Analog Damage

Analog Damage belongs to Resolve FX Texture and models degradation from analog transmission and recording. It is not merely a noise overlay: each Inspector group represents a different place in the older video chain, so believable results are easier to build in stages.

Preset is the macro starting point. The captured Resolve 21 menu contains Blank (no effect), Early Television, 1960s B&W, 1960s Color, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Clean VHS, Old VHS, Security Camera and Custom. Treat the preset as a family of settings rather than a finished universal look.

Telecine Source models problems before the television path: Vignetting and Vignette Aspect describe uneven transfer illumination while Shutter Weave introduces mechanical image instability. This movement source is conceptually different from V-Hold or VHS Restless Foot.

Broadcast Signal models the channel itself. Noise Scale sets interference structure; Signal Noise and Chroma Noise contaminate luma and color separately; Detail Loss and Chroma Detail Loss remove different kinds of detail; Ghosting/Ghost Offset create a delayed duplicate; Chroma Misalignment breaks chroma-to-luma registration.

Color Dials form a separate television-tone stage. Brightness, Contrast, Color and Tint can support the medium after structural degradation is established, but they should not be used to hide a poorly designed signal or scan model.

CRT Scan models display scanning and framing. Adjust Position enables the positional controls, while Image Aspect, H-Shift, V-Shift, V-Hold, V-Hold Latch, Overscan, V-Scale and Vertical Blanking shape geometry, vertical-roll behavior and service/blanking areas.

V-Hold and V-Hold Latch are a pair. Blackmagic documents them as a convenient way to trigger realistic vertical rolls with simple keyframes; they are not the same failure as Shutter Weave or Restless Foot.

Overscan, V-Scale and Vertical Blanking are also interdependent. They can create the duplicated/looping top-and-bottom behavior associated with television scanning, so judge them together instead of trying to repair each one with unrelated values.

Scan Lines are a separate high-frequency display stage. Line Sharpness defines the line character, Line Frequency defines density, and Colored Lines adds chromatic structure. Final resolution matters because thin patterns can turn into moire, aliasing or flicker after scaling and compression.

TV Construction models the device itself: Phosphor Brightness/Tint, Defocus, Screen Curvature and the internal border controls Edge Mask, Edges Transparent, Mask Curvature and Mask Aspect. The internal Edge Mask is not the blue Fusion Effect Mask input; they solve different problems.

The VHS group contains Restless Foot Height, Offset and Jitter and models the lower-edge tape/head-switching defect. In the current Resolve 21 line Blackmagic specifically fixed an issue where disabling CRT Scan also disabled Restless Foot, so these groups should be taught as independent stages rather than a permanent dependency.

On the Fusion page these controls can be animated and driven by Modifiers. Blackmagic specifically notes Perturb as a way to automate video-damage behavior, but randomizing every parameter at once quickly produces a digital, non-diagnosable look.

The blue Effect Mask gates the spatial contribution of the already-processed result; it is not a second image source. Common Settings/Blend is another independent boundary: the mask answers where, while Blend answers how much of the completed effect is mixed with the source.

Analog Damage is Studio-only. Captured screenshots and documentation establish the UI and semantics here, but the numerical values visible in the screenshots are reference states, not universal presets for all footage.