vray linear workflow

[tmcthree]

Does anyone know of any good tutorials on linear workflow in Vray 3.0 for maya. The documentation is a bit thin.

I've found this but it's for 2.0 and it seems wrong in some areas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lnVtIjsOhw

Any better ones about (text or video)?

[AshtonWoolley]

Hey tmcthree,

Its pretty simple, from what I understand it is this.

Vray > Color Mapping

Linear Multiply
Dark Multiplier: 1
Bright Multiplier: 1
Gamma: 2.2
Affect Background: On or Off Depending if you have an image plane.
Mode: Don#t affect colors, only adaptation

Then for every color swatch in your Vray shader or anywhere in the scene - Diffuse, Reflection Colour, Refraction Colour (Generally anything with color):
I apply a "Gamma Node" with the value of .454545 in all three RGB Value boxes.
For file nodes in the attribute editor>attributes (Menu Bar)> Vray> Texture input gamma
This will give you a new box at the bottom - Set this to whatever your textures gamma is..... Normally "SRGB" for Textures. "Linear" for HDRI's

In the renderglobals under "Vray Common" Make sure you use .exr format and these options ticket

Don't save image (ignore in batch mode)
Convert image to sRGB for RenderView
Use the Vray frame buffer always, its just sexy.

Also make sure that in the Vray Frame Buffer the SRGB is set to "ON"

That should be in really.

If anyone has anything else to add if I missed something.

[dariofx]

Thanks for the breakdown Ashton.

Can someone explain the mode: "Don't affect colors, adaptation only"

I know that in Vray for Maya 3.0 it does not default to this.

[AshtonWoolley]

Mode - this option replaces the Don't affect colors (adaptation only) option from previous V-Ray versions. Note that the Clamp output option will have an effect regardless of the value of the Don't affect colors option. The possible valies are:

Color mapping and gamma - both color mapping and gamma are burned into the final image. This corresponds to Don't affect colors, adaptation only set to off in previous V-Ray versions.
Don't affect colors, only adaptation- neither color mapping nor gamma are burned into the final image. However, V-Ray will proceed with all its calculations as though color mapping and gamma are applied (e.g. the noise levels will be corrected accordingly). This can be useful, for example, if you know that you will apply some color correction to the image later on, but wish to keep the rendering itself in linear space for compositing purposes. This corresponds to Don't affect colors, adaptation only set to on in previous V-Ray versions.
Color mapping only, no gamma - only color mapping is burned into the final image, but not the gamma correction. This is the default option. V-Ray will still proceed to sample the image as though both color mapping and gamma are applied, but will only apply the color correction (Linear, Reinhard, etc.) to the final result.

This is from the manual I hope it helps!

[tmcthree]

Thanks Ashton. I haven't explored your method, but I'll get back here when I get some results.

[FSGFX]

im wondering how good vray will play with the new native linear workflow comming with maya 2016..?

[RichardBlank]

Yes, maya 2016 looks interesting.

[fasterG]

Hi,

What about the Linear workflow button inside 'Color mapping - advanced'?
I use to have it ticked, according to some tutorials. Right or wrong? I thought it was mostly a shortcut to not having to gamma correct every texture, but the image also gets a lot brighter when unticked

Otherwise I use the settings Ashton describes.

(Maya 2015, V-Ray 3.0)

Edit: no, its "Don't affect colors, adaptation only" that leaves the textures as they should be? So what does the Linear workflow button do (obviously affecting the general brightness in some way)? Unticking it washes out the textures again even with "Don't affect colors" on.

[ivaylo.ivanov]

The "Linear workflow" option must be disabled. AFAIK it must be removed.

[sharktacos]

The "Linear workflow" option must be disabled. AFAIK it must be removed.

It says that it is "depreciated" however I hope Chaos reconsiders this, and supports it. I am highly skeptical of relying on the Maya method as Autodesk frequently implements things in very buggy ways. Applying gamma corrections manually for every color texture is a hassle when you can just click a single button instead. It's a great feature, and I for one hope Chaos keeps it. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[pixelwerk]

The "Linear Workflow" button comes from the older vray-version 1.5 and it's still present. Even though it's not really a "clean" solution, therefore chaosgroup wrote it should only be used when working openning older vray 1.5 scenes in 2.0.
I'm using the same settings like Ashton Wooley.

When it comes to gamma settings for texture node, or for a simple color input i recommend jjj_gammaTools (http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/jjj_gammatools). This script helps you handle the gamma-correction nodes for textures and colors even with thousands of shaders. It's an easy to use solution