User Manual

Deleting Optimized Media
The optimized media you generate within a project is persistent; it’s saved for future use even
when the project is closed and later reopened. If you need to delete optimized media to free up
space on your scratch volume (or wherever you’ve decided to locate your project’s cache files),
you can do so with a single command.
To clear optimized media:
Open the project, and choose Playback > Delete Optimized Media.
Using Optimized Media for Delivery
An option in the More options section of the Render Settings in the Deliver page,
“UseOptimized Media,” lets you output using Optimized Media, rather than the original media,
in order to save rendering time. If you’re planning on using this option, it’s advisable to set the
Optimized media format to a suitably high-quality HDR-capable format to guarantee the
best results.
Using the Smart or User Cache
ImprovesEffects Performance
Another option for achieving real time performance when the GPU Status indicator is in the red
due either to Timeline effects, Color page grading, or processor-intensive media in the
Timeline, is to use the Smart Cache or User Cache modes of the Render Cache. What
DaVinci Resolve calls “caching” is sometimes referred to by other applications as “rendering.”
Both terms refer to the behind-the-scenes creation of new media, with all effects “baked in,”
which DaVinci Resolve plays back in real time in place of the original source media containing
processor-intensive effects at the same time. This results in smooth playback without the risk of
dropped frames.
The DaVinci Resolve Smart Cache and User Cache automatically render and cache clips,
including simple video clips, compound clips, Fusion clips, and nested timelines that have
processor-intensive grades and effects applied to them, or that you manually flag for caching by
right-clicking any clip in the Color page or Edit page timeline and enabling the Render Cache
Clip Output option. When the Smart or User Caches are enabled, frames of each automatically
or manually flagged clip are cached either during playback in the Timeline, or automatically
whenever you pause work, to the “Cache files location” specified in the Master Settings panel
of the Project Settings.
The settings governing caching in the Master Settings panel of the Project Settings
Once you’ve cached clips in the Timeline, they play back in real time until they’re modified,
which automatically flushes the now out-of-date cache files for those modified clips and
triggers the need to re-cache.
Chapter – 6 Improving Performance, Proxies, andthe RenderCache 207