Film emulation · OFX plugin for DaVinci Resolve

Max's Film Brewery

The character of analog film — highlight roll-off, colour response, grain — as a free OFX plugin for DaVinci Resolve.

Download for DaVinci Resolve ☕ Support via PayPal

Version 7.1.0 · macOS 11+ (Apple Silicon & Intel) · needs Resolve Studio — the free version of Resolve doesn't load third-party OFX plugins

The Max's Film Brewery panel inside DaVinci Resolve — negative stock, grain, halation and print look controls — The whole plugin: pick a negative stock and a print look, season to taste.

Why I built it

I love the look of analog film: the depth, the soft colour transitions, the organic grain. But there's a detail about film that's rarely talked about, even among photographers — film isn't vegetarian. The light-sensitive crystals in every photographic emulsion are bound to the base with gelatine, made from the bones and skin left over by the meat industry. That's true for every format: 35mm, large format, and the IMAX reels in Hollywood. To this day there is no widely available vegan film stock.

The photo industry is only a small side-user of a much larger market, and nobody who shoots film should feel bad about it. But it left me with a quiet question: could I get this look without the animal part?

What it is

Max's Film Brewery is my answer — a film emulation built from analysing how real emulsions behave, drawing on what I learned studying film. There are other film emulations out there; some are excellent. Mine tries to be simple, honest and good-looking, and it's free. 100% digital, 100% vegan.

See the difference

Three frames, straight out of Resolve. Drag the line — left of it the original, right of it the same frame through the Brewery. Switch to the close-up to see grain and halation at work.

Frame of a chicken in daylight with Max's Film Brewery applied — Daylight & colour

The same frame without the plugin — Daylight & colour

Portrait frame with Max's Film Brewery applied — Skin tones

Backlit grass frame with Max's Film Brewery applied — Highlights & grain

Install

Unzip the download.
Copy FilmBrewery.ofx.bundle to /Library/OFX/Plugins/ (create the folder if it doesn't exist — macOS asks for your password).
Restart Resolve. Find it under OpenFX → Max's Film Brewery.

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Free, and one small promise

No account, no license key, no catch. If you'd like to support the work, there's a PayPal button below — half of what comes in through this tool, I donate to animal sanctuaries.

☕ Support via PayPal

any amount you like · via PayPal

Part of a small family of free Resolve tools — no account, no cloud.