Why use "don't affect colors" when you lose all color mapping control?

[danb4026]

I have gone both ways using a linear workflow (max gamma settings to typical 2.2 settings)....

1) Linear mapping with "don't affect colors" enabled, sRGB in VFB enabled, and not being able to adjust vray color mapping settings and;

2) "Don't affect colors" disabled, sRGB disabled in VFB, and having many more color mapping options and control (while still maintaining a 2.2 gamma workflow)

I have yet to have someone tell me how losing color mapping options, being stuck with linear mapping and having no control of multiplier and burn values, is really an advantage.
Is there that much more, if any, noise in the shadows caused by "dont affect colors" being disabled, even if your other settings stick to the LW rules?

I prefer to leave it disabled, leave the sRGB button off in the VFB, and have color mapping control. Am I totally wrong doing this??

Any insights??

[instinct]

You can do it any way you want...and any way that fits your needs best. The point of going linear is to have a linear image. Which you don't have if you bake in any color mapping or color correction.

Regards,
Thorsten

[danb4026]

ok....so let me ask this....What does it really mean to have your mapping baked in? In other words, if I use linear mapping in both cases (set to 1,1,2.2), and, in one instance, enable "don't effect colors" and enable sRGB in VFB, and, in the second instance, disable "don't effect colors" and disable sRGB in VFB, I end up with exactly the same image on my screen. Now, in the first instance, I have to override my output gamma (which is 1) and set it to 2.2. In instance 2, I can leave my output gamma at 1. Now I end up with exactly the same image in Photoshop. Isn't that baking gamma in as well?

What am I missing here?

[instinct]

Well i guess it depends on the workflow and what kind of tools you work with. Photoshop can not work linearly. That sucks for many things. When using nuke you can work fully linear end to end. That's great for many things, but not necessarily needed for everything. As a side note the images are not identical at all. The second one is darker then the third

[danb4026]

I use photoshop not Nuke, AE or the others. I primarily focus on stills.

Because of that, perhaps I should keep my color mapping options available and not affect colors.

I'm probably placing too much importance on this subject anyway.

[svetlozar.draganov]

If your image editing software is Photoshop , it is best to avoid "Don't affect color" option and work with sRGB data instead of Linear.

[pnel77]

The reason I started using the first method you mention (as well as setting input/output gamma of bitmaps to 2.2), is that you can do batch rendering with various render elements using the max frame buffer. Can't use Vfb with batch rendering - please read further...- because the render elements gets overwritten, although the RGB beauty passes are saved correctly.
If you use the second method (disable sRGB in VFB) and you render to MFB, you'll get a double gamma (washed out image).

If you don't worry about batch rendering of render elements, the look of the 2 methods will only differ in the shadows - vray calculates differently when enabling "don't affect colors (adaption only)".

When using other types of color mapping it's a personal/artistic choice - Using linear workflow allows you to have less variables to set and being physically correct in terms of light intensity,distribution, etc.

[svetlozar.draganov]

Can't use Vfb with batch rendering - please read further...- because the render elements gets overwritten, although the RGB beauty passes are saved correctly.

Could you please inform us why do you have troubles with rendering in batch rendering with VFB - I just did a quick test and all render elements + beauty pass are saved separately - there are no overwritten images.

If you use the second method (disable sRGB in VFB) and you render to MFB, you'll get a double gamma (washed out image)

You can avoid this if you disable 3DSMax Gamma settings , and use Vray Gamma instead.

[pnel77]

Well I setup my render elements, save my file in render output, click on save separate render channels.
Then I close the render setup dialog box and open up the batchrender dialog box to setup my different cameras.
When I hit batchrender, the rgb views gets rendered, but the render elements gets overwritten..

How did you do it - I saved my renders as tga/jpegs, not exr.

[svetlozar.draganov]

Could you please give more information about what "batchrender" are you using?
I have used Backburner in my tests - and it worked correctly (JPG file-type).

[pnel77]

The default max batch render (located under the "Rendering" toolbar in Max) - There I setup x amount views and render out..

[svetlozar.draganov]

You are actually rendering different Cameras - not animation right ?
Are you using different names for the output files for each camera ?
A step by step instruction how to reproduce the issue will be very helpful.

[pnel77]

Leaving the office now for a long weekend but will give a run through asap.

[pnel77]

Step by step:
1.Setup x amount still cameras and render elements - save output tga., jpg. etc in render output
2.Close render output dialog box and open the max batch render dialog box - add various cams
3.Disable Vfb - using max frame buffer for final renders - max automatically numbers and name every camera's view and render elements

If I use VFB and I set up the render elements to render out separately, I can't use the batch render method as each cams render elements gets overwritten by the next cam's render elements - have to then wait for each render to finish, rename the render elements for the next cam and render.

Hope this clarifies the problem.

[svetlozar.draganov]

Thank you very much for your feedback.
I managed to reproduce the issue , and I am going to report it in our bug-tracking system.
I'll inform you as soon as we have a fix for it.