@TequilaKez - Log encoding is simply part of getting raw data into a smaller container (i.e. stored in a lower bit rate video file) so it's basically a form of compression. If it's done right you can reverse it to linear light without introducing any contouring (banding) and as nice side effect, a log image is more representative to how your eyes see light, and how film responds to light. Colorscience can indeed get very complex but you really don't need to know the fine points.
The numbered Log luts in MLRawViewer are based on very simple math and can be inverted to linear light easily, but they are not the easiest to work with. The other luts (Slog, LogC etc) are a bit more complicated because they assign (or should assign) very specific code values to the black, white and middle grey points. These luts can't simply be inverted (ok, technically they can but they will not look correct). They must be inverted and scaled (and may need a black point offset applied) so that a diffuse white reflector would have a floating point value of 1.0. This is what returns specular highlights to more realistic values (i.e. looks more like reality). A great many profiles don't do this so still you end up with a flat looking image, even when viewing in Rec709.
Technically speaking, Slog, LogC, Clog etc can not be represented in a single lut. There would be a separate one for each exposure (EI) or IRE value (set in the camera) and this is how Slog, LogC, Clog work in-camera. Each virtual lut is adjusted to compensate for the +/- gain of increasing/decreasing ISO. As this is not very practical the formulas used are based on the camera's native EI (in the case of LogC it is for EI800).
Part of the problem people may have in getting a good, workable log image comes from playing with the exposure slider. This can cause all kinds of issues because it is affecting the relationship between the log code values that are assigned to the black, white and middle gray values and this gets compounded further when the 'as shot ISO' is anything other than the chose EI value of the log formula - so basically try not to use the exposure slider.
As for getting MLRV to spit out log images that you can apply a 3D lut to, well yes, it already does that BUT the 3D lut itself must be based on the formula of whichever log profile you selected in MLRV. If it isn't, another lut will be needed to bridge the 2. We will provide a set of corrective 1D transfer luts for all the most useable of the options offered by MLRV, so that at least you'll be in the right ballpark and can use your other luts more effectively.
