DaVinci Resolve on Windows: a cull and color workflow

On a Windows PC, the slow part before a Resolve edit is the same as anywhere: hundreds of clips to sort and a pile of log footage that does not match across cameras. This guide is the order that works on Windows with Resolve Free or Studio, including the one Resolve setting people miss and what changes in Resolve Free 21.1.

Last checked 2026-10-25, against Basecut 4.1.1 for Windows.

Where a step names Basecut, it is our product. The Resolve parts work without it.

What Resolve Free and Studio each get

Step by step

1. 1. Check what your PC can run

   Resolve itself leans on the graphics card. Basecut's on-device AI, Argus, needs an NVIDIA card with 10 GB or more of video memory on Windows. Without one, Basecut still works: paste a free Google AI Studio key during setup, or use Basecut Cloud, which comes with paid plans. Both of those send reduced-size copies of clips to Google, so pick Argus if your footage must stay on your PC.

2. 2. Copy the cards and keep the folders

   Offload to a working drive and a backup, one folder per camera or per card, with the original file names. Basecut reads the files where they are and keeps its results in its own run folder. Pick a fast drive for Basecut's working files in setup if the cards are big.

3. 3. Run the cull and color pass overnight

   Point Basecut at the shoot folder and start it. Every clip gets a rating (hero, keeper, maybe or skip), shot-type and content tags, a transcript where people talk, and a per-camera log-to-Rec.709 correction matched across cameras. Speed depends on the PC and the footage, so a long shoot is an overnight job. A run that stops resumes without redoing finished clips.

4. 4. Review the picks in Basecut

   Look through Junk and Skip for anything the family or client would miss, and change any rating you disagree with. Your own rating wins over the AI's. Tick only the clips you want if you do not want the whole run in Resolve.

5. 5. Resolve Studio: let Basecut build the project

   In Resolve Studio, open Preferences, System, General and set External scripting using to Local, then restart Resolve. With that on, Send to Resolve builds the project through Resolve's scripting: bins, clip colors, keywords and camera info on each clip, with the Basecut correction applied to every clip.

6. 6. Resolve Free 21.1 or newer: import the timeline file

   Blackmagic moved Python scripting to Studio in Resolve 21.1, so for Resolve Free 21.1 or newer, Send to Resolve writes a timeline file instead, in the run's handoff\resolve folder, with one .cube file per clip in handoff\resolve\luts. In Resolve, use File, Import, Timeline and pick that file. Your media stays where it is. On Resolve Free before 21.1, Basecut opens Resolve and shows the one menu click inside Resolve that finishes the import.

7. 7. Apply the color in Resolve Free

   Either attach each clip's .cube on the Color page, or install the Basecut Grade plugin once from Basecut's Settings, Editors, Resolve color plugin (it asks for an administrator password once), restart Resolve, and drag Basecut Grade from Effects, OpenFX, Basecut onto a node. The plugin reads the run's grades so you do not hunt for files.

Windows-specific things to know

• Basecut's check of which Resolve you have runs in its own process on Windows, so a Resolve that fails to answer does not take Basecut down with it.
• Word captions in auto edits are timed with Whisper, which runs on your PC.
• The first run includes a one-time download of the on-device AI. Do it before the shoot you need back fast.
• Logins and your own Google key are kept in Windows Credential Manager, not in a plain file.

Cutting in Premiere Pro instead? See How to cull footage in Premiere Pro. For the color side of mixed cameras, see Match colors across cameras in DaVinci Resolve.