Blackmagic Forum

I have tried finding out how to do this by looking at the manual, by watching tutorials, and by asking lord google. In fact, I’ve spent more time searching how to do things in Resolve than actually editing. As a 72 year old newbie to Resolve, I hate asking for help from pros. But I just can’t seem to find the right place to look to figure this out on my own. And/or I don’t know the correct Resolve verbiage to ask properly. I’m at wits end, so please take pity…

I’m only trying to edit old family home videos. Nothing too technical. But I regularly have an issue with the workspace layout I’m faced with, like in the screen grab attached. I need to adjust the video levels shot with a home camera 30+ years ago. I’ve seen how to do it here on the color page, but the layout isn’t like the one in the tutorial, where the clip viewer is reasonably large, taking up the left upper quadrant and without the timeline clip viewer spread across the screen.

How do I get from here to there?

If you have someplace to send me to figure it out on my own, I’m good with that, though I would be appreciative of any direct instruction. Also, proper Resolve search language advice is also appreciated.

If I may, my other questions about the correction tasks are: where there is strong backlight, how do I adjust the video over many frames? Do masks move over frames? In other shots where the levels are off, do I need to blade the segments into individual clips to correct those pieces? Is there some video level master adjust like there’s audio normalization?

Very often, the tutorials I’ve found are geared towards a different type of user than a guy like me. Is there some Resolve For Dummies somewhere I can go so I don’t bother you good folks? I may not be as sharp as I once was, but, having tried all the home user editors, I am trying to learn Resolve to do my home movies. Again, any suggestions are welcomed.

Back, 30 ~ 40 years ago, I did a lot of ¾ inch video production, copying clips onto a master tape. Obviously, I’m not in Kansas City anymore…

Best regards,
Ken

You need a MUCH larger screen.

Once that's in place, as a new user, your first course of action should be to complete some Resolve training. The Beginner's Guide and Advanced Editing are an excellent groundwork to get you moving smoothly.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... e/training

Yes, if you can't turn up your display resolution anymore then I would say you need a new monitor. 1920x1080 at least. For now, you can get some screen space back by turning off the clips that are displayed across the screen. Do this by clicking the first icon on the left at the top right of your screen. You won't get much back but it might be enough to get started.

Sent from my IN2023 using Tapatalk

When you're working with a small screen the key is to get familiar with the buttons along the top of the interface that let you turn elements of the interface on and off. The actual act of adjusting the levels doesn't require the clips to be shown, so you can click the "Clips" button at the upper right to turn them off - that'll give you back a fair bit of space. It's easy to click the button again to show the clips when you need to switch to the next one.

You can also get rid of the navigation bar at the bottom using the "Workspace --> Show Page Navigation" menu selection. You can either memorize the keyboard shortcuts for switching between the Media / Edit / Color / etc. pages (see the choices under "Workspace --> Switch to Page"), use the just-mentioned menu to switch, or just turn the bar back on when you're done with the Color page.

It's a shame there isn't a way to reapportion the space on the Color page between the lower and upper banks of panels the way you can on the Edit page, that would help a lot. I came to Resolve from Premiere and Photoshop, both of which really spoiled me with the flexibility of their UI layouts. But if you work with it a bit you can get used to the Resolve interface.