Media Management for DaVinci Resolve Collaboration w/ LucidLink

Learn how to media manage raw footage in DaVinci Resolve 20 for cloud collaboration using LucidLink for the footage and Blackmagic Cloud for the multi-user collaborative project library. Please help support Creative Video Tips at no extra cost to you by using my link here to sign up for your free 30-day LucidLink Trial.

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A Guide to DaVinci Resolve & LucidLink Cloud Collaboration

As cameras produce bigger and bigger video files, editors face a dual challenge: where do you store all that footage, and how do you collaborate on it with a team that could be anywhere in the world? It's a common headache, but there's a powerful solution.

This guide will walk you through a professional workflow that combines DaVinci Resolve's smart media management with the seamless cloud storage of LucidLink. You'll learn how to shrink massive projects, share them with collaborators, and work together in real-time, no matter the distance.

Step 1: Setting Up Your Shared Workspace

Before you can collaborate, you need a shared space for your project files and media. This process involves two key components: LucidLink for your footage and a Blackmagic Cloud Project Library for DaVinci Resolve projects.

Connecting Your Team with LucidLink

LucidLink creates a shared cloud drive that, for all intents and purposes, acts just like a local hard drive on your computer. This is the foundation of the workflow.

1. Invite Your Collaborator: Getting a teammate connected is as simple as sending an email invitation to your LucidLink file space.

2. Connect and Go: Once your collaborator accepts the invite and connects via the LucidLink desktop app, the shared space will appear on their computer just like any other drive. Now you both have access to the exact same file system.

Creating the Resolve Project Library

With your shared drive ready, the next step is to create a shared cloud project library within DaVinci Resolve itself.

1. Share the Library: In Resolve's Project Manager, select your cloud project library and use the share button to open up your web browser, hit the information button on the right of the screen, and add your collaborator's Blackmagic Cloud email address.

2. Shared Access: That's it! Now, any project created in this library will be visible and accessible to both of you.

Step 2: Taming Your Footage with Media Management

The secret to making cloud collaboration fast and efficient is to only upload the media you actually need. DaVinci Resolve's Media Management tool has a unique superpower: it can create smaller, trimmed copies of your raw files, containing only the frames used in your timeline (plus a few extra "handles" for editing flexibility).

Here's how to do it:

1. Create a Safe Copy: First, open your original project and perform a Save As, adding a suffix like "_MM" (for Media Managed). This ensures your original project remains untouched.

2. Open Media Management: Go to File > Media Management.

3. Set Your Parameters:

   • Navigate to the Timelines tab and select Copy.

   • For the destination, browse to a folder inside your mounted LucidLink drive.

   • Under the media options, choose Copy, use media and trim. This is where the magic happens, drastically reducing the project size. In the example, a 6.63 GB project was shrunk to just over 790 MB.

   • Tick the boxes for Use project name subfolder, Preserve hierarchy, and Relink to new files.

4. Preserve Hierarchy: This setting maintains your original folder structure. To set it correctly, you must count the number of folders from your computer's root volume to your media folder. For example, if your path is Volumes/T7 Shield/Projects/Resolve 20 Collab, your folder level is 4.

5. Start the Process: Click Start. Resolve will now copy only the necessary portions of your media to the LucidLink drive and automatically relink your new "_MM" project to these smaller files.

Step 3: Going Live with Real-Time Collaboration

With your trimmed project ready, it's time to move it into the shared cloud library and start working together.

1. Copy Project to the Cloud: In the Project Manager, with your new "_MM" project selected, use the "Copy To" button to move it from your local library to the shared cloud library.

2. Enable Collaboration: Open the project from the cloud library. Go to File > Multiple User Collaboration and turn it on.

   Note: You cannot have "Dynamic Project Switching" active when using multi-user collaboration.

Understanding the Rules of Collaboration

DaVinci Resolve uses a "first in wins" system to prevent conflicts.

• Timeline Control: The first person to open a timeline gets read/write access and an orange playhead. They are the only person who can structurally change the edit (e.g., trim clips, reorder shots). Anyone else who opens that timeline afterward will have read-only access and a gray playhead.

• Clip-Based Work: Even without timeline control, collaborators can still work! On pages like Color and Fusion, you can modify individual clips. If one editor is trimming the timeline, another can simultaneously color grade a shot or add a visual effect to another.

• Seeing Updates: When a collaborator makes a change to a clip you're viewing, a small orange refresh icon will appear above your timeline. This prevents unwanted changes from disrupting your work. Simply click it to see the update.

A great best practice is to create separate bins for each editor within the project. This way, you can duplicate timelines and work on your own versions without interfering with each other's primary edits.

The Power of a Seamless Workflow

The true beauty of this workflow is what you don't have to do.

• No More Relinking: Because everyone is accessing the same LucidLink file space, there is no need to relink media when a new user opens the project. It just works.

• Instant Access to New Assets: If one editor adds new music or graphics to a folder on the LucidLink drive, it's immediately available for everyone else to drag into the project.

• Shared Exports: You can export a finished file directly to a "deliverables" folder on the LucidLink drive, and your collaborators can view it instantly, as if they had exported it themselves.

• Crash-Proof Editing: Blackmagic Cloud automatically saves every single change you make. If your computer crashes, your project is safe up to the very last action you took. You can even restore previous versions of a timeline using the built-in backup system.

By combining these tools, you can build a remote post-production pipeline that is efficient, secure, and incredibly powerful. You're no longer just sending files back and forth; you're truly editing together.