New Little Features Packing A Punch In DaVinci Resolve 18.1

Resolve 18.1 highlights that Power Users need to know

Resolve 18.1 is the first major feature update to Resolve 18, and as usual, BMD has dropped some incredible, big headline-grabbing features. But they’ve also added dozens of smaller improvements you may not know about!

In this Insight – that’s what we’ll be focusing on, how to use some hidden gems that I found from the release notes. These new features allow you to work faster and more efficiently.

Key takeaways from this Insight

By the end of this Insight, you should understand:

Performance improvements for fixed node structures & debayering
How to Copy/Paste multiple projects and folders between databases
Big Speed Editor improvements on the Edit page
New Track and Marker indexes for managing the timeline on the Edit page
New view menu layout on the Color page
A new warning to protect yourself from making big errors while color grading!
Middle-click scroll in the Color page’s thumbnail timeline
Filtering by object mask
Improvements to ResolveFX alpha usage

Related Mixing Light Insights

Edit Faster With 10 Keyboard Tips & Tricks For DaVinci Resolve – This is the Insight I mention in the video about massively speeding up your track targeting on the Edit Page.

Questions or Comments? Leave a comment!

Is this Insight useful to you? Let us know! Mixing Light is all about community discussions and we’re curious if you found this helpful, if you have something to add, or if you have more questions you need answered?

– Joey

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Comments

Creator

Discussion
November 15, 2022 at 8:24 pm #47623

Joey D’Anna
Participant

This is the discussion thread for the Insight: New Little Features Packing A Punch In DaVinci Resolve 18.1
Creator

Discussion

Jim Robinson
Member

November 15, 2022 at 10:59 pm

What we need in here is a “Like” or “Love” button. Great information packed into this insight explaining all these new changes. Which ironically watching this video will save us time.
Thanks a lot Joe, looking forward to part two of your new series as well.
After watching the first one, I was wishing it was like Netflix, where it would go to the next episode.
Marc Wielage
Member

November 16, 2022 at 7:55 am

Oh, yeah, the warning about “Replace Existing Grades?” is worth the price of admission alone. Great work as usual, Joey!
- Joey D’Anna
  Member
  
  November 17, 2022 at 8:59 pm
  
  Thanks! Yea I found it by accident actually, and the first time it came up I immediately thought “oh this is going to save my bacon at least once, I absolutely guarantee it”
- Guillem Ventura
  Member
  
  November 18, 2022 at 4:05 am
  
  I find this warning such a drawback. I am a professional, I know what I’m doing.
  I hate having to take my pointer and click (can’t use the keyboard to confirm) every time i apply a grade to many clips.
  And the selection is lost after applying them! What if i wanted to try many options? I have to select again…
  If I screwed it I’d rather go back to a 10 minutes ago backup, instead of being constantly asked if i know what I’m doing…
  There should be a way to turn this warning off.
Willian Aleman
Member

November 16, 2022 at 8:45 am

Joey, thank you for the detailed insight.
Do the OFX plugins in DaVinci Resolve Studio 17/18 been extended to more than three pages in BMD Mini Panel?
In the previous version, the OFX interface in the Mini Panel was limited to three pages, making the navigation of some parameters unreachable with the interface.
- Patrick Inhofer
  Administrator
  
  November 16, 2022 at 9:15 am
  
  They still seem limited to three pages. I’m not as bothered by that limitation since there’s no way I’m paging through 6 screens to bounce around and make tweaks.
  
  I’m not a fan of how the Mini panel handles the bigger plug-ins. The rotary knobs for pull-down lists are super-annoying. It’s not clear what submenu many of the items are controlling. Although the push-button ‘enable’ buttons are handy quick keys, often the ‘enable’ button doesn’t say what specific parameter it’s enabling. You have to look at the UI while toggling to figure it out, so it’s quicker to use the mouse.
  
  On smaller plugins where everything fits on one or two menus, those are the ones where I tend to use the panel controls. Otherwise, I’m spending more time navigating and hunting/pecking than getting work done. I use the mouse in those situations.
  
  On bigger plugins, unless I’m on it several times a day, it’s just not worth it for me to use the panel.
  - Willian Aleman
    Member
    
    November 16, 2022 at 9:19 pm
    
    Patrick, thank you for the detailed response. It helps to know those limitations.
Stephen Nadeau
Member

November 16, 2022 at 10:18 am

This is great. Thanks, Joey!
andi winter
Member

November 20, 2022 at 3:01 pm

this insight alone justifies the abo! love this – great timesavers…
Andrew Howard
Member

November 21, 2022 at 1:56 pm

Great to learn the other places where the middle click works. I hadn’t used it outside of the node tree.
- Maurice Morales
  Member
  
  December 29, 2022 at 2:22 pm
  
  Speaking of middle click is there a way to middle click on a Mac trackpad without having to install a 3rd party app?
Martin Parraga
Member

December 2, 2022 at 1:14 am

This is great, thanks! How stable do you find 18.1? I usually wait a while before upgrading to a new “dot release” for fear of bugs and such. Is it ok to upgrade?
- Joey D’Anna
  Member
  
  December 2, 2022 at 1:16 am
  
  so far so good for me, on 2 macs and a windows box all on shared storage.
- Patrick Inhofer
  Administrator
  
  December 2, 2022 at 8:13 am
  
  Same here as Joey. No problems so far.
  - Martin Parraga
    Member
    
    December 4, 2022 at 12:06 am
    
    Gotcha, thanks guys! Maybe it’s time I upgrade then.
Robbie Carman
Member

December 2, 2022 at 4:31 pm

I have had a crazy number of hard crashes on both Mac and Windows but I suspect that has more to do with a legacy node tree I’m using right now than the app itself. If you use a fixed node tree you should really rebuild it on every major numbered and dot release especially if BMD mentions performance. Example: NR on a node built in 18.0.X I get about 19-20 FPS on RED/ARI/BMD Raw. Same node tree rebuilt in 18.1 with same grade etc I get true 24.

Remember BMD updates things like Resolve FX under the hood all the time but they also have to preserve legacy function/look.
- Martin Parraga
  Member
  
  December 4, 2022 at 12:05 am
  
  Ooh, thanks for the tip. I never thought about having to rebuild my fixed node tree, but that makes sense.
Patrick Inhofer
Administrator

December 2, 2022 at 4:34 pm

Good point, Robbie.

Also – I’ve had this annoying quirk where a middle click on a thumbnail to copy a grade, it immediately jumps me back to the current thumbnail, forcing me to re-scroll back to where I was if I need to try a different shot.
- Robbie Carman
  Member
  
  December 2, 2022 at 4:43 pm
  
  not just you…its been an GIANT PIA for me to in the Lightbox were I spend a lot of time grouping etc. I’ve filed a request to have that behavior be a preference.
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