Wow - not only are proxies awesome in DR but I just figured out that I can do proxies on subclips too. I often grab clips from videos that are an hour or 2 in length and I don't want to create a proxy for the entire video so I can create a subclip using an in and out point and it will create a proxy just for that subclip. AWESOME!
Thank you! I'm just learning about proxies, and this was the one disadvantage over optimized media. Now, there's no reason for me to use optimized media!
THANK YOU. I'm learning about the video editing world like a brick to the head. I made the mistake of recording 4K @ 60 FPS and my PC is NOT happy about trying to edit it in Resolve. This will be an amazing improvement. Thanks again, and take care!
@Shanoor Presswala My PC isn't super powerful either. It made a world of difference. I was trying to edit in high definition, and it was super laggy, time consuming, and frustrating. It took me forever. Converting the files to proxies smoothed things out a lot. It will take some time to convert, but in the end, it is very much worth it. In my opinion, of course 🙂
@Louise Corrans Generating the proxies has helped me a lot. Also, keep in mind that there is an icon near the top-right below the "Full Screen" button on the "Cut" page that drops down and allows you to change the resolution of the playback as well. That, combined with the proxies, should help. Good luck!
@CaseyFaris, you are amazing my friend. I have learnt so much about DR from watching your vids. Thank you. I love the idea of having the Proxies located in the same folder as the original footage.
I thought I knew everything about proxies but as usual you have taught me more. It would be cool to get a vid about the downsides, i.e. Fusion comps and coloring.
I started out with DR 17 and my PC struggled a little bit with editing back then. Now that I'm using DR 19, it's so frustrating that I have to my PC hangs or crashes because it can't handle my workflow any longer. Out of all these times that I've come across proxies, why am I just now researching the benefits! 😃 This sounds like an editing game changer!
Casey you lovable goof! I have been all over youtube looking for info on proxies (first time using BM RAW files) and should have come straight to you. I couldn't figure out how resolve knew one folder already had proxies and was using them while the other folder (b cam footage given to me with no proxies) was not referencing proxies. The line "resolve will automatically look for proxies in the media folder" told me all I needed to know. You're the best man, much appreciated
Random comment, but just wanted to drop by and say thanks for clarifying how the rendering doesn't use the proxy media by default! I've been trying to search on Google for an hour on whether the rendering can use the original media or not. For some reason this video is the first to give me an answer. So thanks a lot!
Thank you... BUT... can you explain whether we use Proxy files when doing colour grades or using Fusion for tracking or masking, etc?! How do we do those things when using proxies?? No-one seems to explain this, and it would be a great help as I imagine it is important to use the full / original footage when doing those things. I would really really appreciate your expert thoughts on this please. 🙂
@@KeyIntelMedia no, unfortunately. It seems like something that will affect almost everyone that uses proxies, but no-one answers this question even on the Blackmagic Davinci forums.
@@vivamoment thats the only thing when you have a big channel, you never get a reply, you could go over to darren mostyn channel, ask him on there as he really does try his best to get back to comments, and his a pro colourist hope you get this figured out
4:50 once the proxies have been created, if you want to add footage to the media pool, do you add the proxy, or, camera original and it finds the proxy in the proxy folder?
quick question, if you don't click generate proxy clip clicking on the "high res clip slowing you down", davinci won't use a proxy? As I had my playback "prefer proxies" option selected, I thought everything was a proxy already...? Is it not?? thank you soso much. I'm new to editing.
THANK YOU!! Finally somewhere that explains how to use your own proxy media. My Sony A7iv generates them automatically & I couldn't find anything showing how to use your own. People just kept explaining how to generate it in the program. Only thing is that it doesn't automatically link it for me when putting it in a "Proxy" folder in the location of the original 4k files. I have to "relink proxy media" every time myself. Which isn't a big deal but it would be cool if it just automatically did it
this is great. the only thing I'd say is that you shouldn't use H.264 as an edit proxy codec. prores proxy is the correct setting for smooth playback. h.264 will always give you issues with editing no matter how small the resolution is as it's not a codec designed for editing, it's an export codec.
I see you had H.264 as your proxy media codec. I heard that's not the preferred codec for editing as it gives playback problems being difficult to process, though I don't know if there have been any advancements with the codec recently that changed this issue. Normally, the suggested proxy codes are ProRes and DNxHD/HR. What do you think about this question, Casey? Is using H264 as an editing codec today safer? Why?
From my knowledge, there is really no reason to use H.264 as a proxy media codec. H.264 and subsequently H.265 are considered delivery codecs, meaning they're intended to be viewable as videos on the largest variety of platforms. In order for that to be a realistic goal, those codecs are heavily compressed so that they can be uploaded onto sites like Instagram and TH-cam, and when they're compressed, it usually means that your PC has to put more effort into rendering the video to watch it. This wouldn't be noticeable with 1080p H.264, more-so with 4k H.264. Proxy codecs, or editing codecs, such as ProRes and DNxHD/HR are decompressed files that have a much larger file size because they're decompressed right out of the gate, which means less stress on your hardware to decompress and edit with, but with that increase in file size as a tradeoff.
It is never recommended to create h264 proxies. Yes the new Macs and some other gpus are optimized for hardware decoding, but it is much better to generate either DNXLB or ProRes of a proxy flavor. This is the workflow of professionals, yes it takes up more room but it is much easier on your computer.
At 4:26 we have only two options h264 and h265 and if our footage is 8bit then there is only one option which is h264. So are you saying that never create proxies with h264 when we only have one option to go with?
@@realgouravverma I create all my proxies of 4k video in h265 and send it to an editor, with a very cheap windows laptop, to scrub and rough cut for me. She doesn't have any issues using it. I chose h265 because it's small enough to quickly dropbox 50 hours worth of video and send. So I say try it and see what ACTUALLY works for you.
Dear Casey, thanks for this overview of proxy workflow in Resolve. One question though: When you select H.264 at the proxy media format in the project settings, does this proxy file become intra-frame (aka easy editable)?
Easily the best advice on proxy media generation. Thanks Casey! (Seriously wish BMD would include the 'right click' generate proxy media option on the Cut tab though)
Awesome video as always, Casey! However, the biggest issue with the Proxy Generator App (or even generating proxies inside Davinci) is that in my case, if some of my recorded footage has a skipped frame, the generator hangs on it and eventually times out, instead of simply skipping the bad file/clip. I've resorted to just using Handbrake to create my own proxies and import them into Davinci. Thankfully, Davinci makes it super easy to link/unlink proxies.
Thank you so much! That Preference should be in the same place as the project setting, but I'm thankful that you pointed it out. I have a smallish SSD where I want the proxy to live for when I'm doing my multicam editing while the bigger files are on my spinning disks. I was really annoyed when it kept putting the proxies inside my media folders, especially in AVCHD files which you have to open in three extra steps. And OMG the proxy generator is going to be so much better for when I am ingesting my 6 cameras, it will be awesome to set up the proxies way before I start editing mode. This video is golden.
@caseyfaris another tip I have found on page 161 of Beginners Guide Lessons - the online DaVinci Resolve tutorials - "TIP You can switch back to the Keyframes Editor and hide the video scopes when the scopes aren’t needed to free up your graphics card’s processor and improve playback performance." Hope this helps someone else as well. Cheers my friends.
when Resolve makes h264 proxies, does it make every frame a keyframe? that would be smart... I notice that unlike the Deliver page, you can't specify how often you want a keyframe, and every frame being made a keyframe would go from interframe to intraframe compression; much better for editing!
I feel like we may have covered this before, but would you mind explaining the difference between optimized media and proxies, and why you would use one versus the other?
Optimized media is really the original way that DR dealt with Proxies. I suspect that it will go away but there is an advantage I have discovered. When working with clips that are 60FPS and you will change that to a 24FPS before it hits the timeline (essentially slowing it down) then Optimized media works better than Proxies because you can generate Optimized Media on the clips after you have changed the frame rate. Proxies will not let you do this. Proxies however, have the advantage of being a little more easily portable and with Proxy generator you can do other tasks while they generate. Optimized Media creation basically kills resolve for a while until it’s done.
I'm confused on the proxy folder suggestions. Don't understand why your first recommendation is to define a proxy folder in the project settings, but later in the video recommend setting Preferences to create a proxy subfolder where the media is located. I find that after setting the latter, Resolve uses that to create subfolders and ignores the proxy folder I designated in the project settings. Confused and would love clarification.. Thx
Good question, I learned about this today and it is already saving me time. The preference setting he spoke about at 2:48 is how you set the default for any media you drop in for all future projects. Davinci's default was always set in the C: drive and it filled up quick. Before I learned about that I had to change the setting each time (like he does in the project settings at 2:00 ) to prefer the Z drive where I put all my files. Now when I start a project without thinking, the proxies will default in the right place. PROJECT settings can overwrite the PREFERENCE setting defaults which won't change project to project.
Thank you. Sometimes my playback/scrubbing lags, and I think it may have a lot to do with my internet connection. But, I will try the proxies and hopefully, they will help. Cheers
Thanks so much for this, using proxies effectively is so essential for Resolve editing and it's taken me a while to get on top of it. Here is a possible very fast and space saving add-on to the process. I tend to discard between 50% and 90% of each of my source clips. If I understand proxies right, they render the entire source clip - so that is a lot of wasted rendering time and drive space. Today I tried the ffmpeg GUI LosslessCut and it is so fast (almost instantaneous) and useful. I can do rough cuts (which is my first stage in Resolve anyway) and then import to Resolve only those bits of my clips that are actually useful. Maybe I am missing something but seems such a valuable refinement even if it means using another program on the way in.
Under your top menu use File>Media Management and it will open a window where you can save a consolidated version of your media in a project - you tell it the size of the handles ( amount of frames on the front and back of your clips ) and save just the media that you used in the timeline. But if you are discarding media you can do a quick temp timeline and render in place as well.
Thanks @@JimRobinson-colors That's very interesting. But does it recode the consolidated version, if not it sounds really great? ... A few hours later. WOW, that is fantastic, thank you so much, what a difference this is going to make!
@@DancedZikrNZI didn't quite understand the difference between the ffmpeg GUI and Jim's answer... I know I'm late, but can you explain your workflow now so that I can mimic it? 🥹
@@shaggy4667 In my experience LosslessCut does an exact lossless cut to the clip which is wonderful however it is much harder work on multiple clips. The File>Media Management also does a lossless cut and it is very efficient with the right settings however I find it is not 100% accurate and also seems to upset the timeline clips every now and again so there is often a bit of fixing up later needed. Daria Fissoun goes into the capabilities of Media Management both on this channel (th-cam.com/video/aW88pI9i1R0/w-d-xo.html) and in one of the Resolve Con livestreams although I don't think she touches on the exact approach I am describing nor the bugs.
Although it's not as simples as the this method, I always prefer to generate the proxies in the media management window, because I have more control over the bitrate. Then I link the files manually. Sometimes I find the automatically generated files to be too large.
Deleting and regenerating proxies? Having generated proxies for a whole folder or two full of clips (in scattered locations), I find that the resolution setting was too high, and nothing much changed. I want to regenerate the proxies. Do I need to delete the old ones first (if so, how?) or will Davinci automatically over-write the old ones? Cheers for all the great video and info, Casey!
I'm curious if you know of a way to preserve camera metadata in proxies? the proxies I'm making are "ProRes 422 Proxy" and are stripped of all metadata from my raw media.
Awesome sauce...I am going to try this; I have a 'new' gaming laptop w higher end vid card + 8t ext drive.... but DavRes still seems to flake out and crash periodically.....Really hoping this alleviates that issue....we'll see
Definitely super frustrating not having smooth timeline scrolling...but generating proxy media is SO time consuming! (nolt not mention disk space) Kinda nice how Studio utilizes GPU cycles for it as well but ProRez files on the timeline are crazy smooth compared to H264 or H265
I HAVE the full version but i go up to 2k the most,is it neseccary to create this way of proxy thing which i saw you and i ve already done it?🙂and one more when i render it will create the proxy by it self always?THANKS A LOT Casey! Paul Athens Gr.👍 Fantastic explanation,keep on!
This is great! Question: At 5:00 you mention "wherever you dump your footage." Is that the location where the original files are located, or Davinci Resolve folders?
Thank you so very much! I have really enjoyed learning more about Davinci Resolve from you. I love Black magic and bought the full version because I want to support companies that give me the tools without subscriptions and all that. I just went from osmo action 1 camera to the new osmo action 4 and it has these .LRF files. I had no idea. So now I had to learn about proxies lol So it generates them and has them alongside the originals in the folder straight from the camera. seems strange to me. but ok. file size and memory card space. anyway. I have been told I have to rename the .LRF to .mp4 and place it in its own folder and then point davinci resolve to that folder for proxies. I notice, if I instead, generate proxies from a video davinci makes it a .MOV file. I guess either way will work? I really dont know why they include it. love your videos! thanks so much. I am learning. Someday I will figure this out enough to have fun lol
After you create proxies do you change your timeline resolution? because they aspect ratio of the proxies is smaller, so i end up with a lot of black in the canvas. Whats the best way ?
Thanks for the video! I've just started using Davinci Resolve 18 and my poor computer is doing its best, but I optimized it for music production and not video, so it cries when it tries to process 4k video + fusion compositions
Does the "generate proxy media" only appear if you are on "Edit" function? I only see "optimized media" on mine, DaVinci resolve 18, and I am a total beginner please help.
I think proxies with shot imagery works but when incorporating background stills or footage from other sources, it gets ouf of sync. I format to proxies and suddenly the background imagery covers just part of the frame. I even tried making everything into proxies (including the backgrounds). Same problem.
Question: When I try to do what you show, it fails. Is this supposed to be done before I begin editing anything? Can it be done during editing? Also, are you using the paid or free version? I myself am using the free version and while it's great, I have nothing but issues with playback, so I have to waste time and space rendering and re-rendering to find out what my project actually looks like. Any help would be appreciated!
Should we "Disable all proxies" before jumping over Color? Does the timeline still know to Deliver at full rez or do we have to change that setting before Delivery/Export?
can we do triple monitors instead of dual screen!!! reason asking bc I'm in need of three monitors because I use three cameras for work. When I'm editing, I prefer to have three monitors to display each camera's footage separately. This makes it much easier for me to review and select clips during timeline editing. Do you have any alternative suggestions?
I work a lot with remote editors. Usually I'll record in 709 (sometimes i like the safety of braw so ill colour my clips then send) to them. Sometimes their internet isn't great. i typically send them 2k res files to create 4x5 and 9x16 cuts from. even though it requires more computation, should I use h264 or DnxHR?
thank you really needed this video xD quick question I noticed when editing proxies I can't change my raw camera settings like iso, color temp etc is there a way around this? thanks in advance!
noob question here, is there a difference between setting playback to half in high resolution, versus generating a proxy with half the size in full resolution.
Thank you Casey! I'm currently having trouble with linking proxies with a collaborator. I generated proxies, and sent him only the proxies (he is currently working with the free version, and I have the studio version). He assembled a timeline, but when I open it, Davinci won't link to the original 4k footage. Do you have to bring in the original 4k footage into the timeline first in order for the proxies to link up, or is there another way? I know it would better if he just had the studio version, and had access to the original footage, but for now this is the problem. Any help?
I would have liked to know more about using the watch folder. When I clicked on the Proxy Generator ap, a window opened that said 'add watch folder' but I don't know where I should put it.
@1:05 - The "Generate Proxy Media..." option shown here does not show up when you are on the cut page. This stumped me for a while.
Good tip, cheers
my man you just saved my life as i was trying to understand why generating proxies was taking SO LONG you are the besttttttttttttt
Thanks!
Thank you!!!
Wow - not only are proxies awesome in DR but I just figured out that I can do proxies on subclips too. I often grab clips from videos that are an hour or 2 in length and I don't want to create a proxy for the entire video so I can create a subclip using an in and out point and it will create a proxy just for that subclip. AWESOME!
This is a great tip!!!
Thank you! I'm just learning about proxies, and this was the one disadvantage over optimized media. Now, there's no reason for me to use optimized media!
The best explanation/walk-through of proxies I've seen. Thank you!
THANK YOU. I'm learning about the video editing world like a brick to the head. I made the mistake of recording 4K @ 60 FPS and my PC is NOT happy about trying to edit it in Resolve. This will be an amazing improvement. Thanks again, and take care!
Did using proxies make a big difference in editing? My laptop isn't that powerful so just wondering how it worked out for you.
@Shanoor Presswala My PC isn't super powerful either. It made a world of difference. I was trying to edit in high definition, and it was super laggy, time consuming, and frustrating. It took me forever. Converting the files to proxies smoothed things out a lot. It will take some time to convert, but in the end, it is very much worth it. In my opinion, of course 🙂
I am struggling with the same.
@Louise Corrans Generating the proxies has helped me a lot. Also, keep in mind that there is an icon near the top-right below the "Full Screen" button on the "Cut" page that drops down and allows you to change the resolution of the playback as well. That, combined with the proxies, should help. Good luck!
My pc prefers 4K 25fps proxies to 1080 60fps proxies!
@CaseyFaris, you are amazing my friend. I have learnt so much about DR from watching your vids. Thank you. I love the idea of having the Proxies located in the same folder as the original footage.
I am new to editing world and learning about proxies is like finding a cheat code.
My editing became so fast
Thank you
Man!!! This just cuts down SO much time not having to go and generate proxies before editing every time!!!
I thought I knew everything about proxies but as usual you have taught me more. It would be cool to get a vid about the downsides, i.e. Fusion comps and coloring.
I started out with DR 17 and my PC struggled a little bit with editing back then. Now that I'm using DR 19, it's so frustrating that I have to my PC hangs or crashes because it can't handle my workflow any longer. Out of all these times that I've come across proxies, why am I just now researching the benefits! 😃 This sounds like an editing game changer!
Casey you lovable goof! I have been all over youtube looking for info on proxies (first time using BM RAW files) and should have come straight to you. I couldn't figure out how resolve knew one folder already had proxies and was using them while the other folder (b cam footage given to me with no proxies) was not referencing proxies. The line "resolve will automatically look for proxies in the media folder" told me all I needed to know. You're the best man, much appreciated
Random comment, but just wanted to drop by and say thanks for clarifying how the rendering doesn't use the proxy media by default!
I've been trying to search on Google for an hour on whether the rendering can use the original media or not. For some reason this video is the first to give me an answer. So thanks a lot!
You are the best. Found you through Kevin Stratvert's profile when you did a collaboration. Love your guy's stuff. You both rock!! Thank You!!
👍
Thank you... BUT... can you explain whether we use Proxy files when doing colour grades or using Fusion for tracking or masking, etc?! How do we do those things when using proxies?? No-one seems to explain this, and it would be a great help as I imagine it is important to use the full / original footage when doing those things.
I would really really appreciate your expert thoughts on this please. 🙂
did you ever get this figured out?
@@KeyIntelMedia no, unfortunately. It seems like something that will affect almost everyone that uses proxies, but no-one answers this question even on the Blackmagic Davinci forums.
@@vivamoment thats the only thing when you have a big channel, you never get a reply, you could go over to darren mostyn channel, ask him on there as he really does try his best to get back to comments, and his a pro colourist hope you get this figured out
@@stehume thank you for the suggestion. I'll do that.
Ive always read/watched that u use OG when color or compositing. Proxies for editing and playback...
One more thing! I have a plan to watch all your videos because tbh you are the best sensei! Truly. Thank you again, and please be safe!🙏
Thank you so much Casey!!! This is so much of an easier way to create proxies than I've ever seen. Yes!!!
1.Are proxies also better for remote desktop editing via your laptop remotely?
2.What software would you recommend for remote editing with little lag?
Saving my editing-evening as always! Thanks as always!
4:50 once the proxies have been created, if you want to add footage to the media pool, do you add the proxy, or, camera original and it finds the proxy in the proxy folder?
Fantastic mate!
Awesome video thank you !
I’m coming over from Final Cut Pro and loved using proxies there.
But this looks way quicker can’t wait to try it!
Thank you so much brother!!
This video saved my computer from going on the recycle bin.
I can't believe how slick proxy's are.✌️
quick question, if you don't click generate proxy clip clicking on the "high res clip slowing you down", davinci won't use a proxy?
As I had my playback "prefer proxies" option selected, I thought everything was a proxy already...? Is it not?? thank you soso much. I'm new to editing.
that is life saving and passion restoring
THANK YOU!! Finally somewhere that explains how to use your own proxy media. My Sony A7iv generates them automatically & I couldn't find anything showing how to use your own. People just kept explaining how to generate it in the program. Only thing is that it doesn't automatically link it for me when putting it in a "Proxy" folder in the location of the original 4k files. I have to "relink proxy media" every time myself. Which isn't a big deal but it would be cool if it just automatically did it
this is great. the only thing I'd say is that you shouldn't use H.264 as an edit proxy codec. prores proxy is the correct setting for smooth playback. h.264 will always give you issues with editing no matter how small the resolution is as it's not a codec designed for editing, it's an export codec.
Is ProRes 422 Proxy the best for smooth playback?
Oh
Would that not depend on whether or not you're on a mac or PC?
I see you had H.264 as your proxy media codec. I heard that's not the preferred codec for editing as it gives playback problems being difficult to process, though I don't know if there have been any advancements with the codec recently that changed this issue. Normally, the suggested proxy codes are ProRes and DNxHD/HR. What do you think about this question, Casey? Is using H264 as an editing codec today safer? Why?
Good question, I'd also love to know the answer.
+2
From my knowledge, there is really no reason to use H.264 as a proxy media codec. H.264 and subsequently H.265 are considered delivery codecs, meaning they're intended to be viewable as videos on the largest variety of platforms. In order for that to be a realistic goal, those codecs are heavily compressed so that they can be uploaded onto sites like Instagram and TH-cam, and when they're compressed, it usually means that your PC has to put more effort into rendering the video to watch it. This wouldn't be noticeable with 1080p H.264, more-so with 4k H.264.
Proxy codecs, or editing codecs, such as ProRes and DNxHD/HR are decompressed files that have a much larger file size because they're decompressed right out of the gate, which means less stress on your hardware to decompress and edit with, but with that increase in file size as a tradeoff.
It is never recommended to create h264 proxies. Yes the new Macs and some other gpus are optimized for hardware decoding, but it is much better to generate either DNXLB or ProRes of a proxy flavor. This is the workflow of professionals, yes it takes up more room but it is much easier on your computer.
Glad to see this! I forget where I was told to use DNXLB, but it's nice to know it was correct advise. Thank you! 😁
At 4:26 we have only two options h264 and h265 and if our footage is 8bit then there is only one option which is h264. So are you saying that never create proxies with h264 when we only have one option to go with?
@@realgouravverma I create all my proxies of 4k video in h265 and send it to an editor, with a very cheap windows laptop, to scrub and rough cut for me. She doesn't have any issues using it. I chose h265 because it's small enough to quickly dropbox 50 hours worth of video and send. So I say try it and see what ACTUALLY works for you.
@@realgouravvermaYou can use ffmpg and do it whatever codec you want
I tried to use Proxies and Wow haw fast the editing is with proxies, amazing!
Dear Casey, thanks for this overview of proxy workflow in Resolve. One question though: When you select H.264 at the proxy media format in the project settings, does this proxy file become intra-frame (aka easy editable)?
This is a good question! Hope he replies.
Serendipitous man I just reimaged my machine and spaced setting up proxies and was hating life. Came along at just the right time :D
This just made my life easier. Thank you.
I would like this video a thousand times if I could!
That's incredible! Thank you!
Proxies are such a huge time saver.
Easily the best advice on proxy media generation. Thanks Casey! (Seriously wish BMD would include the 'right click' generate proxy media option on the Cut tab though)
Awesome video as always, Casey! However, the biggest issue with the Proxy Generator App (or even generating proxies inside Davinci) is that in my case, if some of my recorded footage has a skipped frame, the generator hangs on it and eventually times out, instead of simply skipping the bad file/clip. I've resorted to just using Handbrake to create my own proxies and import them into Davinci. Thankfully, Davinci makes it super easy to link/unlink proxies.
Thanks! Could you confirm if this this still the case?
Thank you so much! That Preference should be in the same place as the project setting, but I'm thankful that you pointed it out. I have a smallish SSD where I want the proxy to live for when I'm doing my multicam editing while the bigger files are on my spinning disks. I was really annoyed when it kept putting the proxies inside my media folders, especially in AVCHD files which you have to open in three extra steps. And OMG the proxy generator is going to be so much better for when I am ingesting my 6 cameras, it will be awesome to set up the proxies way before I start editing mode. This video is golden.
@caseyfaris another tip I have found on page 161 of Beginners Guide Lessons - the online DaVinci Resolve tutorials - "TIP You can switch back to the Keyframes Editor and hide the video scopes when the scopes aren’t needed to free up your graphics card’s processor and improve playback performance." Hope this helps someone else as well. Cheers my friends.
Cheers for this, editing 4K footage has been irritating on this laptop so hopefully this helps.
when Resolve makes h264 proxies, does it make every frame a keyframe? that would be smart... I notice that unlike the Deliver page, you can't specify how often you want a keyframe, and every frame being made a keyframe would go from interframe to intraframe compression; much better for editing!
I feel like we may have covered this before, but would you mind explaining the difference between optimized media and proxies, and why you would use one versus the other?
Optimized media is really the original way that DR dealt with Proxies. I suspect that it will go away but there is an advantage I have discovered. When working with clips that are 60FPS and you will change that to a 24FPS before it hits the timeline (essentially slowing it down) then Optimized media works better than Proxies because you can generate Optimized Media on the clips after you have changed the frame rate. Proxies will not let you do this. Proxies however, have the advantage of being a little more easily portable and with Proxy generator you can do other tasks while they generate. Optimized Media creation basically kills resolve for a while until it’s done.
@@upwardfilmspnwweddingvideo1099 thanks a lot, that's very helpful!
Thanks for asking because I was unsure about this too!
@@upwardfilmspnwweddingvideo1099 Thanks so much for this answer. Been wondering about it forever. I will be switching to proxies now.
this breakdown video was on point 🔥🔥🔥
You're the man, Casey.
Thanks mate, I still have yet to be able to upgrade my computer and this is super helpful.
This was so damn helpful. Clear and concise. Thanks Casey
Thats was most straight forwrd video on this topic!
I'm confused on the proxy folder suggestions. Don't understand why your first recommendation is to define a proxy folder in the project settings, but later in the video recommend setting Preferences to create a proxy subfolder where the media is located. I find that after setting the latter, Resolve uses that to create subfolders and ignores the proxy folder I designated in the project settings. Confused and would love clarification.. Thx
Good question, I learned about this today and it is already saving me time.
The preference setting he spoke about at 2:48 is how you set the default for any media you drop in for all future projects. Davinci's default was always set in the C: drive and it filled up quick. Before I learned about that I had to change the setting each time (like he does in the project settings at 2:00 ) to prefer the Z drive where I put all my files. Now when I start a project without thinking, the proxies will default in the right place. PROJECT settings can overwrite the PREFERENCE setting defaults which won't change project to project.
Thank you. Sometimes my playback/scrubbing lags, and I think it may have a lot to do with my internet connection. But, I will try the proxies and hopefully, they will help.
Cheers
Thanks so much for this, using proxies effectively is so essential for Resolve editing and it's taken me a while to get on top of it. Here is a possible very fast and space saving add-on to the process. I tend to discard between 50% and 90% of each of my source clips. If I understand proxies right, they render the entire source clip - so that is a lot of wasted rendering time and drive space. Today I tried the ffmpeg GUI LosslessCut and it is so fast (almost instantaneous) and useful. I can do rough cuts (which is my first stage in Resolve anyway) and then import to Resolve only those bits of my clips that are actually useful. Maybe I am missing something but seems such a valuable refinement even if it means using another program on the way in.
Under your top menu use File>Media Management and it will open a window where you can save a consolidated version of your media in a project - you tell it the size of the handles ( amount of frames on the front and back of your clips ) and save just the media that you used in the timeline.
But if you are discarding media you can do a quick temp timeline and render in place as well.
Thanks @@JimRobinson-colors That's very interesting. But does it recode the consolidated version, if not it sounds really great? ... A few hours later. WOW, that is fantastic, thank you so much, what a difference this is going to make!
@@DancedZikrNZI didn't quite understand the difference between the ffmpeg GUI and Jim's answer... I know I'm late, but can you explain your workflow now so that I can mimic it? 🥹
@@shaggy4667 In my experience LosslessCut does an exact lossless cut to the clip which is wonderful however it is much harder work on multiple clips. The File>Media Management also does a lossless cut and it is very efficient with the right settings however I find it is not 100% accurate and also seems to upset the timeline clips every now and again so there is often a bit of fixing up later needed. Daria Fissoun goes into the capabilities of Media Management both on this channel (th-cam.com/video/aW88pI9i1R0/w-d-xo.html) and in one of the Resolve Con livestreams although I don't think she touches on the exact approach I am describing nor the bugs.
This video was extremely helpful. I just upgraded my gear to 4k and my video was playing back poorly. Thank you so much!
Although it's not as simples as the this method, I always prefer to generate the proxies in the media management window, because I have more control over the bitrate. Then I link the files manually.
Sometimes I find the automatically generated files to be too large.
Fantastic tutorail, can't say thank you enough!
Gosh, I need a better computer ASAP 😂😂😂 Thanks man, proxies are really helping me
Thank you so much for this!
Thanks so much for this!
Deleting and regenerating proxies?
Having generated proxies for a whole folder or two full of clips (in scattered locations), I find that the resolution setting was too high, and nothing much changed. I want to regenerate the proxies. Do I need to delete the old ones first (if so, how?) or will Davinci automatically over-write the old ones?
Cheers for all the great video and info, Casey!
I'm curious if you know of a way to preserve camera metadata in proxies? the proxies I'm making are "ProRes 422 Proxy" and are stripped of all metadata from my raw media.
Awesome sauce...I am going to try this; I have a 'new' gaming laptop w higher end vid card + 8t ext drive.... but DavRes still seems to flake out and crash periodically.....Really hoping this alleviates that issue....we'll see
Awesome, thanks for your video!!
awesome dude, thank you
Definitely super frustrating not having smooth timeline scrolling...but generating proxy media is SO time consuming! (nolt not mention disk space) Kinda nice how Studio utilizes GPU cycles for it as well but ProRez files on the timeline are crazy smooth compared to H264 or H265
I HAVE the full version but i go up to 2k the most,is it neseccary to create this way of proxy thing which i saw you and i ve already done it?🙂and one more when i render it will create the proxy by it self always?THANKS A LOT Casey! Paul Athens Gr.👍 Fantastic explanation,keep on!
Thank you!!!! This is great!
I needed this! Now that I'm working with footage from multiple GoPro 360 cameras, performance has become a significant issue
Casey you are a star I was going to request this video as the subject was vexing me! Much clearer now thank you! 🙏
This is great! Question: At 5:00 you mention "wherever you dump your footage." Is that the location where the original files are located, or Davinci Resolve folders?
Thank you so very much! I have really enjoyed learning more about Davinci Resolve from you. I love Black magic and bought the full version because I want to support companies that give me the tools without subscriptions and all that. I just went from osmo action 1 camera to the new osmo action 4 and it has these .LRF files. I had no idea. So now I had to learn about proxies lol So it generates them and has them alongside the originals in the folder straight from the camera. seems strange to me. but ok. file size and memory card space. anyway. I have been told I have to rename the .LRF to .mp4 and place it in its own folder and then point davinci resolve to that folder for proxies. I notice, if I instead, generate proxies from a video davinci makes it a .MOV file. I guess either way will work? I really dont know why they include it. love your videos! thanks so much. I am learning. Someday I will figure this out enough to have fun lol
After you create proxies do you change your timeline resolution? because they aspect ratio of the proxies is smaller, so i end up with a lot of black in the canvas. Whats the best way ?
Same issue here! have you found a solution to it?
This video is so useful!!! Thank you for making this content
Can anyone clarify what the proxy resolution setting refers to? Half of what? Timeline resolution or original footage?
Thank you so much for this! I use proxies, but didn't know most of this!
Just the video I needed ❤️
Is there a way to generate a proxy media for the whole timeline? I'm doing a voice-over and it's really hard to do with the lag.
Thank you Casey! What I've been looking for :)
Casey is good dude making pretty cool videos about DVR.
Thank you so much! This has helped me immensely!
Super helpful video, thank you!
Thanks for the video! I've just started using Davinci Resolve 18 and my poor computer is doing its best, but I optimized it for music production and not video, so it cries when it tries to process 4k video + fusion compositions
Does the "generate proxy media" only appear if you are on "Edit" function? I only see "optimized media" on mine, DaVinci resolve 18, and I am a total beginner please help.
Good video bro very helpful 👍
Do proxies have to be created on the internal hard drive or can it be created also on external SSD?
Does resolve have an option for full res preview when paused?
I think proxies with shot imagery works but when incorporating background stills or footage from other sources, it gets ouf of sync. I format to proxies and suddenly the background imagery covers just part of the frame. I even tried making everything into proxies (including the backgrounds). Same problem.
Question: When I try to do what you show, it fails. Is this supposed to be done before I begin editing anything? Can it be done during editing? Also, are you using the paid or free version? I myself am using the free version and while it's great, I have nothing but issues with playback, so I have to waste time and space rendering and re-rendering to find out what my project actually looks like. Any help would be appreciated!
the free version is kinda limited in its use of hardware acceleration and codec handling. most probably your problems result from that.
Should we "Disable all proxies" before jumping over Color? Does the timeline still know to Deliver at full rez or do we have to change that setting before Delivery/Export?
I don't get the option to create proxies. I have way less options than you when I right click. What am I doing wrong?
go to the edit page , the cut page doesn't provide proxy option
can we do triple monitors instead of dual screen!!! reason asking bc I'm in need of three monitors because I use three cameras for work. When I'm editing, I prefer to have three monitors to display each camera's footage separately. This makes it much easier for me to review and select clips during timeline editing. Do you have any alternative suggestions?
@CaseyFaris brother, whats the difference between doing it this way inside your DAW, or doing it via the Blackmagic Proxy Generator ??
Cheers
I work a lot with remote editors. Usually I'll record in 709 (sometimes i like the safety of braw so ill colour my clips then send) to them. Sometimes their internet isn't great. i typically send them 2k res files to create 4x5 and 9x16 cuts from. even though it requires more computation, should I use h264 or DnxHR?
thank you really needed this video xD quick question I noticed when editing proxies I can't change my raw camera settings like iso, color temp etc is there a way around this? thanks in advance!
noob question here, is there a difference between setting playback to half in high resolution, versus generating a proxy with half the size in full resolution.
so what is the difference between using the proxy generator and the media management?
Thank you Casey! I'm currently having trouble with linking proxies with a collaborator. I generated proxies, and sent him only the proxies (he is currently working with the free version, and I have the studio version). He assembled a timeline, but when I open it, Davinci won't link to the original 4k footage. Do you have to bring in the original 4k footage into the timeline first in order for the proxies to link up, or is there another way? I know it would better if he just had the studio version, and had access to the original footage, but for now this is the problem. Any help?
Can anyone explain diffirent between proxy and optimized media 😵💫 i have a little bit confuse
Thank you! How to use prixies with multicam
When color grading, does Resolve use the proxies or the camera originals?
Whatever you choose to work on. Just switch the mode. It is recommended to work on original footage when working on colors.
Thank you. Would you if this would work working from an external 5400rpm HDD connected to a mac mini m2 via usb 3.1 (5gbps)?
I would have liked to know more about using the watch folder. When I clicked on the Proxy Generator ap, a window opened that said 'add watch folder' but I don't know where I should put it.