Free plugin: YouTube Video Chapters Plus

Obviously this is a bit too late. I wasn't expecting BMD to add this to Resolve but I'll just put my version here since it has some more features.

At least I learned some stuff while making it.

Key differences where you might find my version more flexible:

• No rendering required. You can view the user interface any time and copy the chapters or save to disk. You can also trigger it when rendering to have a text file saved next to the video file. This means you are no longer required to use the YouTube preset (in fact you can't, since the YouTube preset currently can't trigger scripts).
  
  
• No upload required, no need to enter YouTube credentials into Resolve.
  
  
• Customizable chapter title prefix. In Resolve the chapter titles are always prefixed with a hyphen. In my version the default prefix is empty. I also support two variables, % is the current chapter number and # is the total number of chapters. To add leading zeros just repeat the variable. A prefix like "Chapter %%/##: " would result in the title "Chapter 01/10: Your Title"
  
  
• Warn if there are invalid chapters. YouTube requires each chapter to be at least ten seconds (although they don't seem to enforce this rule).
  
  
• Ability to use marker name, marker notes or any combination of the two with a customizable separator.

Installation

1. Download and unzip the file.
   

   YouTube Video Chapters Plus v1.01.zip

   (10.48 KiB) Downloaded 1355 times

   
   
2. Put the unzipped file in the Deliver folder.
   • Windows
     In File Explorer, paste this path to open it:
     %AppData%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Fusion\Scripts\Deliver
     
     
   • macOS
     In Finder, press Shift+Command+G to open "Go to Folder" and paste this path to open it:
     ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Fusion/Scripts/Deliver
     
     
   • Linux
     ~/.local/share/DaVinciResolve/Fusion/Scripts/Deliver

Usage
DaVinci Resolve v17 or later is required. Add timeline markers where you want your chapter breaks. There are two ways to use this plugin.

• From the Workspace > Scripts menu
  If you're on the Deliver page the YouTube Video Chapters Plus option will be in the root of the menu. If you're on any other page it will be in the Deliver sub menu.
  
  Selecting it opens the user interface and you can copy the chapters to the clipboard or save them to a text file.
  
  Clicking OK saves the settings.
  
  
• Triggered script
  When setting up a render job on the Deliver page, expand the Advanced Settings and check the Trigger script option, select YouTube Video Chapters Plus in the dropdown menu.
  
  Now when you render, it will use your settings (or default settings) and place a text file with the chapters in the same folder as the rendered file.

Great work!

Thanks!

I just remembered one "hidden" feature. When you hover over the chapter details a tooltip will show the offset between the YouTube chapter time and the timecode (if any). Chapter time is truncated to whole seconds.

I don't think it's tool late because many people don't use the Youtube preset (which is not that great because there is no control of the quality of the video exported).

Your tool is more flexible.

I always used https://billjustice.com/youtube_chapter_generator for youtube chapters (from a EDL file)

Thanks to the bug report by Maxwell in another thread I have added a workaround for an issue in Resolve where it reports fractional frame rates without decimals in some cases. The file in the first post has been updated.

I don't think it's tool late because many people don't use the Youtube preset (which is not that great because there is no control of the quality of the video exported).

Your tool is more flexible.

I always used https://billjustice.com/youtube_chapter_generator for youtube chapters (from a EDL file)

Chapters from Markers does not require using a Youtube preset.

If you want YouTube chapters with the Resolve implementation you have to use the YouTube preset. And you have to do the upload from within Resolve so it can add the chapter text to the description field of the video. Otherwise you just get QuickTime chapters embedded in the file and YouTube doesn't do anything with those at this time.

Thanks to the bug report by Maxwell in another thread I have added a workaround for an issue in Resolve where it reports fractional frame rates without decimals in some cases. The file in the first post has been updated.

No problem Installing the new version right now, thanks for your script.

Just wanted to give a massive thanks for this, it's been a lifesaver. Before this I was using a custom developed Python script to do the work externally with an .EDL.

Do you have anywhere to leave tips at all?

Thanks, I was going to put a PayPal tip jar in there but forgot about it when the v17.4 release came so suddenly.

Here's the link: https://paypal.me/rogermagnusson

Part of the idea was to see if there is interest for this kind of stuff in Resolve. If people use it it will help me decide wether I should put in the effort for some bigger projects.

Thanks, I was going to put a PayPal tip jar in there but forgot about it when the v17.4 release came so suddenly.

Here's the link: https://paypal.me/rogermagnusson

Part of the idea was to see if there is interest for this kind of stuff in Resolve. If people use it it will help me decide wether I should put in the effort for some bigger projects.

Yes there will be interest but as soon as you get back the price of a coffe and a cake in costa/starbucks BMD will include their own version in Resolve for free. Both Microsoft and Apple are good at this sort of thing. If you are very lucky they will offer you a small token cash payment. They, like Apple and MS, know that legal action will cost you mre than the value of any win. However I might be unfairly tarring BMD with the same brush as Apple/MS.

If you want to do it either understand you will be doing it for free and the undying (for 12 months) love and respect from Resolve users or you may be lucky and strike gold, make some money that means you are working at minimum wage (but that is not the point). It is one in a million you will make a serious income at it. Though that is not why you were doing it in the first place.

Your best bet is probalby to have a youtube channel explaining how to install and use your extensions thus get the money from the videos rather than charging for the extensions. (more will watch the videos than download the SW anyway). You might even get something out of BMD to let them use the ideas (and or code) in resolve to save them coding it themselves.

Having poured buckets of cold water on your business idea please continue doing them. You will get a lot of support and it will build up you profile and provide indirect ways of gaining income. (I did this in another field)

What a time saver! Thanks!

Umberto

Great stuff Roger!
Thanks for sharing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is really a great tool and a big help.
Thanks a lot @roger.magnusson

Thank you for this! Helps alot!

Perfect. A lifesaver.
Thanks

Thanks, you are not only very kind to us here, but to every YT viewer who's intelligent enough to jump to the important parts…

Hey

Tested here too, looks great, thank you

Cant thank you enough for this! <3

Hi !

This script looks nice thx for sharing !
but the download is a broken file,
it output (binary): cannot load malformed bytecode, when run in resolve
inspecting the code, I can also see it doesnt looks like a normal lua file, some characters seems having wrong encoding.

Best,

How are you loading it? And into what? It's not a normal lua file so it will likely only work when run as intended, from within the DaVinci Resolve Scripts menu.

I tried the download now. Unzipped the file and put it in the folder and didn't have an issue.

Thanks for your support and quick answer !

from within the DaVinci Resolve Scripts menu.

This is what I'm doing.

Demo:
https://cloud.extremraym.com/sharex/bra ... csO8gy.mp4

Note: I tried exact the zip with different softwares (native windows, 7zip) as well, same issue.

It's not a normal lua file

What kind of Lua file is it ? Lua compiled file are usually with the .luac extension;
It would surely be more portable (or at least more easy to debug) if shared as a regular Lua file

Thx!

Ok, thanks. It seems BMD has changed something in the Windows version of Resolve, I get the same error on Windows in Resolve 19 but it still works on macOS which is what I tested earlier. I wonder if it's related to the new Windows ARM support, even though that's a separate executable.

I checked, and Resolve on both Windows and macOS is still using LuaJIT version 2.1.0-beta3 so I would expect the bytecode to still be compatible. I'll investigate some more.

Edit: Apparently the LuaJIT version number isn't a reliable indicator that there haven't been changes, so if BMD recompiled LuaJIT with updated source code (like you would when releasing on a new platform) that may be the reason.

Is there a change in the beta 5 that would make it not work?
For some reason, I can't get the popup to open.

For me scripting seems broken in v19 beta 5 on Windows. It's not just this issue with precompiled bytecode, I'm also seeing issues with the UI not showing, or showing after a long delay.

I'll try to find something reproducible in the next few days and report to BMD.

Sad news
I rely on your tool so much lol

Thank you for this plugin! It's saved me a lot of time indeed.

What do you think about the feasibility of adding support for embedded chapters as well?

OBS recently released a feature called hybrid MP4 which makes it possible to add chapters while recording. These chapters are picked up by DaVinci Resolve Studio (DRS), so perhaps it would be possible to add support for them in this plugin as well?

I should mention that there are some issues with these embedded chapters in DRS at the moment, and I'm not sure if the issue lies in OBS or DRS or both. I've brought up those issues in a thread in the OBS forums.

I'm apparently not allowed to post links, and I'm guessing that's because this is my first post in this forum, otherwise I would have linked to the KB about hybrid MP4 and that other forum thread.

You can post a link by adding a space in it close to the beginning.

For me scripting seems broken in v19 beta 5 on Windows. It's not just this issue with precompiled bytecode, I'm also seeing issues with the UI not showing, or showing after a long delay.

I'll try to find something reproducible in the next few days and report to BMD.

Any news on the bug for version 19? As many people said, I am one of those who is really depending on your awesome plugin for youtube chapters on the video.

Peter Chamberlain responded her about SnapCaption : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=206537&hilit=+snap#p1072377

We are working with snap captions to fix this in a coming release.

I have a feeling that the change/bug/whatever is messing with the youtube chapter tools too. (or maybe not). But both plugins stopped working at the same time.

I just installed the final version of Resolve 19.
The plugin doesn't work :/

[Shrinivas Ramani]

Hi

Thanks for the report. Please confirm that the script is ok with the newly released 19.0.1.

Regards
Shrinivas

Thank you Shrinivas! It's working great now.

Unrelated: "Check for Updates" seems to have an issue now, it thinks there's a newer version than 19.0.1 Build 6 but if you let it download it downloads the exact same installer.

Hi

Thanks for the report. Please confirm that the script is ok with the newly released 19.0.1.

Regards
Shrinivas

Thanks!
It works for me too

Hi

Thanks for the report. Please confirm that the script is ok with the newly released 19.0.1.

Regards
Shrinivas

The script is not working for me on 19.0.3 studio Linux version. Interestingly when I run via console

dofile("/home/yusuf/.local/share/DaVinciResolve/Fusion/Scripts/Deliver/YouTube Video Chapters Plus.lua")

it works. But when I click it from the toolbar it won't.

Broken by DaVinci Resolve 19.1 update. Now shows "You need DaVinci Resolve Studio version".

Likely it's a mistake as I haven't seen anything about such a limitation in the release notes. Hopefully it's not deliberate.

@Shrinivas, do you know anything about this? The specific issue is that since 19.1 you can't call UIManager in the free version of DaVinci Resolve. When you do, you get the "You have reached a limitation with DaVinci Resolve" popup. I tested the free version from the Mac App Store as well as the Mac OS version from https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/, v19.1 Build 12. In v19.0.3 it works fine.

You can test it easily in the Console:

Code: Select all

ui = fu.UIManager

It looks like it was intentional, judging by the lack of answer. Guess I need to downgrade to 19.0 then and never update it.

It looks like it was intentional, judging by the lack of answer.

It's very rare that the devs or the BMD team respond directly to specific problems on the forum, so we can't (and shouldn't) say it was deliberate because of that.

They've been pretty consistent in this aspect for many years.
And I think it's a better approach because most of the time, if they respond, you get 10, 30 responses of "Why isn't fixed, why is it fixed this way, etc.".

So they just read the complains, the requests, etc... and then do it (or don't). I personally prefer that.

I'll add a caveat to my statement: if they know they're fixing something (100% fixing it, or 100% sure that the devs are looking into it and "will" do something), I would prefer they just say it: "We've noted the problem, we know it exists... we'll do something about it in the future".

And not let people in the dark. - This and, have a more detailed change log, and stop putting little fixes in the "General performance and stability improvements".

If they see a thread talking about a bug, or a problem, when it's fixed, it should be linked to the thread (or like I say, have a more detailed change-log).

I was (pleasantly) surprised when they looked into it when the YouTube Video Chapters Plus stopped working altogether and responded to it. But that's pretty rare.

What I would like from BM is something like the documentation BorisFX is doing.
They document known bugs, even with workarounds if any, and keep a decent changelog. I admit that their software is more expensive, but they also have a very wide range of applications.
Maybe BM can afford to make at least something similar.

I've said before that BMD could take a page from BorisFX's playbook.

BorisFX has a dedicated tutorial channel run by their own people who really know their software inside and out. They always put out videos covering every new tool or feature they add, and they're great at showing workarounds, tips, and tricks for tricky "real-life" cases. Often asked by their audience and users.

They often invites professionals to show to people who certain things are done, in details.

They even do this for the hosts their plugins work with, not just the standalone versions like Mocha Pro.

Meanwhile, BMD seems to have totally dropped the ball on this kind of stuff. They used to make some really interesting videos on things like camera tracking, Fusion, and other Resolve features on their channel.

But now? For DaVinci Resolve 19, they didn't even bother with a proper dedicated video. All we got were quick overviews of what's new, but I saw the difference between how they presented the new stuff in the past, and in 2024. They used to go into way more detail in the past. Like the woman who was specialized in the Fairlight page, etc.

I get that Resolve is selling itself now, it's money and ressources, but it's a bit of a shame.
I found this side of BMD in the past very appealing.

What I would like from BM is something like the documentation BorisFX is doing.
They document known bugs, even with workarounds if any, and keep a decent changelog.

This … I really feel there needs to be more transparency and acknowledgment for users… too many bugs go on without fixes and too many things do not even get a reply .. ghosting users is a bad look. users with issues need to feel heard .. and maybe keeping a public bug list would basically tell users - we see it and we are working on it .. which is better than nothing

[Peter Chamberlain]

UIManager based scripts and workflows need DaVinci Resolve Studio or Fusion Studio to be accessible.

For some time scripting through any UI has been the domain of the Studio version - this includes node.js based and UIManager based scripts and Workflow Integrations. Some workflows slipped through earlier versions and its taken some time to get to this but in Resolve 19.1, we addressed this issue with UIManager to be consistent with Workflow Integrations.

UIManager based scripts and workflows need DaVinci Resolve Studio or Fusion Studio to be accessible.

For some time scripting through any UI has been the domain of the Studio version - this includes node.js based and UIManager based scripts and Workflow Integrations. Some workflows slipped through earlier versions and its taken some time to get to this but in Resolve 19.1, we addressed this issue with UIManager to be consistent with Workflow Integrations.

could have added something in the free version changelog like
patched UIManager-based script slippage or something...

UIManager based scripts and workflows need DaVinci Resolve Studio or Fusion Studio to be accessible.

I assume this does not affect Fuses (Fuse Plugins)? i.e. the free version is still able to load and execute Fuses written as per the Resolve Fusion SDK?

UIManager scripts are a very different beast?

UIManager based scripts and workflows need DaVinci Resolve Studio or Fusion Studio to be accessible.

For some time scripting through any UI has been the domain of the Studio version - this includes node.js based and UIManager based scripts and Workflow Integrations. Some workflows slipped through earlier versions and its taken some time to get to this but in Resolve 19.1, we addressed this issue with UIManager to be consistent with Workflow Integrations.

Thanks for the clarification.

I have to admit that's very anti-consumer move, as it broke not only this small YouTube Chapters script, but also Reactor - massive collection of scripts which I use too.

If you really saw this as an oversight and an exploit, then you should just announce "Guys, the UI scripts shouldn't be accessible in Free version, so we will remove them in version 19.3 that will come in next 3 months. Please don't update if you want to keep using them." — And that would be okay. Hell I would maybe even upgrade to Studio version.

Instead, you did a silent patch without even mentioning that in the changelog. I upgraded my DaVinci Resolve just to find out scripts stopped working. We really thought you made a mistake, but now we know that was intentional. You didn't inform us about that controversial change that affected hundreds of us.

Now I have 19.1 with broken script support, and my work relies on some scripts. I review video games, and I use Video Chapters Plus script there - okay, I can live without it, but I also do podcasts, where I use Reactor and its AudioWaveform plugin to visualize a glow when someone is speaking, so whoever is watching the video will know who's speaking -

And you broke that. I just got audio files for the next podcast from every member. What do you want me to tell them? "Hey guys. I know we've recorded 2 hours of audio to be used in podcast, but the company who did my Video Editor decided to disable a critical feature for us without saying anything, and I can't do a video for you". Is this really what you want me to tell them?

I could try downgrading to 19.0, but I'm not even sure if that version can open files created in 19.1 — I guess they got "upgraded". What should I do in this case? This change made me unable to make a podcast like we did before. I really feel cheated.

Of course, I could buy a Studio version to keep using them, but do I really need to buy that whole professional stuff just for making podcasts and video reviews? I can't justify the cost if I'm going to just use the features that were free just before...

If you really saw this as an oversight and an exploit, then you should just announce "Guys, the UI scripts shouldn't be accessible in Free version, so we will remove them in version 19.3 that will come in next 3 months. Please don't update if you want to keep using them." — And that would be okay. Hell I would maybe even upgrade to Studio version.

Instead, you did a silent patch without even mentioning that in the changelog. I upgraded my DaVinci Resolve just to find out scripts stopped working. We really thought you made a mistake, but now we know that was intentional. You didn't inform us about that controversial change that affected hundreds of us.

This - I totally agree.

In your case, because it sounds like you are using the product for more than just a hobby, you might consider taking advantage of the sale for Resolve Studio that's on at the time of this writing. The studio version has so many advantages over the free version. I first purchased the studio version for the noise reduction but there are so many other advantages. Anyway, I agree that the way it was done is the bigger issue.

I could try downgrading to 19.0, but I'm not even sure if that version can open files created in 19.1...

I just checked for you... created a new project in 19.1, added some media etc, uninstalled 19.1, installed 19.0.3 and opened the test 19.1 project ... it opened up in 19.0.3 just fine, no issues, so feel free to roll back.

Thanks for checking that for me Andy. Thankfully I can downgrade then. I need to finish the video tomorrow just before TGA, so I'm gonna downgrade immediately.

This - I totally agree.

In your case, because it sounds like you are using the product for more than just a hobby, you might consider taking advantage of the sale for Resolve Studio that's on at the time of this writing. The studio version has so many advantages over the free version. I first purchased the studio version for the noise reduction but there are so many other advantages. Anyway, I agree that the way it was done is the bigger issue.

Thanks. I was thinking about buying Studio version before to be honest, but now after that situation I feel like im being forced to buy it just by silently removing features I use. That makes me reconsider the purchase twice.

In your case, because it sounds like you are using the product for more than just a hobby, you might consider taking advantage of the sale for Resolve Studio that's on at the time of this writing. The studio version has so many advantages over the free version. I first purchased the studio version for the noise reduction but there are so many other advantages. Anyway, I agree that the way it was done is the bigger issue.

Yeah, the way the release notes are handled is an issue that affects Studio customers as well. BMD shouldn't say "professional users should use Studio" without also saying "professional users should expect comprehensive release notes and warnings about updates that remove functionality".