LWF for dummies

[3LP]

thx a lot, I will try that soon

[steveblake]

I realize this is probebely a V-Ray only tool but I'm curious if this could be wrangled somehow to work with scanline and / or mental ray scenes / materials also?

[pg1]

Glorybound are you still get an error with max 2009 64 bit and if you are DaveMcD is our technical guy maybe he can help
he had the post just before your where he said:

With the error I assume this is in the maxscript listener? Sounds like perhaps the maxscript is loading in before the plug-in and the maxscript is having the error. Is this the whole message in the listener. Can someone post it here if its not?


Steveblake
no it is not a vray only tool.
It applies the colour correct (which is a separate downloadable plugin) before render time and is not dependant on the type of renderer you are using.
It works perfectly fine with standard materials. It should be fine with scanline
I dont use mental ray but I dont think it causes problems (might cause an error will check that with the lads at work on monday or just try it yourself)

Anyway why would you want to use anything other than Vray

[Tdog]

Error here too

I get the error too. I am on Max 9 vraysp1

--No""+"" function for undefined

[davemcd]

I get the error too. I am on Max 9 vraysp1

--No""+"" function for undefined

Tdog can you copy and paste the error from the maxscript listener please. The error messagebox wont tell me much usefull but the listener should be able to tell me where the maxscript crashes.

Cheers

Dave

[Tdog]

Registering AutoGamma plugin callback.
-- Error occurred in refreshUI(); filename: C:\Documents and Settings\tonyo\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\9 - 32bit\enu\UI\usermacros\LP_Autogamma.mcr; position: 938
-- Frame:
-- AutoGammaRemoveAfterRender: undefined
-- AutoGammaEnabledState: undefined
-- called in AutoGammaCC_Controls.open(); filename: C:\Documents and Settings\tonyo\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\9 - 32bit\enu\UI\usermacros\LP_Autogamma.mcr; position: 1170
-- Frame:
>> MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception: -- No ""+"" function for undefined <<

Works ok manually So it seems.

To make sure Im understanding, the Gamma correction needs to be off right?
"Preference Settings/Gama and LUT" as in the default settings of Max.
and color mapping set to 2.2 gamma if linear and inverted if its "Gama Correction"

I assume that Preference Settings/Gama and LUT/Materials and Colors/Affect Color Selector
check box stays checked

thanks for the help and the script

Tony

[MikeHampton]

Ok... to make this REALLY for dummies, could you post a screen grab of what the gamma/lut tab should look like?

The way I understand it is that everything should be turned off?

Also, do you have to apply any type of gamma correction to the rendering after it's done? Do you need to use the vray FB or doesn't it matter?

Thanks!

[3LP]

I have the same problem :

Windows xp Sp2 Pro 64Bit
Max 2008 64
Vray 1.5 Sp2

could be usefull to have some screens off what the tabs should look like

[pg1]

Hopefully Dave can help with the errors autogamma has been throwing up, I will try and clear up how you work with the script and what it does.
LWF can be a little confusing but there are really good tutorials out there. There used to be links to some really good ones but as the forum has been upgraded and changed a lot of the old thread have been lost.
This is one
http://www.aversis.be/tutorials/vray...l_gamma_01.htm which really helped me
Thanks flipside

there should be a screen grab attached with this post
LWF is a two step process
first gamma correct your materials.

Max gives you the option to do this you can set bitmap input to 2.2 in the gamma preferences BUT Max will not apply a gamma correction to a flat colour e.g. a red colour swatch with no bitmap on it.
To solve this problem you must put colour corrects onto the diffuse slot of flat colours and set them to 2.2 and this will fix the problem but its messy especially with a lot of people working on large scenes.
To get around this you can stop using max to colour correct you bitmaps (i.e set bitmap input back to its default of 1) as this only does half the job.It misses all your flat colours.Instead use a script to put a colour correct onto every diffuse slot so it will affect a bitmap or a flat colour. There are several scripts that do this.

Where the autogamma script shines is that it only applies the colour corrects at rendertime (including xrefs) so you dont have all these diffuse maps nested in colour corrects in your material editor.
Because you dont have a colour correct in you material editor (which would have darkened your material) you dont need to brighten the material editor so you dont need to tick affect material editor. The affect colour selectors is the exact same so you dont need to tick affect colour selectors.

In other words your diffuse map and flat colour materials will look like they always did and the whole bitmap and colours problem is taken care of at render time.

The script only takes care of the first part of LWF
second gamma correct your display
Enable gamma in the max preferences gamma LUT and set it to 2.2. The gamma 2.2 tickbox here only affects the display of the max frame buffer, the vray frame buffer has its own button (sRGB button) to do this.
Both will brighten the image within there own respective frame buffers but this is for display purposes only.
Colour mapping in vray is where you decide to burn the gamma into the image or not.

I use the vray fb all the time with the srgb button on but if you do want to use the max fb or clone a copy from the
vray fb to the max fb then leave gamma enable on in the gamma and LUT and set it to 2.2 (same as in my screengrab) and you max frame buffer will look the same as your vray frame buffer.

input bitmap gamma 1 (the autogamma script is now changing you bitmaps to 2.2 at rendertime)
output bitmap gamma 1.

Finally colour mapping set it linear and set gamma to 2.2
If you dont want to burn the gamma into the image tick the "Dont affect colours adaptation only" box
If you want to burn the gamma into the image leave the box unticked

Then save out to exr. and you should have no problems.

From what I watched on vray.info of chaosgroup at siggraph the next version of Vray will have a tick box option to turn LWF on or off in the colour mapping panel so you will have all your options in one dialogue box which should make it less confusing.
There have been a lot of threads about LWF on Chaosgroup and I dont want to start another big long one about if its a good idea to use it or not. Some people use it and get good results some people dont and get good results.

Besides gamma correcting your bitmaps and flat colours for LWF the autogamma script lets you access all the other options within the colour correct and apply them at rendertime so you can change the overall mood towards red, blue or increase the contrast and any other other colour correction globally and get funky results.
Hope it helps

[davemcd]

Registering AutoGamma plugin callback.
-- Error occurred in refreshUI(); filename: C:\Documents and Settings\tonyo\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\9 - 32bit\enu\UI\usermacros\LP_Autogamma.mcr; position: 938
-- Frame:
-- AutoGammaRemoveAfterRender: undefined
-- AutoGammaEnabledState: undefined
-- called in AutoGammaCC_Controls.open(); filename: C:\Documents and Settings\tonyo\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\9 - 32bit\enu\UI\usermacros\LP_Autogamma.mcr; position: 1170
-- Frame:
>> MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception: -- No ""+"" function for undefined <<



Tony

Ok this error does seem a bit weird. It appears as if the script is loading before the plug-in is registered. Can you try taking the macroscript out of the usermacros directory in your user login and put it instead in the 3dsmax\ui\macroscripts directory instead. This is where we run all ours from.

Otherwise i'll wrap the whole thing in a try()catch() function to stop the crash. Am I to understand that you get this error when max starts up or when you try to run the script?


Cheers

Dave

[Tdog]

Lwf

Thanks PG1 for clearing that up. I thought the script did the changing of LUT gamma correction settings at rendertime. Explains why I was getting diffrent results from my old way. I use Lele's tutorial method which I admit I had to review more than once to understand it. I still do not stay rigid to it I use the sun at 1 sometimes and sometimes I use the sun at .035 just depends on what Im working on. Used the Vray color RGB at .255 to what your script does and manually change the bitmaps gamma in the open dialog. no need for that now really handy Thanks


Dave.

It does it when I run the script. Will try the new path


Thanks

[3LP]

Ok this error does seem a bit weird. It appears as if the script is loading before the plug-in is registered. Can you try taking the macroscript out of the usermacros directory in your user login and put it instead in the 3dsmax\ui\macroscripts directory instead. This is where we run all ours from.

Otherwise i'll wrap the whole thing in a try()catch() function to stop the crash. Am I to understand that you get this error when max starts up or when you try to run the script?


Cheers

Dave

still have the same problem.

I had the script in both directories :
Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\2008 - 64bit\enu\UI\usermacros

and

3ds Max 2008\ui\macroscripts

I deleted the one in the local settings but it's still doing the same error box.

Hope you can find the problem

[davemcd]

damn wish i could get it to error here, makes it much easier to fix.

I'll look into it.

Cheers

Dave

[Nickh]

Hi,

I get it too, and it seems to be linked into my customised UI somehow - when I switch back to default one I can run it ok.

I get the same thing with the multilight script too, but Guillermo has no idea how to solve it.

Cheers
Nick

[MikeHampton]

RPCs

Either the script or the autogamma plugin seems to be messing up RPCs, they render black and/or crash Max.


Can anyone else veryify this?