User Manual

Table Of Contents
Auto Correction in the Primaries Mode Controls
The Auto Color command provides a quick way to automatically balance the blacks and whites
of a clip based on the current frame at the position of the playhead. As of DaVinci Resolve 16,
the A button in the Color Wheels palette and the Shot Match command available from the
Thumbnail Timeline contextual menu both now use advanced algorithms, based on the DaVinci
Neural Engine, to provide superior results when automatically adjusting color balance and
contrast. These controls have been developed to provide optimal results when working in the
Rec.709 color space, and at a gamma of 2.4, so they work well in conjunction with using
Resolve Color Management (RCM) to normalize media first.
For more information on using these, see Chapter 116, “Automated Grading Commands and
Imported Grades.
The Log Mode of the Color Wheels Palette
The Shadow/Midtone/Highlight color balance and Master Wheel controls operate
independently of the Lift/Gamma/Gain color balance and Master Wheel controls found in the
Primaries mode. While the Log mode uses the same types of controls as the Primaries mode,
the way each control affects the image is very different.
To switch between the Primaries and Log modes of the Color Wheels:
Choose an option from the mode drop-down, click the right mode button, or press Option-Z.
Log color wheels, with behavior that is very different from the Primaries mode color wheels
There are two ways of using the Log mode controls. The first takes advantage of the way these
controls work to make fast, filmic adjustments to log-encoded media while it’s being normalized
or “ de-logged” by operations that are performed using nodes appearing after it in the image
processing pipeline of your node tree. Normalizing or de-logging the image can be done via
Color Space Transform operations, LUTs, and manual adjustments if you’re grading using
DaVinci YRGB color science. If you’re using color management, they can be done via the
Output Color Space setting of Resolve Color Management (RCM), or via the ACES Output
Device Transform (ODT).
The other way of using the Log controls is to take advantage of the more restrictive, but
adjustable tonal range of the Shadow/Midtone/Highlight controls to stylize normalized clips by
tinting or adjusting the contrast of tonally-specific regions of the image.
Chapter – 117 Primary Grading Controls 2658