AICinematicHaze

AI Cinematic Haze debuted as a Resolve FX in DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.2 and remains part of the current Resolve 21 line. Blackmagic describes it as a depth-aware simulation of real haze/smoke/fog rather than a uniform 2D haze plate.

The core stage is AI Depth Map V2. Internal derives depth from the beauty image; From Alpha Input replaces that estimate with an external depth map while keeping image and depth on separate branches.

For Cinematic Haze, the Depth Map Preview polarity is important: lighter areas are farther away and darker areas are nearer. Validate this before creative work, especially with external depth.

Input Color Space and Input Gamma tell the effect how to interpret the signal. Use timeline is the normal managed-project starting point; manual override is for deliberate exceptions.

Advanced Depth Controls are repair and isolation tools rather than haze-strength controls. Quality, Isolation, Post Processing, Blanking Regions and Deflicker should solve specific depth problems.

Isolation constrains the effect to a depth band using Target Depth, Tolerance and Softness. It is useful for art-directed atmosphere, but an overly narrow tolerance can cause temporal popping.

Post Processing addresses boundaries. Post Filter, Contract / Expand and Blur can tighten the effect around objects, but aggressive values can erase thin structures and mix depth planes.

Blanking Regions controls letterbox/pillarbox and crop handling. Handle Automatically is the base behavior; Auto + Extra Crop is useful for black bars; Process Entire Frame and Manual Cropping serve special cases.

Deflicker stabilizes the depth map over time. Blackmagic recommends lower values for best quality and higher values only when moving objects show extra edges.

Far Limit, Near Limit and Gamma remap an existing depth map. They shape the working atmospheric range but cannot reconstruct missing geometry or a wrong segmentation boundary.

Atmospheric Scattering is the foundation: Airlight sets ambient veil, Density sets haze density and Resolution Loss reduces detail through the medium. Build convincing aerial perspective here first.

Atmospheric Scattering also has its own Halation stage. Halation Threshold, Halation and Saturation react to bright sources and are distinct from the separate Light Halos section.

Atmospheric Colorize adds a motivated color cast to haze. Treat it as atmosphere color, not as a replacement for the overall grade.

Light Halos form a separate system around source lights. Threshold selects sources; Size, Brightness, Saturation and Colorize define the halo character.

Light Rays use brightness-selected sources and can run From A Location or At An Angle. The first exposes an X/Y origin, while the second uses a single orientation. Direction should be motivated by scene lighting.

Preview Threshold is a source-selection diagnostic. Set Source Threshold there before tuning Length, Soften, Brightness and Saturation.

Air Disturbance does not create the base haze; it animates an atmosphere that already works. Intensity, Scale and Detail define structure; Flow Direction/Speed move it; Seethe Rate evolves the pattern.

Follow FX Tracker is useful when disturbance must stay tied to a tracked area instead of behaving like a purely screen-space texture.

Start Frame and Randomize Start Frame control procedural phase. Randomization is especially useful across multiple shots so they do not begin with an identical disturbance pattern.

Effect Mask is a separate Fusion mask input. It gates spatial contribution of the final haze result and is not a substitute for Alpha Input / external depth.

External depth and Effect Mask have different jobs: Alpha Input communicates scene depth, while the mask says where the node contribution is allowed to appear.

Global Blend is the final dry/wet stage. It is useful for easing off a coherent effect, but should not hide depth, threshold or disturbance errors.

For believable atmosphere, order matters more than slider count: validate depth, build base scattering, add motivated halos/rays, then animate disturbance.

In motion, inspect foreground edges, hair, foliage, transparent/translucent detail, motion blur and camera movement. Depth pumping and halo seams often hide on a still frame.

Do final QC under the real color-management pipeline, at useful Viewer scale and in playback. Compare bypass, Depth Map Preview, threshold previews and final result to locate the failing stage.