Tips & Techniques for Creating LUTs in DaVinci Resolve

[@JayJankulovski]

Man. This video came at the perfect time. I’ve been working on a Lut pack for the past few weeks and been researching best ways to create them from my grades and this couldn’t have popped up at a better time. Only a quarter way through the video and felt like I had to leave this note 🤣 thanks for this man!

[@george.colorist]

No problem Jay. Glad it was came just in time for you. Thank you for watching.

[@staticvideo]

This is a heavily underrated video, excellent work as usual, George. Thanks a ton!

[@tomislavliposek]

That’s gold right here. Thank you brother🙏🏻 Few questions though: - why is CST node disabled? - which settings / effects can I add to the LUT structure? Should I add contrast, saturation, etc or just stick to the color shifting? - how many different nodes can I have? Thanks!

[@george.colorist]

1. Its a left over. Though I would incorporate into the tutorial but ended up not doing so. 2. You can add contrast and saturation as well. Whatever your image needs so it looks how you want it to. 3. Your node tree can be elaborate, including nodes for a variety of adjustments and effects, or it can be simple. It just depends on what you need for the look you are trying to create.

[@ZeNoNThErMaL]

Super informative video George! Thank you! I created it exactly like you showed and tested it on 8 different projects and it came out great. I do have a burning question though. You mentioned making a beach look and then using that for all beach scenes. How would we go about making that for example? Same RGB mixer and offset in a parallel node tree? Nix the RGB mixer and use LGG? Curves? Curious to know how I am able to make for example 5 LUTs that look completely different so I can start using it on multiple projects across the board.

[@george.colorist]

Hey. Glad you found it helpful. The controls you use to make adjustments don't necessarily matter. You could use RGB Mixer, curves, HSL, color wheels, etc. as long as its creating the adjustment you want. If you want to create a LUT for beach scenes (lets assume its exterior daytime beach scenes), think about the aesthetic you want to create, use a good beach clip as a base reference and create it with whatever controls you'd like, then test across different beach scenes and make whatever fine tuning is needed. Export the LUT, test again, and if its working well then thats it.

[@danielsatheeselmo4889]

Thanks for the video ❤

[@fortifiedfitnesscoach]

This is awesome. Can you incorporate DCTL in the building a little process also?

[@shawnoboyle1848]

Great video George. Learned so much from this. Quick question, are you able to make the LUT in DWG and then use another CST node at the end to convert to Rec. 709? Or do you only have one CST node in the beginning to convert footage to 709 and then your LUT is made in that Rec. 709 space?

[@george.colorist]

Youre trying to make a Rec.709 LUT or a DWG LUT?

[@Heffxstudio]

you are a boss i applaud you good goood sir

[@LazySlothProductionsLLC]

Hi George, this is a great video! Where can I find more charts? We shoot on a Mini LF so I think we should create a LUT that has a little more dynamic range no? You mentioned this one was 10 or 11 stops. How can we create a chart of our own with 15+ stops to match our camera?

[@george.colorist]

You can create your own in Photoshop. Create a graphic of vertical bars of different grey values.

[@markgregoryphoto]

Awesome video! I loaded up the RGB chart onto a timeline and I'm noticing my skin tones are sitting on the red side of the indicator line. Any reason as to why that is?

[@Mike_Mandigo]

it could be that your monitor is not calibrated

[@davidp158]

Thanks for this video. So much great information regarding LUT creation. I shoot on Panasonic S1H, EVA1 and GH5 cameras, and want to build some custom LUTs. At 16:10 in your video, I see an option for "Panasonic VLUT". The Resolve manual states "Panasonic VLUT format: DaVinci Resolve can both read and generate this LUT format, designed for use in the Panasonic VariCam camera ecosystem." Do you know if this would also apply to the camera models I shoot with? Would this be a LUT created for color grading only, or also for monitoring?

[@george.colorist]

The Panasonic V-Log LUT export setting in DaVinci Resolve is compatible with the S1H and the EVA1 as they use the full V-Log. However, for the GH5 which uses V-Log L, the LUT designed for V-Log might not translate perfectly due to the differences in dynamic range and color science.

[@davidp158]

​@@george.colorist Thanks for the reply. Would the LUT generated with the "Panasonic VLUT" be used for both on set monitoring and color grading? I use Atomos Shogun, Ninja V and Shinobi camera monitors, and also an Osee Megamon monitor. I think all those monitors only work with 33 cube LUTs. The Atomos manuals state the monitors support 3D LUT .CUBE format, but they don't specify the number (17, 33, 65).

[@george.colorist]

@@davidp158 I’m not sure. Create some LUTs and try them out on your external monitors to see if you get a good result.

[@TheTheAaronis]

Tengo una duda! Yo también trabajo en Davinci Resolve y me gusta experimentar, he conseguido guardar algunos powergrades que me gustaría transformarlos en archivo LUT, pero hay un problema... Cuando implemento Dehancer Pro en uno de los nodos y convierto a LUT con todos los demás ajustes, se guarda como una archivo dañado (Un LUT que no se puede usar) me podrías decir a que se debe eso?

[@george.colorist]

Los ajustes y efectos que creas con Dehancer no se pueden convertir en una LUT a través de la función de exportación de LUT de Resolve. Dehancer tiene su propia función de exportación de LUT, así que debes usar esa. Además, recuerda que no puedes exportar efectos visuales de plugins o PowerGrades en una LUT.

[@TheTheAaronis]

@@george.colorist Pero el unico LUT que podria exportar con Dehancer, es sobre los ajustes que haga dentro del mismo Dehancer. Pero para lo que yo hago eso no es suficiente, antes de ello tengo nodos de CST, WB, Primarios, LOG, HDR, etc que en el todo, hacen un buen look. Entonces como puedo guardar toda esa configuracion de mis nodos (con dehancer incluido) como un LUT?

[@george.colorist]

​@@TheTheAaronis Puedes intentar exportar los ajustes de Dehancer como un LUT y luego agregar ese LUT a tu árbol de nodos en lugar de Dehancer, y luego exportar el LUT con Resolve. Puede que la calidad del LUT no sea buena o que este método no funcione. Es lo que yo haría para intentarlo.

[@deepmusic2456]

Awesome....