VFX artists using the USD format now have the capability to import USD and USDZ files, including geometry, materials, lights, cameras, and animation.
Moreover, there is a basic set of tools for manipulating, working with lighting, and rendering imported USD assets. Among other new features relevant to visual effects work, Multi merge stands out as a new tool for managing multiple foreground sources as a composite layer set.
Multi merge allows compositing frames using both a layer-based workflow and a node-based workflow, similar to Fusion, the 3D compositing environment in Resolve.
Additionally, Fusion now includes an AI-powered built-in depth map generator in DaVinci Resolve Studio. Colorists and VFX artists using Studio now have access to Relight, a new AI-based lighting processing system for frames.
With this feature, artists can add virtual directional, point, or spot light sources to the frame and adjust their color, surface softness, and reflections.
Information about the light intensity is placed in the alpha channel for use with any existing Resolve tools. The existing Super Scale function in Studio, used for upscaling videos, now includes a new enhanced 2x mode for high-quality resolution increase with manual control over noise reduction and image sharpness.
In addition, colorists can add their own markers and annotations to the footage in the color viewer, allowing supervisors to note areas that require correction.
Update 18.5 also improves DaVinci Resolve's handling of projects with missing LUTs. Instead of interrupting playback with a warning dialog, missing LUTs are now displayed as notification overlays at the bottom of the screen. Files can be linked through the missing LUTs tab in the LUT gallery.
Other workflow enhancements include the ability to override color management settings for each timeline and copy color grades across all angles in multi-camera clips during alignment.
Furthermore, DaVinci Resolve now automatically generates input and output data required for Resolve FX effects plugins, eliminating the need to drag plugins as independent FX nodes. Video editors using Studio gain a range of new AI-based tools for working with audio in media clips.
- The software can now automatically sort clips by type (dialogue, effects, or music) and transcribe dialogues while generating text subtitles in a new subtitle track.
- Workflow improvements include specifying intervals for creating backups and metadata support for marker ranges.
- Sound specialists gain group editing and mixing support in the DaVinci Resolve Fairlight toolset, nested VCA support, and streaming from applications with external databases like Soundminer.
- Playback performance has been significantly improved for low-performance systems where real-time playback was previously challenging.
- A new specialized cache management window allows users to adjust cache sizes, enhancing playback performance.
- Supported multimedia formats now include exporting sequences to PNG, JPEG, and animated GIF files, along with encoding support for ProRes, AV1, H.264, MP3, and AAC in MKV containers.
- Users can directly upload videos to TikTok from DaVinci Resolve.
DaVinci Resolve 18.5 and DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.5 are available for Windows 10 and above, macOS 12.0 and above, CentOS 7.3 and above, and Rocky Linux 8.6 and above. The update is free for existing users.
The base version of the software is free. The Studio version, which adds AI features, stereoscopic 3D tools, HDR grading, and other Resolve FX filters, as well as Fairlight FX audio plugins, costs $295.