OW Technical — Trim Pass DCTL

Everything you need for the final pass, in one node

Finishing a grade rarely requires another creative look. It requires a small set of precise adjustments: setting the final display response, placing black and white, refining the highlight transition and keeping high-chroma colours under control.

In DaVinci Resolve, these adjustments are usually spread across curves, log controls and separate utility nodes. OW Trim Pass brings them together inside one purpose-built DCTL, creating a faster and more repeatable final-stage workflow.

Trim Pass does not replace Resolve’s native grading tools or impose a finished aesthetic. It keeps the controls used during the final pass in one predictable place, making grades easier to finish, revise and carry across a complete project.

What Trim Pass brings together

• Display Gamma — Adjust the final display response from gamma 1.8 to 2.6, with gamma 2.4 as the neutral reference.

• Black & White Anchors — Move the black or white endpoint through a clean linear mapping while keeping the opposite endpoint fixed.

• Black & White Trim — Target only the lowest and highest part of the tonal range for precise endpoint corrections without moving the rest of the image.

• Highlight Roll-off — Smoothly compress the upper tonal range using luminance-based processing that preserves the relationship between the RGB channels.

• Chroma Compression — Control stronger chroma excursions without globally lowering saturation or changing the creative direction of the grade.

Why use a dedicated finishing DCTL?

Every adjustment inside Trim Pass can be recreated with native Resolve tools. The advantage is not access to another set of generic grading controls. It is having the adjustments used during the final pass already organised inside one dedicated node.

Instead of rebuilding the same combination of curves and utility corrections, Trim Pass provides a consistent finishing stage that is quick to apply, easy to revise and simple to repeat across shots, timelines and projects.

The creative grade remains intact. Trim Pass handles the final technical refinement.

How it works

Black and White Anchor adjust the endpoints of a straight tonal mapping. Moving Black Anchor changes the black endpoint while white remains fixed. White Anchor provides the opposite adjustment, changing the white endpoint while black remains fixed.

Black and White Trim work more locally. They target only the extreme ends of the tonal range, making them useful when black or white needs to reach a specific target without shifting the image above or below it.

Highlight Roll-off works from luminance rather than compressing the RGB channels independently. The resulting luminance adjustment is applied proportionally across RGB, creating a smoother highlight transition while retaining natural colour relationships.

Chroma Compression engages progressively on stronger colour excursions, helping saturated areas remain controlled during the final pass without applying broad desaturation.

Best suited for

• Final tonal and colour refinement after the creative grade is complete.

• Colorists who repeatedly build the same finishing and utility nodes in Resolve.

• Commercial, narrative, documentary, music-video and creator workflows that require consistent finishing across many shots.

• Creating controlled display-referred variants without rebuilding the underlying grade.

• Timeline-level or group-level finishing where a clean, repeatable final stage is needed.