Blackmagic Design has unveiled DaVinci Resolve 21 days forward of NAB 2026, introducing a brand-new Photograph web page that brings the complete DaVinci colour grading toolset to nonetheless pictures for the primary time. The replace additionally provides eight new AI-powered instruments, integrates the favored Krokodove compositing library into Fusion, and delivers Fairlight folder tracks, MultiMaster trim passes, and expanded immersive workflows. The general public beta is on the market now as a free obtain.

DaVinci Resolve 21 represents essentially the most formidable growth of Resolve’s scope because the authentic integration of Fusion and Fairlight into the platform. Whereas DaVinci Resolve 20 leaned closely into AI-assisted modifying workflows and model 20.2 introduced long-awaited ProRes RAW help, model 21 takes a essentially completely different strategic route by shifting past video and audio post-production totally. The brand new Photograph web page positions DaVinci Resolve as a direct competitor to Adobe Lightroom and Seize One, giving colorists and photographers entry to the identical node-based grading pipeline that has dominated Hollywood ending for many years.

The Photograph web page enters the image

The headline addition in DaVinci Resolve 21 is a devoted Photograph web page that integrates nonetheless picture modifying into Resolve’s current post-production ecosystem. This isn’t a bolted-on characteristic; the Photograph web page connects on to the Coloration web page’s node-based grading engine, giving photographers entry to main colour correction, curves, qualifiers, energy home windows, and the complete node editor for engaged on nonetheless pictures.

For colorists who already work in Resolve, the workflow will really feel instantly acquainted. Nodes might be added in sequence or parallel to construct complicated grades, completely different corrections might be utilized to completely different components of a picture concurrently, and shared nodes enable customers to use a constant look throughout a complete album in a single cross. The system preserves full supply decision all through, so reframing and cropping operations by no means degrade picture high quality.

A LightBox view supplies an outline of whole albums with grades utilized in actual time, and filtering choices (graded, ungraded, star ranking, flag, clip colour) streamline library administration. Albums might be organized by shoot days, digital camera fashions, or customized standards, with batch tagging and uncooked setting changes designed to save lots of important time on massive photograph units. Albums additionally seem as timelines on the Coloration, Reduce, and Edit pages.

Tethered digital camera capturing and results help

Maybe essentially the most stunning addition is Digital camera Controls, which permit customers to tether a Sony or Canon digital camera on to DaVinci Resolve for reside picture seize. Photographers can modify ISO, publicity, and white stability, monitor with a reside view, and save seize presets to lock in a constant look earlier than capturing. Photos save straight into albums throughout the mission.

Resolve FX and Open FX plug-in help extends to nonetheless pictures on the Photograph web page, which means customers can apply results, graphics, transforms, and DCTLs to images. LUTs might be utilized straight or generated for later use in-camera or throughout monitoring. AI instruments like Magic Masks work on the Photograph web page as effectively, enabling one-click alternatives of objects or folks for focused grading. A brand new AI UltraSharpen instrument can upscale low-resolution pictures.

The Photograph web page additionally plugs into DaVinci Resolve’s multiuser collaboration workflow by way of Blackmagic Cloud. Album contents, metadata, tags, grades, and results might be shared with colorists, VFX artists, and editors concurrently from wherever on this planet.

Eight new AI instruments

DaVinci Resolve 21 continues Blackmagic Design’s aggressive push into AI-assisted workflows, constructing on the muse laid in Resolve 20. The brand new launch provides eight distinct AI instruments, every focusing on a selected manufacturing or post-production ache level.

AI IntelliSearch analyzes media and lets customers seek for particular objects, key phrases in dialog, or particular person faces. Outcomes seem as entire clips within the Media Pool, which ought to dramatically pace up clip group and modifying on initiatives with massive volumes of footage.

AI Speech Generator creates voice performances from written textual content utilizing both Blackmagic’s built-in voice fashions or a customized voice skilled from as little as a 10-second audio pattern. Velocity, pitch, and inflection can all be adjusted, making it helpful for voiceovers, narration, and momentary dialog.

AI CineFocus lets customers click on to outline a focus inside a scene after which modify aperture and focal vary to alter depth of area in put up. Superior controls enable number of aperture form and the addition of optical results like bokeh, with keyframeable parameters enabling rack focus strikes.

AI Face Age Transformer analyzes a face and makes use of an age offset slider so as to add or take away age-related options comparable to wrinkles and facial fullness. The instrument is designed for sustaining continuity in flashback and flash-forward sequences with out resorting to make-up prosthetics.

AI Face Reshaper detects and tracks a face in a clip, then supplies parameters to regulate eyes, nostril, mouth, eyebrows, and total face form on a shifting topic. Guide controls enable fine-tuning of outcomes.

AI Blemish Removing reduces the looks of superficial pores and skin imperfections like pimples, discoloration, spots, and pores whereas retaining pure pores and skin texture. A energy slider adjusts depth to go well with completely different topics and scenes.

AI Slate ID robotically detects clapperboard particulars within the body, even in darkish or out-of-focus clips, and extracts metadata to populate clip data. For productions that also shoot with bodily slates, this might save hours of handbook metadata entry.

AI Movement Deblur analyzes supply media and generates a brand new render with considerably decreased movement blur artifacts comparable to streaks and softness. The instrument is designed to enhance sluggish movement and freeze body results.

Krokodove involves Fusion

One of many extra thrilling additions for movement graphics artists and VFX compositors is the combination of Krokodove, the favored and long-established library of compositing instruments, straight into Fusion. The gathering consists of utility instruments for productiveness, vector and knowledge instruments, and customizable 2D and 3D graphic templates that can be utilized all through DaVinci Resolve. The Krokodove toolset provides over 70 new graphics to Fusion’s capabilities.

Alongside Krokodove, the Fusion macro editor has obtained important interface enhancements that ought to make growing customized instruments and templates quicker and extra intuitive. A newly supported inspector view simplifies organising, formatting, and publishing macros for quick use.

The Fairlight Animator modifier is one other notable bridge between Fusion and Fairlight, connecting Fusion to Fairlight’s audio engine for computerized animation pushed by audio evaluation. Audio ranges from timeline clips or media pool sources can drive parameter controls comparable to eyes and lips, opening up inventive potentialities for audio-reactive movement graphics.

Fairlight folder tracks and modifying enhancements

On the audio aspect, Fairlight positive aspects folder tracks that enable customers to assign a number of audio tracks to a folder and collapse them right into a single composite view. When collapsed, mini rectangles characterize folder contents, displaying the quantity and length of contained clips. Increasing a folder restores entry to particular person tracks. For complicated audio periods with dozens of tracks, this could considerably enhance timeline group.

Keyframing throughout DaVinci Resolve 21 has been considerably upgraded. New ease animations with loop, pingpong, and relative modes be a part of simultaneous changes to a number of clips. The curves editor’s normalized zoom mode robotically scales curves to fill obtainable vertical house, and four-point Bezier easing helps complicated video retiming. Fusion results can now be adjusted straight within the keyframe and curves editors of the Reduce and Edit pages, eliminating the necessity to change to Fusion for tweaking textual content, transitions, and movement graphics.

MultiMaster trim and colour web page updates

The MultiMaster trim supervisor permits colorists to generate a number of HDR and SDR trim deliverables from a single timeline. When enabled, the node editor shows further layers for trim operations, letting customers colour handle the timeline for every output customary and render all iterations in a single go. For services delivering to a number of platforms with completely different HDR and SDR necessities, this can be a important workflow enchancment over sustaining separate timelines.

The Magic Masks palette now includes a render-in-place choice, letting customers cache a tracked masks as a touring matte node with considerably lighter processing. Node graphs might be considered as a layer record, with nodes listed in rows in line with their quantity for simpler administration. These modifications tackle long-standing requests from colorists working with complicated node timber.

Movement graphics and textual content enhancements

Native help for OGraf HTML graphics and Lottie animations means customers can now drag .json and .lottie information straight into the media pool, the place they’re handled as totally rendered animation clips. Alpha channels are acknowledged, permitting layering of graphics and titles over video tracks.

Textual content dealing with sees enhancements as effectively, with multi-language spell test for all textual content parts, a devoted font browser window with previews, emoji help, and character-level styling that enables completely different attributes like font dimension, weight, and colour inside a single textual content field.

Within the Reduce web page, the bin record dropdown now options sensible bins and quick-access buttons for creating new bins. Good bins enable customers to design refined media pool filters based mostly on a variety of guidelines and standards.

Immersive and VR workflow growth

Constructing on the immersive capabilities launched in Resolve 20.2 and expanded in model 20.3, DaVinci Resolve 21 delivers what Blackmagic calls essentially the most complete help for immersive instruments and workflows to this point. Apple Immersive now helps foveated rendering, which simulates human imaginative and prescient by prioritizing high-resolution rendering the place the viewer is trying and lowering GPU workload in peripheral areas.

Customary immersive choices within the grasp mission settings enable customers to work with any supported immersive format for supply to platforms like Meta Quest and YouTube VR. Spherical Panomap rotation supplies extra intuitive pitch, tilt, pan, yaw, and roll changes for immersive media, and ILPD retargeting knowledge might be utilized within the Fusion web page for superior stereoscopic compositing.

The USD toolset has been up to date to USD SDK 25.11 with Hydra 2.0 API for the Storm renderer, giving VFX artists an improved Fusion USD atmosphere with help for 3D matte objects and textures.

Further noteworthy options

A brand new Image in Image Resolve FX permits customers to rapidly resize and reposition a video clip as a floating body over one other clip, with adjustable dimension, placement, body rounding, and drop shadow parameters. IntelliScript now helps Closing Draft and plain textual content screenplay codecs for assembling timelines, and new media pool columns add five-star ranking and tagging parameters for improved media administration.

Availability

DaVinci Resolve 21 public beta is on the market now as a free obtain from the Blackmagic Design web site. The software program will probably be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design NAB 2026 sales space #N2502. As with earlier variations, the free version consists of the core performance, whereas DaVinci Resolve Studio unlocks superior options like multi-GPU help, sure AI instruments, and superior noise discount. Studio licenses stay obtainable from retailers comparable to B&H and CVP.

The Photograph web page alone makes DaVinci Resolve 21 one of the crucial important updates within the software program’s historical past, however the sheer quantity of AI instruments, Krokodove integration, and workflow enhancements throughout each web page counsel Blackmagic Design will not be slowing down. Which new characteristic are you most excited to strive, and do you assume the Photograph web page might pull you away out of your present photograph modifying software program? Don’t hesitate to tell us within the feedback beneath!