A DaVinci Resolve node tree, node by node: what each one does and when to touch it

A PowerGrade is a saved node tree. Open it and you see a row of boxes, and the usual reaction is to touch none of them. This guide goes through a full tree in order, using the CINELOCO PowerGrade as the example, so you know which nodes are meant for you and which ones you leave alone.

Why the order matters

Nodes run left to right, and each one works on the result of the one before. That gives a simple rule: corrections that should behave like light (exposure, white balance) go first, while the image is still in the camera's log space. The look comes next. Anything local or textural goes after it.

The tree

The CINELOCO PowerGrade comes in two versions: Free with 17 nodes, and Pro with 19 nodes for Resolve Studio, which adds Film FX and Halation. These are its named nodes.

#	Node	What it does	When to touch it
01	Exposure	Sets the brightness of the shot before anything else touches it. This is the first thing you fix on a clip that was shot a little under or over.	Every shot. Put skin and mid grey where they belong on the waveform first.
02	WB	White balance. Removes the colour cast from the light so whites are neutral before the look is applied.	Whenever the camera white balance was off or the light changed between shots.
03	Contrast	A contrast trim that sits under the look, so you can open up or tighten a shot without fighting the look itself.	Flat, hazy shots or very harsh light.
04	Saturation	Overall colour amount going into the look. Small moves here change how strongly the look reads.	When a camera or a scene comes in more or less colourful than the rest of the edit.
05	CST Input	Colour Space Transform. You tell it which camera profile you shot (S-Log3, Blackmagic Film, Apple Log) so the look always starts from the same place.	Once per camera. Set it and leave it.
06	CINELOCO Look	The look itself: the contrast curve and colour response that make CINELOCO bold and vibrant.	Rarely. Use the node Key Output gain if you want less of it.
07	Skin Tone	A dedicated adjustment for skin, so faces stay natural while the rest of the frame takes the look.	Any shot with a face. Check it against the skin tone line on the vectorscope.
08	Qualifier	Selects one colour range (a sky, a jacket, foliage) so you can change it without touching anything else.	When one colour pulls attention away from the subject.
09	Mask	A window you draw on the frame to lift or darken one area, like a face or a product.	When the subject needs separating from the background.
10	Radial	A soft circular window. The quick way to add a pool of light on a face.	Portraits and interviews.
11	Glow	A soft bloom around bright areas that takes the digital edge off highlights.	Backlit shots, practical lights, night scenes.
12	Vignette	Darkens the edges of the frame to keep the eye in the middle.	Wide shots with busy edges. Keep it subtle.
13	Grain	Film grain generated inside Resolve. Adds texture and helps mixed cameras sit together.	On by taste. Check it at 100% zoom and after export compression.
14	Pro Grain	The optional 35mm Pro Film Grain workflow: real analog grain scans layered over your image instead of generated grain.	When you want real film texture. It has its own setup tutorial.
15	Sharpen	A final sharpening pass, after grain, to bring back fine detail.	Soft lenses or footage that will be heavily compressed online.
16	Film FX Studio	A finishing node built on a Resolve Studio effect that adds film-style response to the image.	Studio version only. Part of the 19-node Pro PowerGrade.
17	Halation Studio	The red-orange glow film shows around very bright edges. Built on a Resolve Studio effect.	Studio version only. Strongest on backlight, windows and practical lamps.

The four nodes you touch on every shot

Exposure and WB. Do these first, with the waveform open. A look can only be consistent if every shot enters it at the same level.

CST Input. Set it once to the camera you shot on. This is what lets one PowerGrade work for Sony, Blackmagic and iPhone footage.

Skin Tone. Check faces on the vectorscope after the look is on. If skin sits off the skin tone line, this is the node to fix it, not white balance.

The nodes you leave off until you need them

Qualifier, Mask and Radial do nothing until you point them at something. Think of them as empty tools laid out in the right place. Turn one on when a shot needs it, and copy it to the other shots in the scene.

Texture goes last, and in this order

Glow softens highlights. Grain covers the result so the bloom has texture too. Sharpen comes after grain so it restores detail without sharpening noise from the camera. Change the order and you get crunchy grain or a glow that sits on top of everything like a filter.

Turning a node down instead of off

Select a node, open the Key palette and lower Key Output Gain. At 0.5 that node contributes half as much. It is the cleanest way to ease off a look without opening the node.

Watch it

The CINELOCO PowerGrade page has the setup tutorials, and the demo shows the finished grade against the log original.

Common questions

Do I need DaVinci Resolve Studio for a PowerGrade?

Not for the tree itself. Nodes that use Studio-only effects, such as Film FX and Halation in the 19-node Pro version of CINELOCO, need Resolve Studio. The 17-node version works in the free Resolve.

Can I change the order of the nodes?

You can, but the order is part of the result. Balance belongs before the transform and the look, and texture belongs after them.

How do I apply a PowerGrade to many clips?

Apply it to one clip, then select the others and middle-click the graded clip, or use a group so the look nodes are shared and each clip keeps its own exposure and white balance.