PHYSICAL LIGHT SIMULATION
EMULSE
A rendering engine that simulates film as physics, not as a filter.
Emulse is the rendering engine inside our products. It is also a long-term answer to a small frustration: digital images that look like digital images. Most film emulation is a lookup table on top of a JPEG. Emulse builds the picture from the other direction, by simulating how film actually responds to light.
A scene is treated as a spectral signal, not an RGB triplet. The signal passes through density curves modeled per emulsion layer, then through a grain field that is generated, not pasted. Halation, bloom and edge effects come from the optical model, not from a post step. The result moves and breathes like film because the math underneath is the same.
Emulse currently powers Impossible Camera and LuminaFace. A standalone consumer tool, Emulse Pro, is in development for photographers and filmmakers who want the engine on its own, with adjustable stocks, real-time preview and LUT export.
WHAT IT DOES
Spectral pipeline
Inputs are treated as wavelengths, not channels. Color crossover is modeled, not faked.
Stochastic grain
Grain is generated per frame from a Halton sequence, not tiled. Two frames are never identical.
Layer-accurate density curves
Cyan, magenta and yellow couplers are modeled separately, with their own latitudes and crosstalk.
Optical halation and bloom
Light bleeds into adjacent grains the way it does in a real emulsion stack, computed in spectral space.
LUT export
Bake any look into a 33×33×33 cube for use in DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro or Capture One.
Stock-accurate response
Profiles measured against scanned negatives, not eyeballed. The numbers match the source.
HOW EMULSE RENDERS
Five stages, one continuous physical model.
- 01
Spectral input
RGB or RAW lifted into a 31-band spectrum using a calibrated camera profile.
- 02
Exposure
Light hits a stack of three sensitized layers, each with its own response curve and spectral sensitivity.
- 03
Development
Density curves convert exposure to dye concentration. Couplers leak between layers, modeling real film crosstalk.
- 04
Optics
Halation and bloom are computed in spectral space, then projected back to RGB. The point spread function follows the lens model.
- 05
Output
Tone mapping to display, with optional LUT bake for downstream tools and color pipelines.
BE FIRST TO KNOW
We are still building. Get a single email when Emulse is ready to use.
THE REST OF THE COLLECTION
SEE IN THE DARK
Impossible Camera
An iOS camera that builds a photograph from the photons most cameras throw away.
NEURAL IDENTITY ENGINE
LuminaFace.ai
Studio-quality AI portraits that hold up next to optical photography.
OFF-GRID ENCRYPTED MESH
Mesh Whisperer
Encrypted messaging that works when the network does not.