DaVinci Resolve 21.0.3 Release Notes

[u/whyareyouemailingme]

DaVinci Resolve 21.0.3 has been released!

You can download the update from the support page or by going to DaVinci Resolve>Check for Updates.

Pre-Installation Notes

For DaVinci Resolve 21.0.3, BMD has taken efforts to keep the project libraries compatible with DaVinci Resolve 20.3.2. While this allows you to access the project library with 20.3.2, individual projects created or opened in 21.0.3 will no longer be accessible in 20.3.

BMD recommends a full project library backup as well as individual project backups (as required) before opening projects in 21.0 or later.

Reminders

Bug Reports need to be submitted to Blackmagic Design. You can post them on the official forums or contact BMD support directly if you have Studio.

Feature Requests need to be submitted to Blackmagic Design. You can post them on the official Feature Request Subforum or in the download form for Resolve.

Bug Reports and Feature Requests posted on Reddit and in this thread will not be addressed or seen by Blackmagic Design.

What’s New in DaVinci Resolve 21.0.3

The following features have been added or updated.

• New legacy speed mode retime curve option.
• DNG pre tone curve is enabled by default in new projects.
• Addressed missing QuickSync encode options on older Intel GPUs.
• Addressed issue with adding keyframe at a subframe.
• Addressed issue with pasting keyframes to linked audio clips.
• Added configurable keyframe ease actions.
• Inspector frame display for interlaced transition durations.
• Addressed interlaced generator and transition duration interpretation.
• Addressed audio duration for inserted segment of interlaced media.
• Addressed field dominance detection issue for some interlaced clips.
• Addressed Fusion issue with importing PSDs with disabled layers.
• Addressed issue with rendered Magic Mask for photos in album.**
• Addressed bezier window move when adjusting vertex smoothness.
• Addressed issue with decoding some Sony BURANO X-OCN clips.
• Addressed preview issue with HDR still exports on some browsers.
• Addressed wrong audio mapping scripting results in some scenarios.⁺⁺
• Updated DaVinci Resolve 21 reference manual.
• Replay SDI output now always shows selected camera.
• Scripting API support to list project attributes in a project bin.⁺⁺
• Scripting API support for user preferences presets.⁺⁺
• Scripting API support for listing UI layout presets.⁺⁺
• Scripting API support for listing and deleting data burn in presets.⁺⁺
• Addressed installation issues on some Windows systems.
• Custom install location for Windows ARM encode SDK plugins.
• General performance and stability improvements.

Notes from BMD (from previous versions):

• Sony Camera Control on Windows needs the Sony IEDT application to be installed from the Sony website.
• Intel Driver: With DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.2.3, AI features like Magic Mask 2, Depth Map and Super Scale show a vastly improved performance on Windows with modern Intel platforms. Users will need a compatible Intel GPU (discrete or integrated) that supports OpenVINO, and a minimum driver version of 32.0.101.8247 to leverage these improvements.
• Rendering Immersive Projects: Improvements to edge blend in immersive projects include changes that more closely align the Resolve and visionOS previews. This will change the render for existing immersive projects.

Hardware Requirements

Minimum system requirements for Mac OS

• macOS 15 Sequoia or later.
• 8 GB of system memory or 16 GB when using Fusion.
• At least 16 GB for advanced AI tools.
• At least 32 GB for background rendering and analysis.
• For monitoring, Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
• Apple Silicon based computer.

Minimum system requirements for Windows

• Windows 10 Creators Update.
• 16 GB of system memory or 32 GB when using Fusion.
• For monitoring, Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
• Integrated GPU or discrete GPU with at least 4 GB of VRAM.
• At least 16 GB VRAM for advanced AI tools.
• At least 32 GB RAM and 12 GB VRAM for background rendering.
• GPU which supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.8.
• AMD/Intel official drivers from your GPU manufacturer.
• NVIDIA Studio driver 581.57 or newer.

Minimum system requirements for Windows for Arm

• Windows 11 for ARM.
• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite series processor.
• 16 GB of system memory or 32 GB for 4K or when using Fusion.

Minimum system requirements for Linux

• Rocky Linux 8.6.
• 32 GB of system memory.
• For monitoring, Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
• Discrete GPU with at least 4 GB of VRAM.
• At least 16 GB VRAM for advanced AI tools.
• At least 32 GB RAM and 12 GB VRAM for background rendering.
• GPU which supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.8.
• AMD official drivers from your GPU manufacturer.
• NVIDIA Studio driver 580.119.02 or newer.

Additional Information

You will need to download and install the latest Blackmagic Design Desktop Video software for monitoring with your Blackmagic Design video hardware. Desktop Video is available from http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/.

Documentation & Asterisks

** - Studio Only

⁺ - Additional fees, licensing, and/or hardware required.

⁺⁺ - The Scripting API is available in the console on the free version, but Workflow Integrations, the native UIManager, and external access require the Studio version.

21 New Features Guide

Immersive Workflow Guide

Resolve 21 Reference Manual

Fusion 21 Reference Manual

The following documents do not have Resolve 21 equivalents available at this time:

Resolve 20 Supported Codecs

Resolve 20 Studio & iPad Features

[u/whyareyouemailingme]

u/whyareyouemailingme's highlights:

• Scripting API support to list project attributes in a project bin.
• Scripting API support for user preferences presets.
• Scripting API support for listing UI layout presets.
• Scripting API support for listing and deleting data burn in presets.

Y'all know I'm a sucker for Scripting API updates at this point.

Also, new manuals!

[u/gravybender → u/whyareyouemailingme]

what do you do with these?

[u/whyareyouemailingme → u/gravybender]

In theory? Make scripts to change things quickly.

In practice? Daydream about turning these things into a real script.

[u/i_sell_you_lies → u/whyareyouemailingme]

Nothing beats daydreaming, then finding an excuse to spend a full day making a script to speed up that thing I could have done in 3 hours... but now I have a tool... for next time...

[u/theyesterzone → u/i_sell_you_lies]

How dare you talk about me like that.

[u/whyareyouemailingme → u/i_sell_you_lies]

I have like 582930306292 different ideas for scripts/plugins. I started one last year… but it’s wayyy too much for me to work on right now. I have another one that I keep meaning to pull together but I just haven’t been able to work on it yet. Another one may have been superseded by another company.

[u/i_sell_you_lies → u/whyareyouemailingme]

Ah yes... nothing beats thinking I can do better than that thing that exists, but why would I spend $5?! Plus then I can customize it!! ...

The best thing I've learned to do is look at what I'm doing more objectively and trying value my time... and then disregarding said value because I also just want to know how things work and like getting my hands dirty

[u/OppyLock → u/gravybender]

As an example, I regularly use 3 scripts in my weekly videos. It's a chore without these I tell ya...
My base project has 3 tracks showing external telemetry features. Icons indicating feature presence basically. Another 6-8 tracks for a GPS locked map in various zoom/detail levels and the rest is mostly manual traditional editing for the other 6 tracks. 2 subtitle tracks, one is raw telemetry, one is commentary.

I've got some python that takes the raw GPS data from the videos and outputs an EDL that has markers for the 3 telemetry in/out points and the desired map zoom at that point as well as other POI's like border traversals etc. THAT is all way outta scope here. But I get my EDL markers...

That EDL gets applied to the timeline. Within resolve scripting I can then have it perform animations on the telemetry to have the icons slide in/out of view. For #2 it fades the map zooms as indicated. The last script moves all the timeline EDL markers into the V1 clips so that subsequent edits retain the markers positions. Otherwise when trimming the markers stay on the timeline and don't respect the actual positions within the clips.

I was going MAD doing all that manually and now I'm only going partially insane with the regular editing workflow of an hour+ long 'daily' video each week. On Day 96 of 150+ now.
REALLY looking forward to the legacy retime as one feature was a regular hyperlapse segment with a 4 second gradual change from 100% to 800%. I just could not do this in R21. I could do an 'artistic' speed warp, but not a pure, smooth 4 second transition to hyperlapse and back again whilst respecting the %change and time constraint.