Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.
Section
Column
width10%
 
Column
width80%

 In this test scene, the colors on the left object are picked using Maya's color swatch and the right colours are projected using a texture.  Thanks to color management, the colours match perfectly even though the colours came from different sources. You can download the example scene here.
 

Column
width10%
 


3Delight for Maya provides a complete linear workflow pipeline. This pipeline is unique in that is allows for a predictable behaviour across all visual elements:

  1. Automatic conversion of HydperShade color swatches. No need to insert any additional nodes to put the swatch in the correct color profile.
  2. Automatically recognizes what is supposed to be color corrected and what is not. For example, 3Delight for Maya automatically uses linear color space for displacement maps.
  3. Total consistency between the viewport, color swatches, frame buffer (i-display) and shader preview.

Table of Contents

Enabling Color Management

To enable color management, simply enable Color Management in the Common tab of the Render Settings. The standard Maya settings are supported:

Default Input Profile

Specification of the input color space for textures.

Default Output Profile

Specification of the output color space for images.

In addition to these two parameters, 3Delight for Maya lets you specify another very important color space:

Monitor Profile

Specifies the color space of the monitor on which lighting or surfacing work is performed. Having the correct profile of your monitor is a useful (even necessary) additional control. In fact, by knowing the color profile of your monitor 3Delight for Maya can automatically apply the necessary corrections to the color swatches of Attribute Editor.

Image AddedImage Removed
Monitor Profile attribute is added when 3Delight is selected as the render engine.

Info

Note that it is not possible to use the Default Input Profile as the monitor color profile because that attribute is used for textures. Textures are usually created in sRGB space but some monitors are calibrated for REC.709. Lighters working on such monitors can just switch the Monitor Profile to REC.709 and everything is set automatically.

Color Management in the File Node

Most texture files are created in software such as Photoshop. This means that the most probable color space for these textures is sRGB. The most convenient way of setting the color space for textures is to set the global Default Input Profile to sRGB and to set the Color Profile attribute of the File node to "Use Default Input Profile".

Image RemovedImage Added

Color Profile selection in the File Node

Color Management in the Viewport

In Maya 2015 it is possible to have a better color balance in the viewport by setting the Gamma of the Viewport 2.0 to 2.2. 

Info

Setting the gamma to 2.2 is a poor approximation to an sRGB profile. That is why it is incorrect to say that Maya has color management in the viewport. None the less, it is better to use a gamma of 2.2 rather than using a linear profile (with no gamma correction).

To set the gamma, select Viewport 2.0 and enable gamma correction in the Hardware Renderer 2.0 Settings, as show below.

Image RemovedImage Added

Enable Viewport 2.0

Image RemovedImage Added

Enable gamma correction and set Gamma to 2.2

Color Management in the Attribute Editor

 To be continued...