Blackmagic releases new betas with new features for DaVinci Resolve 18.5 & Fusion Studio 18.5

Blackmagic Design has released the fourth betas for both DaVinci Resolve 18.5 and Fusion Studio 18.5, both of which contain some interesting new features.

DaVinci Resolve 18.5 beta 4

Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve has performed the neat trick of really becoming a go-to video editor for professionals and students alike. Whether you purchase a license for $295 or opt for the free version, it's either way a complete NLE with some of the best color grading tools around, audio, and VFX included.

DaVinci Resolve ver. 18 officially came out not too long ago, and the developers at Blackmagic Design went back to work on updates and betas. The first DaVinci Resolve 18.5 beta came out in April 2023 and featured built-in subtitles, automatic transcription, and other cool new features.

With the fourth beta now available, DaVinci Resolve 18.5 adds:

• Multiple cut page improvements
• Multiple timeline display and action improvements
• Blackmagic RAW 3.2 support
• Support for Blackmagic Cloud Presentations
• DaVinci Neural Engine based subtitles from audio in Studio
• DaVinci Neural Engine powered text based editing in Studio
• Support for Universal Scene Description based workflows in Fusion
• New Fusion multi-merge tool to composite and manage multiple layers
• Multiple remote monitoring improvements
• Support for fast per-timeline backups
• Per-timeline Resolve Color Management
• Support for edit and mix groups in Fairlight
• Support for AI-based audio classification in Studio

Even if you're like me and only use Resolve for the color grading tools while cutting on a different app (in my case, Final Cut Pro), it's pretty cool to be able to download the most recent beta updates to see what will be coming soon with DaVinci Resolve 18.5 is officially released.

Fusion Studio 18.5 beta 4

Fusion is Blackmagic's node-based visual effects, motion graphics, 3D, and VR software, and it also received a version 18.5 beta 4 update. The support for Universal Scene Descriptor files (USD) is a big one, and were developed by Pixar and are a standard file format to share. They are a framework for composing, simulating, describing, and collaborating within 3D projects.

The Fusion Studio 18.5 beta 4 includes:

• Support for importing Universal Scene Descriptor (USD) files
• Introduction of the USD toolset for managing USD assets
• Support for USD Hydra based renderers including Storm
• New multi-merge tool for compositing multiple layers
• Support for a native AI-based depth map tool
• GPU accelerated Clean Plate
• GPU accelerated Anaglyph
• Up to 3x faster renders when using splitter tool
• Support for OpenEXR DWA compression in saver nodes
• Support for BMD Film Gen 5 in CineonLog tool
• Support for previewing individual shape tools
• General performance and stability improvements

All in all there are going to be plenty of incredible features coming when DaVinci Resolve 18.5 and Fusion Studio 18.5 are officially released. But, as always, if you're downloading the betas, it's wise not to be using them for official projects you're working on, especially as new updates are released.

You can download the DaVinci Resolve and Fusion Studio 18.5 betas (4th) for free here.