Using Color Trace in DaVinci Resolve – Part 2

How to Use Color Trace in DaVinci Resolve – Part 2

If you haven’t watched it yet, be sure to check out Part 1: Introduction to Color Trace in DaVinci Resolve. In that Insight, I explain the basic workflow of Color Trace and offer up a use-case where this function may be helpful.

In this Insight, I want to take it a step further.

Here in Part 2, we’re going to use Color Trace to copy grades from a 90-minute indie feature to a 5 minute cut down of that timeline. The complication? The full-length feature exists on a completely different database than the 5-minute cutdown.

The problem?

Color Trace only works within a single database. It can’t copy timelines that exist on different databases. In this Insight, I show you the simple fix for this.

Plus, this Insight offers a slightly more complicated examination of using Automatic Color Trace – with many more shots to confuse DaVinci Resolve that requires our manual intervention.

One thing to notice: the key to working with Color Trace are the thumbnails, as is completely obvious in Parts 1 and 2 of this series. You’ll want to have the footage for both timelines on-line and accessible to DaVinci Resolve so that it can draw the thumbnails. Otherwise, if you have a half-dozen empty thumbnails, all with nearly identical starting time codes – Color Trace becomes more trouble than it’s worth. Just an FYI.

In an upcoming Insight, I’ll wrap up my exploration of Color Trace with a demonstration of how and why we might be forced into using Color Trace in Manual mode.