Chapter 2
Using the DaVinci
Resolve User Interface
This chapter provides an overview of the various unspoken conventions and interaction methods employed by the
DaVinci Resolve graphical user interface (GUI).
These include how the various buttons of your mouse, pen and tablet, or trackpad are used by different windows and interface widgets, how commands are distributed throughout the application using the menu bar, contextual menus, and option menus, and how to interact with fields and other controls.
While many of these conventions overlap with common user interface conventions found in the file system of your platform of choice, and with other media applications, some of these are unique to DaVinci Resolve, so this chapter is worth reviewing even if you consider yourself an expert user of other applications.
Contents
Basic Documentation Terminology 46
Saving Custom Screen Layouts 53
What Is the “UI” or “GUI” 46
Resetting to the Default Layout 53
What Is “the Pointer” 46
Undocking Specific Panels
About Keyboard Shortcuts 46
of the Interface 53
Customizing the
DaVinci Resolve Interface 46
DaVinci Resolve User
Interface Conventions 55
Working Full Screen vs.
Contextual Menus 55
Within a Floating Window 46
Drop-down Menus 55
Panels and Panel Focus 47
Adjusting Parameters 56
Showing and Hiding Panels Using the Interface Toolbar 48
Using a Mouse or Other Input Device 58
Mouse, Trackpad, and Tablet Behaviors 59
Showing and Hiding Panels in the Workspace Submenu 48
Timeline Scroll Behavior 59
Adjusting the Size of Different Panels 49
Viewer Behavior 60
Using Single vs. Dual Monitor Layouts 50
Keyboard Shortcuts 61
Video Clean Feed 52
Undo and Redo in DaVinci Resolve 61
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Basic Documentation Terminology
Here is a brief word about some of the basic terminology used in this manual for brand new users.
What Is the “UI” or “GUI”
In this documentation, UI refers to “user interface,” while GUI refers to “graphical user interface.”
This refers to the windows, screens, and controls that let you create in DaVinci Resolve. If you didn’t know this, don’t be embarrassed, you’d be surprised how many times this question gets asked.
What Is “the Pointer”
Whenever this documentation refers to “the pointer,” the reference is to the on-screen arrow you use to click on elements of the user interface, which is controlled by the mouse, trackpad, pen and tablet, trackball, or any other device you may be using. Because there are so many different ways to control computers, simply referring to “the mouse” is inaccurate.
About Keyboard Shortcuts
This manual presents all keyboard shortcuts using the macOS conventions of the Command key and the Option key. For compatibility with Windows and Linux, the Control key in macOS is not used by default for any keyboard shortcuts (although it can be assigned if you customize your keyboard shortcuts).
All keyboard shortcuts that use the Option key in macOS use the ALT key in Windows and Linux, and all keyboard shortcuts that use the Command key in macOS use the Control key in Windows and Linux.
Customizing the
DaVinci Resolve Interface
While the DaVinci Resolve interface may not seem very customizable at first, there are actually many ways in which you can tailor the panels found within each page to your specific needs.
Working Full Screen vs. Within a Floating Window
Depending on how you like to work, you can choose to work with DaVinci Resolve in a floating window with a title bar that can be resized, moved, minimized, and used alongside other windows. Or, you can choose Workspace > Full Screen to put DaVinci Resolve into Full Screen mode, where the title bar disappears and DaVinci Resolve takes up the full dimensions of your computer display.
Editors may prefer to work within a window if they’re working among multiple applications.
Colorists and mixers may prefer Full Screen mode as it hides the light-colored title bar that some find distracting and provides a tiny bit more screen real estate for the rest of the application.
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Panels and Panel Focus
Each page of DaVinci Resolve consists of multiple panels. Each panel contains all the controls and information necessary for a particular aspect of that page’s functionality. In the following partial screenshot of the top of the Media page, the Media Storage panel lets you browse files, the Viewer is a panel that lets you watch video, and the Audio panel lets you see the strength of audio playing back via a set of audio meters. Each of these panels has separate controls, but they all appear within the main window of the DaVinci Resolve user interface.
Three panels side by side on the Media Page, showing Media Storage, the Viewer, and the Audio panel
Each panel you use has “focus,” meaning that clicking an item or control within a particular panel makes that panel the active panel, which serves to direct keyboard shortcuts that are shared among many panels to the particular panel you’re using. If you want to see which panel is in focus, you can turn on the “Show focus indicators in the User Interface” checkbox in the UI Settings panel of the User
Preferences. When on, a red line at the top of the active panel indicates that it has focus.
A red line at the top of the Media Pool in the Edit page shows that it has focus
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Showing and Hiding Panels Using the Interface Toolbar
Each page in DaVinci Resolve has an Interface Toolbar that runs along the top. This toolbar contains buttons that let you show and hide different panels of functionality to accomplish different things:
— You can show panels that aren’t displayed by default, since most pages have many available panels of functionality that are hidden until you need them.
— You can assign keyboard shortcuts to show and hide individual panels in your workspace for instant configuration of the UI. Keyboard shortcuts to toggle these panels on or off can be assigned using the Keyboard Customization window.
— You can switch which panel appears within a particular geographical location of the UI, for example switching between showing the Media Pool or Effects in the upper-lefthand corner of the
Cut or Edit pages.
— You can hide panels you don’t need in order to create more room in the specific panels you’re working within.
The Interface toolbar for the Color page lets you customize the Color page controls
If you right-click anywhere within the UI toolbar, two options appear: “Show Icons and Labels” and “
Show Icons Only.” If you show icons only, the UI toolbar becomes less cluttered.
The UI Toolbar for the Edit page, showing icons only, to save space
Each page has a different set of options that reflect the capabilities of that page.
Showing and Hiding Panels in the Workspace Submenu
This function provides the ability to turn on or off panels by choosing them in the Workspace >
Show Panel in Workspace drop-down menu. The exact panels, such as Inspector, Media Pool,
Metadata, etc., are dependent on which page you are working in. Alternatively, you can assign these panels keyboard shortcuts as well.
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Adjusting the Size of Different Panels
You can resize adjacent panels in the interface by positioning the pointer at the border between any two panels, and dragging it to enlarge one and shrink the other.
(Before/After) Resizing UI regions
Certain panels and palettes can be expanded, in the process rearranging another part of the UI, by clicking a small gray Expand button. For example, an expand button at the top right of the Keyframe
Editor in the Color page can be clicked to make the Keyframe Editor wider, while at the same time hiding controls at the center to make room.
(Before/After) Expanding the Keyframe Editor
Certain vertically oriented panels, such as the Media Pool, Effects Library, Metadata Editor, and
Inspector, can be set to either half-display-height or full-display-height sizes to quickly create more or less room for contents or controls whenever necessary. This is done by clicking a small button in the
UI toolbar that toggles between expanding or contracting the UI element it controls.
(Left) The button for expanding a panel to full height, (Right) The button for contracting a panel to half height
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The result is that the panel in question expands or contracts. The following screenshots show the
Inspector of the Edit page in half height mode, where the Timeline is given room to expand, and in full height mode, where the Timeline becomes shorter, but there’s more room in the Inspector to see all of the controls.
(Left) A half-height Inspector with more room for the Timeline,
(Right) A full-height Inspector with more room for controls
Using Single vs. Dual Monitor Layouts
The Media, Edit, Color, and Fairlight pages can be switched between single screen and dual screen layouts by choosing Workspace > Dual Screen > On. Each dual-screen layout makes it possible to see many more controls at once, often in a larger workspace that lets you manage more clips, more
Gallery stills, etc.
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The Edit page in Dual-screen mode
In Single-screen mode, you can choose which display shows the DaVinci Resolve UI by choosing
Workspace > Primary Display > (Monitor Name). In Dual-screen mode, this reverses the contents of both monitors.
Using the Full Screen Timeline Option in the Edit Page
If you’re working in the Edit page in Dual-screen mode and you need the biggest timeline you can get for working through your program, you can choose Workspace > Dual Screen > Full Screen Timeline to expose a layout with one large full screen timeline, and all the other Edit page panels on the other screen.
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The Edit page in Dual-screen Timeline mode
Video Clean Feed
A full screen Viewer for a secondary monitor connected directly to your computer is now available.
To activate this monitor select Workspace > Video Clean Feed, and select your display in the submenu.
Selecting a secondary monitor for full screen display
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Saving Custom Screen Layouts
If you’ve created a particular set of resized panels that you’ll want to use often, you can save it, alongside other frequently useful screen layouts you may have saved.
Methods of working with custom screen layouts:
— To save a custom screen preset: Customize the various pages of DaVinci Resolve for the purpose at hand, then choose Workspace > Layout Presets > Save Layout As Preset. Enter a name into the Save Layout as Preset dialog, and click OK.
— To choose a previously saved screen preset: Choose Workspace > Layout Presets >
LAYOUT NAME > Load.
— To update a previously saved screen preset: Choose the layout you want from the Workspace
> Layout submenu, make your changes, and then choose Workspace > Layout Presets >
LAYOUT NAME > Update Preset.
— To delete a screen preset: Choose Workspace > Layout Presets > LAYOUT NAME > Delete Preset.
— To export a screen preset for use on another DaVinci Resolve installation: Choose
Workspace > Layout Presets > LAYOUT NAME > Export Preset.
— To import a screen preset: Choose Workspace > Layout Presets > Import Layout as Preset.
Resetting to the Default Layout
If you don’t like the current layout and you want to go back to the default, choose Workspace >
Reset UI Layout.
Undocking Specific Panels of the Interface
There are certain interface elements that can either be docked in their respective pages, or opened in separate windows.
Media Pool bins can be opened into floating windows simply by right-clicking on the bin and choosing
Open As a New Window in the contextual menu. Even though you’re opening up the contents of the selected bin, you’re really creating another Media Pool, complete with Bin list, Browsing area, and all of the organizational controls found in the docked Media Pool. You can have as many floating Media
Pools as you like. They can be dragged to other monitors, and they can be closed via a button at the upper left-hand corner of the title bar.
A floating Media Pool window
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The video scopes let you precisely analyze the color and contrast of clips in the Color page.
They can be exposed in their docked position to the right of the Color page palettes by clicking the
Video Scope button in the Color page toolbar.
The video scope, docked next to the other palettes at the bottom of the Color page
Optionally, you can click the expand button at the top right of the video scope to open the video scopes into a floating window, within which you can display all four video scopes together, or individually, on any monitor connected to your workstation.
Video scopes in a floating window
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Additionally, the Audio Mixer and video scopes are available in many of the dual-screen layouts available in DaVinci Resolve. The video scopes aren’t just available in the Color page. They’re also available in the Media and Deliver pages for whenever you need to evaluate the video signal more objectively, such as when you’re setting up to capture from tape or scan from film, or when you’re setting up for output.
In the DaVinci Resolve single screen layout, the Audio Mixer and video scopes can be moved to a second computer display if one’s available, and both disappear temporarily if you change pages or switch to another application.
DaVinci Resolve User
Interface Conventions
While each chapter covers the unique onscreen controls found in each page of DaVinci Resolve, this section summarizes how to use some of the more common controls you’ll see.
Contextual Menus
Nearly every panel on every page exposes additional functionality via contextual menus, which appear when you right-click on the appropriate item. Sometimes, different commands become available depending on whether you right-click the background of a particular panel, or directly on an item such as a still or node.
Contextual menus expose additional controls in the Color page Viewer
Drop-down Menus
Most of the buttons and drop-down menus that appear in various toolbars are activated with a single click. For example, many panels, palettes, and windows expose an Option menu, that appears as three horizontal dots (people like to refer to these as the “three dot menus,” but they’re option menus), which expose additional options and/or commands that are related to that particular panel’s function.
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Option menus
Additionally, many (but not all) panels and palettes appear with a “Mode” drop-down at the upper right-hand corner that lets you choose a different type of function within that palette.
Mode drop-down
Some buttons, such as transport controls and toolbar icons, display a little downward facing arrow when you hover the pointer over them, to indicate that you can right-click on these controls to access checkmark options that govern the functionality of those controls.
(Left) Hovering over a button to reveal it has a hidden menu, (Right) Right-clicking a button to reveal options in a drop-down menu
Adjusting Parameters
Numeric parameters can usually be edited in a few different ways.
Sliders and Dials
Sliders can be dragged to change the value of a parameter within a specific range. If you see a dial, that means a value can be endlessly edited with no restrictions to the value. Sliders are typically best for making large coarse adjustments to parameters. The “virtual sliders” described next let you make finer adjustments.
A slider and a dial with their accompanying number fields
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Virtual Sliders and Fields
When number fields appear, they can be used as a “virtual slider” by hovering the pointer over them until you see the “virtual slider cursor” and then clicking and dragging to the right to raise the value, or to the left to lower the value
(white arrows indicate the direction of change).
Typically, using a field’s virtual slider lets you make more precise adjustments than the actual slider to the left.
Copy and Pasting of Number
Field Values in Virtual Sliders
You can do standard copy/paste functions of any value in a field to any other field.
To copy and paste numerical parameters from a field:
1 Right-click on the source field and choose copy (Command-C) from the drop-down menu.
2 Right-click on the destination field and choose paste (Command-V) from the drop-down menu.
Icons and Buttons
Some controls are exposed as icons and buttons, which you simply click to invoke whatever functionality they encompass.
Using virtual sliders
Double-clicking fields containing most number values highlights the number so that you can type a new value using the keyboard, pressing
Return to confirm the change.
Editing of Number Field Values
Using Arrow Keys
You can manually edit numerical parameter values by using the arrow keys to navigate and make adjustments to the decimal level in number fields.
To use the arrow keys to adjust numerical parameters:
1 Double-click to select a numeric value in a field, and a highlight appears around that value.
2 Use the left/right arrows to navigate the cursor to the right of the decimal value you want to adjust.
3 Use the Up/Down arrows to change the value of that decimal place.
4 If you select the entire number, the
Up/Down arrows will adjust the minimum value.
A pair of buttons with icons to illustrate their functionality
Resetting Parameters
To reset any editable parameter to its default setting, double-click its text label, or click the reset button, if one appears. Master reset buttons, typically found in the headers of groups of controls, reset all controls in that group. Individual reset controls that appear to the right of parameters typically only reset that one parameter. If you don’t see a reset control, then double-clicking the name of the parameter should work.
Reset buttons
This cursor is in place to adjust the tenths position using the Up and Down arrows.
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Using a Mouse or Other Input Device
Resolve uses all three buttons of a multi-button mouse, or the three buttons available on other type of input devices, when available. This section provides a brief summary of all the different ways these three mouse buttons can be used.
Left Button
The left button is always referred to as a click, as in, “click the auto select button.” You click to turn buttons or other controls on or off, to make selections, and to give areas of the Resolve UI focus so that keyboard shortcuts will do whatever is specific to that panel or area of the user interface.
Double-clicking the left button usually opens items that are openable, such as opening a clip from the
Media Pool into the Source Viewer. You can also use double-clicking to do things like selecting nodes in the Node Editor of the Color page.
Right Button
The right button is referred to as a right-click, as in, “right-click a clip in the Media Pool.” Right-clicking an item or area of the Resolve interface usually opens a contextual menu, exposing additional commands that are specific to the item or area you’ve right-clicked.
However, some areas of the UI use right-clicking in special ways. For example, when you’re using a color adjustment curve in the Curve palette of the Color page, right-clicking a control point deletes that point.
Middle Button
The middle button (usually the scroll wheel button, but you may have to turn this on in the Mouse panel of the System Preferences) is referred to as a middle-click, which does different things in different places.
— In all pages, rolling the scroll wheel while the pointer is within a viewer lets you zoom into and out of the image being displayed when you need to do more detailed work.
— In all pages and panels, pressing and holding middle-click and dragging inside a panel allows you to scroll the view of the panel’s data in the direction that you drag.
— In the Color page, you can move the pointer over the Thumbnail timeline and roll up to scroll to the right or roll down to scroll to the left. You can also roll the scroll wheel while the pointer is within the Mini-timeline to zoom into or out of the currently displayed area. Rolling up zooms out, while rolling down zooms in.
— Middle-clicking and dragging within a viewer lets you drag the image to pan it around, which is useful after you’ve used the scroll wheel (or scroll behavior) of your mouse to zoom in.
— You can middle-click and drag within the Edit page Timeline to quickly pan around your edit.
— You can also use middle-click to copy a grade in the Thumbnail timeline of the Color page, by first selecting the clip that you want to copy TO (with a simple click) and then middle-clicking the clip or gallery still you want to copy a grade FROM.
— Lastly, if you’re drawing a Bezier window in the Color page Viewer using the Window palette, then middle-clicking a control point will delete that point.
TIP If you’re using a pointing device that lacks a third button option, check to see if there are any third party utilities or drivers that can enable this for you.
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Mouse, Trackpad, and Tablet Behaviors
Different input devices use different gestures to trigger specific behaviors in DaVinci Resolve.
Here is a current breakdown of these gestures and the behaviors that they control.
Timeline Scroll Behavior
Standard Mouse Mac Magic Mouse Trackpad Tablet and Pen
Scroll timeline vertically
Scroll timeline horizontally
Zoom timeline width horizontally
With ability to zoom where cursor points
Can be enabled in User Workspace preferences
Zoom timeline track height vertically
Zooms Video and
Audio section separately
Drag Timeline with Hand Tool
Scroll
Scroll
—
Magic Mouse
1 Finger Pan
Vertical and
Horizontal panning
Magic Mouse
1 Finger Pan
Vertical and
Horizontal panning
—
2 Finger
Pan
Vertical and
Horizontal panning
—
2 Finger
Pan
Vertical and
Horizontal panning
—
—
Scroll
Scroll
Middle
Mouse
Button
—
Left
Button
—
—
—
—
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Viewer Behavior
Standard Mouse Mac Magic Mouse Trackpad Tablet and Pen
Zoom towards mouse pointer
Can change in preferences Scroll
— Pinch to
Zoom
2 Finger Pan
Press and hold the middle pen button
Wwhile moving it left and right on the tablet.
Free Pan
Pan with
Hand Cursor
Middle
Mouse
Button
Middle
Mouse
Button
Tilt Up and Down —
Scroll
Pan Left and Right —
Scroll
Context Menu —
Right
Button
Gestures used in DaVinci Resolve for common input devices
Magic Mouse
1 Finger Pan
2 Finger
Pan
Left
Button
—
Press and hold the middle pen button
Lift the pen nib a few millimeters above the pad, moving the pen will move the frame in the viewer.
Press and hold the middle pen button
Lift the pen nib a few millimeters above the pad, moving the pen will move the hand in the viewer.
—
—
—
—
2 Finger
Touch
Right button on the pen.
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Keyboard Shortcuts
Since the majority of DaVinci Resolve users are on macOS, this manual presents all keyboard shortcuts using the macOS conventions of the Command key and the Option key. For users of other systems, all keyboard shortcuts that use the Option key in macOS use the ALT key in Windows and Linux, and all keyboard shortcuts that use the Command key in macOS use the Control key in Windows and Linux.
TIP To keep controls identical between macOS, Windows, and Linux, the Control key in macOS is not used by default for any keyboard shortcuts. However, you can assign your own keyboard shortcuts to the Control key if you like, opening up a whole new set of keyboard shortcuts for your own use on macOS.
Undo and Redo in DaVinci Resolve
No matter where you are in DaVinci Resolve, Undo and Redo commands let you back out of steps you’ve taken or commands you’ve executed, and reapply them if you change your mind.
DaVinci Resolve is capable of undoing the entire history of things you’ve done since creating or opening a particular project. When you close a project, its entire undo history is purged. The next time you begin work on a project, its undo history starts anew.
Because DaVinci Resolve integrates so much functionality in one application, there are three separate sets of undo “stacks” to help you manage your work.
— The Media, Edit and Fairlight pages share the same multiple-undo stack, which lets you backtrack out of changes made in the Media Pool, the Timeline, the Metadata Editor, and the Viewers.
— Each clip in the Fusion page has its own undo stack, so that you can undo changes you make to the composition of each clip, independently.
— Each clip in the Color page has its own undo stack, so that you can undo changes you make to grades in each clip, independently.
In all cases, there is no practical limit to the number of steps that are undoable (although there may be a limit to what you can remember). To take advantage of this, there are three ways you can undo work to go to a previous state of your project, no matter what page you’re in.
To simply undo or redo changes you’ve made one at a time:
— Choose Edit > Undo (Command-Z) to undo the previous change.
— Choose Edit > Redo (Shift-Command-Z) to redo to the next change.
— On the DaVinci control panel, press the UNDO and REDO buttons on the T-bar panel.
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TIP If you have the DaVinci control panel, there is one other control that lets you control the undo stack more directly when using the trackballs, rings, and pots. Pressing RESTORE
POINT manually adds a memory of the current state of the grade to the undo stack. Since discrete undo states are difficult to predict when you’re making ongoing adjustments with the trackball and ring controls, pressing RESTORE POINT lets you set predictable states of the grade that you can fall back on.
You can also undo several steps at a time using the History submenu and window. At the time of this writing, this only works for multiple undo steps in the Media, Cut, Edit, and Fairlight pages.
To undo and redo using the History submenu:
1 Open the Edit > History submenu, which shows (up to) the last twenty things you’ve done.
2 Choose an item on the list to undo back to that point. The most recent thing you’ve done appears at the top of this list, and the change you’ve just made appears with a check next to it. Steps that have been undone but that can still be redone remain in this menu, so you can see what’s possible. However, if you’ve undone several changes at once and then you make a new change, you cannot undo any more and those steps disappear from the menu.
The History submenu, which lets you undo several steps at once
Once you’ve selected a step to undo to, the menu closes and the project updates to show you its current state.
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To undo and redo using the Undo window:
1 Choose Edit > History > Open History Window.
2 When the History dialog appears, click an item on the list to undo back to that point. Unlike the menu, in this window the most recent thing you’ve done appears at the bottom of this list.
Selecting a change here grays out changes that can still be redone, as the project updates to show you its current state.
The Undo History window that lets you browse the entire available undo stack of the current page
3 When you’re done, close the History window.
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Setup and
Workflows
PART 2 — CONTENTS
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