Confirmation on the .255 settings

[pailhead]

@pailhead:

Well, linear workflow doesn't really have that much to do with exposure. It's actually a way to counter the way computer monitors work. Most monitors use a gamma of 2.2 (although it varies wildly) and so most pictures you use as textures will have been gamma corrected for the monitor. in other words every single texture you have (unless you intentionally made it linear gamma in the first place) will give the appearance of correctness on your monitor while being wrong. It can create some funky results since Max assumes pictures are properly made by default. When you set the Max gamma correction to input 2.2 you undo the gamma correction that were done to the images to make them look good on the monitor. It tells max "these images were gamma corrected so treat them as such". The display gamma setting tells Max to display all the images with 2.2 gamma applied (even though it still calculates them without) so that they still look the same to you. The gamma correction in VRay is used to make the final render calibrated for the monitor again by changing the gamma back to 2.2.
The advantages of working with linear gamma in Max is that you get less artifacts (as you generally do across the board when using it) and you get more realistic results with GI and so on. whether you render out to gamma 2.2 or not usually depends on how you intend to use the image. if you intend to edit the render in another application that supports linear workflow then that is preferable. If you intend to just upload it directly to the net, then you have to use gamma 2.2.

You're probably even more confused now... I confuse myself sometimes.

Not really, your explanation is pretty good, i wish it was around a while back when this whole mess started. I'm still confused about certain things, maybe it's the terminology. If i were to look at an image in linear space, without any correction on it, it would most likely show as very dark on my screen. If i apply correction to it, for example the 2.2 gamma, i'm bringing it from linear space to sRGB space... correct?

Now what i don't understand, what is the advantage of working in linear space, as opposed to the gamma corrected space? In the end, we'll be looking at it in sRGB space anyway, what use is the dark linear, uncorrected one?

Am I confusing some terms here?

[pailhead]

. in that case it might be easier to calibrate them to 1.0

Would that mean that they're already in linear space?

[Shimakaze]

If i apply correction to it, for example the 2.2 gamma, i'm bringing it from linear space to sRGB space... correct?

Correct.

Would that mean that they're already in linear space?

The monitors, yes. Although you always have to calibrate them a little because the lighting in the room you're in affects your perception of it as well.

Now what i don't understand, what is the advantage of working in linear space, as opposed to the gamma corrected space? In the end, we'll be looking at it in sRGB space anyway, what use is the dark linear, uncorrected one?

It sounds silly, I know. But the problem is the pictures are still calculated as if they were linear space. That can create some big problems. Think of it this way: Make a wall with a brick texture without working in LWF, set up a Physical camera and Vray sunlight and render it with GI. What happens? The brick texture is more then twice as bright as it is supposed to be. You'd then change the exposure of the physical camera to compensate and it'd look fine, but VRay would still see the texture the same way. Any Global Illumination reflected off the wall would be twice as bright as they were supposed to. In some cases making almost a caustic effect. It would create bad effects in other ways as well. And it's not limited to renderers. you can go here to see lots of examples of artifacts.