DaVinci Resolve 21 · Resolve FX Transform

Camera Shake

Procedural pan, tilt, rotation and zoom for controlled handheld drift, impacts, vibration and stylised motion — with waveform, randomness, pauses, edge handling and blend controls.

Pan / Tilt / RotationZoomRandomnessBlanking Handling

Camera Shake is a spatial transform effect, not a colour correction. On the Color page it belongs in the Resolve FX/OpenFX workflow, but its main design questions are motion cadence, axis balance, edge handling and interaction with downstream spatial operations.

What Camera Shake actually does

It synthesises transform motion — it does not analyse the original camera

Blackmagic describes Camera Shake as random motion across horizontal and vertical position, rotation and zoom. The effect can range from slow drifting movement to abrupt jerks and pops. That means the controls describe a motion generator: amplitude, speed, waveform, randomness and blanking — not tracking or stabilisation.

Pan / Tilt

Independent X/Y displacement for side-to-side or vertical shake.

Rotation

Angular movement around the frame; powerful, but easy to overdo.

Zoom

Independent scale animation with its own amplitude, speed and direction mode.

Randomness

Breaks perfect periodicity so the motion can feel less synthetic.

Controls, by function

Build the motion first, then make the edges survive it

Main Controls

Motion Scale · Speed Scale · Motion Blur

Motion Scale sets the overall amount of synthetic motion, Speed Scale controls the global rate, and Motion Blur adds simulated motion smear. Treat these as master controls: establish the overall energy first, then balance Pan/Tilt/Rotation and Zoom separately.

Motion Scale — global amplitude multiplier
Speed Scale — global temporal multiplier
Motion Blur becomes most visible on faster motion

Shake Levels

Pan · Tilt · Rotation · PTR Speed

Pan Amplitude drives horizontal displacement, Tilt Amplitude vertical displacement, Rotation Amplitude frame rotation, and PTR Speed controls the rate of that group. The axes are independent: a vertical shake can use almost no Pan, while a subtle handheld look can use small Pan/Tilt with minimal Rotation.

Pan = X, Tilt = Y
Use Rotation sparingly — it reveals the effect quickly
PTR Speed does not control Zoom

Separate zoom branch

Zoom Amplitude · Zoom Speed · Zoom Type

Zoom has its own Amplitude and Speed and does not have to follow Pan/Tilt/Rotation. Zoom Type constrains the direction to Outward Only, Inward Only, or Outward and Inward. The choice affects both the character of the motion and the risk of revealing blank frame edges.

Outward Only — motion only toward a smaller scale
Inward Only — zoom-in only; less risk of blanking
Outward and Inward — bidirectional scale breathing

Motion shape

Motion Method

Motion Method selects the base procedural motion shape: SINE is smooth and periodic, Rectified SINE produces a more one-sided/pulsing pattern, Rectified SINE (invert) flips that polarity, and Square Wave creates abrupt jumps that suit popping/flicker-like motion more than natural handheld movement.

SINE — the smoothest base motion
Rectified SINE — a more pulsing form
Square Wave — intentionally abrupt steps

Shake Quality

Phase · Randomness · Pauses · Random Seed

Phase offsets the starting point of the selected motion shape. Randomness Scale adds irregularity to Pan/Tilt/Rotation, while Randomness Speed changes whether that irregularity feels smooth or jagged. Pause Length, Pause Interval and Pause Randomness break the motion with pauses, and Random Seed changes the exact random sequence — identical seeds reproduce identical randomness.

Phase changes the start point, not the intensity
Randomness Speed: lower = smoother, higher = more jagged
Random Seed lets you audition a new pattern without rebuilding the settings

Blanking Handling

Border Type · Zoom to Crop · Global Blend

When synthetic motion pushes the image beyond the project frame, Border Type determines how the empty area is filled: Black, Replicate, Reflect or Wrap-Around. Zoom to Crop pre-scales the image to hide blanking at the cost of field of view. Global Blend mixes the final Camera Shake result back with the original and is useful for quickly reducing an over-strong effect.

Black exposes the empty edge honestly
Replicate/Reflect are usually safer for natural footage
Wrap-Around can become obvious on recognisable edges and geometry

Motion Method decoded

The waveform changes the character before randomness is added

SINE

Continuous oscillation and the safest base for subtle, organic-looking drift.

Rectified SINE

A rectified pulse-like variant that feels more directional and less evenly balanced around the cycle.

Rectified SINE (invert)

The inverse polarity of the rectified form; useful when the same cadence should lean the opposite way.

Square Wave

Abrupt state changes. Best for popping, flicker-like or deliberately mechanical motion rather than natural handheld.

Production workflow

Six steps from generic shake to designed camera movement

Decide what kind of camera movement you need

Separate subtle handheld drift, impact shake, mechanical vibration and stylised popping. The same numeric preset will not serve all four.

Set global amplitude and speed first

Use Motion Scale and Speed Scale to establish the overall energy before tuning individual axes. Add Motion Blur only after the movement rate is believable.

Build the axis mix

Balance Pan, Tilt and Rotation independently. Keep Rotation modest for natural handheld and raise it deliberately only for impact or stylisation.

Choose the waveform and randomness

SINE is the safest natural base. Rectified variants and Square Wave are more graphic. Then add randomness, pauses and a seed without destroying the chosen motion character.

Handle zoom and blanking together

Zoom direction affects the chance of revealing the image boundary. Choose Border Type and the minimum Zoom to Crop that hides unacceptable edges without wasting too much framing.

Judge the result in motion, not on a still frame

Play the whole shot at delivery frame rate. Check cadence, pauses, edge artefacts and whether the shake fights existing camera motion or tracked graphics.

Common failures

Most bad Camera Shake comes from cadence and edge handling

The shake looks like a preset, not a camera

Cause: Too much Rotation, perfectly periodic SINE movement, or identical amplitudes on every axis.

Fix: Reduce Rotation, separate axis amplitudes and add restrained randomness rather than simply increasing Motion Scale.

Black wedges appear at the frame edges

Cause: Pan/Tilt/Rotation/Outward zoom exposes pixels beyond the source frame while Border Type is Black or Zoom to Crop is too low.

Fix: Use the smallest practical Zoom to Crop and choose Replicate or Reflect when edge filling is visually acceptable.

Motion feels too robotic

Cause: Square Wave or high Randomness Speed is being used for a shot that needs organic handheld drift.

Fix: Return to SINE, lower Randomness Speed, add only modest Randomness Scale and introduce pauses only if the shot actually needs them.

Tracked windows or graphics seem to slip

Cause: Synthetic movement is inserted before a downstream spatial operation that expects the unshaken geometry.

Fix: Move Camera Shake later in the chain or apply it after the tracked/composited result, then re-check masks and edge handling.

Transform motion, not tracking

Camera Shake: the signal-level model

The most useful mental model for Camera Shake is a spatial transform-motion generator. It does not analyse the original camera or recover a motion path: Resolve synthesises Pan, Tilt, Rotation and Zoom from amplitude, speed, waveform, randomness and pause controls.

Blackmagic's Reference Manual describes Camera Shake as a Resolve FX Transform that adds random horizontal/vertical position, rotation and zoom. Main Controls govern overall Motion Scale, Speed Scale and Motion Blur; Shake Levels separate Pan/Tilt/Rotation from Zoom; Shake Quality defines Motion Method, Phase, Randomness, pauses and Random Seed; Blanking Handling decides what happens beyond the frame edges.

Do not compensate for poor cadence by simply increasing Motion Scale. Naturalism is usually governed by the relationship between axes, waveform, speed and randomness. Treat blanking as a separate problem: strong Pan/Tilt/Rotation or outward zoom can reveal the source boundary even when the motion itself looks good.

Use it when

subtle handheld drift on an overly static shot
impact shakes and music-driven accents
deliberately mechanical or stylised vibration using Square Wave/high randomness speed

Choose another tool when

real camera movement must be removed — that is a stabilisation task
you need to reproduce tracked motion from another object/camera — use tracking, match move or Fusion
you need strictly authored keyframed motion without randomness

Control → signal meaning → verification

Layer	What it means	How to verify
Motion Scale + Speed Scale	Master multipliers for the overall amplitude and rate of the synthetic movement.	Watch the full shot at the real frame rate; do not judge cadence from a still frame.
Pan / Tilt / Rotation + PTR Speed	Independent X/Y/angular components and a shared speed for that group.	Check whether Rotation is too strong relative to Pan/Tilt.
Zoom Amplitude / Speed / Type	A separate scale-motion branch with its own speed and direction: Outward, Inward or both.	Check framing and blanking at the same time; zoom direction directly affects edge safety.
Motion Method + Phase	The base motion waveform and its starting point: SINE, rectified variants or Square Wave.	SINE is generally smoother; Square Wave deliberately produces abrupt popping.
Randomness + pauses + seed	Adds irregularity, changes its temporal character, breaks motion with pauses and selects a reproducible random sequence.	Compare several seeds with the same core settings to separate parameter character from one particular random realisation.
Border Type + Zoom to Crop + Blend	Determines exposed-edge filling, protective overscan/crop and final effect intensity.	Inspect edges at maximum excursion, especially on high-contrast geometry and titles.

Production workflow

01Define the motion type: handheld drift, impact, vibration or stylised pop.
02Set overall Motion Scale/Speed Scale until the movement is close in energy.
03Balance Pan/Tilt/Rotation amplitudes, then tune the separate Zoom branch.
04Choose a Motion Method and add only as much Randomness/pausing as the scene requires.
05Set Border Type and the minimum required Zoom to Crop, review the full shot, then trim the result with Blend if needed.

Diagnostics: symptom → cause → fix

The motion feels cyclical and synthetic

Likely cause: The SINE is too clean, axis amplitudes are too similar, or controlled randomness is too low.

Fix: Separate the axes, reduce Rotation and add modest Randomness Scale at a lower Randomness Speed.

Black edges or wedges appear

Likely cause: The transform exposed space outside the source, Border Type is Black and/or Zoom to Crop is insufficient.

Fix: Increase Zoom to Crop only as much as necessary and use Replicate/Reflect when that fill is acceptable.

The shake is too jagged for handheld

Likely cause: Square Wave or an excessively high Randomness Speed.

Fix: Return to SINE, lower Randomness Speed, then reassess Motion Blur after the cadence is fixed.

A downstream mask/graphic no longer lines up

Likely cause: Camera Shake sits before a spatial operation that was authored in the original geometry.

Fix: Move the shake later or apply it to the assembled result, then re-check tracked elements.

Node placement

If Camera Shake is the final stylistic motion of the whole image, a dedicated FX node near the end of the spatial chain is usually easier to control: tracked windows/composites are already assembled and blanking is checked once on the final geometry. If only one branch/element should shake, place it inside that branch before the merge/composite.

Scopes / validation

Colour scopes say very little about motion quality here. The primary validation is full-frame-rate playback, the Viewer at maximum excursions, frame edges, motion blur and interaction with tracked elements. Scopes are only secondary if edge filling or resampling unexpectedly affects the image.

Managed-pipeline warning

Camera Shake is not colour-management dependent like a colour transform, but geometry order still matters. RCM/ACES cannot fix blanking, re-align tracked masks or decide the order of spatial operations. Keep colour-state transforms and spatial shake logically separate in the node tree.

Do not confuse the roles

Camera Shake versus the neighbouring Color FX

Color Space Transform

explicit conversion between colour-space/gamma descriptions, including tone/gamut mapping

Camera Shake

It synthesises transform motion — it does not analyse the original camera

Pan / Tilt

Rotation

Zoom

Randomness

Build the motion first, then make the edges survive it

Motion Scale · Speed Scale · Motion Blur

Pan · Tilt · Rotation · PTR Speed

Zoom Amplitude · Zoom Speed · Zoom Type

Motion Method

Phase · Randomness · Pauses · Random Seed

Border Type · Zoom to Crop · Global Blend

The waveform changes the character before randomness is added

SINE

Rectified SINE

Rectified SINE (invert)

Square Wave

Six steps from generic shake to designed camera movement

Decide what kind of camera movement you need

Set global amplitude and speed first

Build the axis mix

Choose the waveform and randomness

Handle zoom and blanking together

Judge the result in motion, not on a still frame

Most bad Camera Shake comes from cadence and edge handling

The shake looks like a preset, not a camera

Black wedges appear at the frame edges

Motion feels too robotic

Tracked windows or graphics seem to slip

Camera Shake: the signal-level model

Use it when

Choose another tool when

Control → signal meaning → verification

Production workflow

Diagnostics: symptom → cause → fix

Node placement

Scopes / validation

Managed-pipeline warning

Camera Shake versus the neighbouring Color FX

Primary references used for this technical layer

Practical Camera Shake questions

Is Camera Shake the same as Stabilizer in reverse?

Which Motion Method is best for natural handheld?

Why does Inward Only help with blanking?

Can Random Seed be animated?

Keep procedural motion separate from tracking and colour work

NVIDIA RTX Video HDR

ColorTone Diffuser

Fusion

Resolve FX