Converting from Premiere Pro to DaVinci resolve

[Greekislandlover]

I know there is a lot of love in this forum for Resolve. I am a Premiere Pro user, and have tried Resolve a couple of times but got nowhere. At the moment I have a project in the pipeline and am in the research phase and haven't started filming. So I figured it is a good time to give Resolve a serious go, and am recreating part of my last project that was edited with PP. The reason I'd like to switch is cost! I don't really use PP enough to justify the cost. As someone who has publicly stated I don't share the love for resolve, I thought it might be an idea to report how I get on with it!

My projects are local history on a mountain bike short films. Following disused railways, forgotten roads etc. Some action cam mounted on a gimbal, some drone footage, some stills and animated maps. Audio is commentary from the bike, voiceovers and music. So far I've put together a few shots, imported my standard opener and had a go at an animated map. Yes, it's different to Premiere Pro, and there is the interface to negotiate and what they call things. But my impression so far is that I think I'll be OK with it.

Importing, shuffling stuff around, cutting it together is very similar once you have done some tutorials.

OK. things I like / dislike so far.

1. Importing files and making proxies is straightforward enough, but I prefer the PP approach of setting this up in project settings so it automatically does it each time you import something. I'm having to remember to convert stuff as I bring it in. Not a biggie really - just need to get into the habit.

2. In PP I like having a simple timeline. Yes, you can have a simple timeline but the only thing that will not go away is the filename of the clip. Shrink the height and you lose the audio waveform but retain the flipping file name! Irritating, but something I can cope with to save £££££

3. Something I think I'll like! Animated maps. I cannot fathom Adobe After Effects, so my animated maps are a line drawn in Photoshop and a moving mask added in PP. Works, and shows where you are but lacks style or artistic flair. I've done a tutorial about this in Fusion, and found it surprisingly straightforward to make an animated line on a map. Plus as you are animating the line, and not a mask it looks better already! Masks don't do changes of direction easily. I'm looking forward to playing around with scrolling / zooming the map as well as the animated line.

I will update this as time goes on. Lots to learn, but so far it's going well.

 

[Dale D]

I know there is a lot of love in this forum for Resolve. I am a Premiere Pro user, and have tried Resolve a couple of times but got nowhere. At the moment I have a project in the pipeline and am in the research phase and haven't started filming. So I figured it is a good time to give Resolve a serious go, and am recreating part of my last project that was edited with PP. The reason I'd like to switch is cost! I don't really use PP enough to justify the cost. As someone who has publicly stated I don't share the love for resolve, I thought it might be an idea to report how I get on with it!

My projects are local history on a mountain bike short films. Following disused railways, forgotten roads etc. Some action cam mounted on a gimbal, some drone footage, some stills and animated maps. Audio is commentary from the bike, voiceovers and music. So far I've put together a few shots, imported my standard opener and had a go at an animated map. Yes, it's different to Premiere Pro, and there is the interface to negotiate and what they call things. But my impression so far is that I think I'll be OK with it.

Importing, shuffling stuff around, cutting it together is very similar once you have done some tutorials.

OK. things I like / dislike so far.

1. Importing files and making proxies is straightforward enough, but I prefer the PP approach of setting this up in project settings so it automatically does it each time you import something. I'm having to remember to convert stuff as I bring it in. Not a biggie really - just need to get into the habit.

2. In PP I like having a simple timeline. Yes, you can have a simple timeline but the only thing that will not go away is the filename of the clip. Shrink the height and you lose the audio waveform but retain the flipping file name! Irritating, but something I can cope with to save £££££

3. Something I think I'll like! Animated maps. I cannot fathom Adobe After Effects, so my animated maps are a line drawn in Photoshop and a moving mask added in PP. Works, and shows where you are but lacks style or artistic flair. I've done a tutorial about this in Fusion, and found it surprisingly straightforward to make an animated line on a map. Plus as you are animating the line, and not a mask it looks better already! Masks don't do changes of direction easily. I'm looking forward to playing around with scrolling / zooming the map as well as the animated line.

I will update this as time goes on. Lots to learn, but so far it's going well.

I am so comfortable now with Premiere Pro that I would absolutely hate to go through another year of a new learning curve, and I would pay the piper to stay with Premiere Pro.

As far as map animation, I have been trying to learn this through various Your Tube videos for a long time. Right now I have hopes to teach myself one of the You Tube videos.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

My biggest problem with Resolve is the real estate it uses on my monitor. I have a hard time setting up windows that will give me the best look that I want. I have use pretty much every editor over the last 7 years and find I am more comfortable with Premiere Pro. It also has a lot more presets then Resolve. I find Adobe After Effects very easy to learn. Lots of good tutorials on youtube. Premiere Pro and After Effects goes hand in hand.

 

[macfawlty]

Resolve is my primary editor, in part because I use the Blackmagic cameras and a RAW workflow. Resolve is faster at rendering and probably handles 4K sources more efficiently. However, I wouldn’t recommend any Premiere user switch to Resolve. I don’t see the benefit. Also, I don’t think it’s possible to edit in Resolve without 2 screens. And if you think AfterEffects is confusing, Fusion is really weird. I do really like Resolve Color. That’s BMD’s original focus, but Premiere is really good too. For editing drone videos, I don’t see any point to switch To Resolve.

 

[Dale D]

Resolve is my primary editor, in part because I use the Blackmagic cameras and a RAW workflow. Resolve is faster at rendering and probably handles 4K sources more efficiently. However, I wouldn’t recommend any Premiere user switch to Resolve. I don’t see the benefit. Also, I don’t think it’s possible to edit in Resolve without 2 screens. And if you think AfterEffects is confusing, Fusion is really weird. I do really like Resolve Color. That’s BMD’s original focus, but Premiere is really good too. For editing drone videos, I don’t see any point to switch To Resolve.

I couldn't agree more with you. I am staying with my Premiere unless I fall into the poor house, which I think at this point in my life is quite unlikely. Why, at my age, would I ever want to go through another learning curve when I am as happy as a clam with my Premiere.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I've been using Adobe PP and AE for about 14 years and when it went to subscription I just held on to my CS5 version, mostly for the capability of AE, Premiere still worked but some of the file types and sizes started clogging it up about five years ago so I moved to a different NLE but kept using AE because I could still make amazing animations and work in 3D space and create camera movements, motion tracking and so forth.

Now that editors like Davinci have sort of combined the editing with the animation capability, in the same program, I think I am going to make the move in that direction. From everything I have seen such as the editing of clips, titling and adding audio clips in Davinci is fairly straight forward, but the steep part is when you try to make the kind of compositions you can get from AE. The whole 'node' thing looks daunting, (if not outright illogical) to this Adobe user, but I figure if I could learn to do it AE, how hard could it be? ? Guess I'll find out.

 

[Crash and Burn]

I had Corel Video Studio but it kept on crashing my computer so I never really learned a serious editing program before Resolve (and I'm still learning). Fast forward bought a decent laptop and I am using Free Resolve. I can see how it would be hard to get your head around if you are used to doing something differently but geez, talk about bang for buck the free version is pretty awesome.

 

[Greekislandlover]

Resolve is my primary editor, in part because I use the Blackmagic cameras and a RAW workflow. Resolve is faster at rendering and probably handles 4K sources more efficiently. However, I wouldn’t recommend any Premiere user switch to Resolve. I don’t see the benefit. Also, I don’t think it’s possible to edit in Resolve without 2 screens. And if you think AfterEffects is confusing, Fusion is really weird. I do really like Resolve Color. That’s BMD’s original focus, but Premiere is really good too. For editing drone videos, I don’t see any point to switch To Resolve.

It's not necessarily a switch - more a serious go at seeing if I like it. I just have a period where I can spend some time playing around. I do have 2 screens and use them with PP, so that's not an additional cost.

But I get your point about there being little benefit to switching, and it's a probability that I'll stay with PP because of the familiarity, and spend some time learning after effects.

We'll see

 

[macfawlty]

It's not necessarily a switch - more a serious go at seeing if I like it. I just have a period where I can spend some time playing around. I do have 2 screens and use them with PP, so that's not an additional cost.

But I get your point about there being little benefit to switching, and it's a probability that I'll stay with PP because of the familiarity, and spend some time learning after effects.

We'll see

I actually use Apple Motion for animation because that’s what I learned on. It’s also supposed to be faster at rendering. FCPX is interesting. While I couldn’t get used to the editing methodology, there’s a company called PixelFilmStudios.com that makes some of the most amazing effects for modest cost. I will sometimes add effects to clips and import back into to Resolve.

 

[vindibona1]

Resolve is my primary editor, in part because I use the Blackmagic cameras and a RAW workflow. Resolve is faster at rendering and probably handles 4K sources more efficiently. However, I wouldn’t recommend any Premiere user switch to Resolve. I don’t see the benefit. Also, I don’t think it’s possible to edit in Resolve without 2 screens. And if you think AfterEffects is confusing, Fusion is really weird. I do really like Resolve Color. That’s BMD’s original focus, but Premiere is really good too. For editing drone videos, I don’t see any point to switch To Resolve.

Everyone has their preferences and I maintain you get habituated to whatever you start with which is why I recommend Resolve for new users. For a casual user, if you don't mind Adobe picking your pocket every month whether you use Premier or not, then you have a choice. As for being able to edit on a single screen, while I have 2 screens I often prefer to only use one. No issues. It all depends on how many windows I want to see at once. But if you get started in Resolve you won't miss any other editing program and will appreciate having it for free until you feel it's time to move up to the Studio version for a ONE TIME charge of $300. i don't know if BMD will do it again, but I got their speed editor for free when I upgraded. Their speed editor ain't no toy and is one beefy quality piece of equipment.

Fusion is complicated but is included in Resolve, still for free for most functions, and is just a matter of learning it's protocol. But it is as powerful as you'll find in any NLE program. You cannot beat their color editor which IMO is the best in the industry. I'm not sure about Premier, but you also get Fairlight audio editor in Resolve too.

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

I know there is a lot of love in this forum for Resolve. I am a Premiere Pro user, and have tried Resolve a couple of times but got nowhere. At the moment I have a project in the pipeline and am in the research phase and haven't started filming. So I figured it is a good time to give Resolve a serious go, and am recreating part of my last project that was edited with PP. The reason I'd like to switch is cost! I don't really use PP enough to justify the cost. As someone who has publicly stated I don't share the love for resolve, I thought it might be an idea to report how I get on with it!

My projects are local history on a mountain bike short films. Following disused railways, forgotten roads etc. Some action cam mounted on a gimbal, some drone footage, some stills and animated maps. Audio is commentary from the bike, voiceovers and music. So far I've put together a few shots, imported my standard opener and had a go at an animated map. Yes, it's different to Premiere Pro, and there is the interface to negotiate and what they call things. But my impression so far is that I think I'll be OK with it.

Importing, shuffling stuff around, cutting it together is very similar once you have done some tutorials.

OK. things I like / dislike so far.

1. Importing files and making proxies is straightforward enough, but I prefer the PP approach of setting this up in project settings so it automatically does it each time you import something. I'm having to remember to convert stuff as I bring it in. Not a biggie really - just need to get into the habit.

2. In PP I like having a simple timeline. Yes, you can have a simple timeline but the only thing that will not go away is the filename of the clip. Shrink the height and you lose the audio waveform but retain the flipping file name! Irritating, but something I can cope with to save £££££

3. Something I think I'll like! Animated maps. I cannot fathom Adobe After Effects, so my animated maps are a line drawn in Photoshop and a moving mask added in PP. Works, and shows where you are but lacks style or artistic flair. I've done a tutorial about this in Fusion, and found it surprisingly straightforward to make an animated line on a map. Plus as you are animating the line, and not a mask it looks better already! Masks don't do changes of direction easily. I'm looking forward to playing around with scrolling / zooming the map as well as the animated line.

I will update this as time goes on. Lots to learn, but so far it's going well.

On AE vs Resolve Fusion (as a Resolve user). I've used both (Fusion more!), and I find AE much more logical! Different strokes for different folks I guess! lol. Great to see someone trying something new. You should think about diving into the color grading window as well, as it is the most powerful color grading suite out there, and lets you do some great stuff.

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

Resolve is my primary editor, in part because I use the Blackmagic cameras and a RAW workflow. Resolve is faster at rendering and probably handles 4K sources more efficiently. However, I wouldn’t recommend any Premiere user switch to Resolve. I don’t see the benefit. Also, I don’t think it’s possible to edit in Resolve without 2 screens. And if you think AfterEffects is confusing, Fusion is really weird. I do really like Resolve Color. That’s BMD’s original focus, but Premiere is really good too. For editing drone videos, I don’t see any point to switch To Resolve.

I edit all the time on one screen in Resolve. On a laptop no less. And not just simple stuff either. I'd agree though that for most people who are proficient in Premiere there's not a huge advantage of switching Resolve except cost, unless they really want to get into color grading.

 

[vindibona1]

On AE vs Resolve Fusion (as a Resolve user). I've used both (Fusion more!), and I find AE much more logical!

Everyone has a different learning style. Sometimes it's not about the innate logic of the application, but as how it's explained. A good contrast of that is Corey Farris vs Jason Yadlovski. Corey is extremely knowledgeable, puts out a lot of tutorials but procedurally often leaves me in the dust. Jason's typical approach OTOH suits my learning style better. Mr. Alex Tech is another good source. And that's only three players out of dozens. Sometimes complex things require looking at the process from a few different angles.

One other thing... Sometimes the logic of a process is the simplicity due to automation or pre-programmed stuff. However it has been my experience that often the pre-programmed stuff tends to be more limiting. JMO

 

[PAW]

Everyone has a different learning style. Sometimes it's not about the innate logic of the application, but as how it's explained. A good contrast of that is Corey Farris vs Jason Yadlovski. Corey is extremely knowledgeable, puts out a lot of tutorials but procedurally often leaves me in the dust. Jason's typical approach OTOH suits my learning style better. Mr. Alex Tech is another good source. And that's only three players out of dozens. Sometimes complex things require looking at the process from a few different angles.

One other thing... Sometimes the logic of a process is the simplicity due to automation or pre-programmed stuff. However it has been my experience that often the pre-programmed stuff tends to be more limiting. JMO

My favorite three tutors as well. I find all three styles complimentary to my better understanding of the software.

 

[bushie]

Many years ago I edited with PP and then did not do any for a number of years. Was surprised at the change to the charging regime of Adobe when I decided to get back into editing and so looked around and found DR. Loved it and have used it for several years now. Enjoy using Fusion as well. Recently purchased a speed editor so have the studio version and a couple of weeks back purchased a Pocket 4K so now firmly cemented into the BlackMagic camp.

 

[WildDoktor]

In PP, there are these settings:

Whites and Blacks
Exposure
Vibrance
Faded film

Can anybody tell me what the equivalent settings are in Resolve 17.4 free?

 

[Bryan L]

I know there is a lot of love in this forum for Resolve. I am a Premiere Pro user, and have tried Resolve a couple of times but got nowhere. At the moment...

3. Something I think I'll like! Animated maps. I cannot fathom Adobe After Effects, so my animated maps are a line drawn in Photoshop and a moving mask added in PP. Works, and shows where you are but lacks style or artistic flair. I've done a tutorial about this in Fusion, and found it surprisingly straightforward to make an animated line on a map. Plus as you are animating the line, and not a mask it looks better already! Masks don't do changes of direction easily. I'm looking forward to playing around with scrolling / zooming the map as well as the animated line.

I very cordially detest masks for animated routes on a map. Since you mention being able to do this in Fusion, I'll for sure take a look at that -- thanks for the hint. I've been using a different approach -- I get good results using Google Earth Pro, but it can be pretty time-consuming to create long animated lines. This has the benefit of being able to change the viewpoint on the map as your animated line 'draws' itself. Google Earth Studio gives better maps but you can't animate a line in it yet... that I know of, anyway... But here's the basic for Goggle Earth Pro:

• Draw a path, placing your points fairly close together. Make a copy.
• Go into 'Edit' for the path.
• Start screen recording.
• Delete the points on the path, starting at the last point. If you hold down the delete key you'll get a uniform pace.
• Stop screen recording and save the clip created.
• Place the clip on your PP or DR timeline and reverse it (works for either one).
• You'll see the path "draw" itself.

Yeah, I know, cumbersome. But it does work!

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

In PP, there are these settings:

Whites and Blacks
Exposure
Vibrance
Faded film

Can anybody tell me what the equivalent settings are in Resolve 17.4 free?

Whites and blacks would be sliders under Lift (Blacks) and Gain (Whites) primary wheels.
There are a couple of ways to adjust exposure in Resolve. My favorite way to do it is to add a point in the middle of a curve and drag it up or down to brighten or darken. You can also use the slider under the Gamma wheel or under the Offset Wheel if you prefer not to use curves.
There's a setting called "Color boost" that does something that's probably similar to vibrance. You can also use the Saturation vs Saturation curve (5th one in curves panel) to only boost the saturation of more highly saturated colors.
As far as faded film, I'm not exactly sure what it does in PP, (I don't use PP) so I'm not sure if there's a single setting that would exactly replicate it.

Here's a screenshot showing where those are.

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

In PP, there are these settings:

Whites and Blacks
Exposure
Vibrance
Faded film

Can anybody tell me what the equivalent settings are in Resolve 17.4 free?

I'm actually currently building a course that goes a lot more in-depth on color grading in Resolve, specifically for drone footage, so if you're interested in that you can sign up for my email list to get some of that content for free. flyingfilmmakerpro.com

 

[WildDoktor]

Whites and blacks would be sliders under Lift (Blacks) and Gain (Whites) primary wheels.
There are a couple of ways to adjust exposure in Resolve. My favorite way to do it is to add a point in the middle of a curve and drag it up or down to brighten or darken. You can also use the slider under the Gamma wheel or under the Offset Wheel if you prefer not to use curves.
There's a setting called "Color boost" that does something that's probably similar to vibrance. You can also use the Saturation vs Saturation curve (5th one in curves panel) to only boost the saturation of more highly saturated colors.
As far as faded film, I'm not exactly sure what it does in PP, (I don't use PP) so I'm not sure if there's a single setting that would exactly replicate it.

Here's a screenshot showing where those are.
View attachment 137325

Wow, thanks, I just saw this today! You can see how much editing I've needed to do in the last 2 months. I'll give these adjustments a try the next time I edit something!