DaVinci Resolve AI tools: a practical guide for editors
DaVinci Resolve's AI tools work on footage you already have: they find it, mask it, sharpen it, reframe it, clean its audio and fix faces. What they don't do is create new shots. This guide covers what's built into Resolve 21, and how to add generated shots to your timeline while you stay the one directing the cut.
Published September 23, 2026 · Checked against Blackmagic Design's pages for DaVinci Resolve 21 and 21.1 (announced September 8, 2026) · Written by the Asset Lab team. We make a Resolve companion app, so every Resolve claim below links to Blackmagic's own page.
What's new in Resolve 21: the AI tools
Resolve 21 added a set of AI tools, listed on Blackmagic's What's New page and in the Resolve 21 announcement:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| AI IntelliSearch | Searches analyzed media for people, faces, objects and words spoken in dialog, from the Media Pool search bar and the Photo page. |
| AI Speech Generator | Turns typed text into speech, with a built-in voice or a custom voice made from a 10–20 second sample. |
| AI CineFocus | Builds an AI depth map so you can move the focal point and depth of field after the fact, with bokeh and lens effects. |
| AI Face Age Transformer | Tracks a face and makes it look older or younger. |
| AI Face Reshaper | Tracks a face and adjusts the shape and position of eyes, nose, mouth, brows and face. |
| AI Blemish Removal | Reduces acne, spots and pores while keeping skin texture. |
| AI Slate ID | Finds slates in clips, marks the clap, reads the slate and fills in clip metadata. |
| AI UltraSharpen | Sharpens only where it's needed, rescues slightly soft footage and upscales low-resolution images. |
| AI Motion Deblur | Renders a new copy of a clip with motion blur removed, keeping the original. |
| AI Magic Mask on the Photo page | One-click selection of a person or object in a still, to grade it separately. |
Blackmagic's pages don't say which of these new tools need the paid Studio edition, so check the Studio page before you plan a workflow around one.
The established AI tools (Studio)
Blackmagic's Studio page lists these DaVinci Neural Engine features as exclusive to DaVinci Resolve Studio: facial recognition, Super Scale, speed warp and optical flow retiming, de-interlacing, Magic Mask, Smart Reframe, object removal, scene cut detection, AI voice isolation, music remixer and dialogue separator, and UltraNR noise reduction.
New in 21.1: AI assistants
The Resolve 21.1 announcement adds support for AI assistants such as Claude, Claude Code and ChatGPT Codex, which Blackmagic says can analyze projects, organize media, change settings, cut highlight edits from long videos and batch render, all from plain-language requests. The release doesn't say which edition gets it.
What Resolve's AI doesn't do: make new shots
None of Blackmagic's pages for Resolve 21 or 21.1 describe text-to-video or text-to-image generation. Resolve's AI analyzes, repairs and enhances the footage you bring. The one tool that generates new material is the AI Speech Generator, and that's voice.
So when an edit needs a shot you don't have (an establishing shot, a cutaway, a product insert, a transition between two clips), Resolve on its own can't make it. That's the gap a generation tool fills.
Where Asset Lab fits: you direct it
AssetLab Resolve is a separate app that docks beside Resolve Free or Studio, on Mac and Linux. It doesn't edit for you. You decide the shot; it makes it and puts it where you want it:
- Generate the shots you choose (b-roll, inserts, establishing shots) on any of 67 image and video models, including Seedance 2.5, Kling 3.0 and Veo 3.1.
- Start from your own footage. Grab frame pulls the frame under the playhead in as a start frame, so the new shot opens on your picture.
- AI transitions on your terms. The last frame of clip A and the first frame of clip B become the start and end of a generated move.
- Match your grade. LUT Creator turns a reference still into a LUT installed on Resolve's Color page.
- Plan before you pay. Storyboard a sequence as stills first, for cents a frame.
- Everything lands in your project. Auto-drop puts each render in an "Asset Lab" bin and on the timeline. You keep cutting.
$49 once. Then pay only for what you generate: images from under a cent, 5-second video clips from about 25¢. No monthly fee, no credits that reset each month. The exact price of every render is on the button before you click.
DaVinci Resolve and AI
Does DaVinci Resolve have AI?
Yes. Magic Mask, Smart Reframe, Voice Isolation, Super Scale and UltraNR among the established tools, and Resolve 21 added IntelliSearch, Speech Generator, CineFocus, face tools, Slate ID, UltraSharpen and Motion Deblur.
Can DaVinci Resolve generate video from text?
No. Its AI works on existing footage; the only generative tool is the AI Speech Generator (voice). To generate new shots you need a separate tool such as AssetLab Resolve.
Which Resolve AI features are Studio-only?
Blackmagic lists facial recognition, Super Scale, speed warp and optical flow, de-interlacing, Magic Mask, Smart Reframe, object removal, scene cut detection, voice isolation, music remixer, dialogue separator and UltraNR as Studio-exclusive. Its pages don't state the edition for the new Resolve 21 tools.
How do I add AI-generated shots to a Resolve timeline?
With AssetLab Resolve: generate beside the timeline, grab a frame from the playhead as a start frame if you like, and Auto-drop puts the render in a bin and on the timeline. Works with Resolve Free and Studio. Compared with using fal.ai directly.
Related: AssetLab Resolve · AI storyboards · Seedance 2.5 · cost per clip · Higgsfield alternative
The shots you need, on the timeline you're cutting.
AssetLab Resolve works with Resolve Free or Studio, on Mac or Linux. $49 once, then pay per clip.