1.5

Important: LUTs are no substitute for a high-quality display. In particular, they’ll do nothing
to improve muddy blacks, an inherently low contrast range, or a too-narrow gamut.
When Don’t You Need a LUT?
If you’re color correcting video and monitoring using a properly calibrated broadcast
display that’s compatible with the standard of video that you’re displaying, it’s not
generally necessary to use a LUT.
Generating LUTs
There are several ways you can generate a LUT.
Create One Yourself Using Third-Party Software
There are third-party applications that work in conjunction with hardware monitor probes
to analyze the characteristics of individual displays and then generate a LUT in order to
provide the most accurate color fidelity possible. Because monitor settings and
characteristics drift over time, it’s standard practice to periodically recalibrate displays
every one to two weeks.
If you’re creating a LUT to bring another type of display into line with broadcast standards
(such as a digital projector), you’ll then use additional software to modify the calibration
LUT to match the target display characteristics you require.
Have One Created for You
At the high end of digital intermediate for film workflows, you can work with the lab that
will be doing the film print and the company that makes your monitor calibration software
to create custom LUTs based on profiles of the specific film recorders and film stocks that
you’re using for your project.
This process typically involves printing a test image to film at the lab and then analyzing
the resulting image to generate a target LUT that, together with your display’s calibration
LUT (derived using a monitor probe and software on your system), is used to generate a
third LUT, which is the one that’s used by Color for monitoring your program as you work.
Creating LUTs in Color
In a pinch, you can match two monitors by eye using the controls of the Primary In room
and generating a LUT to emulate your match directly out of Color.
You can also export a grade as a “look” LUT to see how a particular correction will affect
a digitally recorded image while it’s being shot. To do this, the crew must be using a field
monitor capable of loading LUTs in the .mga format.
To create your own LUT
1 Arrange your Color preview display and the target monitor so that both can be seen at
the same time.
157Chapter 6 Monitoring Your Project