DaVinci Resolve 19 Explained – Film Look Creator, AI-Powered Tools, and More

by Alex HohenthanerApril 14^th, 2024

At this year’s NAB, Blackmagic Design has announced the latest version of its popular NLE DaVinci Resolve. We are now at version 19 – and it adds a lot of very interesting features that will make your post-production workflow easier, from a built-in film look creator, to AI powered tools such as the IntelliTrack AI tracker.

To tell us more about this newest release my colleague Graham Sheldon talked to Stuart Ashton, Business Development Manager at Blackmagic Design, about all the additions to this already very powerful software. Let’s take a quick look!

Enhanced Grading Tools

Blackmagic Design has added a feature called “Film Look Creator” which looks like it might make some plugins obsolete. It replicates film properties like halation, bloom, grain, flicker, gate weave and vignetting. We will test out how it compares to some of the most popular ones in the near future. 

Another interesting new tool is called “Defocus Background”. It allows the user to isolate the foreground using blur tools, and even lets you set the amount of anamorphism to mimic the look of anamorphic lenses.

New AI features

One of the new functionalities introduced in DaVinci Resolve 19 is the IntelliTrack AI. This refers to two tracking options within the software. One is a point tracker for tracking and stabilization which allows you to track multiple points within the frame, while the other will allow automatic audio panning. The AI can follow objects across the frame and pan the audio accordingly, adding immersion to the scene. 

New Fairlight Features

The audio section called Fairlight also received some useful updates. Dialogue Separator FX now allows for more control when finessing dialogue tracks. So far, the “Voice Isolation” functionality only had one dial to turn it up or down, but now you have more options, with dials for also controlling the amount of background and ambience.

Music Remixer FX is a new effect to remix voice, drums, bass, guitar and other sources and e.g. lets you remove the vocals from backing track if they interfere with your dialogue.

A new ducker track FX makes auto-ducking easier, allowing you to automatically lower the volume of background music as soon as dialogue is spoken and then turning the music up again once the dialogue is over. This was of course possible before, but the new controls make it easier and better to handle. 

New features for Live TV broadcast

DaVinci Resolve 19 also adds a lot of features for using it for live TV broadcasts. This all happens in the Cut Page which now supports selection of live camera recordings for instant replay to air – complete with slow motion features and the ability to insert stingers. Users can set so-called Point Of Interest markers or POIs. This makes it easy to find them on every camera angle and play them out to air with effects added or at slower or faster speeds.

All the new features

Here is a list of all the new features according to Blackmagic Design:

• IntelliTrack AI point tracker for tracking and stabilization.
• Support for the DaVinci Resolve Replay Editor.
• Cut page as a media player and playout system.
• New multiview option in the source tape to view time-synced footage.
• Add points of interest and create replays from multiview and timeline.
• Ability to edit timeline content based on source clip transcription.
• New ColorSlice six vector grading palette.
• AI powered UltraNR noise reduction for spatial denoising.
• Node Stack allows management of complex grading workflows.
• New Film Look Creator.
• New Defocus Background isolates foreground with blur.
• Multi Poly tool for easier rotoscoping of complex objects.
• USD enhancements for Material X and advanced volumetric shading.
• Multiple shape toolset enhancements.
• Fully integrated native Ambisonics workflow.
• IntelliTrack powered audio panning to video in Fairlight.
• Music Remixer FX to remix voice, drums, bass, guitar and other sources.
• Dialogue Separator FX to separate dialogue, background or ambience.
• Ducker track FX for auto level management of beds against dialogue.

Pricing and availability

DaVinci Resolve 19 is in public beta now. The free version is still available and the Studio version will remain at $295. For more information visit blackmagicdesign.com. Before upgrading make sure to read our article on what to do so you don’t lose any of your precious projects.

What do you think about DaVinci Resolve 19? Will you make the jump to the public beta? Let us know in the comments below!