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How to Upload to YouTube Directly from DaVinci Resolve 16

By Lewis McGregor

Published: April 18, 2019 Last Updated: April 17, 2019

Blackmagic is bringing DaVinci Resolve to online content creation with simplified interfaces and direct upload to YouTube and Vimeo.

Blackmagic has vehemently been trying to branch out into the content creator crowd to get young filmmakers using their platform. In late winter, I worked with Blackmagic at London’s Vidcon to give Resolve tech demos to the younger demographic. I found that their responses were split: what is Resolve, and how do I make YouTube videos on it? (Or more specifically, how can I make makeup tutorials with this?)

Whatever your thoughts about online content creators and YouTube filmmakers, they are an invaluable resource in today’s digital world, and Blackmagic wants them to create their content using Resolve. The Cut Page seeks to streamline the learning curve of the edit page. And now with the ability to directly upload to YouTube and Vimeo, Resolve 16 is attempting to become the online content creator’s first choice.

Pair YouTube and Resolve

The process is relatively straightforward. However, since the manual has yet to be updated (16 is still a beta release), you can count on us to guide you through the steps. First, you need to pair your YouTube account within Resolve. To do this, select DaVinci Resolve from the menu bar and select Preferences. Alternatively, you can hit Ctrl+ on the keyboard to quickly bring up the preferences panel. Find Internet Accounts within the pop-up menu, and click Sign-in with YouTube.

You will then need to give Resolve the authority to publish to YouTube. Before doing so, make sure you read the conditions, so you feel comfortable giving a third-party app access to your YouTube account.

With the accounts linked, you can now directly upload to YouTube. On the delivery page, select the YouTube export preset, and adjust the profile to your desired render settings. Then, at the bottom of the menu, check the Upload directly to YouTube checkbox. You can perform this operation on any page using the Quick Export — and by selecting the YouTube preset with the same box selection.

You can then add the video file to the render queue and hit Start Render. Now, two things will happen: first, your video will render to the chosen file path; second, your video will upload to YouTube. If you open your YouTube dashboard, you’ll see the upload in process.

Since Resolve exports first, you’re still getting the completed render, not just a digital export. Thankfully, Resolve will upload the video to YouTube with a private setting. So you’re not going to have to rush to change the privacy setting of the video — but you will need to add the keyword tags and video description. The title of the render will become the title of the YouTube upload. Perhaps, in a future version of Resolve, you’ll be able to add all elements of the video data to YouTube — from the Resolve dashboard — to completely cut-out the need for an internet browser.

Pairing Resolve with Vimeo is just as straightforward. You need to hop back into preferences and sign in to your Vimeo account. Next, authorize Resolve’s access, then upload via the Vimeo preset. However, unlike YouTube, the Vimeo upload will be public. Therefore, you may need to quickly adjust the privacy settings if you intend to premiere the content on a specific date.

Removing The Link

If you’re not wholly keen on leaving YouTube and Vimeo paired with Resolve — or perhaps you’re using Resolve on someone else’s machine — here’s how you unlink the devices.

First, hop back in the Internet Accounts panel and sign out of the respective publishers. Then, for YouTube, head to myaccount.google.com, and select the security tab. Halfway down the page, you’ll find third-party apps with an account access section, click manage third-party apps.

On the next page, review the apps connected to your Google account, and revoke the access granted to DaVinci Resolve.

For Vimeo, head to Vimeo.com/settings, then navigate to the Connected apps setting. In the settings menu, disconnect DaVinci Resolve.

There is no disconnect button, but by clicking the green connected button, it will disconnect the link.

Without the ability to adjust all metadata properties of a video upload, I’m not too sure how useful I find this feature. Yet, at its core, it’s essentially saving you a few clicks. This can be useful if you have multiple videos to upload and you need to move away from the computer. You could render the video, take a lunch break, and come back to find everything exported and uploaded and waiting for metadata. However useful you find this feature, I love it when companies try something new. (Also, it’s just nice to see a more social feature integrated into Resolve.)

Lewis McGregor is a certified DaVinci Resolve trainer.

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