Blackmagic Forum

This is my first posting here, because I am new here.
I have a new laptop with Windows 11. On April 9, I downloaded the guide for beginners. And installed version 19.1.4 build 11 of the freeware. After that I have spent some 5 hours with the first 55 pages in the guide for beginners. It appears that I can't see part of what the author of the guide believed would be visible.
The resolution of the screen is 1920*1080. So I can imagine that the author of the guide expected users to use a monitor with higher resolution. Is there something I can do to solve the problem?
Alternatively, is the problem somewhere else?

Have you tried checking your screen zoom settings on the laptop?

Thanks for commenting. No, I have not checked that.

But you made me realize that I may have expressed myself in a misleading way. Here are some of my notes. Page numbers are for the Guide to beginners which I use to learn the program.

Page 37. Nothing happens when I "Press Shift-Ctrl-, (comma)" to swap the last clip with the previous clip.

Page 38. Nothing happens when I press "Shift-Ctrl-. (period)" to swap the second last clip with the subsequent one.

I have written multiple more comments about things I can't do.

I mean, there are things I can't do in the program. And since I downloaded the program and the guide at almost the same time, I expect the guide to be related to the program I have, not to another version.

If none has any suggestions, I would like to know if it is possible to post screenshots. Because if I post one screenshot from the program and another from the Guide to Beginners, it will be clearer that I can't see what I am supposed to see.

ghijohansson wrote:If none has any suggestions, I would like to know if it is possible to post screenshots. Because if I post one screenshot from the program and another from the Guide to Beginners, it will be clearer that I can't see what I am supposed to see.

Yes, you can post screen shots.

The resolution of the screen is 1920*1080. So I can imagine that the author of the guide expected users to use a monitor with higher resolution.

In one of the Black Magic training classes, we were fussing about with the user interface. I asked about what resolution Resolve was designed for. The reply was 1920*1080.

Workspace -> Reset UI Layout might be your friend here.

I have two screenshots to illustrate my problem. But I don't understand how to include them. When writing this comment, I found the "Img" button. But I have the impression that I can only include pictures which are uploaded, because I am supposed to give an url. Or does it work if I give an url to a picture in my laptop?

When you click on reply you will see two tabs below the text box. One is labelled "Options" the other is labelled "Upload attachment".

Click the "Upload attachment" tab. Select your image by clicking "Select file". Click "Adde the file".
Up to 3 images per post, each 1 MB in file size.

Regarding you issues:
Be aware that on non-english keyboard layouts some shortcuts might not work.
But probably you are just doing something unintentionally wrong, as it happens to many beginners.
Hopefully your screenshots can illustrate the issue and we can provide help.

For Edit page:




For color page:




Close Resolve, change your resolution to be higher then 1920x1080, start resolve and it should adapt to your new higher resolution with 2 viewer on the edit page, and 3 windows under the timeline on color page.

If you still have only one viewer, on top right corner on the edit page just click on icon showed below, it should switch between 1 and 2 viewers.

ghijohansson wrote:Page 37. Nothing happens when I "Press Shift-Ctrl-, (comma)" to swap the last clip with the previous clip.

Page 38. Nothing happens when I press "Shift-Ctrl-. (period)" to swap the second last clip with the subsequent one.

Did you selected the clip that you want to move?

If yes then check in keyboard customization menu that you are using Davinci Resolve Shortcuts (top right corner of the window, little down arrow) and also click on the keyboard on Shift, Ctrl and ,(coma) to select them, they will appear in red, and see if that shortcut is assigned, you should see under "Active key" Commands tab if it show "Swap Clips Towards Left (or right)". If not then it is not assigned.


For posting attachments, not sure, but I think that you need to have at least 10 posts on the forum, nor sure about that, if that is not the case then do as Robert explained to upload them.

If Windows is set to a language other than English (input methods), these key combinations will not work. Also, "One frame right" >(left<) will not work. All other combinations work. At least in the Ukrainian layout it is like this.

Many thanks for further comments.

Robert Niessner, OK, I will try.

Daniel Batinic, "Did you selected the clip that you want to move?" I plan to check tomorrow.

Parasolka, "If Windows is set to a language other than English (input methods), these key combinations will not work. Also, "One frame right" >(left<) will not work." I am located in Sweden so I purchased it from a Swedish retailer, so Windows communicates with me in Swedish. So I Think you explained part of my problems. And that possibly means that I am in trouble.

Here comes two screenshots. The first one is from page 20 in "The Baginner's Guide to Davinci Resolve 19". The second is from my computer.

The instruction on page 20 tells : "Click the source viewer’s Options (…) menu and choose Show Zoomed Audio Waveform." Impossible. In the book, that command appears to be situated to the right of the time code and above the clip. And to the left of "100 %". As should be clear from the first screeshot, it looks partly different in the program.

You're mixing up your pages and modes.
Your first screenshot is showing the Cut page (with 'Replay Controls' enabled).
Your second screenshot is showing the Edit page.

To "Show Zoomed Audio Waveform", as described, you need to click the Source Viewer's options menu button in the Edit page.

If you only have one viewer visible you can switch between Source and Timeline using the Q key on your keyboard.

What version of Resolve are you using? I'm using Studio 20 beta 2, but the free version should be similar.
If you double click on a clip to open it in the Source viewer, then select Source Tape, the zoomed in option will be available in the 3 dot menu. Pic shows it not zoomed in. This is on a 1920x1080 monitor.

With just Source Clip selected you can choose to show the waveform and zoomed in mode in the 3 dot menu.

ghijohansson wrote: I am located in Sweden so I purchased it from a Swedish retailer, so Windows communicates with me in Swedish. So I Think you explained part of my problems. And that possibly means that I am in trouble.

I don't think this is a problem. Try adding English to Windows. And when working in DaVinci just switch the keyboard layout to English.

ghijohansson wrote:The instruction on page 20 tells : "Click the source viewer’s Options (…) menu and choose Show Zoomed Audio Waveform." Impossible. In the book, that command appears to be situated to the right of the time code and above the clip. And to the left of "100 %". As should be clear from the first screeshot, it looks partly different in the program.

To be honest, everything works as described in the manual. Double-click on a clip in the media pool to make it appear in the viewer window. This works in both single and double viewer mode.

As Andy said, you are on wrong page.
Switch to Edit page and stay there since Beginners guide 19 use Edit page and not Cut page.



Go to Davinci keyboard Customization and check if you are using Davinci Resolve Shortcuts or shortcuts of other NLE.



If that still does not work then change your keyboard layout to English.

I'm using Swiss-French keyboard and almost all shortcuts are working out of the box, those that are not working are easy to change.

Dear friends, Many thanks, tomorrow (when I am less busy) I plan to try to do what you have told me. OK, so it appears the problem is a case of wrong settings. Nothing worse than that.

I use version 19.1.4 build 11.

Dear friends,

Your advice certainly helped. Many thanks.

On page XXII it is written "DaVinci Resolve will open to the cut page, which is the default starting page for all projects. However, this is not the usual place to begin working" But I accidentally stayed there.

On page 2 it says "In this first lesson, you will begin by exploring the tools and techniques you can employ in the edit page"

On page 5 it then says "If necessary, click the Edit button at the bottom of the interface to open the edit page." But there was no picture, so I must have failed to notice. I hope those who wrote the Beginners' Guide add such a picture.

Indeed many thanks to you.

I realized that it might be best if I tell about myself. I learned editing when I joined a public access television station in spring 2003. After two years at that place, I spent the next 8 years at a culture house.

In the first place, I learned to edit with Premiere (which became Premiere Pro). In the second place, I learned to edit with Final Cut. But I found those programs complicated to use. So when it was time to buy my first editing computer late in 2005, I chose Premiere Elements. Liked it. So when I purchased my second editing computer in 2014, I again chose Premiere Elements.

So I am used to editing with a program that has everything on the same page. I have edited shorts, TV-mini-series and TV-movies for public access television.

Since I was forced to buy new hardware it is again time to decide what software to edit with. Since Adobe has made one change which I dislike, I decided to try the free version of Davinci.

Try it because it is time to start film my 4th no-budget film. Spending 1,000 dollars on a 94 pages long screenplay. This time I am seriously considering creating a lego brick film, even though most of my earlier films have been with actors.