DaVinci Resolve Color Grading for AI Footage: Match First, Look Last
Invideo's guide treats grading AI clips as shot matching first, because every generation has its own white balance and contrast and no camera metadata. It sets a fixed order in DaVinci Resolve: upscale, read scopes, match everything to one hero clip, then build the look, add texture and put LUTs last.
Key points
- Upscale before grading, because the upscaler changes texture and edges and would shift a finished grade
- Use the same serial node tree on every clip: balance, match, look, texture
- Pick one hero clip and match blacks, whites, neutrals and skin tones to it on the waveform and vectorscope
- Check Resolve's automatic shot match on the scopes; for shots stitched from several generations, match the halves first
- Add slight softening and uniform film grain to take off the over-sharp AI look and unify clips
- Apply LUTs on the last node only; a LUT amplifies differences between unmatched clips