LUTs from the bottom of the list not loading in Lumetri

[AGH23734394bre8]

Hiya!
I was very excited when I finally added my LUTS to Adobe folders, so I dont have to look for them separately for each project.
I added around 200 LUTs to the 'Creative' folder and around 20 to the 'Technical' one, all are .cube files.

Luts are displayed on the list in Lumetri Panel in Premiere, but when I try to select them from the list, one of the following things happens:
1. LUT A - displays fine (for the LUTs that are at the top of the list (I'd say first 5-10))
2. I select a new LUT (LUT B), but there is no change in the image, and the name of the previous LUT A is still being displayed as well as the visual
3. I select 'no LUT', then go to the bottom of the list, and select LUT C - then Premiere assigns random LUT, from what I noticed it's usually the last one that was responsive.

When instead of selecting LUTs from the list that is displayed, I use 'browse' and go directly to the folder with the LUT, everything works great. The problem is this is not the most time effecient way to preview different colour options.

Does anyone know what is happening? 
I am not sure if it's a bug or user error. 

[R Neil Haugen]

Simple. You added them into the Premiere Pro program/package file LUTs folders, right? The same ones that have the shipped LUTs in them?

Wrong. Do not EVER add any LUTs to the folders inside Premiere that already contain Adobe's provided LUTs.

Those folders are never accessed by file/LUT name, but only by relative "place" in the folder when sorted alphanumerically in computer terms. 

Further, LUTs added into those folders will only be seen by the app itself, as Ae, Premiere, and MediaEncoder all have their own internal copies of those LUTs which they will use.

So adding anything to those folders screws up the use of most of the LUTs of those folders ... and will never be seen by AfterEffects nor MediaEncoder.

They have two different folder trees you can use to get your LUTs seen by the Input, Basic, and Creative tab "slots". Available in the Premiere Pro help files, use those.

One is via the users/username/appdata/roaming/adobe/common/LUTs I think it is.

The other in the Program Package file folder ... but in the Adobe/Common folder tree. I use this one personally.

But either way you choose, within those folders, you probably need to create an Input, Technical, and Creative folder.

Put your LUTs in the appropriate folder chosen by where you  want to apply them within Premiere.

Input process LUTs go in the Input folder.

Basic tab use LUTs go in the Technical folder.

Creative tab LUTs go in the Creative folder.

Out of curiosity, as someone who works with/for/teaches pro colorists, what LUTs do you have, and what do you use them for?

[AGH23734394bre8]

Hi Neil, 

Thanks for this very comprehensive answer, it's really helpful! 

... and will never be seen by AfterEffects nor MediaEncoder.

Yeah, I struggled with this. The Internet advised that I should then copy the same Luts into the AE Lumetri folder :clown_face: which I never did out of laziness. Whenever I created a linked comp in AE, my footage was ungraded, haha

One is via the users/username/appdata/roaming/adobe/common/LUTs I think it is.

The other in the Program Package file folder ... but in the Adobe/Common folder tree. I use this one personally.

Quation about above: when I update Premiere, will these folders be visible in the new verions as well? Or will I have to rememebr to replicate them?

Out of curiosity, as someone who works with/for/teaches pro colorists, what LUTs do you have, and what do you use them for?

I have a multipack of Luts from I believe Motion Array from different YouTube creators - I wanted a lazy way of checking how the footage will look with different creative looks. I don't really do much color grading apart from basic adjustments.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[R Neil Haugen]

The two "user-friendly" locations are not updated by changes to your installed apps, so they are there and read by all versions of Premiere, AfterEffects and MediaEncoder.

[R Neil Haugen]

A crucial thing to understand about working with LUTs is they are not math, and are totally inflexible. Rigid.

They are only a chart, with maybe 30 instruction sets of "take this RGB triplicate and do this instead" ... with the app normally simply applying a straight-line between list points to the next.

So any data outside of the "expected" ones for that LUT will get clipped, crushed, or over-saturated.

Which is why colorists always apply LUTs so they can apply a trim to the clip prior to the LUT, so they can make the clip fit the LUT without clipping highilghts to white, crushing darks to black, or under or over-saturating anything.

If you apply LUTs in the Basic Tab "input" slot, via the Technical folder, then maybe drop the Contrast effect I think it is before the LUT in the Effects Control Panel, so you can control white/black/contrast shape prior to the LUT.

I tend to use the Creative tab's Look slot for all LUT applications, and then use the Basic tab controls to trim the clip.

[MyerPj]

To add to Neils post, here's a link to the Luts folder, just paste this into File Explorer.

%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\LUTs

[David_Maulkerson5843]

I have the exact same issue here and the whole set of instructions by @R Neil Haugen didn't do anything for me. Yeah they all appear in premier but that still doesn't solve this bug. When you select the Luts at the bottom of the list, it automatically reselects a Lut somewhere in the middle of the list, about position 10. I've attached a screen recording to demonstrate and samples of my various LUT folders. I use lots of different technical luts depending on my camera, and style of edit I'm going for so simply not having them isn't an option.

[David_Maulkerson5843]

Just to add, I've tried both the programme files method and the appdata method, neither fix this issue

[R Neil Haugen]

First, if LUTs are added to the Program Files/Adobe/Premiere Pro/Lumetri/LUTs location you create a problem, as in that location, the LUTs are 'called' within Premiere by their relative location in that folder.

So it grabs the "9th LUT down" not "Angelfeathers 3450 lut" ... and that is a huge problem if you add anything to those folders.

You have to use either of the appdata/user .... location, or the Program/package files/Adobe/COMMON/LUTs folder tree. 

And ... you do have to add the folder for the location use of the LUT ... Technical for Basic tab, Creative for Creative tab, Input for Input color management usage. 

Next ... after loading the LUTs, you have to close and relaunch Premiere ... it will not see any LUTs added anywhere while it is open.

And past that, there is a definite total number you can add ... more than 80 or so, it stops seeing them. I'm not sure of the exact number.

[David_Maulkerson5843]

Yeah, thats exactly what I did the first time

[David_Maulkerson5843]

I've uninstalled Premiere and reinstalled it just in case the was any problem with the files. I'm not using 80 luts, as you can see from the video I'm only trying to use 10 or so of my custom luts, so that definitely isn't the issue, unless this stacks with creative luts too?

[David_Maulkerson5843]

Actually, stacking wouldn't be the issue in this case as when I reinstalled premiere I now no longer have any creative LUTS in any of my folders

[R Neil Haugen]

So you got me puzzled ... you don't have any Creative LUTs ... do you mean Premiere's 'native' Creative LUTs too?

[David_Maulkerson5843]

The native ones are there yeah sorry. I just meant i haven't added any of my own

[David_Maulkerson5843]

in effect, I have a brand new install of PP and the only thing I have done is add techinical luts to the new "appdata" folder as seen from the screenshots above. The selection issue remains

[MyerPj]

You have 10, you might need to select them one-time each. I think they used a 'library' model when creating the luts and mogrt interface. Plain old folders would be so much simpler.

[MyerPj]

I put some in a 'Technical' folder to see how they might work, and I selected 1 from the Basic dropdown, and they all in that folder got added. Folder names are not there though... 😐

[David_Maulkerson5843]

Good news, I think the issue goes a bit deeper than simply how the technicals folder is managed but the issue is solved.

I've started a brand new project in premiere for a different wedding I've filmed. This one allows me to select any lut I want from the technical folder, but the old project still wont let me do this. There must be something that gets written into the project file itself if you start with luts added to the Lumetri folder in Premiere Pro rather than in a common folder that prevents it from accessing them. So for anyone encounting the same issue and wondering why the fix above isn't working for them try creating a new project after having followed the steps above for the fix and see if that works.