Client getting washed out VrayBumpNormals element

I’m working with a client who is having issues with render elements displaying washed out in the VFB. I’ve asked them to confirm they’re using gamma 2.2 and the VFB is in sRGB color space and they are using the render settings that we are using in-house that produce the results we’re expecting.

Not sure where to look to reproduce what they’re seeing. They’re on Vray 5 update 1.3:

Hi, thanks for posting. A gamma mismatch could lead to this but we need more information to be sure. Are the render elements washed out after saving? It will be best if your client contacts us directly using the support contact form.

Hi, if you are looking only at the VRayBumpNormals render element then it is expected to look a bit different depending on how you saved it and where you have opened it.

Here is a older thread about this.

Quoting the docs *“When Normals Render Element is saved as a separate render channel, its output value is kept between [0;1] range; if saved as a multichannel .exr, its output value is in the range from -1 to 1.”*​​

So depending how you save your render elements the -1 values might get clipped.
Check this gif from Nuke using the Grade node to shift the black point between -1 and 1
Nuke13.0_2023-03-23_16-39-35.gif
Similar thing happens if you save to for instance jpeg using the save current channel button -
3dsmax_2023-03-23_16-42-07.jpg