Animated Infographics in DaVinci Resolve: A Practical Guide

DaVinci Resolve handles animated infographic overlays cleanly once you know which file format to use and where to place the clip. This guide covers both full-screen infographics and transparent overlays.

Two file types to know

Moshion exports two formats relevant to Resolve:

MP4 (H.264): A full-frame animated infographic with a solid or colored background. Use this when the infographic takes up the full screen.

ProRes 4444 MOV: An animated infographic with a transparent background (alpha channel). Use this when you want to overlay the graphic on top of footage.

If you are unsure which to use, ProRes 4444 gives you more flexibility. You can add a background color in Resolve, but you cannot remove one from an H.264 file.

Importing the file

Open the Media Pool panel. Drag the exported file in from Finder, or use File > Import Media. Resolve adds it to the Media Pool automatically. For ProRes 4444 files, Resolve recognizes the alpha channel without any extra setup.

Full-screen infographic

Drag the clip to the timeline on the V1 track at the point where you want it to appear. Trim the start and end to match your narration. If your main footage is already on V1, place the infographic on V2 instead and it will cover the footage below for its duration.

Moshion generates animated content from a text description: charts, maps, timelines, text animations, text highlights, and complex animated concepts. Export as MP4 and drop into any editor.

Transparent overlay

Place your main footage on V1. Place the ProRes 4444 infographic clip on V2. Resolve composites V2 over V1 automatically, using the alpha channel for transparency. No blend mode adjustments are needed.

Open the Inspector panel to adjust position and scale. For a lower-third or corner placement, use the Transform controls to reposition the clip on screen.

Syncing with narration

Play through the timeline and find the moment in the audio where you mention the data point. Drag the infographic clip so its start aligns there. For precise placement, use the playhead position display at the bottom of the timeline to note the exact timecode, then drag the clip start to match.

If the infographic runs longer than the narration segment, trim the out-point rather than cutting the audio around it.

Color matching

If the infographic colors sit poorly against your graded footage, you can apply a Color node to the V2 clip in the Color page. A simple Lift/Gamma/Gain adjustment or a Hue vs Saturation curve brings the infographic closer to your grade without affecting the footage below.

This is optional. Infographics with high-contrast colors on a dark or transparent background tend to sit well against most footage grades without adjustment.

Export settings

On the Deliver page, use the YouTube preset for standard delivery, or set a custom H.264 export at your sequence resolution. Resolve flattens the composite on export. If you need to preserve transparency in the output for further compositing downstream, use ProRes 4444 as the output codec and enable the alpha channel in the codec settings.