Why is my export coming out scaled?

I'm using the latest DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio Beta as of 13 June 2018.

I'm editing r3d files in a timeline native to my clips 5120x2560. I also threw in an 8k r3d file and scaled it down in the timeline.

When I export I choose custom size of half the resolution 2560x1280. I tick on Force debater to highest quality.

The file comes out all scaled. The 8k clip is very zoomed in. From this:

Screen Shot 2018-06-13 at 4.29.19 pm.jpg (544.87 KiB) Viewed 1975 times

to this:

Screen Shot 2018-06-13 at 4.30.00 pm.jpg (464.37 KiB) Viewed 1975 times

Why is it zooming/scaling in a bit to each clip?

[Peter Chamberlain]

Try, set the timeline res to the desired final resolution and leave the output sizing to match timeline.

This works, thank you. Then I can use another program to scale it down to the right size. But it's a bit strange that DaVinci behaves this way. Do you know why? Thanks.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Why do you need to scale it again?
What size are you aiming for?

When I export I choose custom size of half the resolution 2560x1280.

Try, set the timeline res to the desired final resolution and leave the output sizing to match timeline.

This works, thank you. Then I can use another program to scale it down to the right size. But it's a bit strange that DaVinci behaves this way. Do you know why? Thanks.

Hi Edwin.

I think Peter Chamberlain was suggesting you set your timeline resolution to 2560x1280 and then your output movie would be generated at that exact frame size.

Thanks Andrew, yes there was a bit of confusion there. I was outputting 5120x2560 and then using another program to downscale it to 2560x1280. It works just the same but takes more time than changing the timeline method which I now realise Peter was suggesting.

Is it true in DaVinci Resolve that you work in the timeline resolution that you're going to deliver? Is this the way most people work?

Unlike working with the source footage resolution because that could be anything up to 8k and an 8k timeline is unusable?

[Peter Chamberlain]

I don't know what caused your original issue but it sounded like too many steps.

Most of the time users don't have hardware that lets them work in real time at 8K regardless, with the Studio version of course. Even if you have 8K sources, the system needs to be able to downscale that to the working res, often UHD, so there most users set their timeline to UHD, or some lower resolution that matches their render target.

If your system is fast enough, you can leave the timeline at UHD, process at UHD, then set output sizing to the lower res for downsizing at the render stage. Just dont have a HD timeline and up-res to a higher res in render.