CULLSYNC
For wedding videographers · in testing
Puts a wedding's clips onto event timelines, syncs them by sound and picks the good shots. For DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere. All on your computer.
macOS and Windows · DaVinci Resolve Studio, DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere
You open DaVinci Resolve and drag the wedding folders into the Media Pool.
Three steps
After a wedding you have hundreds of clips from several cameras, maybe a recorder too. Before editing, they have to be sorted by event, synced and culled. CULLSYNC does that in three steps, on your project, on your computer, with no internet. Each step makes a new timeline; the originals are never touched.
Clips that sit on no timeline land on one timeline per event: prep, first look, ceremony, photo session, testimonials, party. It looks at what's in the frame and at the time of day. The ones it isn't sure about are colored turquoise, so you only check those.
The SYNC engine lines up the cameras and the recorder by sound, on a new timeline with “_” at the end of its name.
Everything in place, against the recorder.
Keeps the good holds and the camera moves that worked, and cuts the hunting, the shake and the blown exposures. One method for prep, details, session and ceremony, another for the party. Out comes a new timeline with “★” at the end of its name.
★ 3 h 52 → 2 h 31 · hunting, shake and blown exposures go; the good holds stay.
Your method
You correct the cull in Resolve and press Learn. With every wedding, CULLSYNC picks closer to the way you pick. You can always go back to the base method and take yours with you to another computer.
How you work with CULLSYNC
CULLSYNC sees the open project by itself. Tick the steps and the timelines and press Start. The new timelines show up in the project.
Start it from Resolve, from Workspace, Scripts, CULLSYNC, and every step works. It puts itself there on first launch. You can also work by file: export the timelines as FCPXML, add them to CULLSYNC and import the new files.
Export the sequences as Final Cut Pro XML and add them to CULLSYNC. SYNC Audio and CULL work, and you import the new files into Premiere. Organize works only in DaVinci Resolve.
Try the window
Try it: press Organize, then the page that lights up below. Or All, for every step at once.
Compatibility
ProcessorApple M1 or newer
SystemmacOS 14 or newer
Disk spaceabout 1.2 GB
SystemWindows 10 or 11, 64-bit
Graphics cardoptional. With an NVIDIA card, GTX 900 or newer, it runs much faster
Disk spaceabout 3 GB
Editing softwareDaVinci Resolve Studio, DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere
Interneton first launch and once a month, for the license. It needs no internet while working
Your footagestays on your computer. It goes nowhere
Testing
CULLSYNC runs as a trial for 3 weddings or 7 days, whichever comes first, with everything it has. A wedding means one Resolve project: run it again on the same one and it doesn't count.
Testing is open to 20 videographers. Leave your name and email and download it right away. In return, I ask one thing: write me how it went, whether it helped you or not. Any answer helps us.
Keep the link to your personal page, where you'll download the next versions too: your page.
Version 1.0.6
Installation
Open the downloaded file and drag CULLSYNC into the Applications folder.
Open CULLSYNC from Applications. macOS says it couldn't verify the app. That's normal and happens once: close the message.
Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security. Scroll down to the line about CULLSYNC and press “Open Anyway”. The first launch takes about a minute and a half, while macOS checks it. After that it starts in seconds.
Preferences, System, General: under “External scripting using” choose Local.
Open the downloaded file, CULLSYNC-Setup.exe, and follow the steps.
A blue window may appear, “Windows protected your PC”. Press “More info”, then “Run anyway”. It happens once.
Preferences, System, General: under “External scripting using” choose Local.
Why the system messages appear: the app hasn't been through Apple's and Microsoft's verification yet, while it's in testing. It's not a sign that anything is wrong with it.
Questions
It gets a wedding ready for editing, in three steps. Organize puts the clips on one timeline per event. SYNC Audio lines up the cameras and the recorder by sound. CULL picks the good shots and cuts the rest. You start from timelines that are already culled, not from hundreds of clips.
No. CULLSYNC deletes, moves and overwrites nothing. Each step makes a new timeline next to yours: the sync comes out as “X_”, the cull as “X★”. The files on disk are never touched.
No. Everything happens on your computer, including the image recognition. It uses the internet only for the license, on first launch and then once a month.
Yes, with the wedding project open. CULLSYNC reads the project and writes the new timelines into it. With Premiere you work through XML files, so Premiere can be closed.
Yes. Start CULLSYNC from Resolve, from Workspace, Scripts, CULLSYNC, and every step works. The script puts itself there on the app's first launch. You can also work by file: export the timeline as FCPXML, add it to CULLSYNC and import the new files back.
Yes, by file. Export the sequence as Final Cut Pro XML, add it to CULLSYNC and import the new files. SYNC Audio and CULL work. Organize works only in DaVinci Resolve, because it needs the whole project.
A Mac with an Apple processor (M1 or newer) and macOS 14 or newer, or a PC with Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. On Windows, an NVIDIA graphics card (GTX 900 or newer) makes everything much faster. The app takes about 1.2 GB on a Mac.
It depends on how much footage you have and on the computer. As a reference: organizing a whole wedding, 439 clips, took 18 minutes on a PC with an NVIDIA card. Syncing a wedding, about 5 minutes. Culling a first look, a few minutes. While it works, you can do something else.
Import all of the wedding's footage into the Media Pool, without putting it on a timeline. A folder per camera helps (cam 1, cam 2, drone, phone) and one for the recorder. CULLSYNC takes only the clips that sit on no timeline, so your existing timelines stay as they are.
It looks at what's in the frame and at the time of day, the way you would. Clips it isn't sure about are colored turquoise, so you only check those. Anything shot on a day other than the wedding, the day before for instance, goes on a timeline called “RENAME”, which you rename. For the ceremony it asks whether it's religious or civil.
Move it to the right timeline, as usual. The next steps work on what's on the timeline, so what you decided is what counts.
It keeps the good holds and the camera moves that worked. It cuts the hunting, the shake and the parts with blown exposure. One method for prep, details, first look, session and ceremony, another for the party. Testimonials and drone aren't culled: it leaves them whole.
It guesses from the timeline's name: “party” or “dance” go on the party method, the rest on the general one. Next to each timeline you see what it chose and you can change it with a click.
Yes. Correct the ★ selects in Resolve, by bringing back what should have stayed or by extending and trimming the ends, then press Learn in “My method”. The next culls take your corrections into account. You can approve the version you like and go back to it, or to the base method, at any time.
Yes. Without a recorder, SYNC Audio lines the cameras up against each other, by their own sound. Clips it can't match stay where the camera clock puts them and are colored, so you see them.
Romanian or English, following your computer's language.
The trial lasts 3 weddings or 7 days, whichever comes first, with everything the app has. A wedding means one Resolve project: run it again on the same project and it doesn't count.
For now it's in testing and has no price. I'll set one after videographers have tried it on their own footage.
Two. If you change computers, release the license from the app and activate it on the new one. “My method” you save to a file and import there.
No. The app doesn't have Apple's signature yet; that comes before launch. Open System Settings, Privacy & Security, and press “Open Anyway” next to CULLSYNC. It happens once. The first launch then takes about a minute and a half.
Press “More info”, then “Run anyway”. It's the same signature matter and it happens once.
In the app, open the Log and press “Send to us”. The log reaches me without the couple's names and without file paths. Write me two lines about what happened as well: that's what the testing is for.
The name and email from the form, so I can send you the app, and a computer code, so the trial and the license work. Your footage, the couple's names and your projects never leave your computer.