I have several LUTs for IR processing and some other things.
Up till 7.5, these were visible and easily accessible from the LUT dialog box.
Now, 7.6 has screwed that up. There is now a selection window called Type where you have to choose between Standard, Premium and Custom. My LUTs do not show in any of those selections.
Instead, one has to select Custom, Rendering, Import and then locate the desired LUT on your hard drive. This has to be done every time.
(Yes, it does keep a list of previously used LUTs but, Really, why the complication???)
If I go to the folder Program files/Dxo/DxoPhotolab7/LUT, my LUTs are there. Here you can also see how they define Standard and Premium by the use of .json files.
The Standard and my personal LUTS are the usual .cube format and they show in the import dialog. However, the Premium LUTs are in .dxocube format and do Not show. To see these, use Windows Explorer.
I think that this is a major step backwards in useability.
I wouldn’t keep any of my files there – it’s for “private” DxO use. Who knows, what the next PL update may delete?
Why DxO decided to pack the Premium LUTs into .dxocube files is a mystery for me. One can use crafted TIFF to reverse engineer these cubes and bring them to a standard .cube format.
Well, that in itself, would not be so much of a problem but they effectively hide personal LUTs from the photolab UI. If one did not know the location of the files, they could be time-consuming to locate. Also, now being restricted to a “one at a time” viewing, just makes the whole process a pain.
When Custom “type” is selected, PL will default to the last location to which it was previously directed - which can be your personal location for LUTs
This does not need to be completed each and every time (unless you have different locations for different sets of LUTs, maybe ?).
As @wlodek notes; I wouldn’t recommend storing any personal LUTs (or personal/custom files of any type) within the ~\Program files/Dxo/~ structure … 'cos that location is for application installation files - and there’s no guarantee that that structure will not change.
I have my personal LUTs stored within Window’s user-specific structure ;
– {UserName}\Appdata\Local\DxO\DxO PhotoLab 7\ DCPs & LUTs
… So that PL defaults to this folder whenever I select the Custom type.
While I’m here …
Here’s a tip to enable easy review of each available LUT (applied to the current image);
Activate the LUT Grading tool - and select one of the “Types”; say, Standard
Double-click on the first listed Rendering option (to select it and make it active).
Now simply use Up/Down arrows to move thru all Rendering options in that list - - each one will be applied, in turn, to your image.
Note: This tip applies, similarly, to each of the Rendering options for the Color/B&W tool too.
Settings for custom LUTs for the current PL7/Win build (7.6.0.189) are stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\DxO\DxO.PhotoLab.exe_StrongName_addo3jomrfkt2faiwwfxxb444r1xfvlh\7.6.0.189\user.config in the <DxO.PhotoLab.Correction.Lut.Properties.Settings> section. There are two properties there, LutFiles and LastDirectory. Needless to say, don’t touch it, particularly when PL is running. While having to import LUTs one by one may be a nuisance indeed, it is perhaps also too easy to remove them from PL config, but opinions may vary.
I keep my presets and luts in C:\XXX\DxO\Presets and C:\XXX\DxO\LUT. The directory C:\XXX is for keeping various key data, which is small enough for quick daily backups to USB stick and other drive.
The path of the .cube file is stored in the DOP file, e.g. (Windows): ColorLookupPath = [[C:\XXX\DxO\LUT\SomeName.cube]],
The last tip from @John-M is easy to miss for newcomers. “Small but great” feature
One still has to go through the sequence of selecting a LUT. The fact that PL remembers the last location is just a little help. It is a lot more cumbersome to select a LUT in 7.6 vs the previous versions.
Your tip only applies to the DXO supplied LUTs - the ones listed in the .json file. It does not work with any other LUT. So, the problem I mentioned above, still applies.
It may behave differently if your personal LUTs are in a separate folder to the DXO LUTs.
Also, this action fills the History with each of the LUT selections that you go through. Since I use the History panel, this is detrimental to my workflow.
There are 237 LUTs on my computer mostly from BlackMagic. If I applied your tip with these, my history would be very large indeed.
As an aside, DOX keeps Presets in two different locations.
OK, so I created a new folder containing my personal LUTs.
The tip only works IF you have used the LUT before. It will not show unused LUTs.
Standard and Custom go by the list. So, if DXO release more LUTs in the future - either free or paid - this process implies that they will have to be “installed” along with new .json files containing new lists.
