Blackmagic Design is a manufacturer of creative video technology that describes itself as having grown into one of the world’s leading innovators in that field.[11] For licence managers the company matters mainly for two software families: DaVinci Resolve, a combined editing, colour, visual effects, motion graphics and audio post-production application, and Fusion, a node-based compositing application that also exists as a page inside DaVinci Resolve. Both are distributed as free downloads with paid Studio editions, and both are surrounded by a small set of licence constructs that differ from the per-user subscriptions typical of other creative software: activation keys, hardware licence dongles, monthly cloud licences, platform-store licences and bundles that ship with hardware.
This article is the entry point. It sets out the product families, the licence types and where each is documented, and points to the deeper articles on DaVinci Resolve, Fusion Studio and the developer and content licences.
Product families and editions
DaVinci Resolve is published in a free version and a paid Studio version. The read me shipped with the installer states that the free version includes all of the same processing as Studio and can handle unlimited resolution media, but limits project mastering and output to Ultra HD resolutions or lower and supports only a single processing GPU on Windows and Linux.[4] The same read me lists the capabilities that require Studio, among them multiple GPUs, 4K output, motion blur effects, temporal and spatial noise reduction, several AI-based tools, HDR tools, the camera tracker, voice isolation, surround and immersive audio, 3D stereoscopic tools and remote rendering.[4] A feature comparison document gives a longer table of Studio-only features for desktop and iPad.[1]
Fusion follows the same pattern. Fusion is offered as a free download and Fusion Studio as a paid product that, according to the product page, is activated using a DaVinci Resolve licence.[7] The Fusion manual covers both the Fusion page inside DaVinci Resolve and the stand-alone Fusion Studio application.[3]
On the date this article was written, the Blackmagic product pages listed a US price of $295 for DaVinci Resolve Studio and $295 for Fusion Studio.[6][7] Prices are shown without a stated effective date and vary by country; they are given here only as an as-of reference.
Licence types
The documents reviewed describe four ways in which a Studio licence reaches a user.
| Licence type | What the documents say | Where documented |
|---|---|---|
| Activation key | Listed as a standard-installation licence method for DaVinci Resolve Studio; also called a software activation code | Studio and iPad Features;[1] support site update notes[5] |
| Licence dongle | Listed alongside the activation key; also accepted by Fusion Studio 21.1.1 | Studio and iPad Features;[1] support site update notes[5] |
| Blackmagic Cloud licence | Rented monthly by an organization and assigned to members or groups | Reference Manual, Blackmagic Cloud Organizations[2] |
| App Store or in-app purchase | Separate from, and not interchangeable with, desktop or cloud licences | Studio and iPad Features[1] |
The Studio and iPad Features document lists the standard-installation methods as an activation key, a licence dongle and Blackmagic Cloud licensing.[1] The update description for DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1.1 repeats the point for that release: the version requires a DaVinci Resolve Studio licence dongle, a Blackmagic Cloud licence or a software activation code.[5] Purchases made through the Mac App Store are treated differently. The feature document states that such installations follow a separate App Store purchase based licence that is not interchangeable with other desktop or cloud based licences, and on iPad the Studio upgrade is an in-app purchase.[1]
A licence manager should note what the documents do not say. The published manuals and support notes reviewed for this article do not state how many computers a single activation key may be active on, whether a key can be transferred between organizations, or what happens to a licence when a computer is retired, apart from the Help menu command Deactivate License, which deactivates the Studio licence on the computer where it is used.[2] Those terms are presumably set by the licence agreement shown in the installer and by the card, email or hardware product that carries the key; they should be confirmed from those documents for a given purchase.
Hardware bundles
Resolve Studio is also distributed as part of hardware. The Pocket Cinema Camera page states that all Pocket Cinema Camera models include a full version of DaVinci Resolve Studio.[10] The PYXIS and URSA Cine product pages make comparable statements.[12][13] For asset managers this means a Studio entitlement can arrive as part of a camera purchase through procurement channels that do not look like software purchases, and an inventory built only from software invoices can miss it.
Cloud organizations
Blackmagic Cloud is a service for storing projects and media and for collaborating on DaVinci Resolve projects. Its Organization accounts consolidate storage, permissions, licensing and billing, and owners can rent DaVinci Resolve Studio licences by the month, assign them to members or groups, and buy project libraries and storage.[2] This is the closest Blackmagic construct to a named-user subscription. The metric is the licence assigned to a member, and the licence follows the member’s Blackmagic ID rather than a computer. The details are covered in the DaVinci Resolve article.
Third-party licences inside Blackmagic software
Some Blackmagic features depend on licences from other companies. The Studio product page states that access to advanced Dolby Vision trim controls requires a separate Dolby licence and that support for encrypted DCP requires a separate Easy DCP licence.[6] The reference manual adds that each DaVinci Resolve system (server) needs its own easyDCP licence and certificates.[2] These are not Blackmagic entitlements, so they will not appear in a Blackmagic licence record and need to be tracked against the third party’s own terms.
Developer and content agreements
Blackmagic distributes its software development kits, the Blackmagic RAW codec and a sound library under click-through agreements accepted in the download dialog. The Blackmagic RAW end-user licence says the software may be used on a single system only, and the Developer License Agreement for the Blackmagic RAW SDK allows the licensee to distribute the API libraries with its own software.[8] The standard SDK agreement, by contrast, forbids leasing, renting, distributing or sub-licensing the software.[9] The differences between the agreements, and the governing law each names, are set out in a separate article.
Network rendering
Fusion Studio is licensed for an unlimited number of Render nodes, so the number of rendering computers does not affect the licence count.[3] When a dongle licence is used, the dongle, the Render Master and the Render nodes must be on the same local network, and Fusion Server must run on the computer where the dongle is installed.[3] For DaVinci Resolve, remote rendering is itself a Studio feature.[1]
Practical points for software asset managers
- Record each Studio entitlement by its delivery method. An activation key, a dongle, a cloud licence and an App Store licence are different assets that cannot be exchanged for one another according to the feature document.[1]
- Do not infer Studio use from the installer alone. The free version and Studio are installed separately, and the release notes name the licence types each Studio download requires.[5]
- Look for bundled entitlements in camera purchases.[10]
- For cloud licences, check the Licenses tab of each organization. Unassigned licences return to the organization pool, and the number rented cannot be reduced below the number assigned.[2]
- For developer kits, record which agreement was accepted. The standard SDK agreement is governed by California law, while the Blackmagic RAW end-user licence is governed by the law of Victoria, Australia.[9][8]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Blackmagic hardware warranty or support terms, privacy terms or the DaVinci Resolve Project Server application beyond what it implies for licensing.