Color.io User Guide | Create LUTs and DCTLs for Resolve Workflows
Color.io ⇄ Davinci Resolve
Color.io is a web-based color grading and raw image development application that offers the ability to generate 3D LUTs (Look Up Tables), which can be used to transfer your exact color grades from Color.io to Davinci Resolve for ACES color manged video and film workflows. Additionally, Color.io can generate DCTL code, which is a scripting extension designed for Davinci Resolve. Here are some workflow examples to get you started:
Create color managed LUTs for ACES workflows in Davinci Resolve
Color.io allows you to design looks that can be seemlessly integrated into third party ACES color managed workflows. To export a LUT that you want to use an ACES working space project in a third party application like Davinci Resolve, choose your working space at the bottom of the the export panel
Your source footage is from an Alexa in Arri Log-C:
1. In Color.io, set your IDT (Camera Icon) to Log-C:
2. In Color.io, set your ODT (Display Icon) to Rec709:
3. Set the Export Working Space to ACEScct and save a 3D LUT for Davinci Resolve. Note the preview image will update to reflect your working space change:
4. In Davinci Resolve, create (at least) a 3-node graph. One node for the IDT, followed by a corrector node that applies the LUT you exported from Color.io, followed by another node for the ODT. The IDT node requires these settings to match the Color.io Preview:
5. In Davinci Resolve, the ACES ODT node requires these settings to match the Color.io Preview:
Here's a comparison of the same frame exported from Color.io and Davinci Resolve using the settings from the above example workflow:
Good to know: Color.io uses ACES version 1.3 with IDT Reference Gamut Compression enabled by default. These settings must be matched in third party integrations to get a 1:1 match to the Color.io Preview. There might be additional settings required to adapt for different white points used in some projects or environments.
