SpeedRampPro for DaVinci Resolve

Drop the effect on a clip in the Edit page, pick a ramp type and set the speed with sliders. For DaVinci Resolve, free or Studio, on Windows and Mac.

Launch price: €25 until November 6, €35 after that.

By Kriss Norde, Blackmagic Design Certified Trainer. Already downloaded by nearly 900 editors, Lite and Pro combined.

A speed ramp in DaVinci Resolve takes a lot of clicks

In DaVinci Resolve, a speed ramp goes through the retime controls. You add speed points, open the curve, drag handles, and start all over again on the next clip.

I made the first version of Speed Ramp Pro to get around that. It did the job, but you needed a compound clip, and often a render cache to play the result back (I was the one writing that in the user guide).

Version 2 was rebuilt from scratch to fix both of those.

Three steps

1. Drop Speed Ramp Pro 2 on your clip, in the Edit page.
2. Click the ramp type: Transition In, Transition Out or Mid Clip.
3. Set the peak speed and the ramp duration.

Your clip stays a regular clip in the timeline. You can cut it or shorten it, and the ramp follows.

What changes

Play your ramp back in real time

Outside the ramp, the clip plays like a clip with no effect on it. Processing is up to 4 times faster than version 1 in HD, and up to 9 times faster in 4K (measured on my PC). Inside the ramp, speed mostly depends on your footage: if a heavily compressed file stutters, a proxy or optimized media fixes it.

Optical flow slow motion is still heavy to process. For that one, keep the render cache.

See the curve on your image

One click on "Show curve" and the speed curve appears on your image, with the playhead and the current speed. You see where the ramp starts and where it ends. Turn it off before you export.

The red zone tells you what to trim

Speeding up uses more frames than the length of the clip. If there aren't enough left after the end of the clip, the last frames freeze. The curve then turns red and tells you how many frames to trim from the clip.

A transition between two clips

Put a Transition Out at the end of one clip and a Transition In at the start of the next. The first one speeds away, the second one comes in fast and settles back to normal speed.

Slow down or speed up in the middle of a clip

The "Slow down" and "Speed up" buttons give you a ready-made setting. Then you adjust the speeds, place the four points of the curve from left to right and set its shape at each point.

Your settings as presets

Name your setting and click "Save preset". It shows up in your Effects library, after restarting DaVinci Resolve if needed, and you drop it on your clips just like the effect itself.

Two motion blurs, a light one and a heavy one

Fake motion blur is light: a directional or zoom blur that grows with the speed. DaVinci Resolve motion blur is more accurate and heavier. Pick the one that suits your machine and your deadline.

Clean slow motion

For slow motion, frame blending is on by default. If you want new frames calculated, switch to optical flow: Speed Warp with DaVinci Resolve Studio, or Fusion optical flow, which also works on the free version.

HD, 4K, vertical

The curve adapts to your timeline format, vertical included. The ramp duration is counted in timeline frames: with footage shot at 25 or at 100 frames per second, 12 frames are 12 frames.

Speed Ramp Lite or Speed Ramp Pro 2

What you get

The plugin, with its English interface, and its user guide as a PDF. Version 2 updates are included.

Speed Ramp Pro 2 is €25 until November 6. After that it goes up to €35.

Secure payment, instant download. Refund within 14 days if the plugin isn't right for you.

What you need

DaVinci Resolve 21 or later, free or Studio, on Windows or Mac.

Two options need DaVinci Resolve Studio: Speed Warp for slow motion and DaVinci Resolve motion blur. On the free version, turning them on adds the Blackmagic Design watermark to the image. For optical flow slow motion without Studio, pick "Fusion optical flow" under "Slow motion engine": it works on the free version.

The plugin comes as two files: the effect (.drfx) and its engine (SpeedRampPro2.fuse).

1. Close DaVinci Resolve.
2. Copy the SpeedRampPro2.fuse file into the DaVinci Resolve Fuses folder. The user guide gives the exact path on Windows and on Mac.
3. Double-click the .drfx file. DaVinci Resolve opens and offers to install it.
4. Restart DaVinci Resolve.
5. In the Effects library, open the CreatorAcademyCo category. The effect is called Speed Ramp Pro 2.
6. In the effect, enter your license key and click "Activate". You'll find the key in your account on the site and in your purchase email.

Your speed ramps, no compound clip

Speed Ramp Pro 2 is €25 until November 6, then €35.