DaVinci Resolve is a powerful suite of software that allows even beginner users to edit videos and add visual effects – it features audio mixing and color grading tools, plus lots more, too. Best of all, the standard package is totally free! And there’s a Studio version of the software for those wanting more advanced tools.

Adding animation to your video could be a great move, and we discuss the reasons for this below. If you’ve never used animation tools before or incorporated this type of feature into your content, you may feel a little nervous about trying your hand at it. Don’t worry, though; DaVinci Resolve makes the process easy, even for complete beginners. Keep reading for the tips you need to know to create a successful animation for your video. But before we jump into that…

Why Add Animation to my Video?

There are loads of reasons why adding animation to video content is used so widely. Firstly, an animated section adds an interest point, helping to break up your video and so keeping the viewer engaged and less likely to click away.

Secondly, animation can bring your ideas to life, which is especially helpful if you need to explain a tricky concept or could otherwise run the risk of the narrated spiel being too ‘dry.’ Animation can render complex problems or explanations much easier to understand and palatable, largely through its visual nature.

Next up: incorporating an animated video into the rest of your content could even help your search engine rankings – most major search engines love video, and animated sections can help boost the number of backlinks you get both to your video and your website, boosting your visibility and helping drive conversions.

And last but not least – they’re fun! Adding animation allows for a little light-heartedness and color, helping to give your video some extra personality.

Keyframe 101

Before we get started, it’s important to understand what a keyframe is – you’ll be using them to create your animation. A keyframe stores the information about a parameter or value at a certain point in time. When the timeline of your video reaches the zone you’ve designated between two or more keyframes, the animation will play.

So, for basic animation, you’ll need to place at least two keyframes on an element’s parameter. The more parameters on which you place keyframes, the more complex the animation will be. Got it?

How to Animate in DaVinci Resolve

So, now we’ve looked at why adding some animation to your video is a great idea; how exactly do you use DaVinci Resolve to do so?

You have two options; for beginners, it’s best to master the first before moving on to the second:

Get Started With Animation

To start with, you may wish to follow the simplest means to animate in the software, to help you get used to things. For this approach, you just need to head to the Effects Library in DaVinci Resolve, where you’ll find plenty of ready-made transitions, titles, effects, and more, which you can use in conjunction with keyframes to add some basic animation to your video. In Keyframes, locate the Inspector tab, and you’ll be able to add some additional effects, such as zooming in and out on text, and text movement, for example.

To begin, place the Play marker at the point where you want to add some animation to create the first keyframe – you’re looking for the diamond symbol on the right-hand side of the zoom parameter to make a keyframe at that point. Next, identify the point in your video at which you want the animation to end, and hit the diamond symbol again.

At this point, you’re ready to select the video in the timeframe, then hit the object that the red arrow is pointing to on the image below to open up the keyframe timeline. Now you’ll be able to move and edit the relevant keyframes quickly and easily. Finally, simply select the drop-down button to choose the animated effects you want to incorporate.

Tips and Hacks

If you want to adjust the way the animation moves, choose the Easing option by right-clicking on the keyframe – this will allow you to, for example, slow down the speed of the animation for that particular keyframe.

To edit any part of the animation once you’re done, head to Inspector and select the Effects tab to bring up the editor.

For a simple way to add repeating movements to your animation, use the Camera Shake tool – this easy hack is a quick way to get the effect you want!

The Next Level

Once you’re comfortable and confident using these basic tools, it’s time to move on to more advanced animation techniques.

For this, you’ll need to use the Fusion toolbox inside DaVinci Resolve. You’ll find this in the Effects Library. Once opened, you’ll notice that it’ll open a Binoculars node at the point in your video where you want to place your animation. You can now drag additional tools and nodes from Fusion into the editor, ready to use to make your video a showstopper!