DaVinci Resolve to After Effects Workflow

If you’re new to DaVinci Resolve after using Adobe Premiere with After Effects, you’re probably wondering how to get those DaVinci Resolve files into your After Effects project file. Some will tell you to just use Fusion, but if you’re like me and don’t have the patience to learn another motion graphics program and you’re really comfortable with After Effects already, this guide is for you. (This blog post was inspired by what I learned from William P. and the Animist films over on YouTube.)

To get your timeline into After Effects from DaVinci Resolve, you have two options. The first one is to export the timeline as an XML file and then import the XML file into After Effects. The second is to render out the timeline in a lossless format (with an accompanying XML file) and then import that into After Effects. Neither one is perfect, and depending on your system, one or the other might have some issues as After Effects is not a perfect program.

Option 1

The first option is probably the best since it requires no rendering. To do this:

1. Open up your timeline in DaVinci Resole.

2. Click File, Export AAF, XML…

3. Save the timeline as an FCP & XML V5 Files (*.xml) file.

4. Open After Effects.

5. Click File, Import, Pro Import After Effects…

6. Under File Format, select Final Cut Pro files (*.XML)

7. Then navigate to the saved timeline .xml file and hoila! Your DaVinci Resolve timeline is now imported into an After Effects composition without rendering anything. Since all the original clips are connected, you can extend any clips where desired.

8. To export, simply render in your lossless codec of choice and reimport back into DaVinci Resolve.

Option 2

The second option is a little less convenient because it requires more time and hard drive space. This option involves rendering the timeline into new clips.

1. Open up your timeline in DaVinci Resole.

2. Go to the Render tab and select Final Cut Pro 7 in the render tab.

3. Select QuickTime and DNxHD for the codec (if you’re on a Windows machine).

4. Select the Location for the render and render that timeline.

5. Open After Effects and click File, Import, Pro Import After Effects.

6. Select your XML file from DaVinci Resolve and voila! Your timeline will now be created in a new composition with the new rendered (lossless) clips.