9/24/26

Runway builds generation, editing and upscaling right into the DaVinci Resolve timeline

Soft DaVinci Resolve

Runway reported that its models are now available right from DaVinci Resolve: you can generate, edit and upscale footage inside the timeline without leaving the project. That removes the familiar chain of "export a chunk — upload it in the browser — download the result — import it back": the company had called exactly this the main inconvenience of working with Runway in the middle of an edit.

For Runway this is the second move into someone else's editing package in a month: on September 8 the company launched a panel in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Now the same approach extends to Resolve.

What the panel can do with footage on the timeline

Runway describes the detailed feature set for the plugin version for Premiere Pro and After Effects; for Resolve the announcement lists generation, editing and upscaling inside the timeline.

Generating video and images from a text description. For video there are Gen-4.5, Seedance 2.5, Kling 3.0 Pro and Veo 3.1, for stills — Gen-4 Image, Nano Banana and GPT Image 2. Duration, aspect ratio and resolution are set within the capabilities of the chosen model, and the result loads into the panel while editing continues.
Re-rendering a clip from the timeline with the Aleph 2.0 model. The model rebuilds already shot footage to a given style while preserving the length of the source.
Converting SDR to HDR with the Runway Ruby model — or generating straight into HDR.
Upscaling to the final resolution without sending footage outside.
Separating an object from the background without manual masking: the object is described in text, the selection can be inverted, and the frame rate of the result is set separately.
Access to the library: everything generated earlier in the web version of Runway is available from the panel in one click.

The workspace switcher in the panel's header determines where generations go and whose credits they spend — personal or team ones.

Runway builds generation, editing and upscaling right into the DaVinci Resolve timeline

What you need for this to work

The plugin is free to download for macOS and Windows on the Runway Plugins page; Runway also offers to get started there. The installer finds supported applications itself and sets the plugin up in a few steps; in the Adobe version the panel opens via the Window → Extensions → Runway menu and requires signing in to a Runway account. Generation itself is available on paid plans and draws credits from the current plan, so what is free is the plugin, not the work of the models.

Why generative services are moving inside editing programs

Runway was also approaching Resolve from another side: in August, Tool Mode and Edit Studio gained output of Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2 generations in ProRes 4444 with PCM audio and in PNG sequences — formats that drop onto a Resolve or Premiere timeline without re-compression. The plugin closes the remaining gap: footage no longer has to be shuttled through the file system, and a generative shot becomes part of the ordinary assembly.

Behind this, most likely, lies competition for a place in the pipeline. Editing applications need generative models no less than the models need access to editors: Adobe has its own generative features based on Firefly, Blackmagic is developing AI tools inside Resolve itself. Against the backdrop of built-in tools usually being limited to a single vendor, a third-party panel with other companies' models — Veo, Kling, Seedance alongside its own Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0 — looks for Runway like a way to gain a foothold where decisions about the picture are made.

If the trend continues, choosing a model may become as routine as choosing a codec or a LUT, and competition between services will shift from the quality of demo reels to the predictability of the result, the price of a credit and compatibility with real post-production — HDR, ProRes, duration, frame rate. Under pressure in such a scenario are contractors doing simple tasks like rotoscoping or upscaling: what used to be sent outside, the editor launches from their own panel.

Which of this would you use right in Resolve?