Installing the file
Resolve reads LUTs from a folder on disk, not from an import dialog.
| System | Where |
|---|---|
| macOS | /Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/LUT/ |
| Windows | C:\ProgramData\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\LUT\ |
| Linux | /opt/resolve/LUT/ |
Drop the .cube in, ideally inside a subfolder named after the pack — Resolve
shows subfolders as categories, and a flat folder of two hundred files is its
own punishment.
Then: Project Settings → Colour Management → Update Lists. Until you press that, the LUT is on disk and invisible, which is the single most common reason people conclude the install did not work. No restart is needed.
The three places to apply it
They are not interchangeable, and choosing the wrong one is why LUTs sometimes appear to do nothing.
On a node, in the Colour page. Right-click the node → LUT → your pack → the file. This is the normal way for a creative look, and the one that gives you the node's Key Output Gain as a strength control.
As an input LUT, in Clip Attributes. Right-click clips in the media pool → Clip Attributes → Colour. This is the right place for a *conversion* — S-Log3 or D-Log to Rec.709 — because it happens before any grading you do on top, which is the order conversions belong in.
On the timeline, in Colour Management. Project Settings → Colour Management → Timeline LUT. Applies to everything, including things you did not mean.
Applying it to a whole card
Select every clip in the media pool, right-click, Clip Attributes, set the input LUT once. That is genuinely quick, and for a card shot on one camera in one light it is often all you need.
Two things it does not do:
- It is display metadata, not baked in. The clips look right in Resolve. Handing the folder to a client who does not use Resolve gets you the flat originals back, and a confused email. Delivering converted files means a render, which means a timeline and a queue.
- Every clip gets exactly the same amount. There is no per-clip strength in Clip Attributes. The shot into the sun takes the conversion as hard as the one in flat overcast, and fixing that means grading those clips individually on the colour page.
When Resolve is the right tool
When you are editing. It is a free, extremely capable colour application, and nothing here is a criticism of it — for an edit with a grade, it is the whole job in one window.
| The task | Resolve | A batch tool |
|---|---|---|
| Grading an edit | Yes, properly | No |
| Converting a card for delivery | Timeline + render queue | Drop the folder in |
| Per-clip strength across 40 clips | A node each | A slider each |
| Photos in the same pass | No | Yes |
When it is overkill
Converting forty clips nobody has edited yet is not an edit. Neither is applying
a house look to a folder of JPEGs the client is waiting on. Both are batch jobs
wearing an editor's clothes, which is the gap BatchTone
fills: one .cube across photos and clips at once, a strength dial on each
file, exports named before the run, and malformed DJI
files repaired on the way in. Seven-day
trial, everything unlocked.
If what you want is a lighter editor rather than a batch tool, the honest options are in DaVinci Resolve alternatives.
Common questions
I copied the LUT in and it is not in the list
Press Update Lists in Project Settings → Colour Management. If it is still
missing, check the file is really .cube and not .cube.txt — the browser
filters by extension and macOS hides it by default.
Free or Studio — does it matter for LUTs?
No. LUT support is identical in the free version. What Studio adds is elsewhere: some effects, hardware decode, collaboration.
How do I reduce the strength of a LUT in Resolve?
Put the LUT on its own node and pull the node's Key Output Gain down, which mixes the graded result back against the input. Doing it per clip across a whole card is the part that does not scale.
Can I apply a LUT to a photo in Resolve?
Technically yes — import the image, put it on a timeline, grade and export. It is a lot of ceremony for a JPEG, and it is why batch tools exist for the stills side.