Guide

How to make your own LUT.

Updated November 5, 2026

A LUT is a frozen color grade. Once you have a look you like, you can save it as a .cube file and reuse it on every project, in almost any editor. The catch is that a LUT only remembers some kinds of adjustments, so how you build the grade decides how well the LUT travels.

What a LUT can and cannot remember

A LUT maps each input color to one output color. Anything that depends only on the color of a pixel survives the export. Anything that depends on where the pixel is, or on its neighbors, does not.

So build the look with global tools, and keep texture effects like grain as a separate step you add after the LUT.

Step 1: Start from a clean shot

Pick a shot with skin, neutrals, and a range of brightness. If it is log footage, convert it to Rec.709 first (see Log vs Rec.709), and decide whether that conversion belongs inside your LUT or before it. Most creative LUTs, including Filmsilk's, expect Rec.709 input, which makes them portable across cameras.

Step 2: Build the look with global tools only

• Set contrast with a gentle S-curve rather than crushing blacks; a LUT cannot recover detail it clipped.
• Push color in the shadows and highlights separately (for example, cool shadows and warm highlights).
• Protect skin: check the vectorscope skin line and pull back any hue shift that turns faces green or magenta.
• Leave a little headroom. A look that is slightly too gentle can be strengthened; one that is too strong breaks on bright or dark shots.

Step 3: Export the .cube

DaVinci Resolve: on the Color page, right-click the clip thumbnail and choose Generate LUT, then pick a 33-point cube. Resolve bakes the grade from that clip's nodes; windows, blur, and similar node effects are left out.

Premiere Pro: in Lumetri Color, open the panel menu and choose Export .cube. Only Lumetri adjustments are included.

No editor handy: a browser tool such as Filmsilk Studio lets you adjust a look and export a standard .cube without installing anything.

Step 4: Test it on other shots

Load the new LUT on a bright exterior, a dark interior, and a close-up. Watch for banding in skies, clipped highlights, and skin shifts. You can preview any .cube on your own still in the free LUT previewer, where nothing uploads. If it only works on the original shot, go back and soften the most extreme adjustments.

Step 5: Name, version, and back it up

Use names that describe input and intent, such as Warm-Dusk_Rec709_v2.cube. Keep the source project so you can rebuild the LUT later, and store copies outside your project folders. Install steps for each editor are in How to install a .cube LUT.

Common mistakes

• Baking a log conversion into a look by accident, then applying it to Rec.709 footage, which looks washed out or neon.
• Building the look with masks or windows and wondering why the exported LUT looks flat.
• Exporting a 17-point cube for a look with strong hue shifts; use 33 points, or 65 for smooth gradients.
• Treating the LUT as the whole grade. It is a starting point; see LUT vs color grade.

Where Filmsilk fits

If you would rather start from tested looks, The Collection is $29 one-time and every look is a 33-point Rec.709 .cube. Filmsilk Complete is $39 and adds Studio, where you adjust a look and export your own .cube in the browser. You can try every look on your own frame before you buy.