Best Free Software
Robert Irvine recommends new programs that won’t cost you a thing
18
(^4) With so many features,
the program can seem
overwhelming at first, but
it offers plenty of guidance.
Click the Help menu and
select DaVinci Resolve
Training for a quick tutorial
or search for a topic in the
Reference Manual.
(^3) Version 18 of DaVinci
Resolve introduces several
new tools for adjusting
colour in videos, which you’ll
find on the Color tab. If these
are too advanced for you,
simply click the Color menu
and choose Auto Color for
an instant fix.
(^2) DaVinci Resolve’s transitions
can now be reversed so that
they’re applied to videos in
the opposite direction. You
can access these options by
clicking the Effects button
in the toolbar and selecting
Toolbox, then Video
Transitions.
(^1) To use DaVinci Resolve’s
new online-collaboration
service, first register for
a free Blackmagic Cloud
account at http://www.snipca.
com/41792. Then click the
File menu, choose Project
Manager, click the Cloud
button and sign in.
DaVinci Resolve is arguably the most powerful video-editing
software you can get for free and is used by industry
professionals working on films and TV shows. Version 18 is a
major release that adds loads of new features, some of which
are aimed at experienced users, but they won’t cost you
anything to explore.
The biggest change is the launch of an online-collaboration
service called Blackmagic Cloud (Blackmagic Design is the
company behind DaVinci Resolve). This lets you host your
projects online, so you can work on videos with people
anywhere in the world, and make creative decisions together.
Adjusting the colour in videos is one of DaVinci Resolve’s
main strengths and this latest version further expands its
capabilities. Its new ‘object mask’ tool is able to track the
movement of thousands of individual objects, as well as
people and animals, so that when you tweak their colour it
remains consistent throughout the video. There’s also a new
‘depth map’ that lets you focus on action in the foreground,
such as by making the people talking
stand out, or add atmosphere to the
background of a scene.
On the editing front, DaVinci Resolve’s Open FX
library now lets you apply stylised effects to your videos,
including pencil sketch and ‘abstraction’, while transitions
such as wipe, shape and iris can now be reversed to display
in the opposite direction. We also like the option to insert
chapter markers in long videos you upload to YouTube, so
viewers can jump to the relevant parts.
Other notable improvements include ‘face refinement’,
which re-touches and smooths people’s features and skin in
unflattering shots; the ability to delete moving objects from
otherwise static shots; a dead-pixel fixer for removing white
dots; and much more.
You need to register to download DaVinci Resolve 18,
which is officially still in beta. Be prepared to wait a while
because it’s a massive 2.8GB file.
VIDEO EDITOR
http://www.snipca.com/
What you need: Windows 10 or 11, macOS or Linux
DaVinci Resolve 18
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11 – 24 May 2022 • Issue 631