RESOLVE 21 · STUDIO · TWO-INPUT DETAIL TRANSFER
Detail Recovery.
Do not sharpen the receiver.
Transfer real detail into it.
Resolve FX Detail Recovery is a Studio-only Color-page utility for transferring high-frequency structure between two aligned versions of the same image. It is meant to be inserted directly into the node graph as its own Resolve FX node so both RGB inputs are available. Transfer Direction chooses donor and receiver; Preview Detail, Frequency Cutoff and Detail/Edge Balance decide what is allowed to travel; Strength and Detail Mix integrate that layer; Global Blend finishes the result.
2 RGB inputs · Transfer Direction
Preview · Cutoff · Balance
Strength · Detail Mix · Blend
In the lab, deliberately misalign the two branches. The doubled edge appears immediately: a useful reminder that Detail Recovery cannot fix timing, transform or resize mismatch. Fix routing and geometry before touching Blend.
Teaching proxy, not Resolve rendering. The SVG deliberately exaggerates fine texture, edge bias and branch misalignment so the routing/extraction logic is visible. It does not reproduce Blackmagic frequency filters, blend math, color management or OFX internals.
Five native Resolve interface views + an explicitly synthetic two-input teaching proxy
5 native views · 7 controls · 4 exercises01WHAT THIS EFFECT ACTUALLY DOES
Detail Recovery is a controlled transfer between two branches.
The effect is powerful precisely because it does not invent detail. It lets a better-preserved branch donate selected high-frequency structure to a processed branch while keeping the processed branch’s broader tonal result.
This is transfer, not detail generation
Detail Recovery does not invent missing texture. One input must actually contain useful high-frequency information that can be extracted and added to the other input. If the donor has already lost the detail, there is nothing to transfer.
The two branches must stay aligned
Because spatial detail is being transferred, both branches must match in timing, transform, crop, resize, stabilization, and geometry. Even a small mismatch can turn useful texture into doubled edges, halos, or ghosting.
Inspect the extracted layer first
Preview Detail turns setup from guessing into diagnosis. Frequency Cutoff controls the scale of extracted structure, Detail/Edge Balance biases recovery between all detail and stronger edges, and Strength then changes the intensity of the selected layer.
Detail Mix controls how extracted detail is integrated with the receiving image inside recovery: at 1.000 it blends, while at 0.000 it replaces overlapping pixels. Global Blend mixes the already-computed effect result with the receiving path and therefore belongs at the end.
02FIVE NATIVE VIEWS · SEVEN CONTROLS
Read the panel from routing to final mix.
The project screenshots document the actual Resolve interface. Captured numeric values describe one UI state, not recipes. The useful information is the exact routing, section structure, names and dropdown options.
ROUTING · TWO RGB INPUTS
Assign donor and receiver first
- Transfer Direction
Chooses which RGB input supplies detail and which receives it. Native menu options are Input 2 to Input 1 and Input 1 to Input 2. It is natural to treat Input 1 as the receiving image and Input 2 as the detail donor, but the routing can be reversed.
CheckBefore adjusting anything else, flip direction and confirm that the more useful texture is actually coming from the intended branch.
DETAIL EXTRACTION
Define what should count as recoverable detail
- Frequency Cutoff
Sets the scale of detail extracted for recovery. Lower values isolate finer detail; higher values progressively include larger structure.
CheckTune it with Preview Detail enabled. If broad face, text, or object contours enter the layer, the cutoff is already including structure that is too large.
- Detail/Edge Balance
Biases extraction between recovering all detail and favoring stronger edges. It changes the character of recovery after the frequency range has been established.
CheckOn skin and fabric, too much edge bias quickly resembles harsh sharpening; on architecture and graphics stronger edges may help, but inspect halos at 100%.
- Strength
Amplifies or attenuates the already-extracted detail layer. It does not fix a wrong Cutoff and cannot turn a poor donor into a good one.
CheckIf noise or a double edge becomes the first visible change as Strength rises, return to donor/alignment and extraction rather than pushing it further.
- Detail Mix
According to the manual, at 1.000 the extracted detail is blended with the image it is added to; at 0.000 the extracted detail replaces overlapping pixels. Intermediate values change the integration behavior.
CheckA/B the 0 and 1 extremes to understand the control. Do not use Detail Mix as a substitute for correct Frequency Cutoff or Strength.
- Preview Detail
Displays the extracted detail by itself so Frequency Cutoff and Strength can be judged before the final composite.
CheckLook for useful texture, not a pretty image. Noise, large shapes, resize outlines, and doubled edges in the preview will almost always become problems in the final mix.
FINAL MIX
Dose the effect only after recovery is clean
- Global Blend / Blend
Finally mixes the Detail Recovery result with the receiving image. This is the last overall intensity stage, after routing and extraction.
CheckIf Blend must be reduced heavily just to hide halos, noise, or misregistration, the cause is usually earlier in the chain. Fix it before final mixing.
A useful rule: if Preview Detail already looks wrong, Global Blend is irrelevant. Fix the donor, branch alignment, Frequency Cutoff and Detail/Edge Balance while the extracted layer is isolated; only then judge Strength, Detail Mix and final Blend.
03A REPEATABLE TWO-BRANCH WORKFLOW
Expose inputs → route → preview → select → integrate → QC.
This sequence keeps Detail Recovery from turning into blind sharpening. Each stage has a separate question and a separate failure mode.
Expose both inputs
Add Detail Recovery directly to the Color node graph as its own Resolve FX node. This exposes the two RGB inputs the effect needs.
This is an editorial workflow, not Blackmagic’s internal processing graph. It separates routing, extraction, integration, and final mix so one control does not hide an upstream mistake.
Related reference: Noise Reduction ↗ · Sharpen ↗ · Texture Pop ↗
04FOUR REAL RECOVERY DECISIONS
Highlights, denoise, beauty and misalignment fail in different ways.
These are decision procedures, not presets. Detail Recovery is only useful when the donor contains genuinely useful structure and the two branches remain aligned.
Restore texture into an aggressive highlight branch
Keep an aggressive tonal treatment while restoring some real high-frequency information from a less damaged branch.
- 01
Split the same shot into aligned base and processed branches.
- 02
Feed the processed branch to the receiver and the better-preserved branch to the donor, then confirm Transfer Direction.
- 03
Enable Preview Detail and tune Frequency Cutoff so texture is extracted rather than broad tonal shapes.
- 04
Return to the composite, tune Strength/Detail Mix, and finish with Global Blend.
Restore microtexture after denoising
Keep a clean denoised base while carefully restoring detail from an aligned original branch.
- 01
Use the denoised branch as the receiving image and the original as donor.
- 02
In Preview Detail, confirm the donor is not mainly reintroducing sensor noise.
- 03
Narrow extraction toward useful texture and raise Strength only until recovery becomes visible.
- 04
Check playback and encode: grain/noise can come back more strongly than it appears in a still.
Preserve pores after beauty/smoothing
Restore natural skin texture without bringing back blemishes, noise, and harsh facial edges.
- 01
Use an aligned pre-beauty branch as donor.
- 02
Use Preview Detail and Frequency Cutoff to find the pore/fine-hair range.
- 03
Bias Detail/Edge Balance away from overly hard contour edges.
- 04
Compare at 100% and normal viewing distance; do not turn recovery into sharpening.
Diagnose misaligned branches
Quickly separate a bad recovery setting from timing or geometry mismatch between inputs.
- 01
Make Strength clearly visible and enable Preview Detail.
- 02
Inspect thin high-contrast edges during motion.
- 03
If detail forms a double outline, temporarily simplify transforms/crop/stabilization on both branches.
- 04
Return to Frequency Cutoff and Mix only after geometry matches.
05CHOOSE THE RIGHT DETAIL TOOL
Transfer, sharpening, frequency shaping and denoising are different jobs.
Choose the tool by where the useful information actually lives. Detail Recovery is unique here because it requires a second aligned source rather than processing only one image.
| FX | When it fits |
|---|---|
| Detail Recovery | When a second, truly detailed and precisely aligned source exists. This is controlled transfer between two branches. |
| Sharpen ↗ | When you need to increase local contrast/sharpness in one image without a second donor input. |
| Texture Pop ↗ | When you need to control multiple spatial-frequency bands and tonal ranges within a single image. |
| Noise Reduction ↗ | When the main task is removing spatial/temporal noise; detail recovery may be a later stage but does not replace NR. |
06READ THE FAILURE BEFORE MOVING A SLIDER
No second input, noise transfer and double edges point to different causes.
Most failures are routing, alignment or extraction problems. Lowering Blend can make them less visible, but it does not make the recovery correct.
01The FX has no second RGB input+
Likely cause: The effect was applied as a normal OFX on a corrector node instead of being added as its own Resolve FX node in the node graph.
Fix: Drag Detail Recovery from the Open FX library directly into the node tree as its own Resolve FX node; both RGB inputs then become available.
02Almost nothing changes+
Likely cause: The donor/direction is wrong, the donor contains no additional detail, or Frequency Cutoff is extracting an unsuitable range.
Fix: A/B Transfer Direction, enable Preview Detail, and confirm the donor actually contains useful structure missing from the receiver.
03Doubled edges or ghosting+
Likely cause: The inputs do not match in timing, transform, crop, resize, or stabilization.
Fix: Align the branches first. Detail Recovery is not designed to compensate for geometric mismatch.
04Noise returns instead of texture+
Likely cause: Donor noise occupies the same high-frequency range as useful detail.
Fix: Inspect Preview Detail, reduce Strength, refine Cutoff/Balance, or use a cleaner donor.
05The result looks oversharpened+
Likely cause: Too many large edges entered extraction, or Strength/edge bias is excessive.
Fix: Return to Preview Detail, exclude larger structure, and reduce edge bias/Strength until texture looks natural.
06Blend only hides the defect+
Likely cause: The problem was created earlier: routing, extraction, or alignment is already wrong.
Fix: Raise Blend enough to expose the problem, fix the upstream cause, and only then perform final dosage.
07BEFORE DELIVERY
Approve routing, extraction, alignment and the final encoded result.
A clean still is not enough: noise return and branch mismatch can become much more obvious in motion or after compression.
08FAQ
Practical Detail Recovery questions.
Why does Detail Recovery need a second input?
Because the effect transfers existing detail information between two branches. One input is the donor and the other is the receiver; it does not synthesize missing texture from nothing.
Why did the second RGB input not appear?
Add Detail Recovery directly to the node graph as its own Resolve FX node. That workflow exposes the two RGB inputs the effect requires.
How is Detail Recovery different from Sharpen?
Sharpen increases local contrast in the image you already have. Detail Recovery extracts detail from a separate donor input and transfers it into the receiving image.
What should be adjusted first: Cutoff or Strength?
Enable Preview Detail first and build a useful extraction with Frequency Cutoff and Detail/Edge Balance. Strength only makes sense after the layer contains the right information.
Are Detail Mix and Global Blend the same thing?
No. Detail Mix changes how extracted detail is integrated inside recovery; Global Blend mixes the completed effect result with the receiving image.
Sources and boundaries
Control behavior and the two-input node workflow are anchored by the Resolve 21 manual and five native interface captures stored in this project. The live hero is an editorial teaching proxy and deliberately exaggerates texture, edge bias and branch misalignment; it does not claim to reproduce Blackmagic’s frequency filters, hidden math, color management or renderer precision.
Verify exact performance, Studio availability and behavior in the Resolve build you use. This page documents the visible controls and a repeatable workflow; it does not reverse-engineer the OFX implementation.