LUT sellers: grade a locked plate, do not generate a new scene

H3/Ray if the plate will be graded. Hailuo Fast is the wrong grade source.

A LUT demo is a look applied to a picture that does not change under you. If you generate a new scene every time you want to show the cube, you are grading a new white point, a new exposure, and a new idea of skin. The LUT then looks like a different product on every take. That is not a catalog. That is a sampler wearing your look.

Lock a plate. Grade that plate. Sell the cube that survived the scopes. Do not prompt a new interior "in the style of the LUT." The generate is not the LUT.

Lock the picture before you sell the look

Generated footage arrives display-referred. It is not log. A print-emulation cube stacked on a finished Rec.709-style picture is an S-curve on an S-curve. Grade generated footage on Rec.709 scopes is the order: waveform, parade, vectorscope, then exposure, balance, saturation, look. The look is last. A creative LUT on unmatched shots keeps the mismatch and tints it. LUT sellers who skip the match are demonstrating the defect.

"Locked" means the file does not get regenerated between grades. Same frames. Same lighting. Same crop. You may pull stills from it. You may export a 9:16 extract. You may not roll a new Hailuo clip and call it the same hero. Each sample is an independent camera.

If the brief is a pack of looks — teal, print, bleach — they all have to sit on that one plate. Otherwise you are A/B testing models, not LUTs.

H3 and Ray are plates. Fast is a feed pass.

MiniMax H3 at 2K when the plate will be graded is the path. H3 text-to-video writes 5–15 second clips at up to 2K, including 21:9, billed per second. That resolution is crop room, texture under a paused frame, and a file that still holds on a 27-inch display. Use it when the next step is scopes, not a For You upload.

Luma Ray 2 720p is the other named plate: 720p, 5s or 9s, 50 credits, audio empty. It is not a 2K master. It is a cinematic 720p file you can still put on Rec.709 legal scopes. Use it when 720p is the honest delivery, or as a motion test before H3. The brand name will not invent a 1080p switch.

Hailuo 2.3 Fast is the wrong grade source. Image-to-video from a single still: 6s or 10s, listed 28 credits, no max-output-resolution chip, catalog audio unset. Fast is a feed pass. Compression eats the polish you would have graded. A grade cannot invent texture the sampler never wrote. What a grade can and cannot rescue in AI footage is the limit.

Draft motion on Fast if you are hunting a still. Once the still is the still, leave Fast. Commit the plate on H3 (2K) or Ray (720p). Grade that file.

The demo file is part of the product

Buyers judge a LUT on the before/after you posted. If the after is a new generate, they cannot tell the cube from the model. If the after is the same locked plate, the cube is the only variable. That is the only demo worth the listing.

Ray's audio field is empty. Fast does not list audio. A LUT is a picture product. Do not regenerate the scene to "hear a better room."

FAQ

Can I demo the LUT on a fresh Hailuo Fast clip each time?

No. Fast is a 6s/10s I2V feed pass without a 2K chip. Each generate is a new camera. Your cube is no longer the variable. Lock H3 or Ray, then grade.

Is Ray 2 720p enough if I am not delivering 2K?

Yes, if 720p is the spec. Scopes still apply. It is not a substitute for H3's 2K crop room. It is a substitute for Fast as a grade source.

Should I apply a film-print LUT as step one on generated footage?

No. Generated clips are display-referred. A log print LUT is the wrong first move. Neutralise on Rec.709 legal scopes, match, then apply the look.

Does generating "in the LUT's style" replace a cube?

No. A generation-time look is a sampling bias. It is not a .cube you can sell, and it will not match the next model family. Grade a locked plate. Sell that.