ARRI Film Lab 1.5 adds 8mm, 16mm and 65mm looks plus anamorphic grain, ACES 2.0 and faster playback

ARRI has released Film Lab 1.5, a substantial upgrade to its OpenFX plugin that extends its film emulation toolkit and tightens host integration. ARRI describes the update as one that "brings the look of analog film to digital images." The new build expands Film Lab’s range of format starting points, adds a set of controls aimed at shaping grain and halation for both spherical and anamorphic workflows, introduces ACES 2.0 input/output options, and delivers a notable speed boost on modern systems.

The update introduces a Film Format menu with 8mm, 16mm, 35mm and 65mm choices as new baselines. Those formats are intended to act as starting points for creative grading: ARRI lets you move the look across formats with values that let users dial intermediate results, since the controls that sit behind those formats cover a range from 0.75 to 1.5. To help tailor the granular properties of each format, Film Lab 1.5 adds two new sliders named Grain Size and Rendition of Detail so artists can adjust texture and perceived sharpness independently.

Anamorphic workflows get explicit attention in this release. A new Anamorphic Ratio control provides eight squeeze ratios between 1.25x and 2.0x, enabling films-shot-as-flat looks and stretched artefacts to be reproduced in the grain and halation layers. At the far end of the scale, ARRI notes that at 2.0x the halation becomes broader and each grain appears twice as wide as it is high, which gives a distinct horizontal emphasis to the filmic halo and texture. For highlight bloom, Film Lab adds a Halation Spread parameter — and in ARRI’s words, "a new Halation Spread control sets the radius of the glow around highlights." Together with doubled maximum values for Grain Intensity and Halation Intensity (now 2.0), the controls let colourists and finishing artists push looks from subtle to overt without leaving the plug‑in.

Colour-managed pipelines are also extended. Film Lab 1.5 adds ACES 2.0 options, specifically ACEScc and ACEScct as both inputs and outputs, placed alongside existing LogC3 and LogC4 pathways. In Baselight, the plug‑in now adopts the timeline colour space automatically and receives the correct input transform so that the input and output spaces can be left on “Auto” rather than being set manually. That change is aimed at reducing human error in complex finishing timelines and keeping Film Lab’s film transforms consistent with the host's colour pipeline.

On performance, ARRI reports substantial gains. The company says the plug‑in is "up to 4x faster" than the previous release, and that it "plays 4K in real time on Apple Silicon MacBook Pro systems." In demonstrations accompanying the launch video, UHD material processed with Film Lab ran at 24 fps on a standard MacBook Pro, while another demo was run on a two‑year‑old mid‑range MacBook Pro to show how the plug‑in behaves on more modest modern notebooks. For real‑time on-set preview, ARRI has moved Film Lab into Pomfort Livegrade so looks can be applied during production, although an in‑camera preview that ARRI mentioned at the plug‑in’s initial launch is not available yet.

Licensing and distribution continue through RE:Vision Effects. Film Lab 1.5 is listed as available from that reseller; new customers can purchase licences there and existing licence holders receive the 1.5 upgrade at no extra cost — "The update is free for existing license holders." ARRI says individual licences will be offered on weekly, monthly, annual or permanent terms, with company licences priced by user count and discounted educational rates available. RE:Vision Effects also provides a free trial so facilities and freelance colourists can evaluate the new functions before committing.

The release includes practical workflow notes in ARRI’s documentation and demos. Film Lab now supports ACES 2.0 inputs and outputs for round‑tripping inside systems such as DaVinci Resolve and Baselight, which means facilities that have moved to ACEScc/ACEScct grading can fit Film Lab into their existing transforms. The plug‑in’s automatic timeline‑space behaviour in Baselight reduces the need for manual input/output transform selection and should speed setup on complex timelines.

Creative users will find the extra film formats and the finer grain controls useful when matching material shot on a variety of cameras or when trying to mimic archival or specialised film stocks. The anamorphic grain and halation tools make it easier to recreate the horizontal smear and glow associated with anamorphic optics, and the expanded intensity ceiling gives artists more headroom for exaggerated stylistic decisions. ARRI’s example footage demonstrates a short project that used the 16mm format with an anamorphic ratio of 1.5x and a Halation Spread value of about 2 to craft a distinct mid‑century texture.

For finishing rooms, the ACES 2.0 additions and the automated colour‑space handling in Baselight are the more technical but valuable changes, because they cut down on transform errors and help keep the Film Lab render chain predictable across different host applications. Combine that with the stated performance gains and on‑set preview options, and Film Lab 1.5 is aimed at both dailies and final finishing stages.

ARRI’s Film Lab began as a way to introduce filmic grain and halation into digital workflows, and version 1.5 broadens that concept with format variance, tighter anamorphic controls and more modern colour‑management support. The update touches the creative controls artists use every day while also addressing pipeline and playback concerns that facilities face when integrating film emulation into high‑resolution, colour‑managed projects.

If you run Film Lab in your workflow, the upgrade path is straightforward: existing licence owners receive the 1.5 code at no additional cost, and RE:Vision Effects will host trial licences for evaluation. The added formats, the new sliders for grain and detail, the anamorphic ratio and halation sizing, the doubled intensity ceiling and the ACES 2.0 options give colourists and finishing teams more levers to shape looks and fit Film Lab into modern colour pipelines.