Nobody wants to spend an eternity in front of a computer screen going through an edit. There is obviously a necessary time commitment, but the goal is to get to the end as efficiently as possible.
One of the best ways to improve efficiency in video editing is to learn your NLE. Much like how knowing your camera is the best way to shoot, NLEs and computers are another tool you need to take a good look at.
If you are a DaVinci Resolve user, editor Billy Rybka has three tricks for speeding up your editing workflow. Some of these tips have the potential to save hours of editing time.
Tip #1: Edit Resolution Shouldn’t Be Export Resolution
Resolve has a smart way of handling resolution in a project and you can change the project resolution at any time. This means that even if you are working with 4K footage for a 4K delivery you can save a lot of computer power by working on a smaller Full HD timeline.
The timeline resolution is the resolution that Resolve renders everything out at, meaning that high-resolution footage will be a strain on your system.
Just make sure you are sticking to the same aspect ratio to maintain the transition when you finish editing. Just go back into the settings and bump it back up before export.
Without bogging down your system you will likely get much better – and faster – performance.
Tip #2: Use Render in Place
This option allows you to render down all your effects and settings into a single, much more easy-to-play clip. You should make sure that when you render it out that you choose an edit-friendly codec like DNx or ProRes. Otherwise, you might not see a huge performance gain.
If you want to go back and make edits you can actually just go and select “Decompose to Original” which will revive the original clips and effects.
One final note is that if you use text, you’ll want to make a compound clip with the text and any clips underneath that title. Rendering in place with just text will create a black background and is not ideal.
Tip #3: Use Proxies
This is the real time-saver. Proxies will solve most issues with playback by rendering out all your original footage into an edit-ready format. Resolve has some built-in tools that make this super easy.
Just right-click in the bin and select create proxy. This can take some time depending on the format of your original footage. Make sure to select something lower resolution or otherwise easier for your computer to handle as well.
Do you have any editing tricks to share?
[source: Billy Rybka]
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