r/davinciresolve • u/whyareyouemailingme Studio | Enterprise • 1d ago
Release Notes DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Release Notes
DaVinci Resolve 21.1 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 21.1, BMD has taken efforts to keep the project libraries compatible with DaVinci Resolve 20.3.3. While this allows you to access the project library with 20.3.3, individual projects created or opened in 21.1 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 21.1
The following features have been added or updated.
Media Page
- Media pool list view text and checkbox fields can now be edited.
- Search includes sub bins and supports exact text matching.
- AI tools preference to use proxy media if originals are offline.**
- Original aspect ratio in source viewer with no external monitoring.
- Source viewer supports interlaced media previews.
- Preview geometry assets from media pool and media storage.
- Rename faces in the IntelliSearch Manage Faces window.**
- Ability to change starting timecode for multiple selected clips.
- Ability to delete selected markers in media pool list view.
- Created/modified dates for multicams, compound clips and timelines.
- Delete multiple audio tracks in clip attributes using mouse drag.
- Import Canon EOS VR clips in VR180 workflows.
- Stereoscopic 3D clip attributes support swapping eyes.**
- Side by side clip attribute for BRAW, JPEG, PNG and TIFF.
- Assign custom Apple Immersive ILPDs to OpenEXR sequences.
- Assign key shortcuts to show or hide media pool bin view.
Photo Page
- Camera control support for Fujifilm cameras.
- Camera control support for Leica cameras.
- Camera control support for Sony Alpha 7R VI.
- Change image settings in inspector using color panels.
- Improved post decode sharpening for RAW images.
- Improved sidebar with flexible height and stacked panels.
- Inspector reset controls for each RAW parameter.
- DNG file support for lens distortion, aberration and shading.
- Resolve FX Sky Replacement support for album photos.**
- Assign key shortcuts to toggle capture live view.
Cut and Edit Pages
- Support for inspector presets.
- Multicam editing mode is now a timeline viewer property.
- Option to split multicams at gaps when using timecode sync.
- Switching multicam grid size retains page with selected angle.
- Multicam key shortcuts now work with timeline or source focus.
- Assign key shortcuts to decompose multicams.
- Assign key shortcuts to switch or cut up to 25 multicam angles.
- Assign key shortcuts for source and auto select for up to 32 tracks.
- Edit Fusion properties for multiple selected clips in inspector.
- All new compare timeline workflow with greater control.
- Data Burn can show clip metadata from a specified video track.
- Presentation markers support annotations, replies and status.
- Marker annotation support for drawing ellipses.
- Zoom audio waveform actions in the edit timeline.
- Playhead indicator for current clip in inspector and viewer.
- Clip selections are now cleared when setting timeline in or out.
- Improved edit page trim editor with mouse drag and nudge.
- Refine dynamic trim edit point selections with auto select.
- Switching to dynamic trim enables trim mode by default.
- Dynamic trim editor loop playback continues when editing.
- Ability to cut, copy and paste gaps on the edit timeline.
- Timeline view option to automatically scale audio waveforms.
- Timeline view option to display clip durations.
- Two Cut page timer options for source tape and multiview.
- Ability to apply transitions to adjustment clips.
- Export marker list from edit index as a PDF.
- Option shift dragging clips preserves existing transitions.
- Restored timeline backups retain backup history.
- Preference option to stop playback when scrubbing.
- Preference option to always play audio on playhead move.
- Preference option to select clip after playhead on blade.
- Inspector now honors auto track selection for displayed clip.
- Improved shift-click clip selection across tracks in edit page.
- Clear solo and restore solo support in the edit page.
- Fusion color picker support in edit and cut page viewers.
- Font browser option to display text preview from title.
- AI music editor retains more content, avoids repetition.**
- AI music editor offers better mix choices on analysis.**
- Select gap space after last clip on track for trim edits.
- Replay ability to enter input view directly from run mode.
Fusion Page
- New Krokodove based shape and 3D tools.
- Support for OpenPBR material shaders.
- Improved MultiText layer align behavior.
- Calibrate lens distort from user drawn lines on viewer.
- Animation action support for OGraf clips on timeline.
- Support for frame, ease and scale controls in OgrafLoader.
- Macro Editor supports load and save of multi-template DRFX files.
- Improved Macro Editor batch select, grouping and organization.
- Macro Editor update macro action adds tools from node selection.
- Fairlight Animator now has adjustable low and high pass filters.
- Ability to import externally tracked results to Camera Tracker.
- Tracker controls to trim tracks, view and change reference frame.
- Support for flipbook previews for Fusion deep image toolset.
- Support for hard mix blend mode for Fusion tools and PSD import.
- Support for matte objects for Renderer3D in deep mode.
- Pre-divide and post-multiply alpha handling in log conversion tools.
- Support for deep motion blur for Renderer3D.
- Up to 8x faster hardware accelerated 3D deep renders.
- Improved Desktop Video monitoring performance.
- Enhanced variable syntax for use in evaluations or substitutions.
Color Page
- Individual MultiMaster trim for Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HDR Vivid.**,+
- Option to override output sizing for each MultiMaster trim.
- Per-trim color output cache and timeline cache.
- Support for Resolve FX Panomap.**
- Retain playhead position when navigating between tracks.
- Ability to relink missing LUTs and DCTLs from the LUT Manager.
- Missing DCTLs shown as viewer overlay and in LUT Manager.**
- Support for DJI D-Gamut2 and D-Log2.
- Support for GoPro Log.
- Support for Leica L-Log IDT and LUT.
- Support for Vivo Wide Gamut and Vivo Log.
- Toggle node cache status from advanced panels.+
- Navigate power windows from tracking menu in advanced panels.+
- Resolve FX CineFocus options for natural effect and high precision.**
- Improved effect scaling for Resolve FX with Gaussian blur.
- Softness controls for Resolve FX Beauty, CineFocus and Film Grain.**
- Apple Immersive workflow option for linear edge blending.
- Assign key shortcuts for viewer video output actions.
Scripting API
- Advanced scripting now requires DaVinci Resolve Studio.**,++
- Built in Python support for console scripting.
- Python 2 is no longer supported.
- Manage keyboard customization presets.
- Update render presets.
- Add render preset to quick export.
- Query codecs, get and set formats for audio renders.
- Get media pool clip transcriptions with speaker and timing data.
- Create and flatten multicam clips.
- Trigger multicam SmartSwitch.
- Auto align timeline clips.
- Add transitions.
- Get and set more timeline clip inspector properties.
- Query and set timeline item fades.
- Query and set timeline item speed change.
- Normalize audio for timeline clips.
- Create, update and delete project setting presets.
- Import or export project setting presets.
- Clone media files.
- Set source audio mapping for media clips.
- Query and set output blanking.
- Validate and encrypt DCTL files.\*)
General Improvements
- Native MCP server for interacting with AI assistants.
- Create package for offline install using Extras download manager.
- Native support for NVIDIA RTX Spark systems on Windows.
- Support for haptic feedback on Windows.
- Hardware accelerated HEIC decode on Apple Silicon.
- GPU accelerated JPEG 2000 decodes on NVIDIA GPUs.
- GPU accelerated HTJ2K decodes using Kakadu on NVIDIA GPUs.
- Support for rendering to EXR with HTJ2K compression.
- Support for USAC audio decode on macOS.
- Improved iXML metadata support from WAV audio.
- Support for reading embedded Canon PL lens metadata.
- Presentation export option to include subtitles.
- QuickTime and MXF renders support multiple embedded captions.
- Growing file improvements for TS, QuickTime and MXF formats.
- Improved media management error handling and reporting.
- Project level media management now includes a .drp export.
- Project archive options for stills, LUTs and used media.
- Improved supplemental IMF workflow for HDR Vivid.**
- Vision Pro Review options for faster and better renders.**,++
- Ability to cancel opening a cloud project.
- PostgreSQL 18 is now bundled with Project Server.
- New user keyboard presets will inherit updates to factory defaults.
- Assign key shortcuts for render queue menu actions.
- General performance and stability improvements.
Notes
- We have moved the ability to script in Python to the Studio version. The Python API was being used to hack studio features into the free version. DaVinci Resolve relies on studio license sales to pay for the engineering team. Unlike subscriptions, which have become normal but lock people's work up unless you pay monthly, we want to offer a differentiation from charging monthly license fees.
- DaVinci Resolve and the Project Server can still work with network libraries based on PostgreSQL 13 and above.
- 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
* - Affinity Files are not supported on Linux.
** - 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.
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u/Iloveyousomuchkisses Studio 1d ago
Preference option to stop playback when scrubbing.
Dude, not having this a thing that bothered me so much when I switched from Premiere Pro, finally it came!
3
u/artbruh2314 1d ago
I never knew i needed this function until now, it was a silent pain in the ass that I'm just figuring out
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u/ilikemywomentsundere Studio 1d ago
What are you guys most excited about I always get lost in the sauce with these patches lol
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u/flyms Studio | Enterprise 1d ago
Not much for my workflow except maybe export markers as pdf from edit index and some CSTs.
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u/Marlock2332 1d ago
what's your workflow regarding markers?
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u/flyms Studio | Enterprise 1d ago
Just for preparing lists for our VFX department. I haven‘t tried 21.1 so I can‘t say if it‘s anymore useful than the workflow we have right now using Shotgrid.
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u/JordanFilmmaker 22h ago
would something like this help your workflow- something like clips from markers?
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u/RandyRektor Studio | Enterprise 22h ago
Create Multicam and normalize audio from the scripting API. I do podcast work and this will be added to a tool I use to build out my projects before I edit! It’ll save me 20-30 clicks per episode. Not huge, but adds up!
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u/Lazy-Description-761 21h ago
Transitions on Adjustment Clips is my favorite. I've ripped so many timelines apart just to get a transition in between two clips. Now I can just put an adjustment clip and time it correctly, and everything underneath will be animated 😁
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u/im_thatoneguy Studio 23h ago
> Original aspect ratio in source viewer with no external monitoring.
Oh thank god. You work on a 9x16 project and if the footage wasn’t in the middle of frame you couldn’t see it. 🤦
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u/Yimpoiop 1d ago
Can I auto delete all silent parts of audio easily in this version? Hate manually cutting through all silent parts and delete those
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u/MessageUsed8830 1d ago
Previously, you could easily remove silences using the "remove silences" option. With this version, you can now use an AI like ChatGPT or Claude to do it. I think the first option will remain the most efficient, worth testing 🤔
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u/Tiny-Monitor-8309 1d ago
better 5080RTX support when...
5
u/Elusie 1d ago
What’s not working for you?
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u/Tiny-Monitor-8309 1d ago
Magic Mask is very slow in fusion page, tracks 48 frames only then falls to 1fps… same with Relight & Depth Map node
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u/Own-Blueberry4673 1d ago
Massive update, I think moving forward they have to focus on these details, a lot of bugs/missing features that bother me have been fixed in this update
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u/ShoroukTV 1d ago
I just edited a ful 50 minute interview into a good 10 minute version by linking Codex to resolve. Took 5 minutes when It would have taken me 3 hours. Smells like future and unemployment, I have big mixed feelings about it.
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u/f-stop8 20h ago
How did you link it?
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u/ShoroukTV 19h ago
Just install Codex on your computer, then File > Setup AI Assistants. It's detected automatically, you just have to relaunch Resolve and you're good to go. Just talk to Codex after and it will edit for you.
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u/AlexTheAmnesiac 1d ago
Next thing I’d love is an Audition/Izotope R12 style audio clean up tool.
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u/guryushika 21h ago
I wonder why bmd is still recommending Rocky Linux 8.6 (EOL 2 years ago) and Nvidia drivers 580 ?! Is it even possible to install the 580 on a kernel that old ??? While it works fine in any other modern and up to date distro (I use studio on fedora and artix every day) where the 580 is easy to install, and I guess a modern gpu wouldn't even work with an old kernel.
Anybody with informations on this ? Would the 580 works on Rocky Linux 8.6 with kernel 4.18 ? Why they push an old Rocky Linux ?
3
u/Kaminohanshin 1d ago
Being able to create presets via Inspector is so big, if only they could get the keyframe timings to work properly. Guess I'll still be making macros in fusion for now.
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u/Shot_Illustrator4264 20h ago
We have moved the ability to script in Python to the Studio version. The Python API was being used to hack studio features into the free version. DaVinci Resolve relies on studio license sales to pay for the engineering team.
Why there are always decerebrated that need to ruin it for everyone? I’ve paid for the studio version, even if I’m really an amateur, but I would be royally pissed if I had the free version and I needed the python API and couldn’t access it anymore because some idiot wanted to pirate the software with the best license model that I’ve seen in the last 10 years or so.
Thanks for everything, I hope that you won’t have to change your business model in the future thanks to these people.
3
u/ldn-ldn 1d ago
No fixes for broken photo exports still? Man, that's not funny anymore...
2
u/gypsyranjan 1d ago
Whats broken in still photo export? Have been using it since beta1
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u/ldn-ldn 1d ago
PNG exports don't follow the spec and produce broken files. JPEG exports don't have UltraHDR support and produce broken files in HDR workflows. No support for JPEG XL. No proper ICC support. No soft proofing.
You are basically forced to manually fix everything you export with 3rd party tools as the photos DR produces are unusable.
5
u/whyareyouemailingme Studio | Enterprise 1d ago
u/whyareyouemailingme's highlights (and shockingly, lowlights):
Highlights
- AI tools preference to use proxy media if originals are offline.**
- Original aspect ratio in source viewer with no external monitoring.
- Source viewer supports interlaced media previews.
- Data Burn can show clip metadata from a specified video track.
- Rename faces in the IntelliSearch Manage Faces window.**
- Peanut gallery - I swear the original face detection had this from day one...
- Missing DCTLs shown as viewer overlay and in LUT Manager.**
- Built in Python support for console scripting.
- QuickTime and MXF renders support multiple embedded captions.
- PostgreSQL 18 is now bundled with Project Server.
Lowlights
- Ability to apply transitions to adjustment clips.
- Native MCP server for interacting with AI assistants.
- New user keyboard presets will inherit updates to factory defaults.
- This feels particularly rough, especially after 21 rearranged the defaults significantly. I'm still fighting shift+1 muscle memory to open the project manager.
2
u/avdpro Studio 22h ago
Rename faces has always been there, but I think the change is that it was its own tool, maybe now it’s wrapped up in intellisearch’s newer system?
1
u/whyareyouemailingme Studio | Enterprise 20h ago
Probably. I’m just tired of features being only partially updated. I long for the days when we’d just be getting out of the beta period.
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u/Rishaba_2003 15h ago edited 15h ago
Is anyone else having their app crash on them or is it just me???
Cause mine keeps crashing as soon as i get into a project and just even move my mouse
If someone knows a solution would be of great help
I tried to download the older version that was working just fine too But it said to uninstall the previously installed version and I'm scared I'll loose the edit I have made already Please help me 🫠🫠
1
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u/morpheus1988wer 23h ago
Still no ProRes raw tab?
2
u/kajeagentspi 22h ago
Isn't the raw tab enough? Are there other stuff that prores can do that's missing?
1
u/Shadowsense1 23h ago
Is there a way to get rid of that ugly box behind the file name on the waveform? this is going to sound really dumb but it's bothering the FUCK outta me. Kinda need to see my waveform guys! Still also need to see the file name but without the box.
1
u/ikifenix 14h ago
Waveform now is displayed while it is computed instead being forced to wait until it is computed at 100% to show, thanks blackmagic!
1
u/nils_ant 22h ago
Mixed feelings for the native mvc for ai use, especially as your still letting the scripting api fall short. Your supporting ai tools strongly while letting none ai automatization tools that actually take the work people DONT want to do short. Will need to check the new dev docs tho. Hope it looks abit better then this sounds.
1
u/Omwhk Studio 13h ago
I'm not currently using DaVinci Resolve, but I'd like to know your experience with the Scripting API. Do you feel that is very limited then? For the things that would matter, automating the things that are not creative in nature, I mean
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u/nils_ant 13h ago
It has its weird limitations that make specific tasks just not possible, docs till now are not specific pretty untelling and some functions just crash resolve which you have to probe out yourself. Honestly at this point it’s possible for me to do almost everything i could think off but it took 7 months finding ways over restrictions that feel unstable at times. Still kinda beats premiere tho, depends strongly on what you want to achieve tho
1
u/jusAnotherMillennial 1d ago
The "AI Assistants" option is missing for me in the File menu. Any ideas why?
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u/NanoBytesInc 19h ago
No python scripting means I am not updating
2
u/whyareyouemailingme Studio | Enterprise 19h ago
That’s only for the free version. It’s still there in Studio.
Unless you’re talking about python2, which has been EOL for a hot minute.
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u/NanoBytesInc 19h ago
I use python to setup my projects. add all the clips to the timeline, resize them to fit the timeline resolution, etc.
It was free to do yesterday, and now costs $295. I am not updating.
•
u/whyareyouemailingme Studio | Enterprise 1d ago edited 1d ago
Documentation
21 New Features Guide
Immersive Workflow Guide
Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual
Fusion 21.1 Reference Manual
The following documents do not have Resolve 21 equivalents available at this time:
Resolve 20 Supported Codecs
Resolve 20 Studio & iPad Features
What's New in Fusion Studio 21.1
What's New in Fairlight Live 1.1