We are just a couple of months past NAB 2026 and DaVinci Resolve 21, which was released as a beta before NAB 26, has gotten its full release. I think this is record time for Blackmagic to move from the NAB beta release to the full release.
We know what’s new in this Resolve 21 update, as we’ve seen that feature list for months now (I’ll paste that again at the bottom of this article). But what I find interesting is that the iPad version of Resolve has also reached version 21.
Resolve for iPad updated to version 21 with the Photo page
This is a big release for the iPad version of Resolve. It’s cool to see some of those new AI features as an option in the iPad version of Resolve as well as the desktop version. Here’s the bullet point feature list for Resolve on the iPad:
Photo Page
- New photo image editing now fully integrated within DaVinci Resolve.
- Image library with tagging, favorites, ratings and album collections.
- Albums let you build, manage and tweak photos at source resolution.
- Native Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Panasonic and Sony RAW format support.
- Use Resolve multi-user collaboration and Blackmagic Cloud syncing.
- Use all of Resolve’s native color controls, Al toolset, looks, LUTs and effects for your images.
Al Tools
- Al IntelliSearch lets you easily search for people or objects.
- Al Speech Generator transforms written text to spoken voice.
- Al Face Age Transformer lets you age or de-age a face.
- Al Face Reshaper for flexible reshape and resize of facial features.
- Al Blemish Removal to repair facial and skin blemishes.
- Al SlateFinder automatically detects slates and marks position.
- Al SlatelD to read slate and populate clip metadata.
- Al UltraSharpen for high fidelity sharpening of moving images.
- Improved Al UltraNR quality for UHD and higher timelines.
Cut Page
- Keyframes and curves support 4-point bezier retimes, editing multiple selected clips and Fusion effects.
- Keyframing ease options, loop, ping pong, reverse and stretch.
- Subframe support for keyframing and markers.
- Native support for OGraf HTML graphics and Lottie animations.
- Resolve FX Picture in Picture effect.
- Font browser and font preview preference for text and subtitle elements.
- Spell checking for all text elements.
- Emoji and color fonts for Text+ and MultiText.
- Mono audio now plays on left and right channels of stereo tracks.
- DRT timeline import supports link and conform options.
- Compare timelines with timeline backup snapshots.
- IntelliScript supports Final Draft or plain text screenplay imports.
- Transcription and subtitle timing improvements.
- Up to 2x faster Al Speed Warp Metal option.
- Timeline menu action to select transitions.
- Paste and remove attributes for clip color, markers and flags.
- Resolve FX Video Collage with separate tile fill and border controls.
Media Pool
- Support for tabbed layouts.
- Thumbnail, list and metadata views can be set for each bin.
- Star rating support for clips.
- Cut page supports smart bin views.
- Export media bin thumbnails as a PDF.
- Automatic smart bin and clip filter for offline clips.
- Custom metadata for smart bins, filters, data burn and naming tags.
Color Page
- MultiMaster trim pass to grade single timeline to many deliverables.
- Render Magic Mask in place as an external matte.
- Clip groups now support grade versions.
- View node graphs as a layer list.
- Node stacks now support up to 8 layers.
- Film Look Creator Aurora preset and new roll-off and softness controls.
- Customizable HDR and nit scopes ranges.
- Adobe RGB colorspace and gamma support.
- Motion Blur option for Metal.
Codecs and I/O
- Decode Apple ProRAW images.
- HDR decode and encode support for HEIC, JPEG, PNG and TIFF images.
- HEIC encode support.
- Support for Insta360 I-Log in color management.
- Improved EXIF metadata support for stills.
- Support for Sony Burano V3 clips.
- Per render job option to override RCM or ACES outputs.
General Improvements
- Powerful, expanded and flexible data burn-in window.
- Preferences and project settings can now be searched.
- Multi-user projects support dynamic project switching.
- Support for importing and exporting Final Cut Pro 12 FCPXML
- Up to 3x faster file sync performance to Blackmagic
- Cloud.
- General performance and stability improvements.
What’s new in Resolve 21
If you do update to Resolve 21, there will be a project update for existing projects, so beware of that. A 150 page new features guide will help you get started as Resolve documentation is the best in the business. As for what’s new? Here’s the Resolve 21 bullet point list:
What’s new in DaVinci Resolve 21
The following features have been added or updated.
Photo Page
- New photo image editing now fully integrated within DaVinci Resolve.
- Image library with tagging, favorites, ratings and album collections.
- Albums let you build, manage and tweak photos at source resolution.
- Native RAW support for major camera formats.
- Import media from Apple Photos on macOS.
- Import Lightroom Catalog files into the media pool.
- Use Resolve multi-user collaboration and Blackmagic Cloud syncing.
- Support for DaVinci color control toolset and grading panels.
- Looks, LUTs, ResolveFX and OpenFX for your images.
- GPU accelerated batch exports and conversions.
Cut and Edit Page
- Keyframing provides powerful retime controls with 4-point bezier.
- Keyframe and add curves for multiple selected clips.
- Keyframing ease options, loop, ping pong, reverse and stretch.
- Keyframe Fusion effects, generators and text along with edit effects.
- Subframe support for keyframing and markers.
- Native support for OGraf HTML graphics.
- Native support for Lottie animations.
- Resolve FX Picture in Picture effect.
- Font browser window for text and subtitle elements.
- Preview fonts during font selection as a preference.
- Spell checking for all text elements.
- Emoji and color fonts for Text+ and MultiText.
- Multicam angle previews in clean feed and video outputs.
- Multicams can include all audio tracks for each angle.
- Multicams can use full clip extents on creation and during sync.
- Replay control to limit view to the last 5 minutes of recorded media.
- Replay editor allows timeline selection from search dial.
- Replay now allows independent start and end stingers.
- Replay title palette allows up to 6 favorite titles.
- Mono audio now plays on left and right channels of stereo tracks.
- Improved waveforms, markers and fades for short edit tracks.
- Source timelines support auto track selectors.
- DRT timeline import supports link and conform options.
- Compare timelines with timeline backup snapshots.
- Subtitle inspector now supports search and replace.
- Edit page lets you show or hide tracks from the index.
- Support for editing EDL clip name in the edit index.
- Affinity .af file support with group and individual layer control.
- Edit page timecode options for frames, subframes or audio samples.
- Duration timecode option to show duration for clip selection.
- Improved timeline view options with presets and clip name option.
- View remote color versions in the source viewer.
- Local color grade versions use remote grades on new clip creation.
- Timeline menu action to select transitions in the cut and edit page.
- Paste and remove attributes for clip color, markers and flags.
- Paste and remove attributes to retain image position under crop.
- Switch audio channels for multi-clip selections via the context menu.
- Edit page source tape includes multicam clips.
- Match frame finds source media for nested clips and multicams.
- Resolve FX Video Collage with separate tile fill and border controls.
- Subtitle support for fade in and out.
Media Pool and Metadata
- Support for tabbed layouts.
- Thumbnail, list and metadata views can be set for each bin.
- Star rating support for clips.
- Cut page supports smart bin views.
- Export media bin thumbnails as a PDF.
- Automatic smart bin and clip filter for offline clips.
- Custom metadata for smart bins, filters, data burn and naming tags.
- Customize your project poster frames.
- Show input colorspace and gamma in metadata view.
- Transcription column support in list view.
- Custom keyboard shortcuts to set thumbnail, list or metadata views.
- Ability to reset audio clip attributes to the original configuration.
Color Page
- Clip groups now support grade versions.
- Node graphs can now be viewed as a layer list.
- Node stacks now support up to 8 layers.
- Customizable HDR and nit scopes ranges.
- ACES AMF improvements, with transform name and custom folders.
- Adobe RGB colorspace and gamma support.
- OpenFX 1.5 color management APIs for colorspace aware effects.
- Advanced panel controls for 2.39 and 2.4 safe area aspect ratios.
- Multi-user projects can bypass color management on the color page.
- Pasting tracking data between power windows retains original shape.
Fairlight Page
- Folder tracks allow a group of tracks to be folded down or expanded.
- Go to mouse pointer support using the C key.
Fusion Page
- Support for Krokodove motion graphics effects.
- Over 100 new motion graphics effects and tools.
- New Macro Editor with inspector view and publishing to edit effects.
- Fusion animation can be creatively driven by Fairlight audio.
- Native support for OGraf HTML graphics.
- Native support for Lottie animations.
- Text+ and MultiText support spell checking.
- Font improvements include emoji, color fonts and more.
- Improved MultiText for position, pivot, alignment and CSV import.
- Support for USD SDK 25.11 with Hydra 2.0 API for Storm renderer.
- USD support for 3D matte objects and textures.
- Support for USD Texture Projector and Catcher.
- Global in-out controls for USD Loader.
- Native support for creating Relief Maps.
- Change inspector properties for multi-tool selections.
- Change common inspector values in all selected multi-tool layers.
- User defined metadata variables in paths, expressions and scripts.
- Lens Distort offers checkerboard calibration and GPU acceleration.
- Guides and rulers persistence, presets and improved snapping.
- MediaIn nodes show clip name.
- Open keyframes and spline as a new window.
Codecs and I/O
- Enhanced MXF growing file support for broadcast workflows.
- MXF OP1A support for MPEG2 bitrate and other encode options.
- Canon CR3 RAW decode support.
- Panasonic Lumix RW2 RAW decode support.
- Fujifilm RAF RAW decode support.
- Apple ProRAW decode support.
- Support for compressed ARW from Sony A7V and newer cameras.
- Improved Nikon NEF RAW decode support.
- HDR decode support for HEIC, JPEG, PNG and TIFF images.
- HEIC encode support on macOS and Windows.
- HDR encode support for HEIC, JPEG, PNG and TIFF images.
- Support for Insta360 I-Log in color management.
- Improved EXIF metadata support for stills formats.
- Support for Sony Burano V3 clips.
- Intel QuickSync AV1 4:4:4 decode and encode support.
- Windows ARM H.265 10-bit 4:2:2 decode support.
- Per render job option to override RCM or ACES outputs.
General Improvements
- Powerful, expanded and flexible data burn-in window.
- Preferences and project settings can now be searched.
- Multi-user projects support dynamic project switching.
- Support for importing and exporting Final Cut Pro 12 FCPXML.
- Up to 3x faster file sync performance to Blackmagic Cloud.
- General performance and stability improvements.