I used to rely on mLUT from motionVFX for its own browsable preview. But since they moved it behind a subscription, I couldn't justify paying monthly for it.
The stock alternative — Custom LUT effect, open the dropdown, dig through the list, repeat for every clip, with zero visual previews — am a bit too impatient for tat.
So I built lutfx: a small free tool that converts every .cube file into its own effect in the Effects browser, organized by category, each with a thumbnail showing the actual look. You just drag the effect onto a clip like any built-in effect, and skimming previews work like they do for stock effects.
Install (Homebrew):
brew install avis001/tap/lutfx
Use:
lutfx ~/Downloads/MyLUTPack --category "Film Looks"
Restart FCP, and every LUT in that folder shows up under Effects → Film Looks. Works with single files or whole packs (subfolders included).
A few honest notes:
- It's not a plugin — no FxPlug, nothing running at render time. Under the hood it generates Motion template files that wrap FCP's own built-in Custom LUT filter with the LUT pre-selected.
- Full transparency: I built this with heavy help from AI. Which is documented in the README if you're curious. I've been using the results in my own edits, so it's real-world tested, but treat it like any young open-source tool.
- Free and MIT-licensed, source here: https://github.com/avis001/fcpLutToEffect
- macOS 13+, .cube files only for now.
[ Haven't had anyone else try the tool - If u face any issues pls do create a issue on Github or post it as a comment here. I'll address it within 24hrs ]