User Manual

Input Scaling Project Setting
If the native resolution of an imported clip doesn’t match the timeline resolution, then the
currently selected Input Scaling Preset in the Image Scaling panel of the Project Settings
dictates how mismatched clips will be handled project-wide. The default setting is “Scale entire
image to fit,” which shrinks or enlarges the image to fit the current dimensions of the frame
without cropping any part of the image, adding letterboxing or pillarboxing as necessary to fill
the unused portion of the frame depending on whether the horizontal or vertical dimension of
the image hits the edge of the frame first.
The Mismatched resolution files option let you choose how clips that don’t match the current
project resolution are handled. The illustrated examples below show an SD clip being fit into an
HD project using each of the different options.
 Center crop with no resizing: Clips of differing resolution are not scaled at all. Clips
that are smaller than the current frame size are surrounded by blanking, and clips that
are larger than the current frame size are cropped. Keep in mind that this is a good
setting to use if you’re importing a timeline from another NLE in which clip resolution
adjustments are imported as scaling adjustments. Choosing “Center Crop with no
resizing” prevents DaVinci Resolve from “double scaling” clips in imported timelines.
 Scale full frame with crop: Clips of differing resolution are scaled so that the clip fills
the frame with no blanking. Excess pixels are cropped. This is a good setting when you
want clips that don’t match the project resolution to automatically fill the frame, with no
letterboxing or pillarboxing.
 Scale entire image to fit: The default setting. Clips of differing resolution are scaled
so that each clip fills the frame without cropping. The dimension that falls short has
blanking inserted (letterboxing or pillarboxing). This is a good setting when you want
clips that don’t match the project resolution to automatically fit into the frame without
being cropped in any way, and you’re fine with letterboxing or pillarboxing as a result.
However, if you’ve imported a timeline from another NLE and there are clips that are
twice as big as they should be, it’s because this setting is on by default, and your
imported timeline has imported scaling settings used to resize clips that didn’t match
the timeline resolution. If this happens, switch to “Center crop with no resizing” instead,
and that will fix the problem.
Chapter – 9 Image Sizing and Resolution Independence 268