Note: v3.0.5 has been proven to work with PC/Windows. MAC operation is not recommended or fully supported by Digital Praxis.

Requires Excel 2003, or later.

Purchase Cost: £200 UKP + VAT, if applicable; (Approx: €295 Euro; $400 USD)
Please either use the following Credit Card payment option, or send an email to steve@digitalpraxis.net for alternative payment options, including a postal address for cheques, or bank details for a BACs transfer.

ViewLUT Builder

After making payment, details on how to download the View LUT Builder will be sent via e-mail, so be sure to supply your e-mail address! This is done automatically during the payment procedure, but it would be helpful if you also send an e-mail to steve@digitalpraxis.net as soon as payment has been made.

The download consists of the ViewLUT Builder software complete with pre-set LUT data ready for user modification.

Check out this independent article written by Alfonso Parra, AEC, about LUTs and the Digital Praxis ViewLUT Builder.

ViewLUT Builder
There are a number of creative software packages that use Look-Up-Tables (LUTs) to modify their final displayed image without altering the underlying image data.

This is especially useful when working with LOG data as it maintains the full latitude of the underlying low-contrast, high dynamic range image data, while displaying a more appealing, high-contrast version, usually based on print film characteristics.

For ultra critical calibration operations full 3D Cube display systems, such as Kodak's KDM or FilmLight's TrueLight, can provide very accurate colour matched displays, but for a lot of work is too expensive and overkill for the actual viewing requirements.

However, for real 3D Cube Building Digital Praxis has now introduced its own 3D Cube Builder, which can be used to generate fully calibrated 3D Cubes.

But for many situations, example, when working with the Viper camera (or other high dynamic range capture camera such as Genesis or the Sony f900/f950 with Digital Praxis CVP Gamma Curves), a simpler 1D/2D LUT can work perfectly well.

For this reason Digital Praxis has developed the following Excel based ViewLUT Builder (& CVP Gamma Builder), which has already been used with a number of imaging systems, including:

• XnView
• Quantel iQ 3D Cubes
• Quantel iQ 1D/2D
• Iridas
• S.two
• Shake
• OmniTek
• Thomson Luther 3D Cubes
• Scratch 3D Cubes
• Pandora .mga 3D Cubes
• HDlink
• Fusion
• Lustre
• Nuke
• Flame
• Smoke
• Evertz
• Kodak TCS
• DVS 3D Cubes
• Combustion
• Chrome Imaging
• Cine-tal
• Avid
• etc.

The actual list of systems the LUT Builder works with is large, and growing. If you need a specific LUT format it is possible to have them added for no additional cost. It is even possible to have special LUT Builders generated for specific needs, such as was recently done form a client in Korea who is using a UDR-2E Disc recorder system, with a rather unique 11bit ViewLUT format, as well as a multiple control point version made for generating ArriLaser film-recorder output LUTs for Deluxe Toronto.

Additionally there are a number of pre-set LUT values, enabling quick LUT set-up for common viewing conditions and image formats, including:

• Viper 3200K
• Viper 2300K with added contrast
• Viper 5600K
• Viper 5600K with added contrast
• Viper Florescent
• Viper Florescent with added contrast
• Viper Magenta Filtered
• Viper Balanced
• Cineon/DPX LOG to Print
• Genesis LOG Gamma to LIN Light
• Dalsa
• Linear

The 3D cubes available for some systems is due to 1D/2D LUTs not being available for such systems, or because of additional benefits through the use of 3D cubes (for example iQ can render a 3D cube into the image, but not a 1D/2D LUT).

To aid with LUT development when using the LUT Builder, LUTs can be imported into XnView (free download from www.xnview.com, although commercial use requires a small registration fee) to provide immediate feedback on the LUTs being built.

The LUT Builder works by modifying the 5 main RED, GREEN & BLUE values, from which the full 0-1023 data range is generated. The resultant curve is displayed to the right.

Alternatively, a large format graph can be modified directly by moving the edit points manually. The software splines between the editable points to give a smooth output curve.

The raw LUT data is then filtered to limit data to between 0 & 1023 for 10bit systems; 0 & 255 for 8bit systems; 0 & 4095 for 12bit systems; and 0 & 65535 for 16bit systems, and saved in the required format for use within the creative system as a ViewLUT.