Blackmagic Design has unveiled DaVinci Resolve 17.3 which adds support for a new processing engine that enables the software tool to work up to three times faster on Apple Mac models with the M1 chip. The processing engine uses tile-based rendering, which is also said to give customers up to 30% longer battery life on laptop computers when working in DaVinci Resolve.
Version 17.3 also supports a new option on Mac computers with M1 for H.265 hardware encoding. Customers can choose to prioritise speed vs quality when rendering, further improving render times up to 65%, according to Blackmagic. Plus, DaVinci Resolve will now decode AVC Intra files using the media engine built into the Apple M1 chip, making decoding and playback faster when working with these file formats.
In addition, new Resolve FX controls have been added, such as new grid shapes and greater control when using mosaic blur, allowing users to more precisely adjust the amount and appearance of pixellation. Keyer garbage mattes now have rotation controls, making it easier to remove unwanted items from view, while new saturation and gamma controls on the glow plug-in allow greater control and subtlety over lighting effects. Aperture diffraction in DaVinci Resolve Studio has new anamorphic aperture controls which allow a wider range of lenses to be emulated.
Fairlight audio also has improvements in latency with new drivers that allow adjustments to the input buffering and processing latency. This allows optimisation of the process for customer-specific hardware, which makes recording and playback easier and smoother. Better Fairlight export dialogue means customers can export selected clips or tracks directly from the Fairlight page and include clip levels, fades, EQ and effects or iXML metadata as well as being able to normalise clips to match different loudness standards.
DaVinci Resolve 17 has over 300 new features and improvements including HDR grading tools, redesigned primary colour controls, next generation Fairlight audio engine including Fairlight audio core and support for 2,000 real time audio tracks, plus dozens of other time-saving tools for editors, such as a redesigned inspector, new bin sorting and metadata clip views.
“This is truly an amazing update that gives customers huge performance and power efficiency gains on Mac models with M1, and it totally transforms your computer, simply by downloading this free of charge DaVinci Resolve software update,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “This speed increase is stunning and it’s hard to believe. I have not seen a speed improvement this large since the original 68000 to Power PC transition back in the 1990s and it is just amazing. Who would have thought just a year ago that multiple 4K streams could be played back and edited natively on a MacBook Air, but it’s easy now on DaVinci Resolve with M1. The engineering team has worked so hard on this new image processing engine for DaVinci Resolve, and it is an incredibly exciting time to be developing software for the Mac.”
DaVinci Resolve 17.3 is available now for free download from the Blackmagic Design website.
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