How to Edit 4K+ on a SLOW Computer - DaVinci Resolve 18.5 Proxy Workflow!

[@BORNTOLOSEMEDIA]

This made my workflow 1000000 times faster !!! I thought I was going to need a new laptop. Feels like I upgraded instantly with just a few clicks. I wish I could leave 1,000 likes. Thank you Casey

[@RachelsArtDesk]

THANK YOU!!! i am totally new to video editing, and i was getting really slow playback, from 2-6fps. I watched HOURS of tutorials to speed up playback (all the videos said to do the same thing, i changed all the settings they said to...nothing changed.) I didnt know i had to CREATE THE PROXIES!!!! I feel like an idiot, but i am so relieved that this video saved me from having to purchase a new computer right away!!!

[@mrfroopy]

There is a reason to read the manual.

[@ontheruntonowhere]

Great explanation. I appreciate that you picked one workflow and explained it thoroughly, instead of giving us option paralysis. This was very helpful.

[@lensflareclips]

while proxies are very useful, the real trouble comes if you try to edit with effects, which cannot be played back in realtime even at quarter resolution. For this you need to use the render cache, but unfortunately the render cache only works if you are in full resolution mode. So pre-rendering that specific part of the video and playing it back while editing everything else quickly at quarter resolution at the same time is simply not possible with DaVinci at the moment. This is a huge slowdown in editing workflow and we haven't found any solution to this issue yet.

[@thriwaway7865]

Does slow motion fall under this?

[@ProgrammistMusic]

@@thriwaway7865i guess slow motion will still work

[@thriwaway7865]

@@ProgrammistMusic sweet. Trying to edit skate videos and slow motion is really the only effect needed

[@cardiivision]

Couldn’t you just use proxy’s to get all your footage cut up an place correctly in timeline. Slap on some transitions. Color graded it. An then render it out. Then bring the rendered project back into Davinci under new project an solely focus on adding effects? Serious question.

[@rufitos]

​@@cardiivisionI would say that that's definitely an option.

[@devarni]

The best KZbin channel for Davinci Resolve! I often use proxies but the tool which automatically converts the videos I did not know yet

[@MisterTolley]

Learning new stuff all the time....really grateful to you Mr F

[@HUSHHUSH-]

Brilliant information and speeds up editing a lot 😀. Have a lovely ending of the week everyone

[@Realist-m9c]

FYI: Newer cameras like the FX3 and FX6 cameras (and probably others) can create proxies in camera next to the originals. This saves having to manually create them.

[@TeroPihlaja]

Thanks! What is the difference between proxies and optimized media?

[@UnboundedArtandCrafts]

Very helpful ❤ Question ❓ will the proxy files be deleted when you delete the project in davinci?

[@marc3793]

Hey Casey. I know you love doing these types of videos. I feel like "render in place" would be a good one to discuss in one of your future videos.

[@ashugujjar3007]

unedited video playback is fine but can you make a video on how to get better playback after applying effect and other stuff. i switched from premiere and after effect for better performance but tbh davinci is pretty terrible at playback after applying effect or doing some fusion stuff. i cant get good playback without caching that have to recache after every minor change.

[@carines.nevalga]

Thanks so much for the clear (and NOT boring) tutorial!! Giving this a try with my next project :)

[@R1Spam]

Just some advice for people who capture footage via a program such as OBS, you NEED to make sure your PC can handle your encoder settings, otherwise your footage will contain some skipped frames and you will have trouble generating Proxies as a result. For me personally, I use a high quality encoder setting that uses less CPU power, but uses up more storage space.

[@Anticlimacticwhale]

which is?

[@gemlex4293]

What's the difference between proxies and optimised media?

[@murtts]

Casey, I have one question... If I always do my video only for KZbin is it would be better to do it in 4K or it is not necessary and 1080p would be sufficient? Now I do my videos in 1080p and think about to change resolution to 4K. Will it be better?

[@tsvetentse]

thank you for this! Worked brilliant - I don't have a lof of space on my laptop, so I was storing everything on an external harddrive. It was so slow, undeditable! but thanks to your video I was able to generate and save proxies on my laptop and I can't believe the difference it's made - I can edit my video now!

[@BUILDEMTORIDE]

I need to give you a huge thank you. My 10yr old rig (4790K / GTX970 / 16gb Ram) would edit ok with adobe, except with intensive transitions etc, but since switching to resolve before the mass adobe exodus happened, I had trouble even editing more than gopro footage (recently bought a ZV-E10) and when I seen this video I jumped for joy. Its so nice to be able to just watch your footage back as your editing, not to mention scrubbing. I know i need to upgrade, but to keep making content I need to buy more motorcycle parts LOL Its a vicious cycle LOL

[@KellyRossouw]

Very helpful and brilliantly explained - thank you!

[@Burzcasts]

Hi Casey, why not download the 4k footage into a 1080p timeline then just upscale it before rendering ? Isn't that a very much easier way ?

[@tocodelray]

That worked great! I'm loving your channel, you are my go-to for learning how to use Resolve.

[@MynardLab]

thanks so much. this is very helpful in my 4k 50pfs. i have a hard time editing. then you help me with this tutorial. good job Casey!

[@MIDNIGHT21]

Also I gotta say thank you for putting out well thought out consistently great quality work seriously 🙌

[@mateuscruz9627]

Your videos are pure gold. Thanks a ton!

[@keshavharipersad2024]

This helped out a ton, man's a legend.

[@ZeeGeeSims]

I reset everything to default for a BM tutorial and even tho I have an ok system it was struggling to render. I couldn’t remember what settings I changed to get it faster so this is so much appreciated!

[@dorianweber2739]

Bravo, this saves me a lot of trouble..... well explained! Thank you.

[@agiOverlord]

Now that's some quality content over here ✨

[@insolitofilmes]

Great tips! Really helpful. Thank you!

[@gadgetman7119]

This video came right on time mate. I just put back in its box my recently purchased razer blade 18 with rtx 4090. Why ? Because scrolling on a 4k RAW video files was very choppy. Only playback was smooth. And on my macbook pro m1, when scrolling, everything was smooth as butter. Not sure if i missed an option in davinci, but i got a feeling that a laptop with mobile rtx 4090 shouldnt have scrolling issues on davinci timeline. Are all windows machines suffering from choppy scrolling while they have top tier hardware ?

[@olusha]

This is immense!! Thank you.

[@tinexdFPV]

What is with optimized media?

[@PocketOKrypto]

Really great video! Thanks so much for the clear and concise explanations.

[@murtts]

Thank you, Casey! As usually very helpful tutorial! 👍😊

[@byDanimal]

That was a great explainer and will be really helpful for a lot of people (and me in the future). Thanks Casey!

[@PB72UK]

I’m new to video editing but found DR18 and instantly thought this is the program for me, but my 2015 macbook really struggles with 1080p never mind 4k .. i’m hoping this will save the day!! Thanks

[@groovr22]

WOW..! I found this by accident, but man did I need this info. I can't thank you enough. I'm generating some proxies right now, hoping it works as you showed. Thank you again..!

[@kentmccracken]

Always great help Casey. Thank you.

[@PhilipElisa]

Man, you are a Davinci Genius! Thank you very much!

[@maramhesham2147]

This is a game changer for me! Thank you!!

[@itskalimishra5314]

This was so Helpful...Thank You Much ♥️♥️♥️

[@liquaaDX]

you didnt change timeline resolution to 4k in master settings ? isnt it required to view the og 4k files when the proxy is turned off ?

[@filipkevely]

Solid information, good style and delivery. I have been using proxies but very clumsily or, as one might say, outright wrong (following stupid default settings). My love-hate relationship with DaVinci continues. 💔

[@kevinoneill4850]

excellent explanation Casey, thank you

[@Ducain_Plays]

Wow this video came at exactly the right time for me!

[@film_on_fire]

Super helpful and amazing video as always!! ❤

[@kjbathe]

Resolve is soooo speedy now! Thank you 🎉

[@HalfdeadRider]

What is the benefit over editing the 4k on a 1080p or lower timeline, then increasing the resolution just before rendering?

[@WhySoLoud]

Going from 1080 to 4k would stretch the pixels 400% which would distort/soften the picture. With a generated Proxy you get the same frame size but with a compressed file (less computer luminence/pixel code). So the resulting Proxy file size is smaller (think computer bits ie: Gigs to KBs), so less taxing on the computer, but has nothing to do with the frame size of the screen's image. Hope that helps.

[@HalfdeadRider]

@@WhySoLoud thanks! that is very helpful.

[@HoundDogMech]

Any Possibility of making the 4K clips available for download so one can test how powerful their 4 year old computer might be or NOT BE as the case may be. Thanks for the INFO Casey.

[@MrClassicRobot]

I've got a 48-hour challenge coming up in a month. One idea I had to save us time was to have a secondary editor doing a rough cut of the short film on location while we're shooting. If I understand correctly, the proxy utility will automatically make proxies of any files in a specific folder. So in theory, does that mean that if a PA brought footage to an editor, they could just continuously copy new files to a dedicated folder and the proxies will auto generate while they edit. Am I understanding that correctly?

[@CaseyFaris]

Yes that would happen if you have the proxy generator utility set to watch that folder.

[@goingwildagain]

Are you talking about studio version or free version?

[@misterpink808]

Thank you, sir. I was only hoping last week you'd do an updated video on this subject.

[@MIDNIGHT21]

Casey!!! Did you ever have the audio like de sync while editing and then it’s even out of sync on watching a KZbin video by 2-3 seconds ? I have to restart the computer to fix - this computer is i9/ GeForce rtx 4090 /64gb ram

[@SappyDa]

Question - What if I have RAW footage across multiple folders? Like Days 1, 2, 3 - Cards 1,2 ,3, 4 for each day. Do I have to set the watch folder manually for each card or just once for the master folder? Secondly, how do I extract all the proxies to a separate hard drive to hand over to a different editor? Do I need to go into each subfolder and copy the proxy folder? Or is there a one step solution to copy all proxies while retaining the original folder structure? Thirdly, once an editor hands over a project file after working on the proxies, does it link automatically to my original proxies/RAW or do I have to relink each subfolder manually? Thanks everyone in advance.

[@BaileytheIllustrator]

You just changed my life.

[@DEKOproducties]

I don't have the option Generate proxy media. Only Relink proxy media. What steps did I take wrong?

[@ashwiniette793]

Same for me as well

[@DEKOproducties]

@@ashwiniette793 I figured out it's because we do not have the paid version. Which is not mentioned in any walkthrough video. It SUCKS!!!

[@WeekendExplorer]

I have 23TB of videos. So, putting them "right next to the proxies in the same folder" is not an option. We filmed in 4.6K but are delivering in HD. I wish you had also explained how to do this instead of it just being for small projects that can fit on a laptop or single external hard drive. I still appreciate the information.

[@krammpeter]

Do proxies work with transitions, like fusion, transitions, or transitions, you download it from motion array?

[@Crustenscharbap]

Cool the proxy generator is great. My PC struggled with iPhones 4Kh265 video. The best thing is that the generator media will be linked automatically in Davinci. Also you can see how much space it tooks. For a projekt it takes 6,8Gig instead if 88Gig proxies made by davinci itself. I had (before Windows 11) Power Director and this program made proxies itself every time. It was way easier.

[@Mike_Virata]

OMFG this worked! I have a powerful gaming PC and I was wondering what was happening. Thanks Casey

[@LKB.13]

BROOO thank you...i have a 2023 Lenovo Laptop and it was sooo laggy but now my Videos are smooth🔥

[@Padruig9]

This made my day, I can actually edit now.

[@KingZero69]

yo dude, this is great and really helpful. it would be awesome if you could do another similar video on 'how to use fusion on a potato'... i have a good machine, m1 max macbook pro... but resolve always crashes when i try to do anything complex with fusion after running my ram up to like 100gb used... im sure its something im doing wrong and i need to edit the settings or or use proxies or something... but i cant figure it out... thanks for all the great content you make! 💪

[@Evgeniy_Shaman]

What difference between Disable all proxies and Prefer Originals? Are they perform the same action if I need turn off proxies?

[@boutiqueempire]

Cheers that was clear, concise and very helpful.

[@Studio_234]

I have an m2 iPad Pro and I still use this for smooth playback for things like speed ramping and noise reduction. Now if I could just stop the edit page from crashing so often… it does seem to be better after purchasing studio for iPad tho.. any thoughts?

[@GoKreKre]

So will this help with the crashing? I'm now seeing it crash while I'm generating proxy media

[@prasantshinde3049]

I do same things all you tell . It work smoothly also .but in last after render the project compare original and render video .quality difference. it not looking same quality as original. what should I do?

[@robertsimpson4556]

What's the difference between using proxies and just changing the playback to half or quarter quality? It looks about the same, but without all that bothersome HDD space being taken up. Is using proxies better than that?

[@HalfdeadRider]

You can also just change the timelines resolution in the media pool, then change it back to 4k before rendering, much quicker.

[@robertsimpson4556]

There HAS to be a reason why all these options are there... They're different in some way, I'm sure.

[@HalfdeadRider]

@@robertsimpson4556 That is what I was thinking! Before replying to you I commented asking what the benefits are over just changing the timeline resolution, will be interesting to see if I get an answer.

[@ashugujjar3007]

@@robertsimpson4556 i am not 100% sure but i think proxy convert video format to something that is easier to playback. changing resolution may decrease load on computer but the video file format still stay compressed(or uncompressed, i dont remember the correct term) that is harder to playback.

[@robertsimpson4556]

@@ashugujjar3007 ah yeah that’s a good point. Like at a certain level, using proxies would provide more quality in the playback if using an easier codec. That makes sense.

[@shounyou7146]

Hi! This is greatly explained but I'm having trouble with the resolution translating adequately between both. When I save as "half" for example, and use the proxy in my timeline, crop/position the clip, the result changes once I click on "prefer camera originals" for the color grading. Since the resolution is half, once I go to the original, I get a different crop/zoom given the higher res. Any way to keep the framing consistent between both? Hopefully I explained this clearly... Thanks!

[@loulou_ggwp]

thanks man, awesome video, clear and helpfull the world need people like you now i can finally edit my crappy moto pov footage with my potato cumputer

[@rossscobievideographer53]

Hey Casey something different, I have done a freeze frame, I have then masked out part of it, I want to export it as a PNG or JPG however when I do it still comes out with the black background, do you know how to export a mask without background

[@ozzyencounters]

I started using proxies to edit, does assist with playback (thank god as I was ready to throw my laptop out the window), however once I forgot to unlink proxies before rendering and final rendered result was horrendous. Are you sure if you forget to unlink proxies the program does it for you?

[@tonybrownie]

If after rendering you deleted your project. Are the proxies also automatically deleted out your pc ?

[@CaseyFaris]

No

[@mvz]

Is this different than just lowering the playback resolution? Does that also require proxy files or is that a different function?

[@who2999]

Yes that's a different function. it will make the kinda rolling playback render into a lower rez proxy if you do that but it will still always be referencing the full rez originals in system memory to make that playback render every time you make a change. Lowering playback resolution will help you a bit particularly if your primary problem is strain on the graphics card, but it won't help you in some other areas where the slow down may be occuring such as pulling things from the hard drive into ram.

[@udo9999]

Excellent video, thank you!

[@ChernoffCreates]

Hey Casey, what program do you use to track your mouse when your highlighting certain areas of the program? I create training videos for a few companies and this would be an amazing addition. Thanks!

[@CaseyFaris]

OBS, Glassbrick, and Pointerfocus

[@ChernoffCreates]

@@CaseyFaris Thank you so much!

[@danm7596]

Amazingly helpful. Thanks!

[@mrfroopy]

Actually Casey, its not "old school people" who suggest DNXLB. No matter what your computer, h264 puts more stress on your computer even a Mac with hardware decode for that. The reason is that the lower the stress on your system, the longer the system will last. That is just a fact. But if you have a slow older computer without native 264 hardware, you should do DNX SQ for sure.

[@IanConnel]

This saved my bacon. And my bacon is delicious and important. Thank you Casey! I have your editing course on my shortlist.

[@quanghungpham269]

What is your computer/laptop system?

[@ruudbremer]

Hi Casey, when you change the project settings of the "optimized media and render cache", it only saves it for that project. Where can you change the default settings so you have to do this once?

[@ruudbremer]

I found it. On that same window, use the 3-dots in the top right corner and click "Set Current Settings as Default preset". Than click save.

[@orosztotharpad]

In the proxy generator I don't have H.265 10bit 4:2:0 1080p, instead I only have H.265 8bit 4:2:0 1080p. Why is that?

[@oman4229]

Hey Casey what are your thoughts on proxies vs rendering caches?

[@CaseyFaris]

Both are useful, caches more for fusion and color FX, but proxies for footage

[@DylanDauenhauer]

Wow, thank you this was extremely helpful!

[@DellanaMetalArts]

How do you deal with size/location distortion after rendering when working with proxies? I've recently spent hours trying to figure this out. It happened with a video I was doing with all stills (large PNG and JPEG files). Some of the stills were uber zoomed in and in the wrong location after rendering but looked exactly as I wanted them to on the Edit page. Very frustrating.

[@HoundDogMech]

So the Original and the proxies should NOT live on one of your slowest drives or even an external HDD. I have never in (4 years) using DR had the opportunity to use 4K footage but have a 1TB Samsung 980 SSD as C:\ 1 TB HDD as D:\ and a 1 TB Samsung 980 in an enclosure on a 3.1 10 gb/s port. I did not realize 90% of my videos are running off the D:\ and though onl 1080P MP4 files they scrub just as fast as you show the 4k proxies and I don't think I've ever had to make PROXIES but do have OPTIMIZED MEDIA turned on. It that the same or close?

[@who2999]

Great tutorial. Thank you for that.

[@ApexArtistX]

if i drag from media bin to the fusion tab, am i using the proxy or the original ?

[@MotoFamMayhem]

Such great information ✊️😎

[@kristiyangoytchev3005]

Thank you my friend!

[@4t7k58]

What about the fusion composition that are added on the clips? Will those be rendered in the original quality that is needed? Thank for the video, I struggle a lot even with Full HD video sometimes.

[@CaseyFaris]

Yes, but you can render in place and then make a proxy for that if neccisary

[@4t7k58]

@@CaseyFaris my videos are mostly recorded in Full HD, and the fusion composition on each clip is the one that leads to that excessive lag. So do I first create proxy of the clip and then apply the fusion elements to it, or the opposite?

[@GetOutandKayakMalta]

wicked! thanks from Malta! I have a very good PC, but davinci crashes for me a lot and this helps me not want to throw my PC into the sea. So, thank you!

[@AB13]

I have a 4600h 32gb gtx 1650 4gb laptop...while the playback is good !!! The moment i put any resolve fx....it just slows !! Anyway to speed up that ?

[@MatCain72]

The beautiful (but overcast) Oregon coast. - Oregon footage is always good for tutorials. Are you from Oregon Mr. Faris?

[@Benr2]

thank you! so helpful!

[@dreamfev.r]

bro I have an ideapad ryzen5 and i didnt even get any smoother playback after all that, but then again I dont know if it makes a difference but I dont really make video playbacks I just make audio spectrums that react according to the music played and its mad crummy its unreal help help Im drowning in the lag

[@mauricioasfurtado]

Thanks Casey, a great video and great tips. Muito Obrigado.

[@gavinkingcome3732]

Very helpful, thank you 🙏

[@hdrsiy2132]

Is rtx 3060 enough for Davinci?