DaVinci Resolve 19.1 - Small Changes, Big Improvements (Our favourite new features)

but there's already a new version. 19. 1 is here.

It's a minor dot release, but don't be fooled. While major releases often bring new features, dot releases refine the ones we already love. Small changes can bring massive improvements to professional workflows.

Here's our favorite update in 19. 1. We're starting on the media page.

Version 19 introduced Resync bins. When entire folders were imported into your Media Pool, you could right-click on the bin and hit Resync Media Files. This would trigger Resolve to rescan the folder where the media lives, looking for new files and add them to your Media Pool.

Now, that process can happen automatically. There's a new option in the contextual menu, Automatically Resync Media Files. Now, if I add media to that folder, Resolve will automatically add those files into the Media Pool.

You can see these have now appeared in the bin of the same name in the Media Pool. How cool is that? You'll be pleased to know that Resolve won't remove clips from the Media Pool when they have been moved or deleted from the Resync or Watch folder.

Instead, the clip will just show as offline. That prevents the loss of metadata or inadvertent damage to edits if a file is accidentally moved, deleted, or if there is some sort of temporary network outage. So in other words, Resync can add files to your Media Pool, but it can't remove them.

Please note that the Resync feature is only available on bins where the entire folder was imported by clicking and dragging into the bin tree or by using the Create Bins option in the Media Storage panel. It's not available on manually created bins. There's a couple of new options that affect audio and video syncing.

They are found in the triple dot menu of the audio pane. Retain Embedded Audio affects manual audio syncing. Manual audio syncing, in case you didn't know, is done in the audio pane.

In this instance, I'll find the slate. Now I can load the appropriate audio. Line up the playhead with the slate in the audio recording.

And when I hit the link button, the audio and video are now synchronized. Take two. Obviously, there's better ways of syncing audio.

But when using this manual method, the camera's embedded audio gets discarded and replaced with the linked audio. Retain Embedded Audio will stop that from happening, if desired. This needs to be turned on before you start the manual sync process.

Whichever process you use for syncing audio, the audio metadata usually overwrites the video metadata. Retain Video Metadata will stop that from happening. This is super useful, as a lot of workflows have lots of metadata associated with the video files, and syncing audio will destroy that.

There's a small change to the way that multicam clips handle audio. There's a new option called "Use Source Audio Channels. " It is now enabled by default when creating a multicam.

So look out for it. Let's see if you can spot the difference. On the left is a multicam without the option enabled.

On the right it is enabled. In past, the audio tracks and multicams were always adaptive tracks. That means the number of channels grows or reduces to match the content in the track.

Now with the source audio option enabled, you can control how many tracks are in each. One last small addition we liked. You can now export multiple timelines from the Media Pool simultaneously.

Just have your timeline selected, right-click, go to Timelines, Export, and choose your preferred format. Time to hit the edit page. We'll start nice and simple.

In past, dragging audio clips into the bottom of your timeline would automatically create new tracks. That can be annoying. For example, if you have one of those camera clips with a million audio tracks that have nothing on them.

Now, you can choose whether or not to have that behavior. With the option, automatically create tracks on edit. By the way, some of the options in the edit menu are now in their own sub menu.

While we are on the topic of audio, the ducker was introduced in version 19. Previously, it was possible to set up ducking on the Fairlight page, using a compressor and sidechain. But the new ducker has several benefits.

It's easier to use, and it looks ahead. That means it can react before dialogue kicks in, rather than after the person has started talking. It had one major flaw though.

It could only monitor one track. That is now fixed. This plus button can be used to add additional sources.

It's as simple as that. Now the ducker will respond to dialogue across several tracks. It's common to use more than one microphone to record talent, for example, a lav and a boom.

The editor or sound mixer can then choose the best source. This process is now easier thanks to new menus that allow you to change audio sources on mono audio tracks. In this example, my synced media is configured with two mono audio tracks, this lav and this boom, and is in a timeline with a mono audio track.

As you can see, I currently have the lav channel in the timeline. This new contextual menu when you right click on the clip, allows you to now choose which audio channel to use. Even easier, I can access this menu directly by holding down on command or control, and right clicking on the clip.

The other way of changing the selected audio channel is in the inspectors file tab, under audio configuration. Just use this drop down to change which channel you want to use. Our preferred method though is with that cool command right click tip, as it requires the least clicks and can be done directly within the timeline.

This setting will only affect this clip in the timeline. If you'd like to make a permanent change to the audio channels on the clip, you can still do that like normal by selecting the clip in your media pool by using clip attributes or audio configuration in the inspector. While we're in the Audio Inspector, there's another new feature here.

It's now possible to trim individual audio channels. This is super useful when working with multi-channel audio files, whether that's two lavs connected to a mirrorless camera, or a poly-wav from a pro-production with separate channels from different characters. Previously, it wasn't possible to change the volume of individual channels.

The volume control in the Inspector changed all of the channels simultaneously, which was a problem if, well, for example, one of your lavs was quieter than the other. Not good. As a result, there's a new control.

In the Audio Inspector, you can change the volume of individual channels. This action is called Trim. Like with all Inspector adjustments, these settings will update dynamically across all the instances of a clip.

We'd recommend setting it in the Media Pool first so that those settings get applied to any clips you insert into the timeline. For now, we're done with audio updates until we hit the Fairlight page. Moving on to Fusion Effects.

Fusion Effects now cache automatically. We love the Smart Render Cache mode. It automatically caches OpenFX effects, Fusion titles, Fusion compositions, Fusion generators, Fusion transitions.

But it never used to cache Fusion effects. Well, now it does. Whether you use an inbuilt Fusion effect like these binoculars or a custom Fusion effect that you have built like this green screen tool, when you enable the Smart Render Cache mode, those clips will now be marked for caching.

Like this. Fusion FX filters are also cached in user mode, as long as this checkbox in project settings is enabled. The search function in the Index panel has received an upgrade.

Previously, it only searched through marker names. It now searches through all marker fields. So you no longer need to put all your notes in the name to make them searchable.

So happy to see this implemented. A big thank you to Audio for sponsoring this video. Here's three reasons you should try them out.

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Supporting our sponsors is an awesome way of supporting our channel. Thank you for watching. When you have in and out points in the timeline, paste always placed your clips on the end point rather than where your playhead is.

Now paste operations use the playhead's location instead of the end point. Render in place is great for baking in complex effects. You can now use metadata tags in the file name.

To that end, the dialogue has changed. Now you get to specify the file name in the same dialogue that you chose the render settings. And by default, the clip name is included.

Resolve has supported timeline and source workflows for a while. In particular, the decomposed compound clips on edit option is super useful for enabling those workflows. Another useful tool is Match Frame.

And the Match Frame function has been enhanced to better support these timeline as source workflows. Let me show you an example. I've created a timeline of selects, and I've created a timeline for my main edit.

I've used the selects timeline in my main edit, both as a nest of the selects timeline and I've used clips from the selects timeline that have been decomposed. My focus, as you can see, is in the timeline, and that's super easy to tell because I have the red focus indicator turned on. Remember, the setting for that is in Resolve's user preferences.

If I hit F for Match Frame, it loads the nested timeline into my source viewer and finds the matching frame. It never did that before. The rest of my timeline is filled with regular clips.

To be clear, these are not nester compounds. Let's position the playhead over one of them. In the past, if I hit Match Frame, it would have loaded the original source clip and matching frame into the source viewer.

But in this instance, because I have that selects timeline loaded in my source viewer, it will search for that clip in the selects timeline that's loaded in my source viewer. Here, I'll show you. Notice how it didn't load the source clip into the source viewer.

Instead, it found the matching frame in the timeline that's already loaded into my source viewer. That's new and that's very useful. I'll explain more in a moment.

You might not have known this, but the Match tool also works in reverse. Let me give you a quick demo by loading this clip into the source viewer. Now, if I hit the Match Frame button, it will find that clip and matching frame in the timeline.

That's not a new feature. That's already in Resolve. What is new is that this forward match frame lookup now also works with timelines loaded in your source viewer.

Check this out. I'll load that selects timeline back into my source viewer. I have my source viewer in focus, hit F for match frame, and as you can see, it's found the nest in my timeline and of course found the correct frame.

Let me show you something even cooler. I will delete that nested timeline and put my focus back in the source viewer and hit F again. When it can't find a matching nested timeline, it will look for the underlying source clip.

Look, again, it's found a matching frame even though it's not a nested timeline. We love little improvements like this because it takes a tool we already love and use, but it now works consistently across all media whether that's source clips or source timelines. This new match frame functionality is especially useful for comparing different versions of a timeline.

I can load one version in the source viewer and one version in the timeline and use the match frame feature to examine either edit. Whether my focus is in the source viewer or timeline, it allows me to find the corresponding frame in either edit. For extra points, you can then gang both viewers and watch them at the same time.

Super cool, right? There's one other cool new feature to do with Timeline as source workflows. When the Decompose Compound Clips on Edit option is enabled, and you have a timeline loaded in the source monitor, track destination controls will now reflect the underlying timeline.

Here's a small but mighty feature. There's now separate assignable hotkeys for enabling and disabling auto track selector on Every track whether it's audio or video. Thank you very much for that one What if you don't want to disable all the tracks, but just a few?

In past, you need to click each track separately. Now, you can just click and drag. That's so much easier, and it's a feature we've seen in the Endex and other NLEs, so it's nice to see it come to timeline track headers.

It also works for all the other track header controls like mute, disable, solo, lock. You get the idea. One final feature.

We're putting this in the edit section, but it affects every page in the program. When adjusting numerical properties in the Inspector, you can hold down on Shift on a Mac or Alt on Windows. It makes the control less sensitive, making it easier to dial in fine adjustments.

Pay attention to where I'm clicking. It's on the number, not on the slider. Now let's check out changes on the color page.

If you are a mini panel user, this one's for you. There are new controls for manipulating custom curves. There's two new controls.

The control point knob allows you to switch between different control points. The control point left right knob allows you to move that control point either left or right. This adds welcome functionality to the mini panel's existing custom curve controls.

Do you use node stacks? Do you use group grades? If so, you can now use both phrases in the same sentence because node stacks has a new trick up its sleeve.

In Project Settings, if you have node stacks turned on and you enable Post Group Node Stack Layer, the final node stack layer will now be processed after the group post clip node graph. Here's an example. These two clips have been added to a group.

I've got the first clip selected. Group preclip is executed first, then the clip node graphs one through three, then the group postclip, then the final clip node stack layer, L4, and finally, of course, the timeline node graph. L4 is not a group grade, it's a clip grade.

So that means even though these two clips are grouped, this node tree only applies to the clip that's selected. To demonstrate that, I will add an obvious color grade, a strong color cast. As you can see, that grade is not present on the second clip.

This sort of control of node order isn't typically needed. So if it confuses you, don't worry at all. But if this new feature has made your day, please drop a comment below and tell us how you're gonna use it.

The next feature is useful for tracking changes in a color grade. In this node tree, you'll notice all the nodes have the same color. In the triple dot menu, you can turn on a feature called "Track node changes using color".

Let's choose something distinctive. Now if I make a change to a node, its color will change to the color I selected. If you're collaborating on a project, each colorist can select their own color.

And that way you can identify who was made changes. This is a great feature. We would love to see a way to reset the color of nodes so we can wipe this leg clean and start tracking changes again from scratch.

Here's one last tiny feature. You can now choose the default qualifier in the triple dot menu. A lot of the audio improvements we discussed on the Edit page also apply on the Fairlight page.

Here's some specific extras. Audio tracks can be duplicated by right-clicking on the Track header. Not only are the track settings duplicated, but so are the clips in the track.

Audio tracks can now be disabled, again by right-clicking. Combining these two features together makes it easy to duplicate a track to experiment with. You can disable the original, making it easy to roll back to if or when it's needed.

Tracks can be reordered by simply clicking and dragging in the mixer. Here's a super cool feature. In past, when extending or trimming a clip, Fairlight would extend the waveform and show you the rest of the clip.

Super cool, as it helps you to nail the spot that you want to extend the clip to, but it completely obscures the clips in front or behind. Not super cool. Now, in 19.

1, it overlays the two waveforms on top of each other, so you can see the clip that you're extending, but also the clip that is going to overwrite. It's even better for finding the right spot to extend the clip to. Gliver page.

There's a new entry in the resolution and frame rate dropdown. Timeline resolution and timeline frame rate. This fixes a small issue that maybe only a few people will have noticed.

In past, the resolution and frame rate render settings would automatically update to match the resolution and frame rate of the loaded timeline. That's awesome. However, when you would create a render job or render preset, the resolution or frame rate would no longer update.

In the case of a render preset, that means that when you load that render preset, it won't automatically update to match the resolution of your current timeline. In the case of a render job, if I were to create a render job, but then change the resolution of my timeline. You'll see the render job has not updated its resolution to match.

Now sometimes when creating a render preset, you want it to be locked to a specific resolution. That's fine. Define one.

And sometimes when creating a render job, again, you want it to have a specific resolution. That's fine. Define one.

But whenever you want to preset a render job to inherit the resolution or frame rate of the timeline, just set these fields to timeline resolution or timeline frame rate. Simple, but so effective. We love small updates like these.

They might not affect everyone, but for those who've had those issues, this is a huge deal. One more. If you have multiple jobs in your render queue, you can now reorder them by dragging.

That's another small but mighty feature. I like it. One last thing.

Finally, dual screen mode now allows the secondary screen to be in a resizable window. If you'd like to run other programs like notes or scripts in your second monitor as well as the DaVinci Resolve interface, Nice. Oh my, that's a dot release and look how long we've been talking for.

We've not even covered everything. Those are just the features that stood out to us. We'll try and put links below to other videos covering 19.

1. Let us know what your favorite new feature is down in the comments. If you're new to Resolve, whether that's because you're a new editor or you're moving from another NLE, we've made an awesome course for you.

If you want a taste of it, check out our free Masterclass on YouTube or go watch the free sample lesson. Sure, you can try and figure things out yourselves, but if you want to get the most out of Resolve and work effectively, there's no substitute for a proper expert guided course. And hey, a big thanks to Audio for sponsoring this video.

Supporting our sponsors and using the affiliate links in the description is an awesome way of supporting us and our channel. Thanks everyone so much and we'll see you next time.