Davinici Resolve 12

Joined
Dec 30, 2015
Messages
39
Reaction score
21
Location
Minneapolis, MN
This looks to be some great editing software (and free) and I have noted a few instances that people are using this software over GPS, Premiere and FCP X. For those with experience with the software, how are you editing GoPro 4K footage. Importing 4K footage and trying to edit, results in choppy playback. Resolve 12 will handle Apple Prores but I don't have the program or the codec. Is it advisable to convert gopro mp4 files before editing and if so, what to and with what software. I'd really like to use this software but could use some help on workflow.
 
I would imagine that choppy playback means that your PC is not up to the task?
 
Certainly not the case! I have a late 2015 iMac with a 4ghz processor and 32gb memory. It seems to handle clips fine at first and then falls behind. I thought I should render from the native GoPro mpeg format to something more edit friendly.
 
Yeah dead right, you should have heaps of grunt.
I know GPS converts to avi prior to editing
 
This looks to be some great editing software (and free) and I have noted a few instances that people are using this software over GPS, Premiere and FCP X. For those with experience with the software, how are you editing GoPro 4K footage. Importing 4K footage and trying to edit, results in choppy playback. Resolve 12 will handle Apple Prores but I don't have the program or the codec. Is it advisable to convert gopro mp4 files before editing and if so, what to and with what software. I'd really like to use this software but could use some help on workflow.
I use resolve 12. You definitely want to transcode to ProRes. It will do OK with GoPro footage but performance is better in ProRes 422. With GoPro footage you don't need to use GoPro 422 HQ, and certainly not 444.

I do a rough edit in Final Cut. Export that out. Color grade in Resolve, then bring it all back into Final Cut to finish up.
 
I use resolve 12. You definitely want to transcode to ProRes. It will do OK with GoPro footage but performance is better in ProRes 422. With GoPro footage you don't need to use GoPro 422 HQ, and certainly not 444.

I do a rough edit in Final Cut. Export that out. Color grade in Resolve, then bring it all back into Final Cut to finish up.

Sounds like where I will end up. Trying Premiere Elements and not liking it all that much. Trying to 'get away' with spending little. With elements, you get what you pay for. The interface and performance is all herby jerky even with importing prores LT.
 
Sounds like where I will end up. Trying Premiere Elements and not liking it all that much. Trying to 'get away' with spending little. With elements, you get what you pay for. The interface and performance is all herby jerky even with importing prores LT.
Are you using Mac or PC?
 
So since you have a Mac, you do have ProRes.

After some experimentation, I've cut GoPro Studio completely out of my workflow. Here is some more detail on my workflow.

1. Import directly into Final Cut. I do not transcode to ProRes yet because FinalCut handles h.264 fine for editing short videos.

2. Rough cut in Final Cut.

3. Remove noise from any clips that need it, in Final Cut using the Neat Video plugin. It's better than the noise removal tools in the paid version of Resolve.

4. Export all clips with noise removal, as ProRes 422 files, adding "_NR" to the file name of each clip. I export these into a folder I call "processed holding bin". These will be deleted later to save drive space.

5. Re-import those files into Final Cut and replace the original clips with the NR clips in the timeline.

NOTE: Neat video is super processor intensive. If you have a clip in your timeline with the Neat plugin applied, tiny changes can cause it to re-render the whole clip. It's super frustrating. That's why, in step 4 and 5 I round trip the noise reduced clips out and back into final cut. Other people wait to the end, which makes sense, but I like my way better for a variety of reasons I could explain in a different post if you are interested.

6. Stabilize clips that need it. I find the older "inertia cam" method is actually the best stabilization method for much of my drone video. It was designed for panning and camera sweeps (think Cable Cam or Orbit), whereas smooth cam seems to be designed more for a fixed camera. The exception is selfie pull out shots, which I find are often better with smooth cam.

7. Export stabilized clips out as ProRes 422 to the same folder I used in step 4. This time I add "_STB" for stabilized to the file name. If a clip was previously noise reduced, the end of the file name will now be "_NR_STB"

8. Reimport the stabilized clips and replace where appropriate in the timeline.

NOTE: I round trip the stabilized clips out and back into final cut for the same reason I do for noise reduction. Except stabilization isn't as processor intensive, so sometimes I don't bother with steps 7 and 8.

9. Remove fisheye if needed in final cut (I'll have to post back later the name of the plugin I use to remove fisheye - for some reason I'm blanking on the name right now, but it took awhile to find one I like).

10. Delete all clips in the "processed holding bin" folder. Final Cut makes copies of all the clips and manages them within the project library, so these are redundant now. Also, I want to clear that folder out to prep for step 13.

11. Refine the edit a bit to trim any fat, but don't cut too hard - it's helpful to have a little preroll and post roll when doing the final edit.

12. Convert all clips in timeline to Compound Clips. Final Cut does this instantaneously and it makes step 13 easier.

13. Export all clips as ProRes 422 into the processed holding bin folder. (You can also export the timeline XML, but I don't do that anymore - I can explain why in a different post if you want to know)

14. Quite final cut and launch Resolve 12.

15. Color correct in resolve.

16. Cole grade in Resolve.

17. Export all clips out to my processed holding bin with "COL" at end of file names.

18. Import the color ("COL") clips into Final Cut and replace as appropriate in timeline. (Delete all files in "processed holding bin" folder - just to save disk space and keep things tidy.

19. Reduce global exposure by 5% on all clips to compensate for an annoying QuickTime bug that Apple really needs to fix. If you compare the same clips in Resolve with what you see in FinalCut, you'll notice in FinalCut the exposure is about 5% higher than in Reaolve. So this step fixes that issue. I'm looking into ways to automatically correct this, making this step unnecessary.

20. At long last I have a noise free, stabilized, fisheye corrected, color graded timeline. At this point I just need to refine and trim the edit, add titles or effects, and do final polish.
 
Reading this back, I realize it makes more sense to create compound clips right away (before step 4). I was trying to write this up quick. Even though there are a lot of steps, I do it all on autopilot and it goes by pretty fast.

It's also worth noting that I don't always follow this workflow. For example, sometimes I simply use Final Cut to convert everything to 422, export to resolve, color correct/grade, and round trip back to final cut. Then I do the timeline edit. Then stabilize. Add titles/effects. Export final version.

That's actually what I do most of the time for personal and family videos. Like these:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Acroduster
And one final final thing. When all is said and done, for final export I generally downscale everything to 1080p if uploading to the web.
 
And one final final thing. When all is said and done, for final export I generally downscale everything to 1080p if uploading to the web.

Holy crap! Thanks for the detailed workflow! I've been wondering what others do. Coming from a fine art photography background, this is exactly the kind of work flow I was hoping to find. I guess I'm gonna get final cut!
 
Holy crap! Thanks for the detailed workflow! I've been wondering what others do. Coming from a fine art photography background, this is exactly the kind of work flow I was hoping to find. I guess I'm gonna get final cut!
Well you could start with iMovie. Cheaper (free I think). Similar UI to FinalCut. Can do 4K. Good stabilizer.

Good source of Final Cut tutorials: Larry Jordan
Good source of Resolve tutorials: Denver Riddle
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bob I.
So since you have a Mac, you do have ProRes.

After some experimentation, I've cut GoPro Studio completely out of my workflow. Here is some more detail on my workflow.

1. Import directly into Final Cut. I do not transcode to ProRes yet because FinalCut handles h.264 fine for editing short videos.

2. Rough cut in Final Cut.

3. Remove noise from any clips that need it, in Final Cut using the Neat Video plugin. It's better than the noise removal tools in the paid version of Resolve.

4. Export all clips with noise removal, as ProRes 422 files, adding "_NR" to the file name of each clip. I export these into a folder I call "processed holding bin". These will be deleted later to save drive space.

5. Re-import those files into Final Cut and replace the original clips with the NR clips in the timeline.

NOTE: Neat video is super processor intensive. If you have a clip in your timeline with the Neat plugin applied, tiny changes can cause it to re-render the whole clip. It's super frustrating. That's why, in step 4 and 5 I round trip the noise reduced clips out and back into final cut. Other people wait to the end, which makes sense, but I like my way better for a variety of reasons I could explain in a different post if you are interested.

6. Stabilize clips that need it. I find the older "inertia cam" method is actually the best stabilization method for much of my drone video. It was designed for panning and camera sweeps (think Cable Cam or Orbit), whereas smooth cam seems to be designed more for a fixed camera. The exception is selfie pull out shots, which I find are often better with smooth cam.

7. Export stabilized clips out as ProRes 422 to the same folder I used in step 4. This time I add "_STB" for stabilized to the file name. If a clip was previously noise reduced, the end of the file name will now be "_NR_STB"

8. Reimport the stabilized clips and replace where appropriate in the timeline.

NOTE: I round trip the stabilized clips out and back into final cut for the same reason I do for noise reduction. Except stabilization isn't as processor intensive, so sometimes I don't bother with steps 7 and 8.

9. Remove fisheye if needed in final cut (I'll have to post back later the name of the plugin I use to remove fisheye - for some reason I'm blanking on the name right now, but it took awhile to find one I like).

10. Delete all clips in the "processed holding bin" folder. Final Cut makes copies of all the clips and manages them within the project library, so these are redundant now. Also, I want to clear that folder out to prep for step 13.

11. Refine the edit a bit to trim any fat, but don't cut too hard - it's helpful to have a little preroll and post roll when doing the final edit.

12. Convert all clips in timeline to Compound Clips. Final Cut does this instantaneously and it makes step 13 easier.

13. Export all clips as ProRes 422 into the processed holding bin folder. (You can also export the timeline XML, but I don't do that anymore - I can explain why in a different post if you want to know)

14. Quite final cut and launch Resolve 12.

15. Color correct in resolve.

16. Cole grade in Resolve.

17. Export all clips out to my processed holding bin with "COL" at end of file names.

18. Import the color ("COL") clips into Final Cut and replace as appropriate in timeline. (Delete all files in "processed holding bin" folder - just to save disk space and keep things tidy.

19. Reduce global exposure by 5% on all clips to compensate for an annoying QuickTime bug that Apple really needs to fix. If you compare the same clips in Resolve with what you see in FinalCut, you'll notice in FinalCut the exposure is about 5% higher than in Reaolve. So this step fixes that issue. I'm looking into ways to automatically correct this, making this step unnecessary.

20. At long last I have a noise free, stabilized, fisheye corrected, color graded timeline. At this point I just need to refine and trim the edit, add titles or effects, and do final polish.


All good stuff there, but why not just cut and export straight from Resolve 12?
 
All good stuff there, but why not just cut and export straight from Resolve 12?
It's basically just comfort level with Final Cut.

For one thing, I'm not used to the NLE in Resolve, so I can edit faster in Final Cut or Premiere. I'm told Resolve's NLE is "okay," but still needs work.

Second, asset management is much better in Final Cut (better than both Premiere and Resolve). That becomes important when you need to clear up drive space and get rid of old working files and renders and other scraps and bits of test clips that inevitably pile up. That's actually why I prefer Final Cut over Premier and Resolve, both of which lead to lots of orphaned files on my drive - no doubt due to my general lack of organization and laziness, rather than a flaw in those apps. If I limit Resolve to color work only, I find it's easier to keep track of (and delete) all the files (only saving grades and looks within resolve in case I need to send some clips back in to tweak).

And lastly because I often want to add effects and titles (plus the occasional transition) to color graded footage at the end and I need Final Cut for that.

(It also doesn't hurt that Final Cut is faster on my particular mix of hardware).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bob I.

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
13,093
Messages
147,741
Members
16,047
Latest member
pvt solo