How to use LUTs in DaVinci Resolve

How do you apply a LUT in DaVinci Resolve?

Copy the .cube file into Resolve's LUT folder (Project Settings > Color Management > Lookup Tables > Open LUT Folder), click Update Lists, then on the Color page open the LUTs panel and drag the LUT onto a node. Give it its own node, placed after your exposure and white balance corrections.

Below is each step in detail, plus the part most tutorials skip: which LUTs belong where, and when you should not be using a LUT at all.

What a LUT actually is

A LUT (look-up table) is a list that maps every input colour to an output colour. A 3D LUT in the common .cube format samples the colour cube on a grid, usually 33 points per side, and Resolve interpolates between those points for every pixel. It cannot see shapes or detail, only colour values in and colour values out.

LUTs come in two kinds, and mixing them up causes most LUT problems:

• Technical (conversion) LUTs translate one colour space into another, such as a camera's log profile into Rec.709. Panasonic's VLog_to_V709 and Sony's LC-709 LUTs are examples.
• Creative (look) LUTs apply a style: a film emulation, a teal and orange split, a faded matte look. Most are built to sit on footage that is already in Rec.709.

Always read what input a creative LUT expects. One made for Rec.709 dropped on flat log footage will look wrong no matter how you adjust it.

Step 1: Install LUTs in DaVinci Resolve

1. Open File > Project Settings (or the gear icon at the bottom right, or Shift+9).
2. Go to Color Management and scroll to Lookup Tables.
3. Click Open LUT Folder, and copy your .cube files into it. Subfolders are fine and appear as folders in the LUT browser.
4. Back in Resolve, click Update Lists, then Save.

The default LUT folder locations are:

• Windows: C:\ProgramData\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\LUT (ProgramData is a hidden folder)
• macOS: /Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/LUT

If a new LUT still does not appear, right-click inside the LUT browser and choose Refresh, or restart Resolve. Check that the file really ends in .cube and was not left inside a .zip.

Step 2: Apply the LUT on the Color page

Open the LUTs panel at the top left of the Color page and browse to your folder. Hovering and scrubbing across a LUT's thumbnail previews it on the viewer without applying it, which is the fastest way to audition a pack.

To apply one, use either method:

• Drag the LUT from the browser onto a node in the node editor.
• Right-click a node, choose LUT, and pick the file from the submenu.

A node holds one LUT. Give each LUT a dedicated node with nothing else on it, label it (right-click > Node Label), and you can always toggle it with Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on Mac) to see what it is doing.

Avoid the Input, Output and Video Monitor Lookup Table menus in Project Settings unless you mean it. They apply to every clip in the project and are easy to forget about, which is how people end up with a LUT they cannot find on any node.

Where does a LUT go in the node tree?

Order matters, because every node feeds the next. A reliable tree for log footage looks like this:

1. Correction: exposure and white balance, while the image is still log.
2. Conversion: the technical LUT or a Color Space Transform, never both.
3. Contrast and balance: curves, shot matching.
4. Secondaries: skin, sky, isolated fixes.
5. Look: the creative LUT, at reduced strength.

If the same creative LUT goes on every shot, apply it once at timeline level instead: switch the node editor's dropdown from Clips to Timeline and add the LUT node there. Change it once and every clip follows.

How to reduce LUT intensity in DaVinci Resolve

Resolve has no “opacity” slider on a LUT, but the node itself does. Select the LUT node, open the Key palette, and lower Key Output Gain from 1.00. At 0.50 you get roughly half the LUT blended with the image coming into that node. Most creative LUTs look better somewhere between 0.3 and 0.7.

Do not dial down a conversion LUT this way. A half-strength log-to-Rec.709 conversion is not a subtler look, it is a broken transform.

LUT vs Color Space Transform: which should you use?

For converting camera log to Rec.709 inside Resolve, a Color Space Transform is the better tool. The differences:

• Accuracy: a CST calculates the conversion with the actual maths for each gamut and curve. A LUT is a sampled approximation of it.
• Highlights: a CST can tone map, rolling extra stops off smoothly. A 3D LUT clips anything outside the input range it was built for.
• Flexibility: a CST converts between any two spaces Resolve knows. A LUT handles exactly one input and one output.
• Portability: a LUT works almost everywhere: Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, cameras and monitors. A CST lives only inside Resolve.

So use a CST (or Resolve Color Management) for conversion, and LUTs for looks, for on-set monitoring, and for sharing a grade with someone in another app.

How to make your own LUT from a grade

Grade a clip, then right-click its thumbnail on the Color page and choose Generate LUT > 33 Point Cube. The 33-point size is the common balance between accuracy and file size. Save it into your LUT folder and it becomes available in every project.

Only colour operations survive. Power windows, blur, sharpening, noise reduction and most ResolveFX cannot be stored in a LUT, because a LUT can only map one colour to another. Build the look on plain primary and curve nodes if you intend to export it.

Common LUT mistakes

• Putting a Rec.709 creative LUT straight onto log footage.
• Applying a conversion LUT and a CST together, converting the image twice.
• Correcting exposure after a conversion LUT, when the highlights are already clipped.
• Running creative LUTs at full strength.
• Leaving a project-wide Input LUT on and grading against it unknowingly.

For the full picture, see the nine grading mistakes that make footage look amateur, or the S-Log3 guide for a camera-specific example. If you would rather not touch any of it, colour is included in my YouTube video editing.

FAQ

Where is the LUT folder in DaVinci Resolve?

On Windows it is C:\ProgramData\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\LUT, and on macOS it is /Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/LUT. The quickest way there is Project Settings, Color Management, Lookup Tables, Open LUT Folder.

Why don't my LUTs show up in DaVinci Resolve?

The file is usually in the wrong folder, still inside a .zip, or Resolve has not rescanned. Put the .cube file in the LUT folder, click Update Lists in Project Settings, or right-click the LUT browser and choose Refresh. Restart Resolve if it still does not appear.

Can you use LUTs in the free version of DaVinci Resolve?

Yes. Installing, applying, blending and generating LUTs all work in the free version of DaVinci Resolve. The Studio version is not needed for any LUT workflow.

How do I lower the strength of a LUT in DaVinci Resolve?

Put the LUT on its own node, open the Key palette and reduce Key Output Gain below 1.00. A value of 0.50 blends roughly half of the LUT with the image entering that node.

Should I use a LUT or a Color Space Transform for log footage?

Use a Color Space Transform for converting log to Rec.709 in DaVinci Resolve. It is mathematically exact and can tone map highlights instead of clipping them. Save LUTs for creative looks, monitoring and sharing grades with other apps.