Yes, the docs recommend it (or did....I'm not sure what happened to the little notes next to some devices). But (with care) direct to hub can work.
Sounds like you're looking for the "Scenes" feature, which is best done in the Hue app IMHO (another reason to use it), though Hubitat can do something similar a couple different ways. You'll need a community integration to get Hue scenes into Hubitat, as the built-in integration does not support them (CoCoHue, which I wrote, and Advanced Hue are the only two I know of that are currently supported).
What driver are you using? You should have a "Set Color Temperature" command if it's a white and color device, which you'll get if using an "RGBW" driver on Hubitat. If it's color only, the only "RGB" driver is the best choice, and then you'll only have color and not CT commands.
