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Davinci Resolve
Compositioneer DCTL
A complete cinematic framing toolkit for DaVinci Resolve Studio: grids, spirals, safe areas, and rulers you can export as transparent overlays for any production workflow.
COMPOSITION GRIDS
Rule of Thirds
By placing key subjects or horizons along these lines or at their intersections, you create better balance and visual flow.
Phi / Golden Ratio
Placing subjects on the Phi Grid's intersection lines creates dynamic movement and feels highly natural to the human eye.
Bisector
Divides the frame's angles into equal parts.
MOVABLE SPIRALS
Golden Ratio
Guides the viewer's eye naturally across an image to the most important focal point. The Golden Spiral is a special case of a logarithmic spiral.
Logarithmic
This shape is incredibly common in the universe because it allows for efficient, continuous growth without changing form.
Archimedean
The distance between any two adjacent loops is always identical.
GUIDES AND RULERS
Circles
Up to 6 circle guides help build mesmerising compositions and keep them consistent from frame to frame and from project to project.
Rulers
Pixel and Percent rulers have changeable starting points. Measure from the Timeline frame borders or from custom frame borders, using both percentages and pixels.
Combine it All
Don't limit yourself to a single ruler — use everything at the same time.
FRAMING
Action and Title Safe
Keep all vital characters, moving subjects, essential background details, and text elements inside the frame. Safe areas can be easily adjusted to your needs, such as vertical content platforms or broadcast.
2 Screen Ratios
Make your composition choices universal for different screens. Set custom ratios for main and secondary frames between 1:4 and 4:1 or choose from many presets, e.g., common 1.78 HDTV, 2.39 Theatrical, or rare 1.375 Academy and 4:1 PolyVision.
Symmetry
Be aware of the centre of your frame and make symmetrical compositions.
FEW MORE THINGS
Colors
Distinguishable colors help identify the right line when the composition becomes more detailed.
Swap Screens
Swap between main and secondary screen ratios, keeping the relative size and position of guides.
Export Overlay
Save guides and Letterbox as a .png overlay to use on a production monitor or in other software (learn how below).
QUICK TIPS
How to Export with Alpha Channel
- Create a new Fusion Composition in Media Pool
- Open the composition in the Fusion Page
- Add a new Background Node
- Add a DCTL Node, connect it to the Background Node you created before, and choose NP Compositioneer DCTL from the dropdown menu
- Inside the DCTL, enable the checkbox "Transparent"
- Select the node with the DCTL and press "1" or "2" on your keyboard to view the content from the node in the viewport
- Right-click on the viewport with your overlay — "Save Image..."
Save Presets
Use Power Bins to save your presets. Simply drag and drop the adjustment layer with the DCTL into the power bin.
To learn more about Power Bins, see Chapter 18 "Adding and Organizing Media with the Media Pool" section "Sharing Media Among Projects Using Power Bins" of the DaVinci Resolve Reference Manual.
UI Tooltips
If you are not sure about the function of a parameter, hover your mouse pointer over the parameter name and you'll see a hint. E.g., over the "O1 R" you'll see "Circle guide. 1.0 = diameter equals the shorter side of the Main Frame | Red".
Note: tooltips are not available on the Fusion page.
PLEASE NOTE
- In the Demo version, 35% of the screen area does not show the overlay.
- These are visual guides; there is no snapping functionality.
System Requirements
- DaVinci Resolve Studio 19.1 and newer
- GPU: NVIDIA or Apple Silicon. Not tested on AMD systems — try out the Demo version before purchasing.
Discussions
Want to talk about it?
Head over to r/aescripts to chat with fellow users about this product.
Need Support?
Please open a support ticket to be connected directly with the author of this product
Version History
1.0.0 -
May 26, 2026
Key Improvements & New Features:
- New guides: 3 types of spirals — Golden, Logarithmic, Archimedean — with adjustable size, position, and colors
- New guides: 6 circles with adjustable position, size, and colors
- Added two more grids: Phi Grid and Bisector
- Added a secondary frame border to view different screen ratios simultaneously, with the ability to swap main and secondary frame ratios for guides, rulers, and grids
- Added the ability to change the starting point of rulers: either the Timeline frame borders or the Main Frame borders of the DCTL overlay
- Performance optimizations: General under‑the‑hood improvements for a smoother user experience
Changes Leveraging the Latest DCTL API:
- In-UI Tooltips: Helpful tooltips have been added for every parameter (note: tooltips are not available on the Fusion page)
- Alpha Channel: You can now easily create transparent overlays using the “Transparent” checkbox
Important Compatibility Notice
This version and all future versions of Compositioneer DCTL require DaVinci Resolve 19.1 or later. Due to its reliance on new DCTL development features introduced in Resolve 19.1, this plugin will not function in prior versions of DaVinci Resolve. Please ensure your application is up to date.
0.1.0 -
Jul 1, 2024
Compatibility
Davinci Resolve
21, 20, 19
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