DCTL

DCTL (DaVinci Color Transform Language) lets you build custom color operations as small programs. Resolve runs a DCTL’s transform() function once for every pixel of every frame: it hands you the pixel’s red, green and blue values and you return a new RGB triplet (float3). That per-pixel contract means a DCTL can’t cheaply blur or read neighbours and can’t write files or metadata — it’s pure “pixel in, pixel out,” which is also why it’s fast enough to run live. A LUT is a sealed box; a DCTL is one you can open and write, so when a transform or look doesn’t exist yet, you can make it. It’s a Studio-only feature, and new DCTLs are compiled at Resolve startup (edits to an existing file reload). The common math underneath: gain (multiply), curves (power/log), and the matrix (channel mixing).

First used in: 3.4 · DCTL