[Mike Most]

I’ve never run into that problem and I’ve renamed numerous LUTs. What is an issue is using 1D LUTs, which is why I only generate 3D LUTs when using tools like Arri’s LUT builder. I think I’ve mentioned that in previous posts.

[Mike Most]

Please re-read the previous posts in this thread. If the original material has been clipped in the camera there’s nothing you can do about it. But if it isn’t, doing a correction prior to the LUT will put it in proper range. If the LUT is applied on a node, it is the last thing evaluated in the node, so anything else you do on that node (or any node prior to it in the chain) is, by definition, before the LUT.

[Mike Most]

All settings come across, which can be a problem if a curve correction was used when making the RMD, since there’s no way within Resolve to change or eliminate it.

[Mike Most]

That is not accurate. Uncompressed means just that: no data compression, in other words, no codec pass. 422, YUV, RGB, and 444 have nothing to do with it. All of those formats can be uncompressed, or compressed using various compression codecs such as DNxHD, ProRes, PhotoJPEG, JPEG2000, H.264, and many, many others. Uncompressed simply means that data compression has not been applied. Period.

[Mike Most]

You should not be using a LogC to Rec709 LUT as built on the Arri site as that would include an Alexa-specific color matrix. You should build a LUT to go from LogC to Video without the matrix. That yields a great result when used behind Red footage that’s interpreted using either Redcolor or Redcolor2 (those are color matrices) and RedlogFilm. You don’t want to be using another color matrix as that will yield extreme saturation and incorrect colors. Further, you should not be using the LUT as an input LUT as that will limit information, especially if the image is underexposed or overexposed. You should have the LUT downstream in the processing path, at least after an initial correction, to allow for exposure adjustments prior to the LUT. All LUTs are designed to convert from one color space to another based on a proper exposure. If the material is not properly exposed, the LUT cannot do its job. You can fix that limitation by using the LUT after an initial correction, either on the first node, a later node, or on the output.

[Mike Most]

Its not a waste of time if you use it correctly. Using Redlogfilm as the gamma curve allows full retention of virtually all information in the original RAW record. If you use a proper processing pipeline, it also yields what is arguably the best greyscale interpretation of Red material that has ever been available, superior to and more controllable than either Redgamma or Redgamma2. How to do that most effectively has already been discussed in numerous threads here and elsewhere.

[Mike Most]

Repeat 3 times:

I am not on Final Cut anymore.
I am not on Final Cut anymore.
I am not on Final Cut anymore.

Then rejoice that you’re using software produced by a company that actually understands the editing business and doesn’t ignore things like backwards compatibility.

[Mike Most]

You wouldn’t, at least not one with the Arri color matrix included. However, if you use the Arri LUT builder and create a LUT that goes from LogC to Video, with no matrix and extended range, you’ll have a LUT that works very, very well with Red material that’s processed through the RedlogFilm gamma curve.

[Mike Most]

I really don’t understand your question. There are things you want to do before the LUT, and things you might want to do after, such as keys (they work better if you have proper contrast and saturation, which you do after the LUT application) and “final tweaks.” The nice thing about a processing pipeline is that you can have both.

[Mike Most]

Not blowing my own horn, but I did write a pretty detailed explanation of all this on my blog, mikemost.com.

As for the specifics of where to put a LUT in the processing path on a Resolve, what’s important is to have the ability to grade before and hopefully after the LUT as necessary. In the case of Resolve, if you enable a LUT on a node, it is the last transform in the processing path for the node. Anything you do on that node is, be definition, being done before the LUT. So the end result is basically the same as using a separate node fot the LUT itself, The reason some do the latter is because it’s easier organizationally to know where the LUT is so that you can control what you’re doing before it and what you’re doing after it. It also allows you to have multiple nodes prior to the LUT rather than just one.

Read the blog posts and if you still have questions feel free to ask them.