Hallo,
This document describes the use of LMTs as “Creating a Starting Point for Grading” and “Compiling Resources”. How can I create LMTs with davinci resolve that fulfil these requirements? Or is it not possible to create LMTs with Resolve?
Hello Fabian,
the creation of LMTs (the way I understand it, please correct me if I’m wrong) is the same as exporting LUTs. The only difference being, that the LMT is essentially a LUT, with the ACES output transform baked in. Which means it makes it more than a LUT, because it gives you an ACES starting point for a look modification, which simply means: it can be used on any footage.
To put it simply, an LMT is a LUT which is designed for the ACES color space.
So just export your look from the ACES color space as a 65 point CUBE LUT.
If you want, you can bake in the ACES output transform into the LUT. But to get the most flexibility, simply put it inside the ACES “sandwich” and just export the look.
Hope it helps.
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I need to correct you on that. An LMT never has the Output Transform baked in. The point of an LMT is that it is a modification to the scene data, independent of the Output Transform used.
Although in practical use, LMTs may often be implemented as LUTs, the ideal is that they are as non-destructive as possible to the scene data, so as not to limit it for use with future Output Transforms for display types yet to be invented. But the reality is that there is not a simple way for a user to create such an LMT in a way which can be applied on any ACES supporting system.
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If I were to create an LMT in resolve, should it be designed for Aces AP1 or AP0? Linearized or cc/cct?
The intended use would be to apply it as a show LUT in the node tree on a clip level in an AcesCCT color-managed project.
Thanks.
A “by the book” LMT should be designed for linear AP0 input and output, and stored as a CLF file. Quite often such an LMT might actually be a 3D LUT applied in ACEScct as one Process Node in the CLF file, with nodes before and after converting from and back to ACES2065-1. You should make such a CLF for a proper ACES archive.
However, there is not a way (as far as I am aware) to export a CLF like this directly from Resolve. So what you need to do is export your LMT grade as an ACEScct 3D LUT from Resolve (drop it back onto a node in place of the original grade to confirm that it matches). For practical purposes you could simply use this LUT in ACEScct for e.g. VFX, and create a CLF only for the archive. The LUT is not strictly an LMT, but for practical purposes it is.
OpenColorIO can convert a 3D LUT into a CLF, and wrap it in the necessary ACEScct conversions, using the ociomakeclf command.
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Thanks Nick. That perfectly answered my question.
Yes making CLFs direct from Resolve is definitely on my wish list. As well as exporting Resolve CST presets as DCTLs…