TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR COLOUR...

The Light Illusion 3D Cube LUT Builder is one of the most capable and feature rich LUT management and calibration systems within the industry, offering a wide range of tools and capabilities to enable the generation of accurate 3D LUTs for post-production and on-set operation, as well as accurate display device calibration.

LUT Builder Main Features

• 3D LUT Builder Software - Main Component
• LUT building
• Multiple LUT formats
• LUT conversion
• LUT adjustment
• LUT ripping
• LUT preview
• Graphical 3D LUT display
• LUT Burn-in - Option
• LUT Concatenation (combine LUTs)
• Batch image processing, including:
• LUT Burn-in
• Image re-sizing
• Image format/aspect conversion
• File format conversion
• Image sharpening
• Colour Space Conversion - Option
• ColourSpace LUT generation
• Pre-set Colour Spaces, including:
• P3 DCI D55
• P3 DCI D65
• Rec709
• XYZ
• User ColourSpace
• ColourSpace management
• Hubble Calibration Interface - Option
• Hubble Probe Interface
• Calibration Interface
• Network Connectivity (remote display calibration)
• Hubble Display Profiling and Auto LUT Building - (Beta Test) Option
• Display Device Characterisation (Profiling)
• Automated LUT Building

MAKING SENSE OF COLOUR MANAGEMENT...

3D LUT Builder Software - Main Component
For in-depth information on the 3D LUT Builder see the 3D LUT Builder Manual.

LUT Building
The main component of the Light Illusion 3D LUT Builder provides all the tools necessary for 3D LUT generation, LUT conversion, LUT Ripping, LUT adjustment, and much more...

The LUT Builder can build 10bit, 12bit and 16bit 3D and 1D LUTs, from images of any original bit depth, and allows for the insertion of a user reference image as a guide for the LUT building procedure, as seen above where a Marcy image has been inserted.

The operational LUT Formats include:

• 3D LUTs
• 1D LUTs
• LUTher
• Panavision
• Quantel
• Autodesk
• Clipster
• FCP-Color
• Pogle
• Scratch
• Chrome
• da Vinci
• Iridas
• Nucoda
• HDLink/HDLink Pro
• TrueLight
• And many others...

As many other systems use LUTs of the same format as the systems listed here, the actual compatibility list is a lot, lot larger. It is very advisable to download the DEMO 3D Cube LUT Builder software to test the various LUT formats generated if the system you are working with is not listed above.

The Image Format list that the software works with also includes:

• .tiff/.tif
• .dpx
• .cin
• .j2g/.jpeg
• .j2c/.jp2
• .png
• .gif
• .tga
• .bmp
• .pct
• .etc...

There are many other image formats not listed here that the software will work with - so again it's best to download the DEMO 3D Cube LUT Builder software to test different image formats if the one you are working with is not in the list above.

Please note that the 15 day unlicensed DEMO version of the 3D LUT Builder generates LUTs with a random watermark, which appears as 'solarization' when used to view an image. Click here to see an example of the watermark.

To make LUT Building even easier, the licensed version comes with a selection of LUT Pre-sets developed from data collected from many different set-ups that have been calibrated using the Light Illusion 3D LUT Builder and the approach outlined within the Using LUTs pages.

This following image is the basis for the various pre-set LUTs:

Original 'Test Image' with no LUT, with example Rec709 LUT shown when mouse hovered over image.

The various LUTs supplied include the following:

• Kodak Vision Print LUT for Rec709 monitoring
• Kodak Vision Print LUT for LCD monitoring
• Kodak Vision Print LUT for DCI monitoring
• Kodak Premier Print LUT for Rec709 monitoring
• Kodak Premier Print LUT for LCD monitoring
• Kodak Premier Print LUT for DCI monitoring
• Fujifilm CP3510 Print LUT for Rec709 monitoring
• Fujifilm CP3510 Print LUT for LCD monitoring
• Fujifilm CP3510 Print LUT for DCI monitoring
• Fujifilm CP3513 Print LUT for Rec709 monitorin
• Fujifilm CP3513 Print LUT for LCD monitoring
• Fujifilm CP3513 Print LUT for DCI monitoring
• Generic Gamut Warning LUT for Rec709 monitoring

The Last LUT for 'Gamut Warning' shows colours that will not print well as saturated colours - those that will print ok are desaturated.

These pre-set LUTs can be loaded into the LUT Builder software and alterations made as required for a given specific DI environment and monitoring setup, and the altered LUT output in the format required.

LUT Conversion
The ability to import existing LUTs allows for LUTs in their native LUT format to be loaded into the LUT Builder software for further changes, such as colour space conversions (if that option has been purchased), to be added to the LUT, as well as the effect of any given LUT to be seen on any given image via the LUT Preview capability, or even the concatenation of existing LUTs into a new single LUT with the LUT Burn-in option.

LUT Adjustment
One of the applications that the LUT Builder has proven to be ideal for is to improving LUTs generated with automated systems that use probes to measure screens and monitors.

The problem with these automated systems (which includes the Light Illusion LUT Builder with Hubble probe) is that the probes used are not as good as the human eye in seeing small differences in colour and brightness. Therefore, many users have been using the Light Illusion 3D LUT Builder to improve on the automatically generated LUT.

This is done by sending the initial 'test image' from the LUT Builder through the LUT needing improvement, so that the LUT is burnt-in (this is also the basis for LUT Ripping - see later). This image can then be further manually adjusted via any colour correction system to remove the inaccuracies in the original LUT - less red in the blacks, for example...

This new and improved image can then be used to output a new LUT by loading the image into the LUT Builder and exporting the new LUT with the modifications included.

'Ripping' LUTs
One of the major uses of the Light Illusion 3D LUT Cube Builder, apart from building LUTs from scratch, is that it can 'RIP' any LUT from any other LUT system, including encoded and encrypted LUTs...

This means calibration LUTs built for a specific system can be cloned and used in any other system to provide environment wide calibration for multiple systems.

For additional information on the 'ripping' LUTs see here.

LUT Preview
The Preview capability has two major functions.

First it enables any LUT to be seen applied to any image, making LUT checking a lot easier. The same LUT can be seen on any number of different images, or any number of different LUTs can be seen on the same image - or any combination of the two...

Image showing active multiple LUTs

LUT Preview (move mouse over image to see alternate LUT)

There is a 'zoom' function built into the LUT Viewer to enable pixel-to-pixel viewing, and with the multiple image formats supported it is very easy to check LUTs within the software.

Graphical 3D LUT Display
The Graphical 3D LUT Display is fairly self explanatory, and shows in a very visual form the LUT being used within the software.

Mouse over to see cube rotate

LUT Burn-in - Option

The LUT Burn-in option allows for any given LUT to be 'burnt-in' to any image or batch of images, generating a new set of images with the LUT applied - obviously! This can be a batch process allowing for a list of images, or for a folder containing a range of images, to be processed automatically with the selected LUT.

When burning in LUTs there are two additional options that allow for the image format and size of the saved image to be different to the source image. This allows, for example, for lower resolution .jpg images to me made with burnt-in LUTs from 2K .dpx originals - ideal for off-line review or dailies checking.

LUT Burn-in, including image format conversion, resize,and batch processing

This makes the Batch Processing capability associated with LUT Burn-in a potentially more interesting capability and allows selected frames, either added to a process list individually, or via folder selection, to be batch processed automatically with a number of different functions. This means it is possible to use the 3D Cube LUT Builder software to process a 'look' (LUT) into sequences, either held locally, or over a network, saving the result as the same format, or as a different format and even with a different size/aspect ratio.

This application could free-up more expensive colour correction systems when generating new colour space (see later) or different look deliverables - Rec709 or XYZ deliverables from 'film' graded Log images for example.

The LUT Burn-in option also provides for the ability to combine LUTs by loading different LUTs and using the LUT Burn-in option to burn in a new LUT on top of an image with an existing LUT already burnt-in... Make sense? If not, just give it a try!

Basically, this enables the concatenation of LUTs...

ColourSpace Conversion - Option

ColourSpace Conversion provides the ability to generate colour space conversion LUTs and apply them to existing LUTs, or use them as new LUTs in their own right.

There are a selection of pre-set colour spaces that can be converted between, including Rec709, P3DCI D55, P3DCI D65, XYZ, as well as the ability to use operator input values.

When active, the Colour Space Conversion can be applied to a new default LUT (a new LUT image), or applied to any LUTs active within the software.

This enables the concatenation of LUTs and colour space conversions.

Combining Colour Space Conversion with existing LUT - Rec709 to XYZ

This Colour Space Conversion capability has obvious usage, especially when looking to deliver finals in a different colour space than to that within which the DI was performed.

Combined with the batch processing, re-sizing and format conversion capabilities of the LUT Burn-in option, the workflow possibilities are obvious and potentially very powerful.

Hubble Calibration Interface & Hubble Display Profiling and Auto LUT Building - Options

The Hubble Probe Interface Options take the LUT Builder to a new level of capability, and have their own dedicated page HERE detailing the various capabilities the Hubble options provide.

For more information on the Hubble Probe itself see the dedicated Hubble information page HERE.