Let us move panels around please

You do, but you can't have one screen with a full screen timeline and one with a full screen preview (cinema viewer or clean video feed).

You can have that if you pay for a Blackmagic hardware video display card or adapter. We actually run four displays -- a left GUI, a right GUI, separate scopes in the middle, and then a hero color display up top. I've run with variations of this for a long time. I think the first Blackmagic Mini-Monitor I bought was about $75 used on eBay, so it was extremely affordable.

This is absolute bollocks. Resolve UI is built on top of Qt GUI toolkit which is used in a lot of different softwares, all perfectly capable of UI customization. Stop fighting the customization and adapt to change as you advocate.

Remember that I quoted what I was told by a BMD employee in 2010. There's a lot of stuff within Resolve that actually is custom-coded and does not use OS hooks and toolkits. I'm not saying it's right or wrong -- I'm just saying that if it was easy, they would have done it years ago. Note that daVinci 2K (the hardware predecessor of Resolve) had infinitely customizable window pallets and desktops on every screen. I asked, "hey, howcum we don't have that with Resolve?" and was told "that's the way it is. Performance would take a huge hit if you could move the windows around." Perhaps it's different now.

I think sizable windows should be doable, since you're only changing width and not placement. Look at the 2-display GUI and I think you'll see that it's surprisingly flexible, as is the ability to choose different Workspaces depending on what task you're doing. I customized quite a bit in my setup, particularly between Conforming, Editing, and Color.

I too came from the highly flexibly Adobe UI world, but have adjusted to Resolve's layout.

HOWEVER, one feature that I believe would be fairly easy to implement and provide a huge improvement in usability is the feature similar to Adobe's "tilde" key, which blows up to a full screen window the panel that is currently under the mouse pointer. I used this all the time.

You want a full screen timeline, hover your mouse over it and click "tilde" or whatever shortcut key you assign. Press it again to return things to normal. Want to see a full screen keyframe editor? Tilde. How about a full screen Media Cache? Tilde. It's quick, unobtrusive and, I believe, would be incredibly easy to implement on every page - much more so than a fully flex UI.

I too came from the highly flexibly Adobe UI world, but have adjusted to Resolve's layout.

HOWEVER, one feature that I believe would be fairly easy to implement and provide a huge improvement in usability is the feature similar to Adobe's "tilde" key, which blows up to a full screen window the panel that is currently under the mouse pointer. I used this all the time.

You want a full screen timeline, hover your mouse over it and click "tilde" or whatever shortcut key you assign. Press it again to return things to normal. Want to see a full screen keyframe editor? Tilde. How about a full screen Media Cache? Tilde. It's quick, unobtrusive and, I believe, would be incredibly easy to implement on every page - much more so than a fully flex UI.

+1

I would also love customizable UI, and I agree with the OP. I have three monitors including one portrait orientation so I would love to move things around a bit.
I also agree with the others that it's not worth it if it's going to introduce a ton of bugs.
More ability to scale and possibly a more customizable effects/transition toolbox would be welcome most of all, but my vote is for "Please look into incorporating this, but we're willing to wait until you get it right".

What about we start with this? https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=138062

I just don't understand people who vote against a feature that could help other editors to work faster...
if you don't like to customize your layout then leave it as it is from default but there is no reason to be against a customize layout. in my opinion software layout should be fully customizable.
Davinci's default window Layouts are pretty bad in my opinion. They work just fine when using 3 screens (2+clean output or sdi) but it's almost imposible to work on a notebook on the road.
I love software that give us the power to choose, layouts, menus, shortcuts everything! cinema4d is a great example. Maxon does a great job

I do agree Davinci is probably one of the best software for editing right now. but I worked on many different software since 1996 and I can tell that Davinci has some old school bad habits

VOTE: YES PLEASE!!!! why not?

+1 on this - Particularly in dual screen mode. I like the full screen timeline but would rather have the media pool (on the other screen) on the left, rather than the bottom... as an example. There are other examples, but especially with wide screen monitors, this would be VERY handy

Pretty much agree... On the edit page (where I spend 95% of the time), I have my full screen timeline in front of me; and that's what I'd normally do...

I don't mind the audio meter so much (though I would probably prefer it elsewhere) but would very-much prefer to be able to leave the inspector open, and have it somewhere else. I really don't want anything else but the timeline on that screen...

On the left screen I'm plagued by 'viewers' I have no use for... because my machine is fitted with a proper output card (Decklink) to drive a separate picture monitor.

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Ideally, I'd like to shut off the UI viewers (in that page at least, and very-possibly others) completely. - And use the space to accommodate other things, such as the inspector... The Generators/Toolbox window could perhaps do with being screen height... with the 'mixer top left and inspector next to it.

The UI 'viewers' can of course be shrunk down by moving the bar under them up... but their windows still take up the same width. So then, not only does the keyhole-surgery sized Generators/Toolbox section go from stupidly small to idiotically tiny... Valuable screen space is left completely blank!

In fact you can easily and quickly shrink your UI viewers down to 6.25% of their default size... They'll then sit there like a pea in an effing dumpling, on an utterly pointlessly large area of grey UI space that really ought to be available for something more useful!

And of course... if you do just use the 'mid bar' to shrink the viewers the mixer becomes taller than it really needs to be - which is then another way in which valuable screen space is squandered! - As others have said; if people are happy with the default workspaces, that's fine... they're welcome to it.

Others (often with considerable experience and knowledge of these things) require more flexibility!

For me by far the biggest offender is the effects panel. Even on 2k monitors, particularly in dual screen mode with full screen timeline, the names of effects and favorites get cut off, leading me to have to try and toggle the sidebar or resize it constantly to go through my list and see which S_ Or BCC or other effect in looking at.
The ability to maybe choose where the effect panel goes and give it more width would be very helpful. I'd personally love to be able to put it on the same screen as my full screen timeline.

personally love to be able to put it on the same screen as my full screen timeline.

And, though it wouldn't be my choice, if it's yours - it really ought to be possible. - You can pull the left of effects panel over a wee bit... you just can't do the same to the 'toolbox' column to regain its width.

There's just no need for it to be that footery! I've no idea where their heads are at!

everyone's needs are different.
and all projects are different too. customizable windows allows for versatility. If you don't like that benefit, don't use it.

my project today is 9:16 on a notebook while on the road.
Atomos saved my life today

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+1 for moving panels around!

Plus, I'll add Screen Presets for saving/recalling open panels, panel size, panel placement, etc. that can be assigned to keyboard shortcuts.

I have created a different screen presets in Reaper depending on the task I'm doing and I have these assigned to number keys. It's extremely fast to be able to switch between them with a single key press without having to manually close/open panels, reposition and resize them all the time. Just one button press and it's all done immediately. It's awesome!

Here is quick YouTube video (under 3 minutes) showing Reaper's Screensets:

...I asked, "hey, howcum we don't have that with Resolve?" and was told "that's the way it is. Performance would take a huge hit if you could move the windows around." Perhaps it's different now.

I think sizable windows should be doable, since you're only changing width and not placement. Look at the 2-display GUI and I think you'll see that it's surprisingly flexible, as is the ability to choose different Workspaces depending on what task you're doing. I customized quite a bit in my setup, particularly between Conforming, Editing, and Color.

You do realize that windows need to be drawn regardless of whether they are movable or not? It sounds like reconfigurable UI means all the windows wiggle around all the time like 90's flash based web page. Anyway, maybe they will remove the ability to resize the windows too, would gain a lot of performance.

You do realize that windows need to be drawn regardless of whether they are movable or not?

...Like the UI 'viewers' that at least some of us would rather be able to switch off completely? (and thus NOT 'draw') And which occupy/waste a HUGE amount of screen space whether their active elements are full-sized or reduced to the size of a postage stamp?

It sounds like reconfigurable UI means all the windows wiggle around all the time like 90's flash based web page.

...You mean like a badly-coded 90's Flash-based website? - Only if they do it incompetently.

Anyway, maybe they will remove the ability to resize the windows too, would gain a lot of performance.

Well, that would just be yet-another stupid mistake that makes it worth looking at the competition again.

You do realize that windows need to be drawn regardless of whether they are movable or not? It sounds like reconfigurable UI means all the windows wiggle around all the time like 90's flash based web page. Anyway, maybe they will remove the ability to resize the windows too, would gain a lot of performance.

The best way I know to gain a lot of performance from Resolve is to throw a lot of money and hardware at it. I had a friend of mine in the room the other day, and he was amazed when he saw that I was rendering a feature HD ProRes deliverable at 400fps. He asked me how I did it, and I shrugged and said "a spitload of cash and SSD RAIDs."

Plus, I'll add Screen Presets for saving/recalling open panels, panel size, panel placement, etc. that can be assigned to keyboard shortcuts.

Well, we have that now to some degree. We have Workspace -> Layout Presets -> and individual names you can assign. Those could be accessible with a 3rd party macro program. I have different presets whether I'm doing conforming, editing, or color, and it works pretty well. Even in a facility with multiple users, they can each have a different style of working and have different windows arranged differently (within the limitations of how far windows move and so on).

As I said before, going to a 2-display GUI frees up a lot of space and provides a lot of stuff I can't live without. In particular, having the Lightbox up 100% of the time is great during color. And we go a step further by having a separate system and display for scopes, so that frees up more room since the scopes aren't in the Resolve GUI (plus it's a little less work for the system to do).

As I said before, going to a 2-display GUI frees up a lot of space and provides a lot of stuff I can't live without. In particular, having the Lightbox up 100% of the time is great during color. And we go a step further by having a separate system and display for scopes, so that frees up more room since the scopes aren't in the Resolve GUI (plus it's a little less work for the system to do).

in the facility where there are close to 100 systems (that can be routed pretty much anywhere) in three buildings plus remotes statins from home, two monitor is not going to happen any time soon...

for the lightbox, I actually like to flip it onto the big screen so the client can see it and see what am I doing...

why not?

Speaking for myself, because it requires coding time that could be used for other things.

+1

Plus, I'll add Screen Presets for saving/recalling open panels, panel size, panel placement, etc. that can be assigned to keyboard shortcuts.

Well, we have that now to some degree. We have Workspace -> Layout Presets -> and individual names you can assign. Those could be accessible with a 3rd party macro program.

Thanks for the info. Is there currently a way to access these presets with a macro program or is this something Blackmagic would need to implement? If it is possible, how do I go about accessing a specific preset from the Layout Presets list? I tried to export a preset and then open it up with Resolve but that didn't do anything.

Would this be possible through Resolve's scripting capabilities? I haven't dived into this yet, but it's on my to do list.

+1

Thanks for the info. Is there currently a way to access these presets with a macro program or is this something Blackmagic would need to implement? If it is possible, how do I go about accessing a specific preset from the Layout Presets list? I tried to export a preset and then open it up with Resolve but that didn't do anything.

No, you'd have to use a 3rd party Macro program to pull down the Workspace menu and select Workspace -> Layout Preset -> <specific workspace name>. It'd be tricky to program, but I think a mouse-based macro program based on cursor pixel position could work as long as the preset menus never changed and the menu showed up in the same place every time.

I routinely use the shortcut ⌘⌥⇧D (command-option-shift-D) to turn Dual Screen on or off, which can actually be preset into Keyboard Customization. I haven't recently tried a complex macro program, but i do have specific window setups for Conform, Editing, and Color, basically to make some pallets bigger and eliminate some completely.

+1 for OP

+1 - I'm shocked you can't move panels. In dual screen mode, with large monitors, and the secondary monitor on the RIGHT side, the layout is rather awful, unusable really.

Come on Blackmagic. Just do it now please.

+1
Still a noob to Resolve to compliment Blender, coming over from Vegas. It would be nice to move the inspector tab to the 2nd screen in dual screen mode. As I have zero use for single screen mode, I have zero input. Main screen for preview and timeline, 2nd as an expanded edit panel. The dual screen view is great, this would be the icing on top.

+1

Come on, even the most cumbersome Avid Media Composer has this fully configurable!

Hi yes I want to confirm that any software company who thinks they are in their right mind to call shots and make decisions for the user is completely out of it. Your job is to give us as many options as possible, and we will decide where we want to put the bloody Inspector. How could you possibly know better than me where I want it ? You are not the president are you ?!

Hi yes I want to confirm that any software company who thinks they are in their right mind to call shots and make decisions for the user is completely out of it. Your job is to give us as many options as possible, and we will decide where we want to put the bloody Inspector. How could you possibly know better than me where I want it ? You are not the president are you ?!

are you willing to pay for it?

Hi yes I want to confirm that any software company who thinks they are in their right mind to call shots and make decisions for the user is completely out of it. Your job is to give us as many options as possible, and we will decide where we want to put the bloody Inspector. How could you possibly know better than me where I want it ? You are not the president are you ?!

How long have you used Resolve?

I don't think product design at Blackmagic is a democracy. Having said that, I've been very surprised in the last 13 years how closely the company listens to its users. Changes happen almost on a week-to-week basis. The differences between the Resolve we had in the 2000s and what we've had in the last decade are striking. That's fine if you get upset with the interface, but bear in mind there's about a million people who use it every day and aren't complaining even .001% as much as you are.

All companies, hardware or software, call the shots designing their product according to parameters they consider to be right. When using those products the end user must decide if those parameters fit in with what they want to do. If not you choose a product that does. If none do then you need to modify your expectations.

+1 on this - Particularly in dual screen mode. I like the full screen timeline but would rather have the media pool (on the other screen) on the left, rather than the bottom... as an example. There are other examples, but especially with wide screen monitors, this would be VERY handy

Exactly, isn't it called "full screen timeline" ? You select "full screen timeline", and where did they place the inspector ? On the timeline.
Are you ok in the brain yet or not ?

Do not think you know better than a user what he needs, just program as many options as you can, this is your only job. Not make calls for us.

Don’t like fixed UI decided from the same genius that create this piece of software? Move on and change software.
In the last 30 years I used many software for 3d animations, Video editing, postproduction and color grading, and I have a found that more customisable interface ever mean less stable softwares…
In the last 12 years if resolve I had few very problems with it, never loss a project, sometimes some annoying bug related to video driver for windows or an old related problem of external plugins.
I can fill pages and pages of problems and time and project loss due the bug and stability of every other software that I used.

Resolve give me problem of UI only when I use it on FhD resolution, not enough for all panel, but is my fault not resolve fault. And a simple additional usb display for dual setup resolve it on my notebook.

Most of time the unusual interface for you is only one real problem, you not know the right workflow of software, every software like standard interface had shortcut and sequential operation to produce result.
it's not a proud statement, my job is partly to teach the right working methods, and do consultancy to optimize the work in many facilities:-)
Try to change your mindset, pro software mean pro workflow, software shouldn’t was bended to user ideas, user should follow software workflow and find the fast way to work


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

software shouldn’t was bended to user ideas, user should follow software workflow and find the fast way to work

I appreciate this answer because while I disagree, it's the first time I hear someone actually argue that the user has to bend to the software, instead of the software morphing into a tool adapted to the user. In my opinion, we're not doing mathematics here, we're trying to create. 2 opposite things. Creation involves the least steps between the idea and its execution. The software has to be intelligent enough to be a chameleon to the artist's needs, not constantly force the artist to interrupt his flow and guess how mathematicians (devs) who are not artists, decided you should do things ! Not diminishing the talent of a dev in any way, it's just 2 different skillsets and the purpose is to allow the artist to express something, not to try to see if you can get an artist to obey to your whims...

So with that argument why should the devs obey your whims?

All companies, hardware or software, call the shots designing their product according to parameters they consider to be right. When using those products the end user must decide if those parameters fit in with what they want to do. If not you choose a product that does. If none do then you need to modify your expectations.

Very well said, Charles. I've told students before: "there are aspects of Resolve where you have to take a Zen approach... stop fighting it, stop comparing it to what you've used before, and accept the user interface as it is. Learn all the controls, and over time, all if it will become second nature to you." With learning new software, I think all things become possible if you just absorb it and start understanding it on an instinctive level.

As for movable GUI panels: I'd love to see it happen someday, but I suspect the BMD dev team is very busy with a lot of other things that are a lot more crucial.

So with that argument why should the devs obey your whims?

I for one do not see this as having to "obey" anyone and the devs certainly have the right to do whatever they want with their product. However, I would argue that making the software as flexible as possible and providing customization options to cover a wide variety of workflows is a far superior user experience to having a rigid application that forces many users (myself included) into an uncomfortable workflow. I love so many of the features in Resolve and the quality of the final product, but actually using the application as a whole has not been a pleasant experience for me.

I know I sound like a broken record, but the DAW Reaper is the golden standard for how to make an application extremely customizable to accommodate a wide range of different workflows while keeping it light weight, fast and stable.

The only thing that really gets my goat is the hard-coded width limit of the Media Pool on the Edit Page... Quick update: just took a look across each page, and it's a different hard-coded limit on each page...

Yeah, that is an issue. +1 on getting that fixed.

+1 for some more flexibility in panel layout especially in the color tab