Preset
Also known as: saved setting, effect preset
A saved set of values inside a tool, reused so that a look, an export or an effect can be applied identically across many clips.
Updated
What it means
A preset is a shortcut rather than a capability. The tool already existed; the preset remembers where its controls were set last time something worked. Nothing new becomes possible because of one, and nothing is lost by not using them.
Three kinds matter in practice. An Export preset for delivery, a grading preset for a look, and effect presets for stabilisation or noise reduction. A LUT is the grading version of the same idea.
It differs from a Plugin entirely. A plugin adds an operation; a preset configures one that is already there. Confusing the two leads to a missing effect on another machine later on.
How it works in practice
Export presets are the highest-value ones. A delivery setting proved to work on a platform removes a whole category of mistake from every Rendering and export afterwards. That is the one worth building carefully.
Grading presets belong on top of correction rather than instead of it. Color correction per clip first, then one shared look, which is what keeps a sequence matched rather than merely styled.
Naming matters more than it sounds. A preset called final-2 helps nobody, and a library of unnamed settings is a library nobody uses. The name is the interface.
What to watch out for
Presets hide what they do. An effect applied from one has values nobody chose for this footage, and troubleshooting means opening it anyway. The shortcut ends at the first problem.
Grading presets built for one camera rarely survive another. A look made for a Log profile clip applied to a baked-in one produces the washed-out result everybody recognises.
They also encourage skipping the work. One pass over twelve clips is faster than grading them and leaves twelve clips that still do not match, which Color matching then has to fix one clip at a time.
How RawClip handles it
Consistent settings are applied across an assembled sequence by default, so nothing has to be saved and reapplied per clip. Where a specific look or delivery format is wanted, that is a brief-level request rather than a preset to save and reapply.