Overview
DaVinci Resolve neatly reconstructs your timeline using metadata: an AAF, XML, or EDL. This guide will walk you through how to import your sequence and get coloring.
Using Local Versions of Clips (Or Not)
Open the soft preferences menu (gear icon in the bottom right corner) and look under Color>Timeline Settings. Find the very first box which says “Use local version for new clips in timeline.”
Resolve is smart enough to know when you have different parts of the same source clip intercut throughout your sequence. If this box is UNCHECKED, Resolve will apply the same color correction to all of them at once. If the box is CHECKED, you will have to grade them separately.
Either one is fine, but it’s important to make this decision before importing your XML. You can always decide to split these clips later, but if Resolve recognizes them as separate from the getgo, there’s no way to stitch them back together.
Importing an AAF/XML/EDL
In the Edit tab, navigate to the top menu bar and select File>Import AAF, EDL, XML… (or right-click anywhere in the gray and select Import). Navigate to where you stored your AAF/XML and click “Open.”
A dialogue box pops up which looks like this:
MAKE SURE “AUTOMATICALLY IMPORT SOURCE CLIPS INTO MEDIA POOL” IS UNCHECKED.
It’s possible to do this for smaller projects, but for larger projects this is not recommended. Importing 4K media or long-running films with lots of clips this way will crash Resolve.
Your timeline should appear in the Media Pool in the left hand column with a white film strip in the corner of the thumbnail. Double-click to open your timeline in Resolve’s NLE if it didn’t do so automatically.
Next Step in Workflow: Linking to an Offline Reference Clip