Tricky Little Things in DaVinci Resolve - Episode 2
DaVinci Resolve REVEALS new editing techniques to me all the time. It’s kind of like how you can REVEAL the contents of multiple bins at once by shift or command mouse-clicking them in the media pool.
To me, this wasn’t the most intuitive thing when I first started editing with DaVinci. So welcome to episode two of the little things I use to work faster and easier in Resolve as a professional commercial editor.
Keep Finder Folders
I always suggest you keep you your project nice and tidy in a job folder with predefined nested folders. Sometimes you want to keep that exact same organization in DaVinci, and sometimes you don’t.
To keep the organization from the operating system, you just drag to the far left column, the bin list area, and you keep the finder organization.
Just like that.
And then those times when you want to add files to an existing bin, you drag a finder folder to the right side, and it will only import the elements and ignore the folders on the hard drive. In other words, it discards the folder structure. No new bins are created. The same happens if you drag directly from the finder to any timeline.
Drag to the Left Bin Structure to keep finder folders
Drag to the Media Pool to import the elements but not the folders
Multiple Bin Windows
There are two ways to navigate multiple bins at the same time. So I’ll show you both, and you can decide what you prefer.
Click the 3 dot menu to reveal the dual pane media pool. Honestly, this is the view I use most of the time. I will use the dual pane view with one bin open to timelines and the other bin open with clips.
I use the dual pane view often enough that I actually set a keyboard shortcut to toggle it and because keyboard shortcuts are panel aware. I use S for single pane and D for dual pane, so I have the flexibility to manage my screen space.
Anytime you use find in media pool which is a powerful right-click option with tabbed timelines and clips - it will always take you to the last clicked window. So if you don’t want to lose your place on one specific bin window, Click the media pool window you want to open that clip, AND THEN right-click to find in media pool command.
Oh, and it’s also good to know about this expand button to toggle a full-height or a half-screen height view of the media pool. The expand buttons are all over the DaVinci interface.
Another way to open multiple bins simultaneously is to right-click and open the bin as a new window from the contextual menu. I find this more useful if you have multiple monitors, or if you don’t mind using app expose on a mac.
The reason you need to get comfortable with app expose and the default shortcut control down arrow is because as soon as you go away from that newly opened floating bin - it seems to disappear. You can swipe down on a trackpad with 3 or 4 fingers on a Macbook or control down arrow to see that bin again.
BFB’s, the Big Floating Bins, are useful when I have long timeline strings of text and I need to see it all, but I’m working on a lower-resolution display.
One more trick I realized with the big floating bins is if you want to quickly access a specific bin to fill up a render queue on the render page and don’t want to use this dropdown that shows all of your project timelines (which can be literally over a thousand on some of my jobs), or go back and forth between edit and render tabs to add each cut. So this is a cool hack to go timeline by timeline and stay on the render page to add them to the queue.
Dual Pane Media Pool
More space, timelines on one and clips on another
Shortcuts are panel aware, so I set S to single pane and D to dual pane to give me more or less space
Reveal in Finder always takes you to the top of the two panes, use for clips and timelines
Open Bin as New Window
Resolve isn’t big on floating windows but this is an exception
Use when screen space is limited, or loading a render queue for posting
Open app expose (or application windows) control down arrow to find them again, 3 or 4 finger swipe down on a Macbook trackpad.
Also useful when you export several timelines and want the bin visible on the render page
Post Bin Duplicates
Always work with versions and never rename timeline renders. This is my Hit By a Bus Precaution. And I ride a scooter through the streets of Manhattan, so this is a legit concern.
Anyone, including yourself, can re-open an old project and make changes to a post you made for a client for future revisions. Here’s how it works…
Keep unique timeline names and versions.
Duplicate them when you make alternate options or address client notes and iterate with a new version number on the actual timeline name IN THE PROJECT.
Create and keep a bin in DaVinci just for keeping track of copies of timelines every time you post or deliver anything. Then I even create a dated and timestamped version for when that cut goes out to Frame.IO, or Dropbox, or maybe even the new Blackmagic Presentations.
Resolve doesn’t really like multiple timelines with the same name, so the trick here is to OPTION DRAG from the working bin to the dated POST bin.
Never rename that timeline, and anyone can always search back for that version by filename years down the line. But don’t forget to hit the carrot for searching through all bins, which isn’t the default, but we already talked about that in last week's tutorial.
Anyways, I’m Chadwick; this is Creative Video Tips and because there is so much more to learn. I’ll see you in the next video!
Timeline name is unique and includes a version number
Create a new Bin inside your always existing POST bin with date and time
Option drag your working timeline into the Post bin for an exact copy.
Biggest RULE is do not rename the exported, rendered out video from the name in the post bin.
