What's new in DaVinci Resolve 17.4

Question

What's new in DaVinci Resolve 17.4, released on October 23, 2021?

Answer

Now available from the support site.

Focus

I think that the features that attract attention vary from person to person depending on the usage situation, but I pay attention to the following contents.

  • Optimization for Apple M1Pro and M1Max
  • Dropbox compatible
  • Even the Windows free version supports H.265 hardware encoding installed in GPUs and Intel CPUs
  • Various functions of Text+ have been improved , vertical writing (vertical layout) is supported!
  • Supports automatic color management with color spaces & conversions

Although not listed as a new feature by the manufacturer, enhancements related to display size and layout correction when windows are moved between monitors with different display scales have also been confirmed. I think there are quite a few people who are happy.

New function explanation video

Official video explanation. (English)

Summary of new features

The following 8 points are listed in the function summary displayed immediately after installing the new version.

  • Performance optimized for M1
  • Simplify color management
  • Enhanced 3D keyer
  • Supports Steinberg VST3
  • YOUTUBE VIDEO CHAPTER
  • New Resolve FX plugin
  • Rich text + support
  • Improved subtitles

Details of new features

The update contents are as follows.
This is a quote from the press release.

Main function

  • Hardware accelerated Apple ProRes on Apple M1 Pro/M1 Max.
  • Supports 120Hz on Apple M1 Pro/M1 Max. Smoother UI and playback.
  • Faster DaVinci Neural Engine performance on Mac OS 12.
  • Native HDR viewer (supported Mac hardware only).
  • Synchronize comments and annotations between Dropbox Replay and DaVinci Resolve Studio.
  • Sync markers and comments between Dropbox and DaVinci Resolve Studio.
  • Export timeline markers as YouTube videos or Quicktime chapters.
  • Supports Steinberg VST3. Wider range of audio effects available.
  • Simplified color management, SDR/HDR selection and new automatic project settings.
  • Added new ResolveFX such as film halation.
  • Improved 3D keyer and matte finesse controls.
  • Text+Tool now supports joining glyphs, vertical layout, and right-to-left layouts such as Arabic and Hebrew.
  • M1's ProRes decoding and encoding, significantly faster AI performance.
  • Auto-resize subtitle backgrounds, expand nested timeline subtitles to parent timeline.

Support for Apple M1 Pro/M1 Max

  • Hardware accelerated Apple ProRes on Apple M1 Pro/M1 Max.
  • Supports 120Hz on Apple M1 Pro/M1 Max. Smoother UI and playback.
  • Faster DaVinci Neural Engine performance on Mac OS 12.
  • Native HDR viewer (supported Mac hardware only).
  • Mac's native fullscreen mode.

Dropbox comment integration

  • Log in to Dropbox in DaVinci Resolve preferences.
  • Render directly to Dropbox or Dropbox Replay.
  • Automatic background upload when rendering is complete.
  • Synchronize comments and annotations between Dropbox Replay and DaVinci Resolve Studio.
  • Sync markers and comments between Dropbox and DaVinci Resolve Studio.

edit

  • Subtitles and caption backgrounds automatically resize to fit the text content.
  • Subtitle tracks from nested timelines can be expanded into the main timeline.
  • Auto focus on text area when adding new subtitle captions.
  • Simple titles and subtitles are faster on systems with Apple silicon.
  • Improved the function of the curve related to the position in the timeline, and the ease-in and ease-out function is improved.
  • Options to include effects and grading in render-in-place processing.
  • Switching between multicam angles using the Speed ​​Editor on the edit page.
  • Mark function to select gaps in the timeline.
  • Editing asymmetric audio transitions created on the Fairlight page.
  • Asymmetrically trim video and audio transitions using Command/Control keys.
  • Fine-tune the gain of an audio clip by holding Shift and dragging the mouse.
  • Paste retime attributes to audio clips.
  • Option to limit audio sync to first timecode match.
  • Preview each mode by hovering over the blending mode in the inspector.
  • Deinterlacing quality can be set per clip in the inspector.
  • New quadrilateral eye list transition.
  • Supports custom aspect ratio control for shape transitions.
  • Improved overlay for Fusion tools in the viewer.
  • Improved undo for Fusion effects and Text+ in inspector.
  • Ability to organize effect templates based on folders.
  • Customizable keyboard shortcuts to move to previous/next timeline tab.
  • Ability to close timeline tabs with middle click.
  • Preview generators and titles in the Effects panel in the cut page viewer.

Color

  • Support for automatic mode in color management projects.
  • Support for ACES 1.3, gamut compression and new CSC transforms.
  • New 3D keyer supports new modes and live feedback for improved selection/strokes.
  • Improved HSL/luminance keyer and updated matte finesse controls.
  • Single action forward/reverse tracking with Tracker and Magic Mask.
  • When LUTs and effects are applied, the type is displayed in the node's tooltip.
  • Automatically create node inputs when dragging new links to layers and key mixers.
  • Connect the key and RGB by dragging the color node and overlaying it on the link of the key.
  • Separate primary and secondary tool icons have been added for quick switching.
  • Search for timeline clips that have been Dolby Vision analyzed or trimmed.
  • Disabled clips are grayed out in the timeline.
  • Apply camera LUTs and CDLs to ARRI MXF ProRes clips.
  • Maintain printer light state after reboot.
  • Automatically scroll to center marker when navigating timeline markers.

Resolve FX

  • Film Halation emulates the reflections and scattering of film stock (Studio version).
  • Custom mixer for more precise control over combining effects and grades.
  • Improved 3D, HSL and Luminance keyers in Edit and Fusion pages.
  • Improved noise handling and key tweaking for existing keyers.
  • Improved patch replacer to align source and target.
  • Film grain now supports interactive preview and grain freeze.

Fairlight

  • Support for Steinberg VST3 audio plugins on Mac OS and Windows.
  • Rearrange, move, and duplicate effects in the Mixer.
  • Copy clip range with partial fade.
  • Show single-sided audio transitions as fades.
  • Support for multi-channel audio output on Linux.
  • Improved display of waveforms with low track heights and low zoom levels.
  • Shift-click or Command-click in the timeline to select keyframes.
  • When navigating to the previous/next timeline marker, select that marker.
  • Improved default processing order in Fairlight mixer.
  • Automation curves show current values ​​when no automation is present.
  • Blinks when a point is selected in edit select mode.
  • Improved clip index column order and search behavior.
  • Improved jog, scroll and shuttle in Editor Keyboard and Speed ​​Editor.
  • FairlightFX meters now have resizable display support and improved channel labels.
  • Improved audio performance when using Blackmagic monitoring devices.

Fusion

  • Support for combined glyphs and right-to-left language layout in Text+.
  • Improved vertical text + layout, vertical glyphs, rotation and line direction.
  • Improved text+ character grouping, spacing, underline and border functionality.
  • Text+ now supports per-character styling for supported fonts.
  • Text+ now supports OpenType features such as old glyph numbers.
  • Several text styling and animation improvements in Text+.
  • Display tool description and add tool window when hovering over effect panel.
  • Improved tracker default search and grid warp pattern size.
  • Added search area scale slider to tracker options.

Codec and file I/O

  • Improved encoding settings for YouTube render presets.
  • Option to export timeline marker colors as chapters in YouTube videos.
  • Option to export timeline marker colors as QuickTime chapter markers.
  • Support for decoding Opus audio in QuickTime and MP4 clips.
  • Panasonic 8K AVC decoding with hardware acceleration on Apple silicon.
  • Faster decoding of ARRI ARX clips.
  • H.265 encoding with Windows hardware acceleration (free version).
  • H.264 encoding profile option (DaVinci Resolve Studio) on supported Nvidia systems.
  • Bitrate control for H.264/H.265 encoding on supported Intel-based Windows systems.
  • Faster encoding and decoding on Intel-based Windows systems (DaVinci Resolve Studio).
  • Supports encoding to ZIP1 EXR format.
  • Ability to add custom languages ​​to DCP/IMF composition naming options.
  • A list of approved operators/ratings/regions can be used to name DCPs.
  • Marker support in IO Encode Plugin SDK.
  • Ability to bypass re-encoding for Sony XAVC Intra clips.
  • Better preservation of comment metadata in third-party XML workflows.
  • Improved rendering of render job names in tooltips.

whole

  • Right-click the audio icon to adjust media volume on the media page, color page, and deliver page.
  • Automatic identification of media storage sequence image formats as stills or clips.
  • Confirm whether to overwrite the existing project when executing "Save As".
  • Show locked projects in PostgreSQL database and usage information tooltips.
  • Clone PostgreSQL database in Project Manager.
  • Export PostgreSQL database in project manager.
  • Import option to current timeline when importing AAF.
  • Support for accessing video clip inspector properties in the scripting API.
  • Support for setting the playhead position of the timeline in the scripting API.
  • Support for getting color versions of video clips in scripting API.
  • Support reflection of upload status of render job API in script API.
  • Support for setting network optimization for render jobs in the scripting API.
  • Support for Mac OS H.264 multi-pass encoding option in scripting API.
  • Improved script property set when querying media input nodes.
  • Improved overall performance and stability

Minimum system requirements for macOS

  • macOS 10.15 Catalina
  • 8GB system memory. 16GB when using Fusion
  • Blackmagic Design Desktop Video version 12.0 or higher
  • Integrated or discrete GPU with at least 2GB of VRAM.
  • A GPU that supports Metal or OpenCL1.2.

Windows minimum system requirements

  • Windows 10 Creators Update.
  • 16GB system memory. 32GB when using Fusion
  • Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 10.4.1 or newer
  • Integrated or discrete GPU with at least 2GB of VRAM
  • GPU that supports OpenCL1.2 or CUDA11
  • NVIDIA/AMD/Intel GPU driver version – as required by your GPU

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