More gamma stuff and linear workflows

[ene.xis]

that s exactly what i ve been doing and it works great for me!
usually i use gama correction to test the lighting solution, and then for the final output i revert it to linear and save it to hdr...lattely exr cause i got more control over it...

[CCS]

Also...

Where did this "LWF is great for video, but I don't need it because all my work is in print" come from? I'm seeing lots of people make statements along these lines, and for the life of me I can't understand it. It's like saying that since you only do interiors you don't need to deal with sun/sky.

I'll say this: If you like your current workflow, your render times, your setup times, etc. and your final output, then more power to you. It doesn't matter what anyone else says. If youare happy and your clients are happy, then don't bother with any of these threads. I have switched though, and just like others have said, I'm glad I did. I do mostly exteriors, mostly for print, and mostly stills - and I prefer LWF to my prior workflow. So don't let any of those criteria affect your choice.


(Maybe we should post a sticky about avoiding posts on religion, politics, sports and LWF. )

[cecil gittens]

LWF is working great for me on interiors, Chis did a great job on explaining the concept on his DVD, I am now trying it on exteriors, using flipside's example. I am not going back to the old workflow.

Cecil

[jujubee]

Forget print, video, or screen. If it looks better on your monitor after using LWF, then it'll look better in the other formats assuming you don't do something else to screw it all up.

Not wanting to adopt LWF is a question of time, perhaps laziness (which is completely understandable seeing how long the threads are), or if you feel your method works fine - then just keep on using it. Just don't complain when you run into color mapping and light fall-off issues.

[flipside]

If you use vlado's method 1, is it correct to say you're using the LWF? I assume not, and I think that is where a lot of confusion comes from. People think that LWF is a huge turnover before they can benefit from it, while if it is just the gamma correction you're after, there is not much you should do.

[cecil gittens]

here is my exterior test rendering using methord 2

Cecil

http://www.badongo.com/pic/182415

[DaForce]

Yeah im also curious why Vlado didnt mention 0.45454
Or was that meant to just be assumed for Method 1?

p.s. How the hell did i miss this thread

[Frances]

Not wanting to adopt LWF is a question of time, perhaps laziness (which is completely understandable seeing how long the threads are), or if you feel your method works fine - then just keep on using it. Just don't complain when you run into color mapping and light fall-off issues.

You forgot the situation where jets are flying over your head while you're trying to figure out what people are talking about.

[olitech]

at the risk of sounding cave-man-ish...i'm still not sure why it's called a 'workflow'

all we did at work was change everything in our max preferences to 2.2 and everything just looks better!

no more oversaturated colours, no more colour mapping tricks, no more brightness/darkness magic numbers, no monitor calibrations, no curve adjustments in photoshop...it's the same setting for interior and exterior

All our print looks better, video looks better, shadows are richer and not flat. you can easily see the difference between greys and whites and beiges...nothing looks burnt out...no more issues!

oh, and no matter where or who is doing our printing (n.america or middle east)....it always seems to look like what was on our monitors

[SteveC]

Hi, cheers for the info vlado, been struggling with understanding LWF
for a while now, but i still have some questions which i hope somebody
can answer me.

I set up my system so i can use method 2 in my work, my questions are:

1. When i go in to preferences\gamma, i set all the settings vlado says
you need to set, but do i also need to check the radial button just above
the grey box next to gamma? I did this and my material editor slots
looked really washed out.

2. I set up a simple scene, just a plane, a few primatives and the GI
environment skylight on, set at its default of 1. When i did the test render
the scene was very washed out, the light was too bright. From now on will
all light settings need to be set at lower values to compensate for this?

please someone help, i would like to get my head around this, but i'm
not sure i'm setting things up right.

cheers
steve

[flipside]

Adjust your materials in your simple scene and all will be ok. The material slots look washed out because they have a washed out color by default when setting gamma to 2.2. Make your own materials, don't rely on the standard max materials that are auto applied to your objects. Make the materials so that they don't look washed out in the editor, then they will look fine in the render too.

Here's what you did:



And here's the same but with new materials (made from scratch with gamma affect material editor = ON). And make sure you set display gamma to 2.2! Not sure what radial button you're talking about, but setting gamma to 2.2 is the whole point here.

[SteveC]

Thanks for the reply flipside, you're right, the top image is the result i
initially got, not nice.

So i just need to adjust my materials in photoshop before i use them in
the material slots in max. If so, is the material tweaking in photoshop
a bit of trial and error or can i simply adjust the materials by reducing
their gamma in photoshop

steve

[ene.xis]

this is were u can use color correct map to correct the gamma on ur old textures...as for the new textures, after u tweaked ur color profiles in photoshop to match LWF the new textures u create wil look right in max

[SteveC]

this is were u can use color correct map to correct the gamma on ur old textures...as for the new textures, after u tweaked ur color profiles in photoshop to match LWF the new textures u create wil look right in max

Hi ene,

I'm starting sound really thick now not sure i understand what you mean
when you say tweak colour profile to match LWF, is there a certain setting
i need to adjust the material to in photoshop in order for it to display
correctly in a LWF max environment. Do i need to adjust its gamma by a
certain amount or is it another setting.

[ene.xis]

well my fault...

when u set up the gama in ur monitor to 2.2 u will see ur older textures whashed, but when u create the new ones they ll be perfect to work in LWF...
just make sure ur using srgb in ur color profiles in photoshop

hope i was a tad clearer now....