DaVinci Resolve · Framing, motion and effects
How to stabilize footage in DaVinci Resolve
The short answer
Select the clip on the Edit page, open the Inspector, scroll to Stabilization, pick a Mode and click Stabilize. Lower Smooth or tick Camera Lock for a locked-off look, and keep Zoom ticked so the edges don't show.
5 steps
In DaVinci Resolve
01
Open Stabilization
On the Edit page, select the shaky clip, open the Inspector and scroll down to Stabilization.
02
Pick a mode
Perspective corrects pan, tilt, zoom and rotation; Similarity corrects pan, tilt, zoom and rotation without perspective; Translation corrects only pan and tilt. Start with Perspective.
03
Analyze the clip
Click Stabilize. Resolve tracks the clip and applies the result.
04
Tune the result
Raise Smooth and Strength for a steadier picture, or tick Camera Lock to remove all camera movement. Keep Zoom ticked so the edges stay out of frame.
05
Or use the Color page
For more control, open the Color page, choose Stabilizer from the Tracker palette's menu, and click Stabilize there.
Good to know
Before you start
- Note 1
- Stabilizing crops into the picture. If the zoom is too strong, lower Cropping Ratio or choose a gentler mode.
- Note 2
- If the result wobbles or warps, switch from Perspective to Similarity or Translation.
Eddie AI
Do it in Eddie
Ask Eddie to stabilize a clip, and the steadied shot carries into Resolve.
Say "Stabilize this clip." It costs 40 credits per minute of source and crops the picture roughly 5 to 15%. The stabilized shot bakes into MP4 renders and every timeline export, including Resolve.
Back to Resolve
Open the edit, click Export and choose Resolve. The default is a Resolve project (.drp) that opens with the timeline built; behind the arrow is a Resolve FCPXML you bring into the project you have open with File > Import > Timeline. In the desktop app, Send to DaVinci Resolve builds the timeline in the Resolve you have running, through Eddie's script (Workspace > Scripts > Eddie AI AE).
If you imported the footage through the desktop app, the timeline points at your original camera files. If you uploaded on the web or pulled from cloud storage, it points at Eddie's proxy media: relink to those in the Media Pool with Relink Selected Clips, not to the camera originals.
FAQ
Questions
- Is stabilization in the free version of DaVinci Resolve?
- Yes. The Stabilization controls in the Inspector and the Stabilizer on the Color page are both in the free version.
- Why does my stabilized clip look warped?
- Perspective mode is over-correcting. Switch the mode to Similarity or Translation and stabilize again.
