Hi Guys,
Hey, have you guys been using DRX files in DaVinci Resolve? I remember running into a lot of issues with BLG in the past. How’s DRX holding up? Is it stable and reliable? I’m about to start a new project and considering incorporating DRX into my workflow. Is it really as smooth and simple as the Autodesk Learning Channel suggests, or are there any hiccups I should watch out for?"
Thanks,
I only tested it when it originally came out. I know @finnjaeger looked at it in more detail.
I would suggest you do some testing. The core color tools should work fine, but where the problems will come in is with anything that has keyframes, tracked shapes, resizes, etc.
Which then of course depends a lot on how your Resolve grade is built and what features it uses.
I can’t tell if this is more of a gadget feature (‘look what we can do’) or was built to support real production pipelines at big studios, and thus will get all the kinks worked out. I haven’t seen a lot of talk and coverage about it - Flame, or other tools that could use it like Nuke, etc.
agree.
Its more like a tech demo or like a “advanced LUT”
wouldnt use it as a core thing to lean on
It sort of works and with 2026’s dynamic token system linking it to shots is more seamless now. However, I’ve noticed quite a few things don’t come across too well and plenty of colorists have some sort of customization going on that might break things. But I’ve used it successfully to have a colorist do some sort of base grade. Like Finn said, lut-deluxe..
I haven’t used it in production but based on what I understand from my testing, the benefits are that it’s now possible to transfer grades in this way, and the negatives are that it isn’t quite on the same level as BLG since there is a lot different between the two workflows (Pybox vs OFX + Baselight back-end vs Resolve back-end).
It does look like BLG is a bit more flexible in that you can use a Gap TLFX Pybox across a whole sequence or use TLFX on a per-shot basis. DRX doesn’t currently support this workflow.
BLG had a number of years of development / testing to get where it is now compared to DRX. I think I remember beta testing BLG back in early 2018, so they’ve had a decent head start. I’m sure the devs would say something like the more you bring up these issues, the more possible it is to try to fix them for future releases.
Spatial and temporal alignment are complex.
Imagine frame numbers with or without handles.
Imagine resolution pre or post scaling/ reframing.
Now add animated grades and or animated masks.
It was never going to be easy.
But you may get more mileage using nuke or nuke render nodes.
I’m not saying it could or should not happen in flame but in 2023 there were no takers.
i think this is why BLG got such a bad rap. (well maybe it deserved some of it because it was slow AF) but most of the complaining i’ve witnessed was when this process was an after thought. If you did a test with the colorist BEFORE the job kicked off and got the resolution/timecode/colorspace/duration/etc planets aligned as well as avoiding some of the common pitfalls (eg: dont add film grain in baselight) it worked pretty good. Actually dont know how i would have got a few jobs done without it because of the short schedule.
I will be soon be starting a project involving a color facility. To streamline the workflow and reduce the need for repeated grade run throughs during comp updates, I’m looking to incorporate .drx files into the pipeline.
I’d like to confirm whether all effects tools in the color library are supported and correctly carried through when using .drx files. Many colorists rely on tools such as film grain and halation, and I want to ensure that introducing .drx files will not compromise their creative choices when going this route.
Have some of you had good success already incorporating a .drx files into your workflow?
This is a great question for Blackmagic Design and since you already asked them the question, here is a link for the thread for future references: Blackmagic Forum • View topic - DRX Files Library tool support?
Wanted to give an update after completing a project that I incorporated .DRX files into the workflow.
For the most part, this worked really well! We ran a workflow test between myself and the colourist before the project started to identify any major red flags. Everything worked as expected during this test, so we decided to proceed with this workflow in mind.
The initial conform was done in Flame and prepped for grading using the same media and frame count. Here’s a breakdown of the steps:
Conform: Everything was brought into ACEScg, where all my comp work would be done.
Prep for Grade: The media was sent at camera colour space in my case, ARRI LogC4 in ProRes 444.
We agreed with the colourist to send both the graded shots and the corresponding .DRX files, so we wouldn’t be fully reliant on the .DRX in case something went wrong.
Since I was doing all my comps in ACEScg, applying the grade simply required an input transform after the comp like this:
ACEScg → LogC4 | Apply Grade | Tag Rec709
A few things we encountered:
The colourist used several LUTs in his grade, and these also needed to be available on the machine running Flame, typically placed in the same Resolve directory where the LUTs are stored.
He also used a plugin for halation and film looks, which I had to license and install on my system for it to work. Not ideal, but I felt it was worth the time to get it installed on my end as well.
This was not a VFX heavy job but had allot of cleanup and screen comps therefore I liked this approach. There were also grade changes throughout the project so I just needed to update the .drx files and job was done.
Thanks so much for posting a follow-up! Always great to get the full picture like this. Nice of you to take the time. It’s good info for others who might want to do the same. And of course it’s great to hear that it was a success.
One small thing to note that’s come out in the 2026 release is the ability to use tokens with the Resolve OFX. Just wanted to make sure that’s on your radar as a user of this workflow!
OpenFX
Support for Tokens has been added to the Effect File Path user interface element of the OpenFX Timeline FX and Batch node. Enable Dynamic to use the metadata like Shot Name to load the desired file.
Note: In the Create Batch Group workflow, the Shot Name of the content is used to name the Batch Group.
The Shot Name information of an OpenFX is resolved in the Shot Name layer of the Metadata Overlay.
Shot Name has been added to the Paste Special options of an OpenFX node.