Mastering DaVinci Resolve’s Stabilizer and Classic Stabilizer

Team Mixing Light Note: This is the first in an extended new set of series explaining the fundamentals of DaVinci Resolve. These ‘Toolkit’ Insights are pulled from our DaVinci Resolve 12, 12.5 and What’s New in Resolve 14 Courses. The goal is to eventually build a ‘How To’ of Insights on Resolve’s core features directly in the Insights Library. These ‘Toolkit’ Insights will be collected into Flight Paths to create a quick-access reference manual.

Digging deep into Resolve’s Stabilizer and Classic Stabilizer tools

DaVinci Resolve’s cloud tracker for Power Windows is one of my favorite features since the first day I used the software – a decade ago. Back in the days of Resolve 7 and Resolve 8, colorists wondered why Resolve didn’t have a stabilization tool. It seemed to us the tracker was a pre-built foundation for a stabilization tool.

Eventually, Team Resolve did give us a stabilizer. Then, a few years later, they rebuilt their Tracker but kept the old one naming it the ‘Classic Tracker’. In this Toolkit Insight on the Stabilizer I’ve pulled together two lessons from two of our legacy Courses that teach how to use the Stabilizer. I’ve also added an Introduction for an update on this topic to cover a few items missing from those two earlier lessons.

Part 1: Resolve’s Default Stabilizer

The current default stabilizer was introduced with DaVinci Resolve 14. In Joey D’Anna’s ‘What’s New In Resolve 14’ course (now retired), he thoroughly covers how to use the stabilizer and how its various options work.

Part 2: Resolve’s Classic Stabilizer

In Resolve 14, the old stabilizer was renamed the ‘Classic Stabilizer’ and is accessed via the options menu for the Stabilizer. In Mixing Light’s ‘Resolve 12 Deep Insights’ course (still available at a reduced price as part of a Bundle), for the unititiated I give a short intro to the Stabilizer and then walk you through all of its options. Today, the Classic Stabilizer has a few options that weren’t in Resolve 12/12.5 and I cover those in the introduction to this Insight, recorded on Resolve 16.2.1.

Coming Up

In my Introduction, I mention that cloud and point tracking modes for the Classic Stabilizer. Those tools operate the same as they do in the Tracker. If you want to understand how those modes work then keep an eye out for the upcoming Toolkit Insight on Tracking, which will have full instructions there. I’ll link to it here, once it’s posted.

Comments or Questions?

Scroll down and let me know your thoughts!

-pat