Blackmagic Design has long been known for democratizing access to high-end video production tools. With its industry-standard color grading suite and robust free tier of DaVinci Resolve, the company has carved out a unique position, serving everyone from hobbyists to Hollywood professionals.
From what I can tell, with the release of DaVinci Resolve 20, Blackmagic Design (Australia) looks to continue this trend, offering over 100 new features—many of them AI-powered—aimed at streamlining the post-production process across editing, audio, VFX, and color workflows.
What’s New in DaVinci Resolve 20
DaVinci Resolve 20 introduces several notable improvements across its core workspaces:
- Cut and Edit Pages: These now feature a dedicated keyframe editor, a voiceover palette with cue and teleprompter tools, and enhanced trimming and editing workflows. Features like live overwrite and source viewer timeline editing aim to speed up common editing tasks.
- Color Page: A new Chroma Warp feature enhances the Color Warper tool, while the updated Magic Mask and Depth Map provide greater precision for isolating and modifying subjects in a scene.
- Fusion Page: Visual effects workflows get a boost with deep image compositing, OpenEXR multi-layer support, and enhanced 3D tools including 180 VR support and a Scene Dome Light.
- Fairlight Page: Audio tools are further improved, including an AI Audio Assistant that can auto-mix dialogue and effects, and IntelliCut which detects silences and organizes speaker transitions in dialogue tracks.
These updates emphasize workflow efficiency while keeping the Resolve interface familiar and accessible.
Focus on AI: Smarter Tools Across the Board
Resolve 20 brings a strong emphasis on AI integration, continuing Blackmagic’s approach of blending automation with creative control:
- AI IntelliScript: Lets editors generate rough cuts based on a user-provided script. It matches spoken dialogue from media clips to the script to build a timeline automatically.
- AI Animated Subtitles: Automatically generates animated text synced to dialogue, useful for accessibility or stylized presentations.
- AI Multicam SmartSwitch: Analyzes speaker activity and automatically switches camera angles in a multicam timeline, ideal for interviews and panel content.
- AI Dialogue Matcher: Matches tone, volume, and reverberation across clips to improve audio consistency.
- AI Audio Assistant: Creates a balanced final audio mix with automatic adjustments for speech clarity and dynamics.
- AI IntelliCut: Removes silences and checkerboards speaker dialogue for faster dialogue assembly.
These AI tools aim to reduce tedious manual tasks while providing a smart foundation editors can refine further as needed.
Watch the New AI Features in Action
For a hands-on look at some of the AI features in DaVinci Resolve 20, check out this demo video:
I’ve been a longtime Premiere Pro user and will likely continue to be into the future — at this point in my editing journey I’m perhaps just too accustomed to the user interface and the overall editing workflow to consider making a change. However, from time to time I do download a free trial of Resolve just to see what’s going on there (and I really like Blackmagic cameras and the company overall, including the gregarious CEO Grant Petty). I’m always struck by how modern and fluid the Resolve interface is, and the power, in particular, of the color grading section.
In any case, it’s a great time for video editors, filmmakers and YouTubers and influencers to have so many tools at their disposal. AI is just going to make everything even faster for turnarounds in competitive industries.
Pricing and Availability
DaVinci Resolve 20 is available now and can be downloaded directly from Blackmagic Design’s website:
- DaVinci Resolve 20: Free
- DaVinci Resolve Studio 20: $295 (includes free upgrade for existing Studio users)
Download link: Blackmagic Design website
