I usually don’t post opinion pieces about software, but this time I just can’t help myself.
I have been an Adobe Premiere user since 2004. I own CS3 Master Collection, CS4 Creative suite and CS6 Master Collection. I have been using CC at work.
I was not happy when Adobe forced everyone into a subscription model. It was good for new users though as they had a lower bar to entry. But for us long time users it was not a good move. Many of us expressed skepticism if Adobe would still be motivated to innovate new features for programs like Premiere and After Effects now that they would get our paychecks regardless. I think that skepticism has been proven right over the years.
I think we users can sympathize with software development being complex, difficult and time consuming. So we forgive a lot even when we only see cosmetic features after years and years of waiting. But then DaVinci Resolve steps up and shows everyone how rapidly a piece of software can actually be developed.
It was not that long ago that Resolve 16 was released with an amazing list of new features. And many of them big features, like the Cut page, adjustment clips, the neural engine for AI goodness, object removal etc. So I was not expecting to see as big of a release as Resolve 17 so soon. But here it is, filled with even more AI-based tools like the magic mask, massive Fairlight updates like improved architecture, automatic beat and word detection, new proxy workflows and render in place, new in-timeline chroma keyer, scene cut detection and 90+ smaller features.
I’m not sure if I have ever seen so quick software development, maybe excluding Blender. With speed like this one might expect tons of bugs and crashing, but so far Resolve 17 has been rock solid on my computer.
DaVinci Resolve just starts to seem like an absolute no-brainer at this point. It has editing, VFX-compositing (via Fusion), color grading and audio editing (Fairlight) all in one package. And it’s completely free to use for most purposes. But if you want all the goodness that is available including the neural engine, even then the cost of a perpetual license is only around $300. At the moment you can even get the Speed Editor keyboard thrown in the bundle for free. Now get this: not only is the license perpetual (yours forever), but you will even get free upgrades.
Boy is it nice to see competition like this against Adobe CC! I think we will see people jumping the Adobe ship in masses.