In short: fix exposure and white balance first, then apply a creative LUT at 40–70% intensity, then add finishing touches (vignette, grain). Grade one clip, then use Apply to all clips and adjust any that stand out.
Correction vs grading
Colour correction makes footage look right: whites are white, skin looks healthy, shots match. Colour grading makes it look intentional: the teal-and-orange blockbuster, the faded film look, the cold thriller. Grading on uncorrected footage is like painting over a stained wall — the stain shows through.
What a LUT is
A LUT (look-up table) is a list that says "this input colour becomes that output colour". A 3D LUT does it for every combination of red, green and blue, usually on a grid of 17, 33 or 65 points per channel, with colours in between interpolated. A 33-point LUT contains nearly 36,000 colour mappings — a whole grade captured in one small .cube text file.
VDOAPP applies LUTs on your graphics card as a 3D texture, so the look is shown live while you play, and blended with the original using LUT intensity.
Technical vs creative LUTs
| Type | Purpose | Use on |
|---|---|---|
| Technical (conversion) | Turns a camera's flat "log" profile into normal contrast (e.g. S-Log3 → Rec.709) | Only footage shot in that exact log profile |
| Creative (look) | Applies a style — film emulation, teal-orange, bleach bypass | Normal, corrected footage |
The most common reason "LUTs look awful" is using a creative LUT designed for log footage on a normal phone video, or vice versa — the contrast doubles up or disappears. Read the LUT's description; if it says "for S-Log" or "for V-Log", it's meant for that camera profile.
The order of operations
- Exposure and contrast — Brightness and Contrast until the image isn't too dark or washed out.
- White balance — Temperature (blue ↔ orange) and Tint (green ↔ magenta) until whites look neutral.
- The look — a creative LUT or one of the built-in filters (Vivid, Warm, Cool, Mono, Vintage, Fade, Drama).
- Finishing — Vignette to pull the eye inward, Grain for a film texture, Fade for lifted blacks.
Step by step in VDOAPP
- Select a typical clip — well lit, with a person in it if your video has people. Open the Filter tab.
- Correct with the Adjust and Grade sliders.
- Under LUT colour look, press Import .cube LUT and choose a file.
- Lower LUT intensity until skin looks natural. Most creative LUTs look best at 40–70%.
- Press Apply to all clips — this copies the filter, adjustments, LUT and effect to every clip. Then revisit any clip that looks off and correct just that one.
Where to find LUTs: many photographers and colourists share free .cube files. Check the licence, and prefer LUTs that come with before/after examples on footage similar to yours.
Matching different cameras
A phone and a camera, or two phones, rarely match out of the box — one is warmer, one more saturated. Correct each camera's clips toward neutral before applying the shared LUT: the same LUT on mismatched footage keeps the mismatch. Compare by placing clips from both cameras next to each other on the timeline and jumping between them; your eye is far better at spotting differences in a cut than side by side.
Common mistakes
- Orange or grey skin. Skin is what viewers notice first. If a look changes skin badly, lower the intensity.
- Crushed shadows. Heavy contrast looks cinematic on a bright monitor and muddy on a phone in daylight.
- Grading in a dark room at full brightness. Check your grade on a phone too — that's where most people will see it.
- A different look on every clip. Consistency matters more than any single beautiful shot.
Frequently asked questions
Which LUT formats are supported?
3D LUTs in the .cube text format, the most common format, including DOMAIN_MIN and DOMAIN_MAX settings.
Does a LUT slow down playback?
It runs on the graphics card with WebGL 2, so the cost is small on most devices.
Is the LUT saved with my project?
Yes. The autosaved project keeps the LUT file in your browser's storage along with your media.