How to add a transparent overlay in DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve keeps the alpha channel of a ProRes 4444 file, so an overlay exported that way sits on Video 2 above your footage with no keying; if it shows black, set its Alpha Mode to Straight in Clip Attributes.
DaVinci Resolve reads transparent video properly, the free version included, so an animated graphic can go over your footage without a green screen or a single key. There is one setting worth knowing before you need it, and it is the difference between a clean overlay and a black box.
The file to bring in
Choose DaVinci Resolve under Where will you use this in the export panel, and the format becomes ProRes 4444 · transparent: a .mov with an alpha channel, which Resolve decodes on Windows and on a Mac alike.
A PNG sequence is the other transparent route, and Resolve takes it well: unzip the folder, bring the frames in together, and the Media Pool shows them as one clip rather than hundreds of stills. It is the choice when a single frame has to be retouched; for everything else, one ProRes file is simpler to carry around. On a plan, either counts toward the month's 4K-and-ProRes allowance.
On Video 2, above the footage
Import the file into the Media Pool — drag it in, or choose Import Media from the right-click menu — then drag it onto the track above your footage on the Edit or Cut page. Resolve draws the upper track over the lower, so the graphic appears over the picture and your footage shows through everywhere it is transparent.
Set the size in CtaYou before exporting: Landscape (1920×1080) or Vertical (1080×1920) from the size button above the canvas, to match the timeline. Resolve scales a different size to fit on its own, but fitting a smaller picture into a bigger frame is an enlargement, and graphics are where softness shows first. Zoom, Position and Opacity in the Inspector work on it like any other clip.
When it shows black
Resolve normally recognises the alpha on import. If the graphic sits on a black ground instead, right-click the clip in the Media Pool, open Clip Attributes, and on the Video tab set Alpha Mode to Straight — that is how CtaYou writes the file.
Straight is also the answer if soft edges and glows look different from the way they looked in the editor. Premultiplied expects the colour to have been multiplied into the transparency already, and reading a straight file that way shifts every half-transparent pixel.
Fusion, and the final render
On the Fusion page the clip comes in through a MediaIn node with its transparency, so it can be merged, blurred or tracked onto something moving like any other element. None of that is needed to use it; the Edit page is enough.
Nothing about the overlay changes how you deliver. The alpha only matters inside the timeline; the render at the end is flattened into ordinary video, so your usual H.264 or H.265 preset for YouTube is right, and the finished file is the size it always was.
Questions
- Does DaVinci Resolve support transparent video?
- Yes. It keeps the alpha channel in ProRes 4444 files and in PNG sequences, in the free version as well as Studio, and composites the clip over whatever is on the tracks below.
- Why is my overlay black in DaVinci Resolve?
- Resolve is not reading its alpha. Right-click the clip in the Media Pool, open Clip Attributes, and set Alpha Mode to Straight on the Video tab. If the file is an MP4, there is no alpha to read — export it again as ProRes 4444.
- Do I need Fusion to use an animated overlay in Resolve?
- No. Put the clip on a video track above your footage on the Edit or Cut page and it is composited there. Fusion is for when you want to do more to it, such as tracking it onto a moving object.