Raw workflow using Davinci Resolve as NLE

I'm new to Davinci Resolve - I want to use it for both colorizing and editing 4K raw footage. And of course for stabilizing footage and cropping some clips.

I've seen quite a few tutorials about working with raw footage in conjunction with other NLEs (such as FCPX or Premiere) but what I haven't seen is a recommendation for the best way to do it within Davinci Resolve.

My 4K raw footage is too large to edit directly, so I know need to create some sort of proxy and work with that before exporting my final project.

If anyone has experience here I would appreciate it. The more detailed the better.

Thanks!

You don't need proxies, just set the playback resolution to something your computer can handle.

You can apply these setting in the RAW tab of the project settings menu for whatever raw format you're editing.

If you do, however, need proxies then i suggest looking in the resolve manual as it's pretty detailed in explaining the different way's resolve can create proxies on the fly.

Alternatively, you can create your own proxies (just as you would for editing in any other NLE) out of resolve and then just re-link the original media for color grading.

Hope this helps.

Will, thank you for taking the time to respond, I'm afraid your answer isn't getting me anywhere because I understand the ideas you are talking about but in practice I'm having a hard time.

Please tell me where I'm messing up:

I have 4K raw footage on an external drive, and I bring it int Resolve in a media bin called "Raw Bin".

I put all my raw clips on a timeline, call it "Raw Timeline".

I do a quick grade. Then I export individual ProRes clips into a new folder on my external drive called "ProRes Folder". I am producing these ProRes clips not because my computer has a hard time playing raw, it just has a hard time doing it from my external drive.

I bring the ProRes clips back into Resolve in a new media bin called "ProRes Bin".

I make a new timeline, call it "ProRes Timeline" and I edit my footage.

So now, what's the easiest way to associate my edits with my ProRes footage again before I make my final export?

I tried going to the media pool and locating the ProRes Bin and changing the source folder from the "ProRes Folder" to the folder where my raw clips are located. This results in all the clips on my timeline going black. I assume this is because the ProRes files have a different extension from my ProRes files.

I tried exporting an XML file to the desktop and re-importing that XML file into a new timeline, much like I would if I was using FCPX as my NLE. Now I have the edited raw clips, without my initial grade. There is a warning sign on the lower-left corner of each raw clip in my timeline indicating a Conflict Resolution. If I click that I can choose to associate the raw clip with the original version of itself, with the quick grade, and then I can continue finalizing my grade form there.

However, that seems like an awfully large amount of work considering I'm not even leaving the app.

Do you see an area for improvement in my workflow?

I do a quick grade. Then I export individual ProRes clips into a new folder on my external drive called "ProRes Folder". I am producing these ProRes clips not because my computer has a hard time playing raw, it just has a hard time doing it from my external drive.

This is where I see things going wrong. You shouldn't re-import the prores files into a separate bin.

I think the better way would be to just change the source folder of the RAW bin to that of the newly exported Prores files.

You will have to disable the initial grade you made to the timeline (Shift+D) otherwise you'll have the affect applied on top of the already graded prores files.

You should then be able to simply change the source folder to link back to the original raw files and simply apply the grades again(shift+d again) and have your original starting grade and raw files linked to the edit.


Again, making use of Resolves built in proxies might be a much better solution but i havent personally used them much so I don't have any firsthand experience with them.


With that said, however, it's odd that re-linking the raw footage to your prores files didnt work. As long as they have the same file name Resolve should link them regardless of format. I'd check to make sure that when you export you're not changing the file names (the actual names, not the extensions).

With that said, however, it's odd that re-linking the raw footage to your prores files didnt work. As long as they have the same file name Resolve should link them regardless of format. I'd check to make sure that when you export you're not changing the file names (the actual names, not the extensions).

Will, the "Re-link Source Folder" process does not work for me when I am trying to switch between a folder of raw files and a folder of ProRes files. The clips on my timeline go Black.

It works fine when I am switching between two sets of ProRes folders - for example a folder of 442HQ files and a folder of 442LT files.

I'll keep searching for an answer, do you have any more thoughts?

XML round trip not work fine. Eve in sound or Final Cut X.
Try to don't use that. Or work with DaVinci for color and export all the files and go to other software.
Today is the solution.

Javier, XML round tripping has been working OK. I am specifically asking about staying within Divinci for both color and editing.

I'll repose my main concern:

The "Re-link Source Folder" process does not work for me when I am trying to switch between a folder of raw files and a folder of ProRes files. The clips on my timeline go Black.

It works fine when I am switching between two sets of ProRes folders - for example a folder of 442HQ files and a folder of 442LT files.