Using Look Lut

Choose the folder where your .cube files live. Look Lut scans it recursively, so subfolders show up in the sidebar, so a pack like “Film Emulation / Kodak” keeps its structure. There is no import step and no library size limit; the folder stays where it is.

Open the image or clip you’re actually grading. For video, scrub to a representative frame, and every thumbnail in the grid re-renders on that exact frame. Pick a frame with skin tones if the shot has people; that’s where LUTs differ the most.

Thumbnails render on demand as you scroll, on the GPU, so even a folder with thousands of LUTs opens instantly. Duplicate files are detected automatically (by table content, not file name) and every copy carries a badge naming the files it matches. Flip on Hide Duplicates in the grid header to collapse them.

Clicking a cell opens the Inspector with a large preview and every action. Hovering never changes anything; the preview only follows your selection, so you can move the mouse freely.

Hold Space to flash the original frame, release to come back. Do it a few times fast, and the flicker shows you exactly what the LUT is doing.

Hover a cell and click the checkmark (top-left) to mark it as a candidate. Candidates persist per library and collect in their own sidebar row. Along the bottom of the thumbnail, the star on the left is a one-click favorite and the wand on the right opens the install sheet for that one LUT.

Free compares 2 candidates at a time. With Pro, press Compare to put your whole shortlist side by side on the current frame, however many candidates it holds. Space works here too.

Double-click a cell (or press ⏎) to open the detail editor. Use ←/→ to step through neighboring LUTs without going back to the grid.

Dial the LUT’s intensity, then white balance, exposure, vibrance, contrast and saturation. Every slider drag is one undo step, so ⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z walk the history.

Toggle Analysis in the toolbar for the panel on the left: histogram, waveform and vectorscope (with the skin-tone line), plus clipping and average luma readouts, all tracking every change live. On the other side, the Inspector’s skin-tone patch strip shows standard ColorChecker tones and gray steps before and after the current look, an instant “does this wreck skin?” check.

The editor’s Output section holds both: Export Current Frame as PNG is free and writes the graded frame at full resolution; Create Adjusted LUT is Pro and bakes the LUT with your adjustments into a brand-new .cube file you can use anywhere.

Press the wand on a cell, or the Upload button in the Final Cut Pro card at the bottom of the sidebar to install the whole candidate set: the button names what it is about to send. Pick a category name, confirm, and each LUT becomes a Motion effect template in FCP’s Effects browser, with a preview thumbnail rendered through that LUT. A whole folder can be installed from its right-click menu.

The free build installs 5 per batch: the first 5 go over and the rest stay selected for the next batch, so nothing is cancelled and no selection is lost. Look Lut Pro sends the whole folder at once.

A .cube can also go straight into Final Cut Pro’s own LUT folders instead of becoming an effect, from a cell’s right-click menu or the Final Cut Pro section of the Inspector. As a Camera LUT it lands in the Info inspector’s Camera LUT pop-up and applies before any grade, which is what log footage needs; as a Custom LUT it feeds the Custom LUT effect, a look inside the stack.

The manage sheet (sidebar bottom bar) lists everything Look Lut ever installed, grouped by category, with a drift status per effect: up to date, source LUT changed, source missing, or removed outside the app. Update or remove per effect; Look Lut Pro brings every drifted effect back in line with one click. Cells in the grid show a wand or camera badge when their LUT is installed.

Turn on Favorites sync once and your starred LUTs mirror into a “Look Lut Favorites” category in FCP automatically. Star a look to add it; unstar it to remove it. Look Lut keeps the category up to date.