DaVinci Resolve 18.5, the latest update from Blackmagic Design, brings a significant boost in functionality and efficiency for video editors and colorists. Available now as a public beta, this release includes over 150 feature upgrades and introduces several AI-driven tools designed to streamline workflows.
New AI Features Enhance Productivity
One of the standout features is the integration of speech-to-text editing capabilities within the Cut page. This tool allows users to transcribe audio into text, enabling quick searches for specific narrative content or phrases within clips. Additionally, automatic subtitling has been added, saving time by generating subtitles from audio tracks.
The Fairlight page now supports grouping of audio tracks, facilitating faster mix automation and editing. The DaVinci Neural Engine can classify audio clips based on their content, categorizing them into dialogue, music, and effects with detailed subcategories like explosions or insect sounds.
Improved Collaboration and Remote Monitoring
DaVinci Resolve 18.5 introduces support for Universal Scene Description (USD) files, enhancing collaboration between VFX artists by enabling the import of geometry, lighting, cameras, materials, and animation data. The new multi-merge tool in Fusion facilitates compositing and managing multiple layers with individual controls.
Users can initiate remote monitoring using just a Blackmagic ID and session code, eliminating the need for IP addresses and port forwarding. This feature allows streaming to multiple devices simultaneously, including computers, iPads, and iPhones. The new Presentations feature in public beta enables project libraries to be exported to the Blackmagic Cloud, allowing multiple users to review timelines, leave comments, and share live chat sessions.
Timeline Enhancements and Color Management
The Cut page has been enhanced with three new menus that offer quicker and more flexible editing options. Users can toggle ripple edits, trim edit points, resync audio, and adjust the timeline’s appearance. Scene cut detection is now possible directly on the Cut timeline, automatically placing cut points based on content analysis.
DaVinci Resolve 18.5 introduces timeline-level color management settings, allowing independent timeline and output color spaces for projects with mixed media. The new Relight FX tool in the Color page lets users add virtual light sources to scenes, adjusting environmental lighting, filling dark shadows, or changing moods.
Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO, highlighted the release’s focus on workflow efficiency: “This major update includes tools specifically designed to speed up workflows. The AI features for colorists, VFX artists, and audio engineers, along with the new menus on the Cut page, make it faster and simpler to use.”
Other notable features include support for vertical aspect ratio output for social media content creation, enhanced remote monitoring options, and improved backup and restore capabilities.