s it for now.  I’ll add more as I go.  Just wanted to give props to BMD for delivering such a great update to an already awesome tool.

Until next time, good… grading

TDTrey.com