Resolve
From a folder to a graded DaVinci Resolve project
In Resolve Studio, what lands on your desk is a project, not a pile of clips: binned by verdict, with clip colors, ratings, markers and a baseline log-to-Rec.709 grade on every clip.
Bins and baseline grades, done
Heroes, keepers, maybes and skips arrive already binned, rated and marked. The flat log is pushed to Rec.709 and every camera matched, delivered as a baseline grade on each clip. It is a correction, not a creative grade, so the look is still yours.
Works with Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and other editors
Not on Resolve? One click opens the same run in Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro, with clips in bins or keyword collections with their ratings and markers. ALE and FCPXML export also work for other editors.
Start from the edit, not the sort
Instead of an empty timeline and a full card, you open a project that is already organized, so your bench time goes to cutting, not bin-sorting.
How the hand-off works, step by step
1. Finish the run
After analysis, the results screen shows a "Send to" card for your editor. Review the verdicts first and set your own star rating on any clip you disagree with.
2. Pick the clips and the grouping
Send everything or tick just the clips you want. Set "Organise clips by" to shot type, rating or both, which decides how the bins are nested.
3. Basecut detects your version of Resolve
It recognizes Resolve Studio and free Resolve, including free Resolve 21.1, which no longer allows scripting and so takes a different route.
4. The project opens
In Resolve Studio, or free Resolve before 21.1, you get a project with bins, clip colors, ratings, markers and the baseline grade applied to every clip. In free Resolve 21.1 and later you get a timeline file plus .cube files.
5. Check the grade and make it yours
Open the Color page, check skin tones and white balance, and adjust. The creative grade is yours to build.
What the export menu offers
Open a shoot in the Library and the Export menu groups the ways out by what you want. A Send to Resolve button sits beside it.
- Clips with LUTs, to a folder
- Listed first as the full-quality choice. Basecut copies the clips and writes a .cube beside each keeper, so you can drag a clip into your editor and load the sibling .cube as a clip LUT. The menu says this works in Resolve (free and Studio), Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and CapCut desktop.
- Timeline for your editor
- FCPXML (Resolve or Final Cut Pro), Premiere Pro XML, ALE (Avid) and a Resolve color list (CCC plus EDL). An Organize clips by menu above them sets the bins: Shot type, Rating, Shot type then rating, and for wedding shoots Part of day, or Part of day then rating.
- Pick clips and add a brief
- Tick clips (Shift-click for a range) to send only those. If nothing is ticked, the whole shoot goes. An optional brief next to the Resolve button puts clips that match it first in the auto-cut timeline; left blank, the timeline follows the default narrative order.
- Bake the grade into new files
- Render graded video writes new files with the grade in the pixels. You choose 720p, 1080p or 4K, H.264, H.265 or ProRes, and a bitrate. Copy heroes and keepers (ungraded) copies your best clips, untouched, into a folder.
What you get in each editor
- DaVinci Resolve Studio, or free Resolve before 21.1
- A project with bins, clip colors, ratings and markers, and a baseline log-to-Rec.709 grade applied to every clip.
- Free DaVinci Resolve 21.1 and later
- A timeline file plus .cube files. The files carry the correction, but it is not applied for you.
- Premiere Pro
- An XML and extension project with label colors, markers and a sequence for each verdict. No color is applied. A .cube per clip is in the run's handoff/luts folder, ready to apply.
- Final Cut Pro
- FCPXML 1.11 with keyword collections and Favorite and Reject ratings. No color is applied. A .cube per clip ships with it.
Limits worth knowing
- Basecut corrects color. It does not apply a creative grade, and you will still check skin tones and white balance yourself.
- The applied baseline grade is a Resolve Studio (or free Resolve before 21.1) feature. In Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and free Resolve 21.1 and later, you apply the .cube yourself.
- A project points at your original footage. If you move the files afterwards, relink them in the editor.
- Native ARRIRAW and REDCODE R3D files are not supported yet.
Questions people ask
Do I need DaVinci Resolve Studio?
No. Basecut works with the free version of Resolve too. Studio, or free Resolve before 21.1, gets the full project with the grade applied. Free Resolve 21.1 and later gets a timeline file plus .cube files.
Does Basecut change my original files?
No. Basecut never modifies your originals, and the project points at them.
Which editors does it support?
DaVinci Resolve (free or Studio), Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, each opened from the same run. ALE and FCPXML export also work for other editors.
Is the baseline grade the final look?
No. It is a log-to-Rec.709 correction matched across cameras, which gets you to a neutral starting point. The creative grade is yours.