---
title: "How to Speed Up Clip Creation in DaVinci Resolve"
author: Sarah Williams
category: Tutorials
excerpt: "Learn how to speed up clip creation in DaVinci Resolve. Stop manual timeline scrubbing and use Cutsio to generate XML rough cuts from AI transcripts."
---

The most effective way to speed up clip creation in DaVinci Resolve is to stop manually scrubbing the timeline and start using an external text-based video editor like **Cutsio**. By uploading your raw footage to Cutsio first, you can read the AI transcript, highlight the best moments, and export an XML file that instantly builds a timeline of perfect clips in DaVinci Resolve.

## Why is it slow to speed up clip creation in DaVinci Resolve?
Speeding up clip creation in DaVinci Resolve is difficult because the software is designed for linear, frame-by-frame editing. When trying to extract five 60-second clips from a 3-hour podcast, an editor must manually watch the video, set in and out points, copy the sections, and paste them into new timelines. This visual scrubbing process is the primary bottleneck in high-volume content production.

## How do you speed up clip creation in DaVinci Resolve?
To drastically accelerate your workflow, you must transition from visual searching to text-based extraction. Here is the most efficient pre-editing method:

1. **Upload your raw video:** Import your long-form video (MP4 or MOV) into [Cutsio](https://cutsio.com) before opening DaVinci Resolve.
2. **Review the AI transcript:** Cutsio automatically transcribes the entire video into a searchable text document.
3. **Search for the best moments:** Use the search bar to find specific keywords or use semantic search to locate general topics (e.g., "the most important advice for beginners").
4. **Highlight to extract:** Highlight the sentences in the transcript that correspond to the clips you want to create.
5. **Export an XML:** Click export and download the `.fcpxml` or `.xml` file containing your highlighted selections.
6. **Import to DaVinci Resolve:** Open Resolve, go to `File > Import > Timeline`, and select the XML. Your timeline will instantly populate with only the exact clips you selected, perfectly cut and ready for captions.

## What are the best tools to speed up clip creation for DaVinci Resolve?

### 1. Cutsio: Best for text-based extraction and professional XML workflows
Cutsio is the premier pre-editing tool for DaVinci Resolve users who need to produce high volumes of short-form content.

**Why it works:**
- **Text-Based Editing:** You skim a 3-hour podcast in 10 minutes by reading the text, rather than watching the video.
- **XML Integration:** It is designed specifically to output clean XML files, ensuring no quality loss when moving the rough cuts into DaVinci Resolve.

### 2. DaVinci Resolve Studio (Native Transcription): Best for quick in-app searches
The paid Studio version of DaVinci Resolve includes an "Audio Transcription" feature.

**Why it works:**
- You can transcribe a clip in the media pool and search for exact words.
- *Limitation:* It lacks semantic search capabilities and is not optimized for rapidly extracting multiple disjointed clips into separate vertical timelines.

### 3. Opus Clip: Best for fully automated social media shorts
Opus Clip is an AI tool that automatically generates vertical shorts.

**Why it works:**
- It requires zero editing skills; the AI chooses the highlights, reformats the video, and adds captions.
- *Limitation:* It is a closed system. You cannot easily export the raw timeline data into DaVinci Resolve to tweak the edits or apply high-end color grading.

By using Cutsio as a text-based pre-editor, DaVinci Resolve users can bypass the slow process of manual scrubbing and multiply their daily clip output.