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# DaVinci Resolve 21.1: MCP, AI Assistants and New Editing Features
- URL: https://cotovan.com/post/davinci-resolve-21-1-mcp-ai-assistants-and-new-editing-features/
- Published: 2026-09-08T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T11:03:23.000Z
- Description: DaVinci Resolve 21.1 brings a long list of improvements to editing, colour grading, media management and Fusion. Some will save a few clicks every day. Others open up a different way of working with your projects.
- Author: Cristi Cotovan
- Tags: DaVinci Resolve

The addition that interests me most is the built-in MCP connection for AI assistants. You can describe a task to an assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT Codex and have it work inside Resolve Studio: inspect the project, organise material, build an edit or prepare renders.

That connects directly with what TechSmith demonstrated at its recent Unlocked event. In my [Camtasia Pro Unlocked 2026 recap](https://cotovan.com/techsmith-unlocked-2026-camtasia-snagit-audiate/), I covered Camtasia’s forthcoming agentic editing workflow. Both developments point towards an editor where you can describe some of the work you want done and then refine an editable result.

There is plenty to cover beyond AI, though. Here is my detailed walkthrough of the features in Blackmagic Design’s announcement, with a little more space for MCP and what it means in practice.

**Blackmagic released 21.1 on 8 September 2026.** This article covers that announcement, rather than the full set of features introduced with Resolve 21\. The Photo page, for example, already existed; 21.1 expands it. Blackmagic describes the update as adding more than 100 tools and controls. The video highlights a selection of them, all covered below. [Blackmagic’s release announcement](https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/partial/release/20260908-03?ref=cotovan.com)

## MCP: Give Your AI Assistant Access to Resolve Studio

MCP stands for **Model Context Protocol**. It is a standard that lets an AI application connect to external software, information and tools. In this case, the external software is DaVinci Resolve Studio. [The official MCP introduction](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro?ref=cotovan.com)

The practical benefit is straightforward. An assistant that can access your project can answer questions using the actual timeline and perform supported operations. You can ask for a task in ordinary language, then review the result in Resolve.

The assistant supplies the reasoning and instructions. Resolve supplies the editing application and the operations available through its tools and scripting interface. MCP provides the connection between them.

I recently worked on several client projects with DaVinci using MCP and it is mindblowingly capable. It does things I don't know how, it doesn't complain when you give it repetitive tasks which would take me ages (such as transcribe, find filler words and mark them with a different color on the timeline), create Fusion compositions with keying, masking, animation, zooming in and out, and more.

### What Blackmagic Demonstrated

The announcement names **Claude, Claude Code and ChatGPT Codex** as supported assistants.

Blackmagic’s example starts with a long video in the Media Pool. The user asks Claude to create a three-minute highlight edit on the timeline. A follow-up asks it to remove edits shorter than one second and render an H.265 video for review.

All screenshots from [Blackmagic's video announcement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi44XLKQ3YA&ref=cotovan.com).

![Resolve Deliver page beside Claude, with H.265 settings and a render job visible.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image.png)

Blackmagic’s demo uses Claude to revise a highlight edit and start an H.265 review render.

That sequence is useful because it shows a conversation developing around an actual project. You can ask for a first pass, add a constraint and request a review file.

Other tasks include analysing projects, organising media, changing project settings and batch rendering timelines. These are the jobs that often involve repeated navigation and setup, especially when you have several similar deliverables.

### How to Connect an Assistant

The setup route is in Resolve Studio:

1. Choose **File → Setup AI Assistants**.
2. Wait for the configuration confirmation, which identifies supported assistants found on your computer.
3. Restart your assistant if needed for the configuration to take effect.
4. Make your requests in the assistant’s own chat interface, with the relevant Resolve project available.

![Resolve File menu with Setup AI Assistants visible.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-1.png)

Set up the connection through File → Setup AI Assistants in Resolve Studio.

The connection is part of **DaVinci Resolve Studio**. Downloading the free edition of Resolve 21.1 does not give you this Studio integration. Blackmagic’s manual explains the setup under “Using DaVinci Resolve with AI Assistants,” on page 4318\. The manual is available through the [Blackmagic Support Centre](https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion?ref=cotovan.com).

### It Can Work Through Scripts

Blackmagic’s built-in integration gives the assistant access to Resolve’s scripting capabilities. That matters when you want a precise operation repeated across a project.

![Claude’s davinci-resolve extension settings with the connection enabled.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-2.png)

Claude shows the DaVinci Resolve connection enabled, with its capabilities and configuration details.

A request might involve reading timeline information, generating a script and running it against the open project. You describe the intended result; the assistant works out the supported operations needed to achieve it.

This also explains why MCP should not be treated as a promise that every Resolve control is available to the assistant. The tools, scripting interface and installed version determine what it can do. If you have a complex task in mind, first ask the assistant to inspect the project and explain its proposed approach.

Blackmagic’s manual includes examples involving timeline reports, clip renaming, markers, LUT application, project-setting comparisons, vertical reframing and multiple render formats. Those examples give you a better starting point than a vague request to improve an entire video.

### Where I Would Start

For a first experiment, I would choose something with a clear result that is easy to check.

Ask the assistant to report the timeline’s duration, clip count, markers and offline media. Then move to an organisational task, such as naming clips consistently or adding markers according to a rule you have defined.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-3.png)

A timeline report is a practical first MCP task: inspect duration, clips, media status and markers.

Rendering is another good candidate. You may need a high-quality master, a compressed review version and a smaller proxy from the same timeline. Being able to describe those outputs together can reduce repeated setup. In my tests, I even asked it to tweak and create some exports presets which are saving me time every day now.

For editing, I would make the instructions more specific than “make this better.” For example: create a separate review timeline, retain the complete explanation of the process, shorten repeated sections and identify any cuts that need my attention. 

In my tests, I found that the agent tends to be safe and non-destructive. It alwasy seems to create backup timelines or work on duplicate timelines. If you ask it for multiple things, you'll potentially end up with a lot of duplicated timelines in your project.

### MCP in Resolve and Camtasia

I care about Camtasia too. It is my main workhorse when it comes to recording and editing my tutorials and courses. I was on the verge of moving some of that work to DaVinci simply because of the new MCP addition but Techsmith announced that as well. [TechSmith's Camtasia Unlocked event](https://cotovan.com/post/techsmith-unlocked-2026-camtasia-snagit-audiate/) showed an AI agent building and revising real Camtasia projects. TechSmith described more than 300 granular editing capabilities, with generated content remaining editable.

The shared idea is an assistant connected to the editor’s working tools. It can help carry out your instructions while leaving you with a project you can inspect and continue editing.

The emphasis of each demonstration was different. Blackmagic showed a broad post-production workflow: analyse a project, organise media, make a highlight edit and render it. TechSmith focused on instructional content, using rich recordings and screenshots to build tutorials, generate documentation and apply review feedback - this is stuff I do every day.

Camtasia’s rich TREC recordings preserve information such as cursor movement and click positions. That gives its tutorial workflows a different kind of source material from a conventional flattened video. Resolve brings its wider editing, grading, Fusion and delivery environment to the automation discussion.

There is also an annoying availability issue: **Resolve Studio’s integration shipped with 21.1\. Camtasia’s desktop agentic workflow was demonstrated as a technology preview**, with general availability still to come. My [TechSmith recap](https://cotovan.com/post/techsmith-unlocked-2026-camtasia-snagit-audiate/) explains the preview and the other announcements in detail.

My interest in both is the opportunity to reduce repetitive production work while keeping control over the explanation and the final edit. Using the same protocol does not make their tools or capabilities interchangeable; each editor exposes its own operations.

### Local Editing and the AI Service Are Separate

Resolve’s MCP connection runs on your computer, but the assistant’s processing depends on the AI service you use. A locally running editor does not automatically mean all information stays on that computer.

Your assistant’s subscription, usage limits and permissions also remain separate from your Resolve Studio licence.

I would begin on a copy of a project, ask the assistant to describe consequential changes and inspect the resulting timeline. That is a sensible way to learn what works reliably for your material.

## Photo Page: More Cameras and More Ways to Work

The Photo page receives expanded support for tethered workflows: **live preview, camera control and capture**.

Blackmagic specifically mentions Fujifilm GFX and X series cameras, Leica SL system cameras and additional Sony Alpha models. The exact model still matters; support for a camera family should not be read as support for every camera in it.

![Photo page thumbnails labelled with camera models including Leica SL3, Fujifilm GFX100 II and Sony.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-4.png)

The announcement shows Leica, Fujifilm and Sony image examples in Resolve’s Photo page.

You can also adjust image settings in the Photo Inspector using Blackmagic’s colour panels, including the Micro Color Panel. This gives panel users a more direct way to work on stills.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-5.png)

The Photo Inspector brings image adjustments into the still-photo workflow.

Plugin and OpenFX support has been expanded to allow the **Sky Replacement tool on album photos**. That brings another Resolve image-processing tool into the still-photo workflow.

There is a stronger connection between capture, organisation and image adjustment within Resolve. These are improvements to the existing Photo page.

## Media Review, Metadata and Project Archives

Several changes make it easier to understand your source material and package a project for handoff or storage.

### See Source Media in Its Original Aspect Ratio

The Source Viewer now preserves the source’s original aspect ratio independently of the timeline orientation.

If you are editing a vertical project but reviewing horizontal footage, the source view can still show that footage in its original shape. That makes it easier to judge what is available before making framing decisions.

![Resolve showing a vertical mountain image in the Source Viewer alongside a separate timeline image.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-6.png)

The Source Viewer can preserve the source image’s shape independently of the timeline.

### Edit Metadata Directly in the Media Pool

Editable fields in the Media Pool’s list view can now be changed directly. **Tab and Enter** let you move between columns and rows for faster data entry.

![Media Pool list with an active editable Shot Type cell and metadata columns.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-7.png)

Metadata can be edited directly in the Media Pool’s list view.

This should be helpful when naming clips or updating metadata in batches. You can work through the list without opening a separate control for every value.

### Choose Which Media AI Tools Analyse

A new decoding preference lets you require full-resolution media for AI tools.

With that requirement disabled, the tools follow your preference for camera originals or proxies and can fall back to available media if the preferred source is offline.

![Decode Options preferences with the full-resolution-media requirement for AI tools checked.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-8-1.png)

The decoding preferences include “Always use full resolution media for AI Tools.”

The choice affects what the analysis receives. A proxy may be more convenient, while a task involving fine visual detail may benefit from the original. The update gives you explicit control over that decision.

### Build More Selective Project Archives

Project archive export now offers more choices about what to include:

- Original media or proxies.
- Only media used in the project.
- Render cache.
- LUTs.
- Gallery stills.

That lets you tailor an archive to its purpose. A review handoff and a longer-term project archive may need different contents.

![Archive Project dialogue with media, proxy, only-used-media, cache, LUT and Gallery-still checkboxes.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5b/aa/5baa4306-14e9-442c-8242-49463a36912f/content/images/2026/10/image-9-1.png)

Project archives can include selected media, proxies, render cache, LUTs and Gallery stills.

There is a related improvement to **project-level Media Management**: consolidating an entire project now includes a **DRP project export** alongside the processed project media. That makes the resulting package more useful when another editor needs to reopen the work.

## Multicam: Keep Your Place and Reach More Angles

Multicam receives several changes that should make longer editing sessions easier to navigate.

### Multicam Mode Belongs to the Timeline Viewer

The Timeline Viewer now has a multicam mode button. When enabled, the multicam clip under the playhead opens in multicam mode in the Source Viewer.

You can preview a different Media Pool clip, then return to the timeline and have the Source Viewer return to multicam mode automatically. That reduces the need to restore the viewing arrangement after checking another shot.

### Keep the Active Angle Visible

Changing the multiview grid layout now retains the view containing the selected angle.

When working with many cameras, changing the grid should help you navigate. Keeping the active angle visible makes that change less disruptive.

### Split Multicams at Timecode Gaps

The multicam creation dialogue adds an option to split multicams at gaps when synchronising by timecode.

This is useful when cameras stopped and restarted during an event. The timecode gaps can inform how Resolve creates the multicam material.

### More Multicam Keyboard Control

New shortcut options let you control **up to 25 multicam angles** across source and timeline viewing. You can also assign a shortcut to flatten multicam clips in the timeline.

That expands keyboard control for large multicamera productions and makes another finishing operation quicker to access.

## Timeline Editing: Clearer Feedback and Fewer Repeated Adjustments

The Edit page changes include small visibility improvements, a more direct trimming workflow and reusable Inspector settings.

### Track Shortcuts for Up to 32 Tracks

Timeline track selection shortcuts can now cover **up to 32 tracks**.

For complex projects, that gives you more room to define keyboard access to the tracks you work with regularly.

### See Which Clip the Inspector Will Change

When no clip is selected, a playhead indicator identifies the clip affected by Inspector changes and viewer overlays.

This makes the relationship between the playhead and the active adjustment clearer. It is useful when several clips or layers are close together.

### Automatically Scale Audio Waveforms

A Timeline View Options setting can scale audio waveforms to fill the available track height.

Quieter clips become easier to read alongside louder ones without manually adjusting the waveform display each time. This changes the display of the waveform, rather than raising the clip’s audio level.

### Display Clip Durations Beside Names

You can choose to show a clip’s duration alongside its name in the timeline.

That makes it easier to spot very short or long sections while reviewing an edit, without checking each clip separately.

### Trim Directly in the Viewer

The updated trim editor lets you drag within the viewer images to perform trim operations.

You can select the edit-point type and use quick-action controls to move the trim by **one or five frames**, forwards or backwards. This provides a more direct route to fine adjustments around a cut.

### Align MultiText Elements More Precisely

MultiText gains more alignment choices. Text within a text-box layer can align relative to the box overlay, and selected text layers can align relative to one another.

For titles with several elements, that helps you establish consistent positioning without manually nudging every layer.

The video returns to this in its Fusion discussion: choose **Selection** from the layout tab’s **Align To** menu to position selected text layers relative to each other.

### Save Inspector Presets

The Inspector now supports presets for audio and video clip effects with specific parameter values.

This is one of the changes I would expect to use often. If you repeatedly configure the same treatment, saving a preset gives you a quicker starting point for the next clip.

Presets are useful for consistency as well as speed. You can establish the values you want to reuse, then adjust the individual clip where needed.

### Export Markers as a PDF Report

The Index panel can export the marker list as a formatted PDF report.

Markers often contain decisions, notes or review points. A report makes those easier to share with someone who is reviewing the work outside Resolve.

### Compare Timelines with a Redesigned Interface

**Compare with Current Timeline** has a redesigned interface, with easier switching between the timelines being compared and navigation to specific parts of the edit. That should make version review more manageable when you need to see what changed between two cuts.

## Cut Page: Timecode, Replay Timers and Playback Preferences

The Cut page gains a timecode menu that can show the timecode used to synchronise each view in the Multi Source workflow.

For live action replay, that lets you locate events recorded by time of day. A production note referring to an event time becomes more useful when the viewing interface can display the corresponding timecode.

The menu also offers timers. **Timer 1** can be reset at the current playhead position and then shows the offset from that reference. **Timer 2** shows duration based on the playhead’s offset from the start of the tape.

Three editing preferences are highlighted too:

- **Stop Playback on Scrub**.
- **Always Play Audio When Changing Current Frame**.
- **Blade Selects Clip After Playhead**.

These let you tune playback, audio feedback and blade behaviour to the way you edit. They are small controls, but frequently repeated actions are where small changes can make a noticeable difference.

## Colour: More Independent Control over Deliverables

The colour changes are particularly relevant when one timeline needs to produce several versions.

### Separate HDR Trim Passes

MultiMaster trims now support individual passes for **Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HDR Vivid**.

Each format can have its own dedicated trim pass, allowing it to be graded independently. That gives you more control when different delivery formats need different treatment.

### Override Sizing and Blanking per Trim

Output sizing and blanking can now be overridden for each trim.

You will find override checkboxes in the Sizing palette. These allow independent framing and sizing for each deliverable, while working from the same underlying timeline.

### Retain Separate Caches

Each trim retains its individual colour output and timeline caching.

Switching trims therefore avoids the repeated recaching described in the announcement. This is a useful performance improvement when moving between deliverables to review their differences.

### Keep the Playhead Position across Stacked Clips

When switching between stacked clips on the Color page, Resolve now retains the playhead position.

If you are comparing layers at a particular moment, you can move between them while staying at that point in the sequence.

### Expanded Colour Spaces, LUTs and ACES Choices

The update adds support for more camera colour spaces and colour-management options, including **GoPro Log, Leica L-Log, DJI D-Gamut2 and D-Log2, and Vivo Wide Gamut and Log**.

There are also additional camera transform LUTs and colour-space choices in **ACES Transform**.

These additions help you bring more camera material into an appropriate colour workflow without constructing the same conversions manually. You still need to select the correct input interpretation for the footage you have.

## Fusion: More Than 25 New Krokodove Tools

Resolve 21.1 expands the [Krokodove](https://www.komkomdoorn.com/krokodove?ref=cotovan.com) collection with more than 25 new tools, concentrating on 3D and shapes. You will find them in Fusion’s effects list under **Krokodove**.

The announcement demonstrates several examples.

**Connect 3D** creates straight connections between vertices in a 3D scene. This gives you another building block for connected structures and graphic forms.

**Heightfield Create 3D** changes a plane’s depth using an image map. It lets an image inform the surface’s shape, creating relief or displacement-style forms.

**Tube Create 3D** generates a pipe-like 3D shape along a defined path.

The **3D Region toolset** defines areas in 3D space so effects can be limited to those regions. Blackmagic shows that these regions can connect to tools such as **Objectify 3D**.

For shape graphics, **sPrimitive Create** provides basic forms including a cross, polygon, rectangle and star. Further shape tools add advanced edge manipulation for more involved graphic treatments.

These are additional parts for building titles and graphics in Fusion. The examples in the announcement show the direction of the expanded collection; they do not individually demonstrate every new Krokodove tool.

## Fusion Templates, Lens Calibration and Audio-Driven Animation

Fusion also receives improvements to building and maintaining reusable templates.

### Open Macros from DRFX Bundles

The Macro Editor can load macros directly from a **DRFX template bundle**.

A single macro can be detected automatically, while a bundle containing several macros offers selection choices. This makes an existing template bundle easier to work with when you need to revise it.

### Save to the Right Template Category

A **Save To** dropdown lets you save a macro to a specific template category and the corresponding folder for the Edit or Cut page.

This makes placement part of the saving workflow, which should help when preparing a set of templates for regular use.

### Manage Thumbnails

The editor adds thumbnail management, including the ability to clear thumbnails when needed.

### Update a Macro without Rebuilding Its Controls

**Update from Selected Tools** lets you modify tools in the node flow and update the corresponding macro while preserving the chosen controls and customised layout.

For anyone maintaining Fusion templates, this could save substantial rework. You can revise the construction and keep the Inspector arrangement you already designed.

### Calibrate Lens Distortion Using Lines

The Lens Distortion tool adds a **Lines** calibration type.

This gives you a line-based route to calibration, useful when suitable straight features in the image can guide the correction.

### Filter the Audio Driving an Animation

The Fairlight Animator modifier gains **high-pass and low-pass filters**.

These controls let you narrow the frequency range that drives an animation parameter. You can focus the response on a particular part of the audio rather than allowing the whole signal to influence the motion equally.

The Fairlight Animator itself was already available. The new additions here are the filtering controls.

## Presentations: Subtitles and Better Review Conversations

Blackmagic Cloud Presentations gains **subtitle support, shared annotations and replies to comments**, with corresponding support in Resolve 21.1.

These changes make a review file more useful as a place to discuss a specific revision. A reviewer can identify something visually, and replies can keep the discussion attached to that point.

There is a connection here with the Screencast review workflow in the TechSmith event: both recognise that clear feedback is an important part of producing a finished video. Resolve’s announcement covers these review improvements; it does not demonstrate Camtasia’s automated feedback-to-editing workflow in Resolve.

## Codecs, Hardware Support and Scripting

The final part of the announcement covers compatibility and automation improvements.

**HTJ2K decoding using Kakadu is GPU accelerated.** This matters when working with supported high-throughput JPEG 2000 media.

**HEIC decoding is hardware accelerated on Apple Silicon.** That supports a more efficient workflow for these still-image files on compatible Macs.

There is also support for **NVIDIA RTX Spark systems on Windows**.

For automation, Resolve Studio adds **20 scripting APIs**, with built-in console scripting highlighted in the announcement. Alongside MCP, this provides more ways to build repeatable operations around Resolve.

Blackmagic also mentions general performance and stability improvements. Those complete the update, although the video does not describe each individual fix.

## Which Features Require Studio?

Resolve 21.1 is available in both the free edition and Resolve Studio. A free download of a Studio update still requires a valid Studio licence to use it.

The **AI assistant/MCP integration requires Studio**. Blackmagic also identifies the individual MultiMaster trims and advanced scripting additions with the Studio release. Its download entries distinguish the two editions and the accepted Studio licensing methods. [Resolve and Studio downloads](https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion?ref=cotovan.com)

Some camera, OpenFX and format capabilities also depend on the edition and supported hardware. If one particular feature is your reason for updating or buying Studio, check its requirements against your camera and computer.

## What I Would Explore First

For everyday editing, Inspector presets, clearer waveform displays, direct viewer trimming and the multicam changes are useful places to start. They address work that comes up repeatedly.

For template creation, I would look closely at the Macro Editor improvements, particularly updating a macro while retaining its published controls. That makes reusable graphics easier to maintain.

MCP is the development I am most interested in following. A practical next step is to choose one repetitive task, define the result clearly and see how well an assistant can perform it in an editable project. Project reports, media organisation and render preparation provide good starting points before moving to more subjective editing decisions.

Alongside the Camtasia preview, this suggests a productive direction for video creation: more help with the repeated operations, with the editor still responsible for the structure, clarity and finished result.

If you work on screen tutorials and training videos, read my [TechSmith Unlocked 2026 recap](https://cotovan.com/techsmith-unlocked-2026-camtasia-snagit-audiate/) as well. It covers the other side of that conversation: rich screen recordings, reusable instructional workflows and AI-assisted Camtasia projects.