DaVinci Resolve 21 adds a Photo page and a new generation of AI tools

Blackmagic Design has detailed DaVinci Resolve 21, an update that adds a Photo page for still photography alongside a new generation of AI-assisted tools across the edit, colour, audio and visual effects pages. The software remains a free download, with the Studio version priced at $295.

A Photo page built on colour tools

The headline addition brings Resolve's post-production workflow to still images. Photographers can import and manage photographs and grade them with the same node-based tools used on video: primary colour correction, curves, qualifiers, power windows and the node editor. Nodes can run in series or in parallel, and shared nodes apply one look across an entire album. A LightBox view shows a collection with grades applied, and albums appear as timelines on the Colour, Cut and Edit pages. Cropping and reframing preserve the source resolution, and the page supports Resolve FX and Open FX plug-ins and tethering to Sony or Canon cameras for live capture.

AI tools for media and faces

IntelliSearch analyses media so editors can find objects, words spoken in dialogue or individual faces, returning results as whole clips in the Media Pool. AI Speech Generator builds speech from written text using Blackmagic voice models or a user's own sample, which the company says can create a unique voice from a 10-second clip. AI CineFocus sets a shot's focal point and adjusts aperture and focal range to change depth of field, including aperture shape, bokeh and keyframed rack focus. AI Face Age Transformer changes an actor's apparent age, AI Face Reshaper adjusts facial features on a moving subject, and AI Blemish Removal reduces skin imperfections while retaining texture. AI Slate ID reads clapperboard metadata even in dark or out-of-focus clips.

Editing, colour, Fusion and Fairlight

The Edit and Cut pages gain updated keyframe and curves editors with loop, pingpong and relative easing modes and simultaneous adjustments to multiple clips, and Fusion effects can be animated from those editors. Native support for OGraf HTML graphics and Lottie animations lets .json and .lottie files be dragged into the media pool as rendered clips with alpha channels, while the Cut page adds smart bins. On the Colour page, the MultiMaster trim manager generates multiple HDR and SDR deliverables from one timeline, and Magic Mask can cache a tracked mask as a travelling matte. Fusion adds more than 70 graphics through the Krokodove toolset, and Fairlight adds track folders, a six-band clip EQ and Chain FX presets of up to six plug-ins.

Immersive and delivery work

Resolve 21 also extends immersive work with Apple Immersive foveated rendering, MainConcept options for H.265 and MV-HEVC encoding, and a standard immersive setting for VR180 and VR360 delivery to platforms such as Meta Quest and YouTube VR. Blackmagic notes that the DaVinci AI Neural Engine is supported on Apple M-series chips and Snapdragon X Elite.