Blackmagic Design adds collaboration features to DaVinci Resolve 18

Blackmagic Design has released DaVinci Resolve 18 with enhanced cloud collaboration features, as well as new time-saving tools for video editors.

Released on Monday as a public beta, DaVinci Resolve 18 expands the video editing software with increased cloud storage facilities. Supporting Blackmagic Cloud for hosting and sharing projects, the release makes it easier to remotely collaborate by hosting project files in the cloud, complete with real-time collaboration on the same timeline.

The DaVinci update arrives shortly after Adobe introduced Frame.io to its Creative Cloud subscription, adding enhanced online collaboration facilities to its service.

A new Blackmagic Proxy generator can create proxies linked to the camera originals to speed up editing. Users can switch between originals and proxies in a single click, with new media automatically converted to H.264, H.265, or Apple ProRes proxies when placed in a watch folder.

Resolve FX additions include ultra beauty for skin adjustments of general imperfections. A 3D map can be used to quickly grade a foreground element separately from the background, for example.

New color tools include an object mask to recognize and track the movement of thousands of objects in a scene, with the DaVinci Neural Engine automatically isolating animals, vehicles, people, and food.

There are also changes to subtitle support, transitions, a 5x5 option in the multicam viewer, GPU acceleration that can enable paint brush strokes to be generated in real time, and text and shape template performance improvements.

For audio, uses can quickly convert legacy fixed bus Fairlight projects to FlexBus with a single click. Dolby Atmos has been expanded to support rendering of a binaural output, and it is now possible to render a Dolby 7.1.4 mix for a pair of headphones using just two audio channels.

"This is a major release that totally revolutionizes remote project collaboration using cloud based workflows, " said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. "With Blackmagic Cloud, customers can collaborate on the same timeline anywhere in the world. Imagine editing in Tokyo, while a colorist is grading in LA on the same timeline, at exactly the same time!"

DaVinci Resolve 18 is free to download, while DaVinci Resolve Studio which enables more advanced features costs $295.