Welcome

- Hello, welcome to Lynda.com's DaVinci Resolve 12 essential training. I'm Patrick Inhofer and in this title we're gonna dig deep into Blackmagic Design's color correction software, DaVinci Resolve 12. My goal for you in this title is to have you comfortably color correcting, grading, and even editing in Resolve. You'll be able to work on any type of project, corporate video, documentary, short, feature film even Whisker the Cat's YouTube channel, and you'll be able to do editing and color correction.

Now color correction is a finishing step appropriate for every project. The minimum end goal of color correction is the seamless flow of your images. If your audience is mentally fixing problems the video plays down, they will never get drawn into your message. After you fix problems with the image you need to be sure your audience always knows where to look. And with today's fast paced editing, they'll need your help or they'll get lost and that is what DaVinci Resolve is here to help you do.

Solve problems, control the audience's eye, and draw your viewers into your message. And I'm here to help you learn how to use DaVinci Resolve and here's lesson number one about working with Resolve. It's version 12, yes, the software team has done an amazing job updating the user interface, but the core workflows can feel very, very confusing. The number of options often threaten to overwhelm you. That's what happens with software that's over a decade in development.

That's why we're gonna take this slow, and be methodical. To get you started learning DaVinci Resolve, we're gonna start by understanding operating systems and the computer hardware that Resolve 12 supports. You'll learn the differences between DaVinci Resolve, which is free, and DaVinci Resolve Studio, which costs money, and yes, you can use either Resolve, or Resolve Studio with this training. Only a handful of features are specific to Resolve Studio, otherwise the two pieces of software are identical.

Now, after learning how to build a reliable system for Resolve, I'll get you up to speed on Resolve's interface and have you creating projects. I'll show you how to import footage and timelines, organize those footage and timelines. And we'll cover the essentials of how to use Resolve 12's enhanced nonlinear editing tool set. For the rest of the training, it's a grand tour of the famous DaVinci Resolve color correction workflow. You'll learn how to use primary tools and secondary tools, you'll learn how those tools can be controlled using shapes and keys.

All of which allow us to make really big, honking color corrections, or very targeted, precise subtle corrections. There are also Resolve-specific concepts, like powergrades and nodes that you'll learn. And if any of this sounds foreign to you, I've scattered colorist lingo movies throughout this training. I'll explain concepts such as primary corrections, secondary corrections, vignettes, serial nodes. You'll get an intro into shot matching, and creating multiple versions, grouping shots and color correcting those groups.

The basics of creating looks and using third party plug-ins. And from the footage we've licensed for this training, we'll pool together the hero shots timeline. It's a workflow that jump starts our discussions with our directors, producers, clients, coworkers. Now, what if you're familiar with earlier versions of DaVinci Resolve, well we've got a what's new chapter just for you. But unless you took our Resolve 11 training, I urge you, go through this series.

Why? You know that one feature you wish DaVinci Resolve had? It probably has it, you just missed it when it rolled out. Training like this is a perfect time to find a bunch of features that Resolve has that you missed. All it takes is to discover a few of those, and this training will have paid for itself 100 times over. Does this sound like a lot? Well like I said, we're gonna move slow. This training builds upon itself, and introduces new tools, only after the concepts that are built upon, are first taught to you.

And when you're done here, don't forget to look for our other DaVinci Resolve 12 training here on Lynda.com. Who am I? I'm Patrick Inhofer, a professional colorist with over 25 years experience in video post production and color correction. Many of the concepts I'll be sharing with you here were hard-learned lessons. And everything you're seeing me do, it's what I do. And my color correction software skills are mostly self-taught so I've gone through your pain and will share with you my tips and tricks for avoiding all the mine fields in really, what's essentially, a subjective endeavor.

Without further delay, let's get you up and running in DaVinci Resolve 12. Thank you for joining me, happy learning!