In today’s video,
we’ll take a look at how to
create your own custom LUTs
you can use to color grade your clips,
and how to import and use them
in Final Cut Pro.
Hey guys, hows it going.
This is Serge, and welcome back to my channel.
A LUT, or a Lookup Table
is basically a mathematical formula
you plug into your NLE
to alter the color of your image.
Using LUTs is a quick and easy way
to color grade your clips, and today,
I’ll show you how you can create your own LUTs
and use them in Final Cut Pro.
First thing you need to do is,
if you don’t already have it,
head over to Blackmagic Design’s website
and download and install Davinci Resolve.
You can create LUTs in other apps,
such as Photoshop, 3D LUT Creator
and many other’s,
but most of them can cost a significant amount of money.
The basic version of Davinci Resolve on the other hand is free,
and includes all the tools necessary to create your own LUTs.
Once installed, open up resolve and create a new project.
Next, select your clip you want to base your LUT on
and import it into resolve by clicking
File, Import File, and Import Media.
Select your clip and click Open.
Your clip will be imported into the media pool.
Drag and drop your clip into the timeline,
and select the color pane
by clicking the color button at the bottom.
If your clip needs color correction,
like mine does,
I always recommend doing that
before starting your color grade.
This way, when we export our LUT,
the initial color correction will not be included.
So, before starting my color grade,
I’ll first color correct my clip.
You can toggle your correction On and Off
by using the keyboard shortcut Command D.
In the top right corner of Resolve,
you have a Node window.
These color nodes are basically
color correction layers.
In order to leave out the initial color correction
from your LUT,
you need to apply your color grade on another Node.
To add a new Node,
from the Menu Bar select File,
Nodes,
and Add Serial Node,
or use the keyboard shortcut Option S.
Now, with your second Node selected
in the Node window,
apply your color grade to your shot.
Only corrections applied using color wheels
and color curves will export with your LUT,
so you’re limited to using either one
or both these tools when creating LUTs.
For mine,
I’ll use a combination of both color wheels,
and color curves,
to give my image a bit of a reddish tint
to simulate the golden hour look.
I’ll also use the Hue vs Saturation curves
to saturate the golden leaves a bit,
and bring down the saturation
in the rest of the image.
Once again, to see the before and after,
you can use the keyboard shortcut Command D.
To export our LUT,
we first need to disable the initial color correction
on the first Node.
In the Node window,
click on the number at the bottom of your node to disable it.
Next, if your window looks like mine,
click the clips button in the top right corner
to see your clip thumbnails.
If you already see your clip thumbnails,
skip this step.
So, with your clip thumbnails visible,
right click on your graded clip
and select Generate 3D LUT Cube
Name your LUT, and click save.
Before exporting your LUT
you can test in on a different clip.
Import another clip into your time line
like you did at the start of the video,
go back to the color pane,
and select your second clip.
Right click on your clip, select 3D LUT,
and select your new LUT.
If everything looks good,
you’re ready to share your new LUT.
Click the settings button in the bottom right corner
or your Resolve window and select Color Management.
Scroll about half way down,
and click the Open LUT Folder button.
Option drag your LUT file out to your desktop to copy it,
or wherever you store your LUT files.
Your LUT file is now ready to be used
in Final Cut Pro,
or you can share this LUT file with your friends.
To use your newly created LUT in Final Cut Pro,
open the effects browser,
select the color category,
and drag and drop the Custom LUT effect onto your clip.
In the video inspector,
from the LUT dropdown Menu,
select Choose Custom LUT.
Navigate to your new LUT
and click Open to apply it to your clip.
This process was made much simpler in the 10.4 update.
If you have one of the earlier versions of Final Cut Pro,
anything before 10.4,
installing LUTs requires a different method.
I’ll link a video on that in the description below.
If you found this video helpful,
make sure to hit the like button,
and share this video to help me reach more people.
Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you back here next week.