Film projects generally use digitized film images originating from a datacine conversion process. These high-resolution scans of film frames preserve much of a film's resolution, color depth, and grain. Digital film scan formats consist of logarithmic data, which allows for more subtlety in the lower luma ranges of an image. Linear data maps the luma range in equal intervals from black to white. Because the algorithms are optimized for linear data, a look-up table (LUT) can be used to convert the logarithmic data for a linear data environment.
A LUT is an ASCII file that describes specific pixel values used for image data conversion both on import and export. For example, you can use a LUT to convert a 10-bit logarithmic film image to a 16-bit linear image on import. Typically, you would apply the inverse LUT on export to restore the 10-bit logarithmic data, ensuring that the result film prints match the original shots. You can use two kinds of LUTs: 1D LUTs and 3D LUTs.
