User Manual

NOTE: This changes when you apply Fusion effects to any clip, as described later in
this chapter.
Clip Source Resolution
Clip resolution in DaVinci Resolve is handled by the combination of Pixel Aspect Ratio
and Resolution.
Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR)
The Timeline Format settings, found in the Master Settings of the Project Settings, let you
specify a Pixel Aspect Ratio for the project, in addition to the frame size. This setting defaults to
Square Pixel, which is appropriate for high definition projects and most digital media. However,
there are also options for 16:9 anamorphic, 4:3 standard definition, or Cinemascope. Which
options are available depends on what timeline resolution you’ve selected.
In addition, each clip has individually adjustable PAR settings in the clip attributes, for situations
where you’re mixing multiple types of media within a single project. For example, if you’re
mixing SD clips with non-square pixels and HD clips with square pixels, you can sort out all of
the SD clips in the Media Pool and assign them the appropriate NTSC or PAL non-square pixel
ratio PAR setting. For more information, see Chapter 14, “Modifying Clips and Clip Attributes.”
Clip Resolution
Ordinarily, the resolution of a clip is entirely dependent on the resolution that was selected
when that media was shot, or rendered out of a compositing, VFX, or 3D application. Once a
piece of media has been created, the native resolution of that media cannot be changed, and to
maintain the ideal amount of sharpness for that clip, you need to make sure that whatever
transforms you apply to resize a clip zoom into that clip no more than 10-20% over its native
resolution (if even that), otherwise the image will visibly soften.
However, DaVinci Resolve provides advanced Super Scale image processing in the Clip
Attributes of every video and image clip, that make it possible to resize clips beyond their native
resolution while maintaining the perceptible sharpness of a clip that’s still within it’s native
resolution. This is an illusion, but it’s a convincing one.
The DaVinci Resolve Sizing Pipeline
This section discusses the various sizing controls that are available in DaVinci Resolve, and how
they work together.
“Super Scale” High Quality Upscaling
For instances when you need higher-quality upscaling than the standard Resize Filters allow,
you can now enable one of three “Super Scale” options in the Video panel of the Clip Attributes
window for one or more selected clips. Unlike using one of the numerous scaling options in the
Edit, Fusion, or Color pages, Super Scale actually increases the source resolution of the clip
being processed, which means that clip will have more pixels than it did before and will be more
processor-intensive to work with than before, unless you optimize the clip (which bakes in the
Super Scale effect into the optimized media) or cache the clip in some way.
Chapter – 9 Image Sizing and Resolution Independence 264