Setting up a new project in Resolve

[Barbara]

Relatively new to Resolve and am really coming to appreciate what it can do. However, I don't really feel I understand what I'm doing when initially setting up the "Project Settings" for a new project. Particularly when my source materials cover a variety of resolutions and frame rates.

Any sort of guidance from the gurus around here would be appreciated.

 

[zeusfl]

There are plenty of tutorials on Youtube for Davinci Resolve.
Just to give you an example.

 

[vindibona1]

There are a ton of videos to get get started. Take your time getting acquainted with the program. If you watch a few videos you will find a contributor that you like best. There are a couple that, while they have a ton of knowledge, just leave me in the dust. You'll find a main one, then one or two others for reference. I like Jason Yadlovski as he is pretty direct and to the point, though he talks a little fast (and then I slow the video to 75%). Here's one to get you started.

The one thing with resolutions and frame rates, you'll have to allow them to convert to a single resolution and frame rate. I think the best way to approach it is to find the best resolution and frame rates to set up in the settings and then import your assets. Resolve will ask you if you want to convert them (or leave them alone?). I suggest as you continue filming pick a "standard" res/frame rate that you don't deviate from unless you have a good reason. I shoot 4k/30fps now unless my camera doesn't support that, but set up my settings with it. IMO the higher the res the better as you can always down-sample when you render the videos.

 

[Barbara]

The one thing with resolutions and frame rates, you'll have to allow them to convert to a single resolution and frame rate. I think the best way to approach it is to find the best resolution and frame rates to set up in the settings and then import your assets. Resolve will ask you if you want to convert them (or leave them alone?). I suggest as you continue filming pick a "standard" res/frame rate that you don't deviate from unless you have a good reason. I shoot 4k/30fps now unless my camera doesn't support that, but set up my settings with it. IMO the higher the res the better as you can always down-sample when you render the videos.

Thanks for the reply.

The reason I have a mix of resolutions and frame rates is that I'm working on a project and would like to utilize videos shot with my Spark and Mavic 2 Zoom. Some of my earlier Mavic footage was shot while I was using an editing program and PC that couldn't deal with 4K.

For now I've settled on DJI's versiom of 2K (2688 x 1512) at 59.9 fps as my "standard". I also created a Timeline "Preset" in Resolve that matches. If I start importing media with any other spec, say 1920 x 1080, Resolve will ask if I want to change the Timeline specs. Otherwise, if I import 2K files initially, I get no prompts when importing files with different specs. At no time have I seen Resolve ask me if I want to convert files to a different spec. Perhaps I'm missing something.

Also, in "Project Settings" there are settings under "Video Monitoring". What considerations would you use in selecting your "Video Format"?

So many questions, sorry. I have watched a fair number of YouTube videos on various specific aspects of Resolve as well as gone through some of the basic tutorials on the Blackmagic Website. They have been very informative, but some of the logic around setting up a project still eludes me.

 

[brett8883]

For now I've settled on DJI's versiom of 2K (2688 x 1512) at 59.9 fps as my "standard". I also created a Timeline "Preset" in Resolve that matches. If I start importing media with any other spec, say 1920 x 1080, Resolve will ask if I want to change the Timeline specs. Otherwise, if I import 2K files initially, I get no prompts when importing files with different specs. At no time have I seen Resolve ask me if I want to convert files to a different spec. Perhaps I'm missing something.

When you set your timeline frame rate and then the first footage you import doesn’t match that frame rate Resolve will ask you if you want to change the timeline to match. It’s basically a fail safe to remind you that the footage you are importing doesn’t match your timeline which in most cases you really want to avoid.

When you have mismatched footage you’d really want to use the lowest common denominator for best results. If you have 1080 30fps and 2k 60 fps footage you would want to use 1080 30fps for your timeline settings for best results.

 

[JooB]

The important thing for the Resolve timeline is the framerate, not the resolution of your different input videos. As said before if you import a video with a different fps than is defined in the timeline Resolve will ask you.

If you have input videos with different fps: No problems if you can divide the different fps without getting a remainder. Mixing 30 and 60 fps is no problem (60/30=2, no remainder), using a 30 fps timeline Resolve will take just every second image from the 60 fps video to "convert" it to 30 frames. Works also for 25/50 fps...
If you mix fps that don't follow this rule (i.e. 24/30) it gets tricky, you might have to speed up or slow down individual videos to have a common "fps" in your resulting video to avoid stuttering. But it doesn't work always without problems.

Being no native english speaker I'm not sure if my explanation makes sense for you. There are some good videos on Youtube that explain "mixing different fps" better than I can. It's a general problem, not just in Resolve.

Set the fps of your Resolve timeline to a value that fits to the majority of your input videos. Having different resolutions for your input videos set the resolution for your output to the lowest resolution of your input. If you need a higher output resolution just give it a try. Good luck!

 

[PAW]

Davinci Resolve How To Use Multiple Frame Rates & Resolution | Davinci Resolve Timeline Settings

The Selected Clips Have a Different Frame Rate - Davinci Resolve 17

 

[Barbara]

The important thing for the Resolve timeline is the framerate, not the resolution of your different input videos. As said before if you import a video with a different fps than is defined in the timeline Resolve will ask you.

If you have input videos with different fps: No problems if you can divide the different fps without getting a remainder. Mixing 30 and 60 fps is no problem (60/30=2, no remainder), using a 30 fps timeline Resolve will take just every second image from the 60 fps video to "convert" it to 30 frames. Works also for 25/50 fps...
If you mix fps that don't follow this rule (i.e. 24/30) it gets tricky, you might have to speed up or slow down individual videos to have a common "fps" in your resulting video to avoid stuttering. But it doesn't work always without problems.

Being no native english speaker I'm not sure if my explanation makes sense for you. There are some good videos on Youtube that explain "mixing different fps" better than I can. It's a general problem, not just in Resolve.

Set the fps of your Resolve timeline to a value that fits to the majority of your input videos. Having different resolutions for your input videos set the resolution for your output to the lowest resolution of your input. If you need a higher output resolution just give it a try. Good luck!

Thanks for replying JooB. Your english is far better than my German. We spoke it at home when I was a child, but I have had little occasion to speak it since. Visiting Europe, specifically Germany, is on my bucket list.

Your reasoning seems sound, and follows my thinking too. Matching framerates, exactly or in multiples, would seem logical and more critical than matching resolution. How would your choice affect your specs for the output video? I personally match my timeline specs to my output specs.

 

[Barbara]

Davinci Resolve How To Use Multiple Frame Rates & Resolution | Davinci Resolve Timeline Settings

The Selected Clips Have a Different Frame Rate - Davinci Resolve 17

Thanks for the links, every little bit of info helps.

 

[vindibona1]

Below is my basic settings template. FWIW initially with my Mini 1 which only shot in 2.7k I was able to upscale to 4k with some improvement in quality. Of course it's always better to shoot bigger then downscale if needed. I also included a shot of my typical render setup. Sometimes I only need to render in 1080p so set it to that as needed, but most of my assets now are in 4k even if I'm downscaling to 1080p. Note that the "encoder" is NVIDIA because my graphics card is NVIDIA and renders faster with that setting. Your encoder will possibly be different depending on your graphics card.

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

A lot of this has probably already been covered, but here's basically how it works. The project settings resolution and framerate are the default res and framerate for the timelines. You create timelines with different resolutions and framerates within the project, but the project settings are the default project-wide setting. All the media that is put on a timeline will be resized to fit the resolution and clips of a different framerate will stay the same length and it will by default try to find the nearest frame to match the timeline frame rate. For example, if you put a 1920x1080 60fps clip on a 4K 30fps timeline, the 1080p will be upscaled to 4K and every other frame of the original will be used.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you can change the project resolution at any time after you set it, but once you add media to the project, the project framerate is locked in and can't be changed. I'll often set the resolution to full HD (1920x1080) while editing because it is easier on the system to process the video in HD than 4K leading to a smoother editing experience, then switch it to 4K before exporting.

 

[Barbara]

Below is my basic settings template. FWIW initially with my Mini 1 which only shot in 2.7k I was able to upscale to 4k with some improvement in quality. Of course it's always better to shoot bigger then downscale if needed. I also included a shot of my typical render setup. Sometimes I only need to render in 1080p so set it to that as needed, but most of my assets now are in 4k even if I'm downscaling to 1080p. Note that the "encoder" is NVIDIA because my graphics card is NVIDIA and renders faster with that setting. Your encoder will possibly be different depending on your graphics card.

View attachment 146323


View attachment 146324

Interesting! I'm seeing some fields in your render settings that don't show in mine, particularly the "Encoder" selection. I imagine that the fields shown by Resolve are dependent on your hardware in this case.

After reading the responses to my questions, reading and re-reading the relevant sections of the Resolve manual and going through a number of YouTube videos that the most critical selection to be made when setting up a project is the Frame-rate. Everything else can be changed after the fact.

Also, selecting source material that has the same frame-rate is preferable, though multiples of the project frame-rate also work. Odd frame rates could give you less than smooth results.

Going forward I will keep my frame rates and resolutions as consistent as possible between all my cameras. KISS principle...

 

[vindibona1]

Interesting! I'm seeing some fields in your render settings that don't show in mine, particularly the "Encoder" selection. I imagine that the fields shown by Resolve are dependent on your hardware in this case.

After reading the responses to my questions, reading and re-reading the relevant sections of the Resolve manual and going through a number of YouTube videos that the most critical selection to be made when setting up a project is the Frame-rate. Everything else can be changed after the fact.

Also, selecting source material that has the same frame-rate is preferable, though multiples of the project frame-rate also work. Odd frame rates could give you less than smooth results.

Going forward I will keep my frame rates and resolutions as consistent as possible between all my cameras. KISS principle...

After you complete your second project the basics will seem like child's play. The trick to it all is to learn what all the icons mean and how they function. One of the cool things is that when you "trim" a clip you aren't deleting the excess footage, but putting it in the background so you can grab a handle at either end and show more of the trimmed section. Also you can learn to slide trimmed clips.

Also, it isn't a bad idea to learn the keyboard shortcuts which can speed things up. J, K, L can make the clips go forward, backwards or stop and also do fast forward/reverse. "Control-B" is a shortcut to the razor so you can split clips for a variety of purposes. Get familiar with the "inspector" because it has a ton of power to adjust things from position to opacity to text variables. There is no need to explore Fusion at first and Fairlight is something that can be learned later as most of the audio input doesn't really need that much adjustment unless you're ready for a super-pro project. "Color" can be a little tricky at first, but if you think of the "nodes" like you do layers in Photoshop it becomes easier to wrap your head around. To start, add a node then see how you can adjust the colors within that node to get what you want. You can stack nodes if you want to segregate elements. It's not so hard once you understand the concept.

Stay with it. In 2 weeks time the basics will become second nature. Trust me.

 

[PAW]

Also, it isn't a bad idea to learn the keyboard shortcuts which can speed things up. J, K, L can make the clips go forward, backwards or stop and also do fast forward/reverse. "Control-B" is a shortcut to the razor so you can split clips for a variety of purposes.

Agree. Although a mouse guy, the ability to customize the keyboard shortcuts to the way my mind and workflow work, has really pulled me away from the mouse and significantly sped up my editing.

 

[brett8883]

And once you get all the basics down you can move onto Color Management settings which are really big help in terms of workflow with color grading especially if you shoot in Log or HLG.

 

[Barbara]

Thanks guys, all good advice. I'm luvin Resolve more and more. The ease of organizing clips, editing, slipping and cutting clips, use of keyboard shortcuts, and more, have won me over from my previous software. Pinnacle studio could do most of it, but did it poorly in comparison.

One thing that eluded me initially was editing key-frames, till I realized you could drop them down in the timeline directly and just drag and drop them.

Colour grading is a different animal. More of an art form, something my orderly, technically oriented brain has trouble with. But I shall persist and win.

 

[JooB]

Hi Barbara, matching the output specs to the timeline specs is not a bad idea. You can drop the resolution in the output if you don't need it as high as the input without problems.

An interesting point is the value of output "Quality" (aka video bitrate in kb/s), per default it is "Automatic best". Generally spoken "the higher the better", but it depends on what you want to do with your result and the hardware you play it on.

A high bitrate means many details, but a large file. If you want to put your video on a streaming platform like Youtube they give you guidance which bitrate you should use for the different resolutions and framerates. Higher bitrates don't make sense because of the compression they use. At Youtube look for something like "Upload coding" (SDR: max 45 Mbit/s for 4k/30fps; max 68Mbit/s for 4k/60fps).

If you play your videos on your own AV Receiver and it stutters (on your computer it runs fine) the hardware can't compute the high bitrate and you have to minimize it. (that's why I learned something about bitrates )

But do this just in the output value, for the input videos you need as many details as possible for color correction, sharpening, ... !

 

[Barbara]

Hi Barbara, matching the output specs to the timeline specs is not a bad idea. You can drop the resolution in the output if you don't need it as high as the input without problems.

An interesting point is the value of output "Quality" (aka video bitrate in kb/s), per default it is "Automatic best". Generally spoken "the higher the better", but it depends on what you want to do with your result and the hardware you play it on.

A high bitrate means many details, but a large file. If you want to put your video on a streaming platform like Youtube they give you guidance which bitrate you should use for the different resolutions and framerates. Higher bitrates don't make sense because of the compression they use. At Youtube look for something like "Upload coding" (SDR: max 45 Mbit/s for 4k/30fps; max 68Mbit/s for 4k/60fps).

If you play your videos on your own AV Receiver and it stutters (on your computer it runs fine) the hardware can't compute the high bitrate and you have to minimize it. (that's why I learned something about bitrates )

But do this just in the output value, for the input videos you need as many details as possible for color correction, sharpening, ... !

Yes indeed, I discovered that the output "Quality" setting matters. Tried streaming to our TV wirelessly and found out it couldn't handle the bitrate at the "Best" setting for 2k (my preferred resolution). If I manually set the bitrate at 80 mbit/s everything is fine for the TV and YouTube, and it still looks fine.

This is all a learning experience and though there are a vast amount of resources out there, sometimes the biggest challenge is knowing what question to ask.

As always, thanks for the reply...stay safe.