Blackmagic Design unveils DaVinci Resolve 18 public beta and huge cloud updates

Blackmagic Design has released a new public beta of Resolve 18, which places the focus on cloud collaboration.

The company has announced a plethora of updates that focus heavily on cloud workflows, with the head release being a public beta for Resolve 18. So, what's new?

DaVinci Resolve 18 supports the new Blackmagic Cloud servuce, which allows the sharing and hosting of projects, as well as a new proxy workflow system. Resolve 18 also features new Resolve FX AI tools, courtesy of the DaVinci Neural Engine. There's now GPU accelerated paint in Fusion and Fairlight legacy fixed bus to FlexBus conversion.

Collaborative working is now more important than ever, and Resolve 18 would appear focussed on giving a fully integrated solution to the problem, rather than having to deal with lots of third party systems.

DaVinci Resolve 18 edit page.

What's new in Resolve 18?

Users can apparently collaborate in realtime on the same timeline, with new proxy generator software solving any problems with bandwidth by automatically creating H,264, H.265, or ProRes Proxy files when a "watch" folder is created. These proxy files can be switched for the camera originals with a single click of the mouse.

Furthermore, Resolve 18 features intelligent media location management. What this means is that users are collaborating, each one can link media to a unique file path without the need for manually relinking or searching.

When it comes to grading, a user can stream their Viewer window or grading monitor display via DeckLink to anywhere in the world. This is performed with 12-bit colour precision, so a client or collaborator can see the real effects of changes on the image.

Speaking of grading tools, Resolve 18 hasn't skimped on non-cloud features, either. For example, the new object mask tool can now recognise thousands of different animals and objects using the DaVinci Neural Engine. There's also a new depth map effect that will generate a 3D depth map of a scene so that the foreground can be graded separately from the background.

A new surface tracker allows the application of graphics to complicated, moving textured surfaces. The Beauty filter has been upgraded to "Ultra Beauty", giving even more natural results than the original filter.

Subtitle support has also been increased, with TTML and XML timed texts now being supported, as well as embedded MXF/IMF subtitles. Users can now create regions to support multiple simultaneous captions per track, with full control over text positioning for different speakers.

DaVinci Resolve 18 Fairlight page.

Main new features

• Support for Blackmagic Cloud to host and manage cloud based project libraries.
• New Blackmagic Proxy Generator App automatically creates and manages proxies.
• Ability to choose between working with proxies or camera original files.
• Support for intelligent path mapping to relink files automatically.
• Improved project library performance for private server.
• New object mask recognizes and tracks movement of thousands of objects automatically.
• New depth map generates 3D depth matte of a scene in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
• New surface tracker for tracking warped surfaces in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
• Refined ultra beauty tool in Resolve FX beauty for advanced corrective work.
• Expanded subtitle support for TTML and XML timed texts, and embedded MXF/IMF.
• Support for reversing shape, iris and wipe transitions in the edit page.
• New 5x5 multicam enables viewing of up to 25 simultaneous different angles.
• Faster GPU accelerated paint tool with smoother strokes.
• Support for live previews when using the Text+ color picker.
• Ability to convert historical fixed bus projects to FlexBus in project settings.
• Improved Dolby Atmos immersive mixing, including Binaural monitoring.
• Decomposition of nested timelines with all track data including FX and automation.
• Space view scope in Fairlight shows position and relationship in 3D space.

In addition to Resolve, the company also announced several new Cloud Store products, which we're covering in a separate article.

Watch the Blackmagic Design Cloud Update video below.