How a frame
becomes film.
Every stage a real film goes through, simulated from published manufacturer data, then tested against it. Light, lens, crystals, development, dye and print.
What happens to every frame
- LightYour scene becomes a spectrum and exposes three layers, each with the stock's measured sensitivity.
- LensOptionally, a classic lens design, ray-traced.
- FilmLight scatters through the emulsion and bounces off the base as halation.
- CrystalsBillions of silver-halide crystals, sized like the real stock, catch the light.
- DevelopmentDevelopment time sets contrast; inhibitors sharpen edges and separate colours.
- DyesEach layer forms its own dye, with the real spectra.
- PrintPrinted onto a real print stock, timed like a lab would.
Inside the film,
layer by layer
Three light-sensitive layers in 20 microns, on a base six times thicker. Pick a colour and watch the light go through.
Edges that sharpen themselves
Developing crystals release an inhibitor that slows development nearby. Bright areas hold themselves back in the middle more than at their edges, so film looks sharp without looking sharpened.
The same chemistry reaches the layers beneath, and that is how film separates colours.
In-engine footage: 40 µm of film at the edge of a bright stripe (right), light shining through every layer.
Regular 8 to IMAX
The crystals stay the same size; the frame changes around them. Pick a gauge.
Long exposures behave
like the real stock
Hold the shutter open long enough and film loses speed, differently in each colour layer. Set the exposure time and Emulsion's crystals do the same.
Matches 175 of 176 published corrections across 33 stocks, within a third of a stop.
Show the numbers
Push it. Pull it. Skip the bleach.
Push means more time in the developer, and in Emulsion that is exactly what it does. Contrast, speed and grain move together, like in the tank.
| Kodak measured | Emulsion predicts | |
|---|---|---|
| Push 1 stop | +18 % | +15 % |
| Push 2 stops | +29 % | +29 % |
| Pull 1 stop | not published | −15 % |
Predicted from Kodak's development times, not fitted to the push results.
Simulated, then tested
against published film data
Emulsion starts from what manufacturers publish and calculates the rest. Then we test it against data it never saw.
The proof
- Tone. A flat grey patch lands on the datasheet density to within 0.0015, in every grain mode.
- Grain. Kodak's published grain figures for Kodak Vision3 250D and Kodak Portra 400 are matched within 5–6.5 % (rms) per colour layer.
- Long exposures. 175 of 176 published reciprocity corrections, across 33 stocks, reproduced within a third of a stop.
- Push processing. Push-2 contrast predicted from Kodak's development times alone: +29 %, the same as Kodak's measurement.
- Projection. A simulated Kodak Vision Color Print 2383, projected under xenon light, meets the SMPTE 196M screen brightness and contrast targets.
- Lenses. Every lens is traced surface by surface from its published prescription, and the plugin's rendering is checked point by point against an independent ray trace.
How it's built
- From the datasheet up. Curves, spectral sensitivities, dye spectra, grain and sharpness come straight from the manufacturer's published data.
- Real crystals. Grain is the silver-halide crystals themselves, sized and counted to match each stock's published granularity.
- Real chemistry. Development, inhibitor couplers, push and pull, and bleach bypass follow the process, not a look.
- Real light. Every stage works on the spectrum of the light, from the lens through the layers to the print.
- Re-tested, not trusted. One automated suite re-runs every measurement above against the real plugin.
Download the free beta
Two ways in, the same film. Free and unwatermarked until 7 January 2027. macOS, with Metal acceleration.
Emulsion
Film simulation for your footage, in the Color page. Includes Stock Studio for building your own stocks.
Download for ResolvePlugin: Apple silicon & Intel. Stock Studio: Apple silicon. 54 film and print stocks from manufacturers' data.
Emulsion Photo
Your RAW files, exposed onto film, developed and printed. Works as an Edit In editor for Lightroom Classic and Capture One.
Download Emulsion PhotoApple silicon, macOS 12 or later. No Resolve needed. Exports 16-bit TIFF and JPEG.