DaVinci Resolve Gets AI Assistant Integration and Other New Features With Latest 21.1 Update

DaVinci Resolve Update 21.1

So, it seems like two big announcements are combined here. The first big announcement is that DaVinci Resolve has another major update (what else is new?) as the company continues its torrid pace of improving Resolve and making it one of the top options for editors and color experts these days.

The company is also continuing its push into multimedia editing, with its photo editing portion getting a boost through expanded support and new camera formats.

The other big news is the introduction of AI assistant integration, a new area of video editing we’ve mostly seen in third-party apps and tools like Eddie AI, Nice Touch, and others. You can watch a full video going over the updates below.

Full List of New Tools and Controls

All said, this is a major update, with over 100 new tools and controls added for editors and colorists. You can find the full list below.

The following features have been added or updated.

Media Page

• Media pool list view text and checkbox fields can now be edited.
• Search includes sub bins and supports exact text matching.
• Original aspect ratio in source viewer with no external monitoring.
• Source viewer supports interlaced media previews.
• Preview geometry assets from media pool and media storage.
• Ability to change starting timecode for multiple selected clips.
• Ability to delete selected markers in media pool list view.
• Created/modified dates for multicams, compound clips and timelines.
• Delete multiple audio tracks in clip attributes using mouse drag.
• Assign key shortcuts to show or hide media pool bin view.

Photo Page

• Change image settings in inspector using color panels.
• Improved post decode sharpening for RAW images.
• Improved sidebar with flexible height and stacked panels.
• Inspector reset controls for each RAW parameter.
• DNG file support for lens distortion, aberration and shading.
• Resolve FX Sky Replacement support for album photos.
• Assign key shortcuts to toggle capture live view.

Cut and Edit Pages

• Support for inspector presets.
• Multicam editing mode is now a timeline viewer property.
• Option to split multicams at gaps when using timecode sync.
• Switching multicam grid size retains page with selected angle.
• Multicam key shortcuts now work with timeline or source focus.
• Assign key shortcuts to decompose multicams.
• Assign key shortcuts to switch or cut up to 25 multicam angles.
• Assign key shortcuts for source and auto select for up to 32 tracks.
• Edit Fusion properties for multiple selected clips in inspector.
• All new compare timeline workflow with greater control.
• Data Burn can show clip metadata from a specified video track.
• Presentation markers support annotations, replies and status.
• Marker annotation support for drawing ellipses.
• Zoom audio waveform actions in the edit timeline.
• Playhead indicator for current clip in inspector and viewer.
• Clip selections are now cleared when setting timeline in or out.
• Improved edit page trim editor with mouse drag and nudge.
• Refine dynamic trim edit point selections with auto select.
• Switching to dynamic trim enables trim mode by default.
• Dynamic trim editor loop playback continues when editing.
• Ability to cut, copy and paste gaps on the edit timeline.
• Timeline view option to automatically scale audio waveforms.
• Timeline view option to display clip durations.
• Two Cut page timer options for source tape and multiview.
• Ability to apply transitions to adjustment clips.
• Export marker list from edit index as a PDF.
• Option shift dragging clips preserves existing transitions.
• Restored timeline backups retain backup history.
• Preference option to stop playback when scrubbing.
• Preference option to always play audio on playhead move.
• Preference option to select clip after playhead on blade.
• Inspector now honors auto track selection for displayed clip.
• Improved shift-click clip selection across tracks in edit page.
• Clear solo and restore solo support in the edit page.
• Fusion color picker support in edit and cut page viewers.
• Font browser option to display text preview from title.
• Select gap space after last clip on track for trim edits.
• Replay ability to enter input view directly from run mode.

Fusion Page

• New Krokodove based shape and 3D tools.
• Support for OpenPBR material shaders.
• Improved MultiText layer align behavior.
• Animation action support for OGraf clips on timeline.
• Support for frame, ease and scale controls in OgrafLoader.
• Macro Editor supports load and save of multi-template DRFX files.
• Improved Macro Editor batch select, grouping and organization.
• Macro Editor update macro action adds tools from node selection.
• Fairlight Animator now has adjustable low and high pass filters.
• Ability to import externally tracked results to Camera Tracker.
• Tracker controls to trim tracks, view and change reference frame.
• Support for hard mix blend mode for Fusion tools and PSD import.
• Pre-divide and post-multiply alpha handling in log conversion tools.
• Improved Desktop Video monitoring performance.
• Enhanced variable syntax for use in evaluations or substitutions.

Color Page

• Retain playhead position when navigating between tracks.
• Ability to relink missing LUTs and DCTLs from the LUT Manager.
• Missing DCTLs shown as viewer overlay and in LUT Manager.
• Support for DJI D-Gamut2 and D-Log2.
• Support for GoPro Log.
• Support for Leica L-Log IDT and LUT.
• Support for Vivo Wide Gamut and Vivo Log.
• Toggle node cache status from advanced panels.
• Navigate power windows from tracking menu in advanced panels.
• Improved effect scaling for Resolve FX with Gaussian blur.
• Assign key shortcuts for viewer video output actions.

General Improvements

• Native support for NVIDIA RTX Spark systems on Windows.
• Support for haptic feedback on Windows.
• Hardware accelerated HEIC decode on Apple Silicon.
• Support for rendering to EXR with HTJ2K compression.
• Support for USAC audio decode on macOS.
• Improved iXML metadata support from WAV audio.
• Support for reading embedded Canon PL lens metadata.
• Presentation export option to include subtitles.
• QuickTime and MXF renders support multiple embedded captions.
• Growing file improvements for TS, QuickTime and MXF formats.
• Improved media management error handling and reporting.
• Project level media management now includes a .drp export.
• Project archive options for stills, LUTs and used media.
• Ability to cancel opening a cloud project.
• PostgreSQL 18 is now bundled with Project Server.
• New user keyboard presets will inherit updates to factory defaults.
• Assign key shortcuts for render queue menu actions.
• Advanced scripting now requires DaVinci Resolve Studio.
• General performance and stability improvements.

Notes

• We have moved the ability to script in Python to the Studio version. The Python API was being used to hack studio features into the free version. DaVinci Resolve relies on studio license sales to pay for the engineering team. Unlike subscriptions, which have become normal but lock people's work up unless you pay monthly, we want to offer a differentiation from charging monthly license fees.
• DaVinci Resolve and the Project Server can still work with network libraries based on PostgreSQL 13 and above.

For more info, visit the company’s website here.