Hello guys, these days I made a new post about editing proxies which is available in Davinci Resolve 17 and 18beta. The method cited in the current post is still working but on my opinion it’s tougher/slower than the method I am describing in the newer post. Here is the link to it in case you are interested:
Davinci Resolve – Working with Proxies – New Way available in version 17 and 18Beta
Hi guys I decided to make a written tutorial about how to work with proxies. I think that this skill is essential when you work with high quality footage and it’s a must if you are video editor and if you appreciate your computer and his lifespan. ; )
Open Davinci Resolve make a new project and:
1. Import original footage.
2. Make a timeline with one of the clip selected. Go to Edit Screen.
3. Make 3 folders under the Master bin.
– Timelines.
– Original Footage.
– Proxies.
4. Put respectively the original footage into the original folder and the timeline into the timeline folder.
5. Click, drag and hold the desired original footage into the timeline.
6. (Optionally) Pick a color label for the original footage – in my case I picked teal.
7. Select all of the original footage from the Timeline and go to File -> Media Management.
8. Now we are going to create the proxies.
First of all choose a destination on your hard drive and make a folder where your proxies will be stored.
After that go into Davinci Resolve and choose from the settings window the desired folder where the proxies will be created.
9. After that go to Transcode setting window under the same Media Management main window.
Select the video format – QuickTime
Codec – DNxHR
Type DNxHR LB
This is Davinci friendly codec.
Change the resolution from full hd to 960×540.
This is optional setting. You can choose your own if your machine is weaker than mine.
You can see the icons at the bottom of the Media Management panel. They indicate the current size of your original footage and the New Size of the Proxies.
10. You click start and wait for the proxies to be created.
At the bottom there is a red bar that indicated the progress.
11. Go to your Proxies folder and drag and drop your proxies into the Proxies bin in Davinci Resolve. Don’t change their names. It must be the same as the names of the original footage. And it’s good to not have any names that are duplicated. – Only unique names.
Pick Olive label color for them.
12. Select all of the original footage into the timeline and click right mouse button. De-select the option – Conform Lock Enabled. It must not have a tick(v). And it must have a red squarish icon under the image indicator of the selected clip.
13. Select all your original footage from the timeline and go to
File – > Reconform from bins.
14. Now you are into the Conform from Bins main setting window.
Put a tick(v) in to the “Set clips to Conform Lock Enabled after conform” – this setting enables the original settings of your clips – the default settings.
Put a tick(v) into the File Name and choose Loose file name match.
Finally From “Choose Conform Bins” Erase the tick(v) from the Master and pick Proxies.
Click OK.
The footage on the timeline must change the color to Olive green. That means that right now we are using the proxies instead of the original 4k footage.
15. Now make your edits. When you are done select again all the footage from the timeline// the proxies. We are going to use the same process.
Right click on them and choose “Conform Lock Enabled“.
PS: If some of your files don’t have red squire mark it can be because they become so small after the editing so you must scroll and zoom. Than you can see that in fact they also have a red square mark.
16. Select all your proxies footage and go to File – > Reconform from Bins.
Everything must be the same you erase the tick(v) from Master folder and you pick Original footage folder.
Click OK.
Now the footage it must be teal and that means that you are working again with your original footage.
That’s it. You have edited your proxies instead of your original footage and now you are back to your already edited original footage. This procedure must be always done if you are working with bigger or HD files that can’t be very well processed by your machine.
Now you can render your final product and be happy ; )
PS: You can go and delete your proxies files from your Proxies Folder if you want.
I didn’t created that method but for me it’s much faster to read and scroll through images than to watch and wait for the really important moments when learning from video. If you can use fast reading and photo reading techniques you can learn even faster.
Have a nice day ; )
Amusika 