Blackmagic has finally brought DaVinci Resolve to the iPad! However, the initial launch, while exciting, was limited to just the Cut and Color pages. It’s still surprising how close to the full desktop version each of these pages look and feel and Blackmagic promises that the rest of the NLE’s functionality is on the way.
Or, it might already be here.
Filmmaker Michael Tobin was alerted to a quick “hack” in the iPad version of Resolve that allows you to access all the tabs you would find in the desktop version. It doesn’t even require any true hacking or computer knowledge to do. All you need is a keyboard.
To be clear, this is not any sort of weird hack or anything that involves actually using your computer and then connecting your iPad to get the feeling of using Resolve on the tablet.
This is full-on Resolve on iPad. Tobin does make sure to give the credit for finding this trick to filmmaker Daniel Kovacs.
Anyway, let’s get into it.
On your iPad, you’ll need a keyboard. Generally, the recommendation for running Resolve is to pick up an M-series iPad Pro along with the Magic Keyboard anyway since any other models will be limited in power.
Image Credit: Blackmagic Design
When ready, you’ll need to open the keyboard shortcuts menu, Option + Command + K. Looking at all the commands list on the right side you’ll want to scroll all the way down to the bottom.
There should be an option for “Show Page.”
Click the arrow to expand and you’ll see a bunch of blank shortcuts that line up with all the different pages. All you have to do is assign each page a shortcut.
Tobin kept it simple by sticking with Shift + the number keys.
Once you have all the pages with an assigned shortcut you can head back into Resolve proper and use the shortcuts. Immediately you’ll see each page pop up on the bottom and it sure does look like the real thing.
Image Credit: Apple
Blackmagic essentially ported the entire Resolve app over to iPad without even telling everyone. The real reason behind this is that there are likely bugs or optimizations that need to be sorted still that makes using these pages unreliable.
Blackmagic doesn’t want a bunch of people to jump in and have a buggy or problematic experience and therefore kept the different pages locked down for most users for the time being.
In the testing, you’ll find that some features don’t really work.
As long as you understand what you are getting here there is practically no downside to working in these pages on your iPad. For many, it might even make it usable.
This is an amazing development and the base version on iPad is free, just like the desktop versions. You can pay around $100 for the Studio upgrade, too.
Now there are still questions about whether the iPad is a good replacement for a MacBook Pro for editing with Resolve, but if you already have one then there is zero reason not to try this out.
What do you think about trying to edit on an iPad?
[source: michael tobin]
Order Links:
- Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio (B&H, Amazon)
- Apple 13” MacBook Pro with M1 Chip (B&H, Amazon)
- Apple 12.9” iPad Pro with M1 Chip (Amazon)
- Apple 12.9” iPad Pro with M2 Chip (B&H, Amazon)
- Apple 12.9” Magic Keyboard (B&H, Amazon)
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