Spatial Film Immersive Utility for DaVinci Resolve: the complete guide

Key facts#

1What it is#

Spatial Film Immersive Utility is a set of free plug-ins for DaVinci Resolve Studio on Apple silicon Macs. It opens the original .OSV files from DJI's 360 cameras and stitches, stabilizes and reframes them on Resolve's Edit page. You do not need to export from DJI Studio first. It also reframes 360 video that is already stitched, such as Insta360 Studio exports, at the file's full resolution.

It is made by Hugh Hou (Spatial Film, Metaverse Stage Inc.). Kimchi, Hugh's Shiba Inu, is the icon on the effects and the installer.

What is in the free suite#

The effects are under Effects›then Open FX›then Filters›then Spatial Film.

What is in Spatial Film Immersive Utility Pro#

Spatial Film Immersive Utility Pro, for paid Patreon supporters, adds Spatial Film Chrome Ball: a chrome ball (or chrome egg) at the bottom of a 360 shot that hides the tripod and reflects the scene around it. It works on monoscopic 360 video and appears under Effects›then Open FX›then Filters›then Spatial Film Pro. See Chrome Ball.

What it does not do#

• It runs only on Macs with Apple silicon. There is no Windows or Intel Mac version.
• 360 timelines need DaVinci Resolve Studio. The free DaVinci Resolve stops at UHD (3840 x 2160), so it cannot make 8K or 16K 360.
• Stitch and Spatial Film DJI 360 Reframe read .OSV clips from the Osmo 360, Osmo 360 II and Avata 360 only. For other cameras, export a 2:1 360 video from the camera's app and use Spatial Film 360 Reframe. It reframes; it does not stitch or stabilize.
• Resolve does not let a plug-in mark a clip as 360, so you set Clip Attributes by hand once per batch of clips (how).

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2Requirements#

3Install#

1. Quit DaVinci Resolve. Resolve looks for new plug-ins only when it starts.
2. Download SpatialFilm-Immersive-Utility-1.3.0.dmg from Patreon. The link is under the walkthrough video on YouTube.
3. Open it and double-click the installer package. It also holds a short Read Me. The installer is signed and notarized by Apple.
4. Start Resolve. In the Effects panel, select Open FX, then Filters, and scroll to Spatial Film.

What the installer puts on your Mac#

• The plug-ins: /Library/OFX/Plugins/SpatialFilm360.ofx.bundle.
• The app: Spatial Film OSV Converter in Applications.

Install Spatial Film Immersive Utility Pro#

Pro has its own installer, in the Pro post on Patreon. Quit Resolve, run it, and start Resolve again. Spatial Film Chrome Ball appears under Spatial Film Pro. Pro adds only Chrome Ball, so install the free suite as well. Any Mac that opens or renders a project with Chrome Ball needs Pro installed.

Update#

Quit Resolve and run the newer installer. The Build line in each effect's Inspector shows the version you have. Quote it when you report a problem.

Uninstall#

Quit Resolve, then move these to the Trash:

• /Library/OFX/Plugins/SpatialFilm360.ofx.bundle (in the Finder: Go›then Go to Folder, type /Library/OFX/Plugins)
• Spatial Film OSV Converter in Applications
• For Pro: /Library/OFX/Plugins/SpatialFilm360Pro.ofx.bundle

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4Bring your clips in with the OSV Converter#

DaVinci Resolve will not import files named .OSV. Spatial Film OSV Converter gives each clip an .mp4 twin that Resolve opens, and the effects still read everything the camera recorded.

1. Copy the camera's card to your Mac.
2. Open Spatial Film OSV Converter from Applications.
3. Drop the folder with your .OSV clips on the window and click Create.
4. Import the .mp4 files into Resolve.

Your original files are never changed. On your Mac's own drive the twins are ready instantly and take no extra space. On a card or an exFAT drive each one is a full copy, and the button reads Copy. The camera's .LRF proxy file goes with each twin, so Proxy keeps working.

5Project and timeline settings#

The timeline you want decides the effect you use.

360 timeline#

Open File›then Project Settings›then Master Settings:

A clip without the effect shows one fisheye circle. That is normal. Apply Spatial Film DJI 360 Stitch and it becomes the full 360 sphere.

Flat timeline#

Make an ordinary timeline at your delivery size and the clip's frame rate:

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6Clip Attributes for Resolve's Immersive Viewer#

This is the step most people miss. After Stitch the clip is a full 360 sphere, but Resolve does not know that until you tell it. Without this step, Resolve's Immersive Viewer (drag to look around) and Immersive Transform do not treat it as 360.

1. In the Media Pool, select the clips (many at once is fine).
2. Right-click > Clip Attributes > Video.
3. Set Stereoscopic Mode to Monoscopic.
4. Set Projection Format to Equirectangular 360°.
5. Click OK.

The camera's file carries no 360 tag, and Resolve does not let a plug-in set this, so it is one manual step per batch.

7Stitch: 360 video from the .OSV file#

Spatial Film DJI 360 Stitch turns the clip into the full 360 sphere at your timeline's size, stabilized and level. It reads both lenses and the camera's motion data from the original file. What you see in the viewer is what you export.

How to apply it: drag Spatial Film DJI 360 Stitch from Effects›then Open FX›then Filters›then Spatial Film onto the clip on your 360 timeline. The controls appear in the Inspector. Then set Clip Attributes.

The defaults suit most shots. The Clip line at the top shows what the plug-in recognized, for example Osmo 360 II - 8K 59.94p - D-Log M - FW 01.02.03.10. Check it first when something looks wrong.

Perspective, RockSteady and Horizon Leveling#

• RockSteady (on) steadies the shot. It applies to Free View; the other two do their own following, so it is grayed out there.
• Horizon Leveling (on) keeps the horizon level, even when your selfie stick is not. In Free View it needs RockSteady on.

For 360 video, keep the defaults (Free View, RockSteady, Horizon Leveling). For a walk or a ride where forward should stay in front, use Direction Lock.

Direction Lock Law (Osmo 360 II and Avata 360, with Direction Lock and Horizon Leveling on) sets how the view follows the camera's turns:

• DJI Default (default) follows DJI Studio's own Direction Lock. In our tests against DJI Studio's Direction Lock export, it was 1.25° off on an Osmo 360 II spin, and 1.1° and 2.3° off on two Avata 360 turns.
• Classic is Spatial Film's own follow.

Orientation#

Turns the whole sphere by hand, to put the action in front or fix a horizon. Pan Angle, Tilt Angle and Roll Angle keyframe. Horizon Guide (overlay) draws the horizon and a grid in the viewer to line it up by eye. To see it, set the viewer's on-screen controls menu (bottom left of the viewer) to Open FX Overlay. It never appears in a render.

Seams#

• High-Precision Stitching (on): cleaner seams, especially with nearby objects and a low sun. Leave it on for anything you deliver.
• Seam Blend: DJI Default (slower), the default, lines the lenses up and blends them the way DJI Studio does, and matches their color frame by frame. On the Avata 360 it follows DJI Studio's way of stitching that camera. It costs about 40% more GPU time per frame at 8K (on an M4 Max, about 20 ms becomes 28 ms). Spatial Film (faster) is the quicker choice.
• Optical Flow Stitching (off): the cleanest seams for things very close to the camera, such as your hand on a selfie stick or a face. It is slower, so turn it on only for those shots.
• Hide Mount (On): hides the selfie stick or mount below the camera. Try Off or Auto if something close looks broken just above the mount. To cover the bottom completely, use Chrome Ball (Pro).
• Lens Accessory: Auto uses what the camera recorded. If the seam looks doubled, pick the protectors or case that were really fitted.

Color#

• Rec. 709 (default): looks right on a default Resolve timeline.
• D-Log M (no transform): the camera's log picture, to grade yourself.
• DaVinci Wide Gamut / Intermediate: for a color-managed project.

Advanced holds Rec. 709 Look (DJI (default) or the flatter Neutral), Exposure (-3 to +3 stops) and Build. See Color grading notes.

Proxy (untick before export)#

Ticked, the effect plays the camera's own low-resolution .LRF file with a quicker stitch, for smooth editing. The picture is softer.

16K timelapse clips#

The Osmo 360 II's 16K timelapse clips go on a 15360 x 7680 timeline at 29.97 fps. The Clip line says timelapse.

• In every stabilized mode the view is held still and level. If the camera is knocked or re-leveled during the shot, the view takes the new level at once.
• Some wind shake between frames can remain: in timelapse the camera records its motion only once every few seconds.
• Deflicker (timelapse) (off by default) evens out flicker in brightness from frame to frame and keeps real changes such as a sunset. It is only available on timelapse and hyperlapse clips and is grayed out on others.

Split recordings#

The camera splits long recordings into several files. Put the parts end to end on the timeline and they play as one: Direction Lock carries on through the join without a jump.

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8Reframe to 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1#

Spatial Film DJI 360 Reframe points a keyframable virtual camera into the 360 clip and renders a flat shot at your timeline's size. It builds the shot from the camera's full-resolution lenses, so it keeps more detail than reframing a finished 360 picture that Resolve has already scaled down to your timeline.

How to apply it: make an ordinary timeline at your delivery size (sizes), put the .mp4 clip on it and drag Spatial Film DJI 360 Reframe from Effects›then Open FX›then Filters›then Spatial Film onto the clip.

Stabilization and stitching#

Reframe has the same Perspective, Direction Lock Law, RockSteady, Horizon Leveling, seam, Color, Deflicker (timelapse), Proxy and Advanced controls as Stitch. It has no Orientation or Hide Mount.

• Direction Lock + Horizon Leveling: the frame follows where you walk, smoothly and level. A good start for a vlog.
• Free View + RockSteady + Horizon Leveling: the world stays still and your keyframes alone decide where the frame looks.
• Front Shooting View: the frame follows the camera's front exactly.

Manual Framing#

Pan, Tilt, Roll, Lens Curve and Zoom keyframe. Source (collapsed) holds Source Pan, Source Tilt and Source Roll, which turn or level the whole sphere first.

Preset#

A preset is a starting look. It sets Lens Curve, Zoom and Tilt Angle; then frame and keyframe as usual.

A preset looks the same on 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1 timelines.

Pan, Tilt, Roll, Lens Curve and Zoom#

• Pan Angle turns the camera left and right, Tilt Angle up and down, Roll Angle rotates the frame.
• Lens Curve sets how curved the picture is. 100 is flat, with straight lines. Lower bends more, and 0 is a tiny planet. Below 0 is a crystal ball.
• Zoom: higher is closer.

Angles are not wrapped. Keys at 170 and -170 travel 340 degrees through 0; key 190 instead of -170 for the short way. You can type values beyond the slider for whole spins.

Keyframes#

Keep Keyframe Animation on None and the move follows Resolve's own keyframes and curves exactly: ease in, ease out, Bezier handles and hold keys. The other choices are ready-made easing curves that replace Resolve's curve. Smooth Keyframes takes the edge off a jerky Pan, Tilt or Roll move.

Frame the shot in the viewer#

1. Set the viewer's on-screen controls menu (bottom left of the viewer) to Open FX Overlay.
2. Select the Reframe effect in the Inspector.
3. Drag. Where you start decides what it does:

A drag keys the moved controls just as an Inspector edit does. The guides and readout are on screen only and never render.

Motion Blur#

Tick Motion Blur (in both Reframe effects) and set Shutter Angle: 180, the default, is the film look. It blurs only the reframe's own camera moves (your keyframed pans and zooms, Follow Subject's moves, Direction Lock following you). The shake RockSteady removed never comes back as blur. Fast moves take longer to render.

Follow Subject Beta#

Pick a person or object in the viewer and the camera follows it. See Follow Subject (beta).

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9360 Reframe: Insta360 and other stitched 360 video#

Spatial Film 360 Reframe makes flat shots from 360 video that is already stitched: an Insta360 Studio export (for example from an Insta360 X6 at 8K), a DJI Studio export, or any 2:1 360 video in MP4 or MOV (H.264, HEVC or ProRes). It has the same presets, keyframes, viewer controls, Motion Blur and Follow Subject as Spatial Film DJI 360 Reframe.

Resolve scales every clip to the timeline before an effect sees it, so an 8K 360 clip on a 4K timeline would reach a reframe at a quarter of its pixels. Spatial Film 360 Reframe reads the file at its full resolution instead. In our tests, a shot on a 1080 timeline kept about 1.5 to 5 times the fine detail.

Apply it#

1. Export the 360 video from Insta360 Studio, DJI Studio or your stitching app as a 2:1 MP4 or MOV. It does not open Insta360's .insv files.
2. Make an ordinary timeline at your delivery size and the clip's frame rate, and put the clip on it.
3. Drag Spatial Film 360 Reframe from Effects›then Open FX›then Filters›then Spatial Film onto the clip.
4. Check that the Clip line starts with Full resolution:.
5. Pick a Preset and frame the shot, in the Inspector or by dragging in the viewer.

It does not stabilize: stabilize in the app that stitched the video. To level a horizon, use Source Tilt and Source Roll.

Color: Match Timeline (default) keeps the color the clip has in your project, including color management and input LUTs. As Recorded shows the file's own color. Grades on the Color page apply after the effect either way.

When the Clip line says "Timeline picture"#

If the effect cannot read the clip's file, it reframes Resolve's smaller picture instead, and the Clip line says why:

Follow Subject needs the file too, so it does not work while the line says Timeline picture.

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10Follow Subject (beta): keep a person or object in the frame#

Beta

Follow Subject (Beta) points the reframe's camera at a person, animal or vehicle you pick and keeps it in the frame. It tracks in the background while you keep editing. It is in both Reframe effects.

It is a beta. It can lose very small or very fast subjects and mix up people who look alike, so it marks the moments to check. Look at them before you deliver. Timelapse clips cannot be followed.

Pick a subject#

1. Set the viewer's on-screen controls menu to Open FX Overlay and select the Reframe effect.
2. Pause on a frame where the subject is easy to see.
3. Tick Follow Subject (Beta).
4. Click the subject, or drag a box around it. A box around the whole person tracks best. A click on plain ground, wall or sky picks nothing; drag a box instead.

The viewer shows the progress. When tracking finishes, the camera follows the subject on its own. Cmd+Z undoes the follow. By default (Framing: Keep Composition) the subject stays where it was in your frame when you picked it, and your Pan Angle and Tilt Angle keyframes still frame the shot around it.

Several subjects#

Park the playhead where the next subject should take over, press New Subject From Here and pick it. To end a subject, press Stop Following Here.

When the subject is lost#

If the subject is hidden, leaves the frame or gets too small, the camera eases to a stop and holds. If the subject comes back, the camera picks it up again.

Check points#

Where the tracker is not sure it still has your subject, it puts a white diamond on the strip at the bottom of the viewer. Scrub to each one before you deliver. If the camera is on the wrong subject, park there and press New Subject From Here or Stop Following Here.

Settings#

• Follow Smoothness (0 to 100, default 50): low stays tight on the subject, high moves more calmly.
• Framing: Keep Composition (default), Head Room (a close person's head on the upper third, good for 9:16) or Centre. It changes straight away, without tracking again.

Followed subjects are saved with the project. The boxes, strip and viewer text never appear in a render.

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11Chrome Ball (Pro): hide the tripod#

Spatial Film Chrome Ball is in Spatial Film Immersive Utility Pro. It covers the tripod at the bottom of a 360 video with a chrome ball that reflects the scene around it. It works on monoscopic 2:1 360 video on a Standard Immersive timeline.

1. With DJI clips, apply Spatial Film DJI 360 Stitch first.
2. Add Spatial Film Chrome Ball (Effects›then Open FX›then Filters›then Spatial Film Pro) to the same clip, after Stitch.
3. The ball starts straight down. Use Size to make it just big enough to cover the tripod.

Controls#

Every control keyframes.

With Open FX Overlay on, you can drag the ball in the viewer. On a tripod timelapse, raise Shape above 1 to see more of the scene where people move.

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12Workflows#

Each one assumes your clips have been through the OSV Converter.

Vlog: a flat 16:9 video from a selfie-stick walk#

1. Make a 3840 x 2160 timeline at the clip's frame rate and apply Spatial Film DJI 360 Reframe.
2. Set Perspective to Direction Lock with Horizon Leveling on.
3. Frame with the Wide preset, then drag in the viewer or keyframe Pan Angle, Tilt Angle and Zoom.
4. If your hand or face crosses the seam, turn on Optical Flow Stitching.
5. Tick Proxy while you edit. Untick it on every clip before you render.

Shorts, Reels and TikTok (9:16)#

1. Make a 1080 x 1920 timeline and apply Spatial Film DJI 360 Reframe.
2. Keep the Wide preset or pick another. It looks the same as on 16:9.
3. For a tiny-planet opener, start on Tiny Planet and keyframe Lens Curve, Zoom and Tilt Angle into your normal framing.

360 video for YouTube 360 and headsets#

1. Set up a Standard Immersive timeline, 7680 x 3840 at 59.94 fps.
2. Apply Spatial Film DJI 360 Stitch and keep Free View, RockSteady and Horizon Leveling.
3. Set Clip Attributes.
4. Put the action in front with Orientation›then Pan Angle.
5. Untick Proxy and render the full timeline. The result is a monoscopic 2:1 equirectangular 360 video. Resolve 21's 360 delivery options are in Hugh's video DaVinci Resolve 21 Update You Missed: VR180, 360 & Apple Immersive Video.

16K timelapse (Osmo 360 II)#

1. Set up a Standard Immersive timeline, 15360 x 7680 at 29.97 fps.
2. Apply Spatial Film DJI 360 Stitch. The Clip line says timelapse.
3. Tick Deflicker (timelapse) if the brightness flickers.
4. Cover the tripod with Chrome Ball (Pro).

Drone footage from the Avata 360#

For a flat flight edit, apply Spatial Film DJI 360 Reframe on a 16:9 or 9:16 timeline. Front Shooting View with Horizon Leveling follows the drone's nose; Direction Lock follows it more calmly. For a 360 version, use the 360 workflow.

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13Performance: smooth playback and faster exports#

8K and 16K 360 video is heavy. These settings keep it editable.

While you edit#

1. Tick Proxy (untick before export) on each Stitch or Reframe effect.
2. Set Playback›then Timeline Proxy Resolution to Half. In our tests on an M4 Max, Proxy with Half played 8K timelines in real time with no dropped frames.
3. Leave Optical Flow Stitching off until you need it.
4. Follow Subject tracks in the background, so you can keep cutting.

To watch a finished section at full quality, untick Proxy, set Playback›then Render Cache to Smart and let Resolve cache the clip.

Before you export#

• Untick Proxy on every clip. The Clip line starts with PROXY ON while it is ticked.
• Turn High-Precision Stitching back on if you turned it off.
• Seam Blend DJI Default (slower) takes about 40% more GPU time per frame at 8K. If export time matters more than matching DJI Studio's seam, choose Spatial Film (faster).
• Motion Blur makes fast camera moves slower to render.

14Color grading notes#

• Grades on the Color page apply after the effect, so grading works as usual.
• Set the effect's Color first:
  • Default Resolve project: Rec. 709. Advanced›then Rec. 709 Look = Neutral leaves more room to grade.
  • Grading from log with a LUT: D-Log M (no transform), then add DJI's D-Log M LUT or your own.
  • Color-managed project (timeline color space DaVinci Wide Gamut / Intermediate): DaVinci Wide Gamut / Intermediate. No Color Space Transform node is needed.
• Windows and vignettes on the Color page act on the flat 2:1 picture, not on the sphere, so check them in the Immersive Viewer.
• Spatial Film 360 Reframe: leave Color on Match Timeline.

15How it compares with other routes into Resolve#

DJI also offers a reframe plug-in for Resolve; DJI's download page says panoramic footage must be preprocessed with DJI Studio first. Based on public documentation, October 2026: DJI 360 downloads, DaVinci Resolve 21 New Features Guide. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

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16Troubleshooting#

Start with the effect's Clip line in the Inspector. It says which camera and mode were recognized, whether Proxy is on, or why a file cannot be opened.

The Spatial Film effects are missing#

1. Quit Resolve completely and open it again. It finds plug-ins only when it starts.
2. Look under Effects›then Open FX›then Filters›then Spatial Film. Select Open FX before you search.
3. Check that you have DaVinci Resolve Studio 20 or later, a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later.
4. In the Finder, Go›then Go to Folder /Library/OFX/Plugins should hold SpatialFilm360.ofx.bundle. If not, run the installer again.

The clip shows one fisheye circle#

The effect is not applied yet. Apply Spatial Film DJI 360 Stitch (360) or Spatial Film DJI 360 Reframe (flat), and check that it is switched on.

Black frame, or the Clip line says the file cannot be opened#

• The clip is offline or was moved: relink it in the Media Pool.
• The clip is not a DJI .OSV clip: for a stitched 360 export, use Spatial Film 360 Reframe.
• The .mp4 twin points to a drive that is not connected: reconnect it.

I cannot look around the clip in the Immersive Viewer#

Set Clip Attributes (Monoscopic, Equirectangular 360°) and check that the project uses Standard Immersive.

Playback is slow#

Tick Proxy, set Timeline Proxy Resolution to Half and leave Optical Flow Stitching off while you edit. See Performance.

My export looks soft#

Proxy was still ticked. Untick it and render again.

Proxy does nothing#

The clip has no .LRF file next to it. Make the twins with the OSV Converter, which keeps the .LRF with each clip.

I cannot see the on-screen controls#

Set the viewer's on-screen controls menu (bottom left) to Open FX Overlay and select the effect in the Inspector. For the Horizon Guide, also tick Horizon Guide (overlay).

A control is grayed out#

• RockSteady works only in Free View. In Free View, Horizon Leveling needs RockSteady.
• Direction Lock Law needs Direction Lock with Horizon Leveling on.
• Deflicker (timelapse) is only available on timelapse and hyperlapse clips.

The horizon is tilted, or the action is behind the viewer#

In Stitch, use Orientation with Horizon Guide (overlay). In Reframe, use the Source group.

The seam looks doubled or broken#

• Set Lens Accessory to what was on the lenses.
• For something very close to the camera at the sides, turn on Optical Flow Stitching.
• Just above the mount, try Hide Mount = Off (full lens overlap).
• Check that Proxy is unticked.

A pan goes the long way around#

Angles are not wrapped. Key 190 instead of -170 for the short way.

A 16K timelapse still shakes a little#

The view is held still and level, but some wind shake between frames can remain, because in timelapse the camera records its motion only once every few seconds.

Follow Subject does not pick anything#

Use Open FX Overlay, pause playback and tick Follow Subject (Beta). Click the subject itself, or drag a box. On Spatial Film 360 Reframe, the Clip line must start with Full resolution:.

The camera stopped following, or followed the wrong person#

The subject was lost, or the tracker switched to someone who looks alike. Find the check point near that moment, park there and press New Subject From Here to pick the right subject.

Reporting a problem#

Send the Build number (Advanced›then Build), your Mac model, your macOS and Resolve versions, the camera and the Clip line in a comment under the walkthrough video on YouTube.

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17FAQ#

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18Glossary#

360 video

video that records every direction around the camera at once. The viewer chooses where to look.

Equirectangular (2:1)

the standard flat layout of a 360 frame, twice as wide as it is tall, like a world map.

Monoscopic

one picture for both eyes. DJI's 360 cameras record monoscopic 360.

Stitching

joining the two lenses' pictures into one 360 frame. The seam is where they meet, at the sides of the camera.

Reframe

making a flat 16:9 or 9:16 video from a 360 clip by choosing where a virtual camera looks.

Lens Curve

how curved a reframed view is. 100 keeps straight lines straight; 0 is a tiny planet.

Tiny planet

a reframe looking straight down, so the ground curls into a small planet.

Nadir

the point straight down in a 360 shot, where the tripod or selfie stick is.

.OSV

the original video file DJI's 360 cameras record, with both lenses and the camera's motion data.

.LRF

the low-resolution proxy file the camera records next to each .OSV.

D-Log M

DJI's log color profile. It looks flat on purpose and is meant to be graded.

Standard Immersive

the Resolve project setting (Immersive workflows) for 360 editing.

Open FX Overlay

the viewer mode that shows a plug-in's on-screen controls.