In this video I’m going to share
10 tips that if you apply them will guarantee to save you hours of time when
editing and grading in DaVinci Resolve. Tip #1 Copy grades without losing stabilisation.
Here we’ve got 2 clips, the first one is using Similarity Stabilisation and the second
is using Translation. In the Color Page, usually one would click on the clip you
want to transform and then right click on the clip the grade is coming from and select
Apply Grade. When you do the before and after you can see that the stabilisation on the
clip has changed because it assumed the same Similarity stabilisation from the clip the
grade is coming from. To avoid this go to the Keyframe box and click the dropdown menu that
says all and change it to color only. Now if you apply the grade again the stabilisation
will remain unaffected because it’s only copying the color information so you’ll never
have to re-stabilise any of your shots again. Tip #2 - Outside Nodes. This node is the quickest
way to get exactly the opposite key or mask of the node connected to it. In this case I’m doing
a magic mask on the subject because I want her to pop a bit more from the background so I’ve
increased the gamma, added some contrast and a little more midtone detail. On the outside node
I’ve dropped the highlights a bit, softenened the midtone detail and added an RGB split just
to create more contrast between the two. Tip #3: Disable Video Layers - This one only
works in the new version 19 but it’s a pretty great way to save time when rendering multiple
versions of a project. Sometimes you need to send out a version with and without supers
so instead of creating multiple versions and disabling the tracks on the timeline, you can
stay in the render page and select which layer needs to be disabled. Untick the box that says
Render All Video tracks, and start adding the tracks you want to exclude from the render.
Now when you add it to the render que you can render out a separate version all from the
same timeline while staying on the render page. Tip #4 Clip Filtering in Color Page.
If you’ve never used this feature, it’s going to revolutionise the way you use the
color page. Click on the dropdown menu and choose a filter. From clips that are ungraded to clips
tagged with a color. A good example would be to show all clips that have noise reduction on
them. As you start tagging your clips with color or keywords, it’s a matter of seconds and
you can isolate all the clips under that filter. Tip #5 is guaranteed to save you hours and is also
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by using the link in the description below. Tip #6 HDR Extremes. There are a lot of ways to
bring down highlights and overall exposure in a clip but sometimes you just want to affect
those extremes without touching the rest of the image. The long way would be to use the
qualifier, select luminosity and then mess around with the sliders until you get a clean
selection. Although this method is totally fine, it takes an extra node to setup and there’s a
quicker way. The HDR Wheels is certainly not only meant for HDR footage. By going over to
the highlights section you can quickly select the extreme parts of your highlights you want
to bring down. The Red slider on the right will increase or decrease the feather so you get
a clean selection. Drag the exposure slider to the left and see how only your highlights are
coming down. Now you can also do this with Curves but personally I enjoy seeing the highlighted
section of what is affected in the HDR Wheels. Before I get to the next tip I do want to
mention that My color grading course is finally launching on the 1st of July. If you
enjoy these tips, I can guarantee you theres a lot more to be found in the course where I
deep dive into all the relevant tools and a variety of creative grading techniques. Check out
the link in the description below for more info! Tip #7: DCTLs - Now before you run away,
I’m not trying to sell you something, in fact you get DCTL’s that are completely free
that can drastically improve your workflow. DCTLs can save you an immense amount of
time especially when doing split toning, density & subtractive saturation. One of my
favorite free DCTLs is this one from Kaur Hendrikson called Checkers. It has the ability to
check your skintone and exposure with False Color. I use it mostly for skintone. As the indicator
shows, yellow is good, green is too much yellow and magenta is too much red. Now some might say
why don’t you just use the vectorscope? Well I’m already doing that but this DCTL does something
the vector scope cant. When I’m color matching a sequence I often use the split screen function
to compare but NOW if you enable the checker on your clips you can quickly spot inconsistencies
like in the last frame there’s clearly too much red in the skintone. This is a quick way to check
your edit and to identify shots that don’t match. Tip #8 Deleted Timelines. Assuming you know
that Resolve keeps a backup of your timelines, did you know that Resolve also keeps your deleted
timelines. Deleting the wrong timeline can cost you hours if not days of work but rest assured
resolve has you covered. In the new version 19 you can bring back deleted timelines.
In the edit page go to the 3 dotted menu and at the bottom you’ll find deleted timeline
backups. Click restore and boom, crisis averted! Tip#9 Grading Versions. Sometimes you want to
experiment with various looks before choosing a final version especially when it comes to
client feedback. With Grading Versions you can keep multiple versions and switch between
them for quick comparison. After you’re done with the first grade, right click on your
clip, go up to local versions and select create new version. Do your tweaks and create
as many versions as you want, in this case I’m going for 2 film looks and a 3rd version more
neutral. When you’re done with your versions, comparison is as simple as a shortcut
on your keyboard. By pressing Option, Shift & N you can go to the next version and P
will take you to the previous version. Comparing versions this way is by far the quickest
and easiest way to decide on a final look. Tip #10 Replace Clip. We’ve all pressed this
button by accident but how many of us actually know what it does? In Simple terms, replace edit
lets you replace a shot from the media Pool with a clip in the timeline. What makes it so special?
Well because the manual way takes so much longer. Instead of deleting the timeline clip and
trimming the new clip and putting it in the timeline do this instead. Close your inspector
and select the double viewer which will enable you to see the clips from your media pool next to
your monitor feed. Put your playhead at the start of your timeline clip and select the starting
point of the clip in your media pool. Now drag this clip over to your monitor and choose replace.
Now Resolve will automatically cut the end of the new clip in perfect timing to the old clip and if
you had any transitions it will stay untouched. And that’s it! As always comments drop them down below and I’ll do my best to answer! Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one
