.CUBE File Extension

Gaussian cube format created by the cubegen and cubman programs included with the Gaussian distribution; stores volumetric properties, which are the X-, Y-, and Z-coordinates that are mapped on to a 3D grid associated to a molecular system; may also contain the number of atoms and the number of voxels along the the axes.

Gaussian is an electronic structure program used for computational chemistry. The application uses the ".cube" and ".cub" extensions to save data in the Cube format.

A CUBE file may also be a lookup table used by various versions of Luminar, a digital photo editor. It contains settings used to remap an image's colors and adjust its tone. Luminar includes default CUBE files, and photographers can create or load custom CUBE files.

Photographers use Luminar to edit digital photos. The program is published by Skylum Software and available for Windows and macOS.

In Luminar 2018, the program gained the ability to load and apply lookup tables (LUTs). Using the program's LUT Mapping tool, photographers can select a lookup table to automatically remap an image's colors to a new set of colors, defined in the LUT. Photographers can then use the LUT Mapping tool's Amount, Contrast, and Saturation settings to refine this remapping.

Luminar LUTs are saved as CUBE files. Several succeeding versions of Luminar, including Luminar AI and Neo, also use LUTs saved as CUBE files. However, to load CUBE files in these versions, photographers use the Color Styles (LUT) or Mood tool, not the LUT Mapping tool.

You can open a CUBE file with Luminar 2018 and later versions (Windows, Mac). To do so, select your version of Luminar's LUT tool (such as LUT Mapping, Color Styles, or Mood). Then select, Choose LUT → Load Custom LUT File.... Finally, navigate to and open your CUBE file. After you do, Luminar will apply the LUT your CUBE file contains.