Tonemapping outside XSI, what workflow do you use?

[Rob Wuijster]

Hi all,

If one keeps to the linear workflow inside XSI for setting up textures
and rendering etc., how do people correct/tonemap the rendered images
outside XSI? One could use a tonemapper on the camera and do it inside
XSI, but there are other ways as well outside XSI.

What are people's workflows on this? Normally fiddling with Fusion,
there's no real linear/tonemap workflow yet as far as I could find. I
understand there's something in Nuke, but haven't seen any examples yet.

What can of worms is opened when talking about compositing? I've been
searching the web on this, but found some conflicting data.

Anyone want to share tips and tricks?

cheers,

--
Rob

[Ciaran Moloney]

Assuming your'e working in float, at the very least wouldn't you put a gamma correction at the end of your composite tree, after all the maths n stuff are done in linear.
Would love to hear more workflows too...

Ciaran

[Rob Wuijster]

Yes, starting by adding a gamma correction (to the float rendered file)
would be the first step. But that doesn't solve all problems sometimes,
like overly bright hotspots. Good gamma/tonemap/cc/composite workflow
tips would be very much appreciated.

Rob

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[Gene Crucean]

No you definitely want to add the gamma adjustment at the end of the flow. Not after each loader. Like Ciaran mentioned, perform all calculations in linear before gamma adjustment.

Right now, the best way to deal with a float workflow is to load your plate and a rendered frame (not a region save) into a comp app and compare values. We have another thread on the list here going about tools we would like to see integrated, to help save time and energy regarding this workflow.

Search subject lines for Color Management if you want to join in.

--
Gene Crucean
CafeFX

Main email: genecrucean [at] gmail [dot] com

[Francois Lord]

You keep the float files as is in the comp app. You must also de-gamma
the sRGB files (jpg, tga) that might come from other sources by applying
a gamma at 0.4545 on them right before you do anything else.
Then you work with this linear data everywhere in your comp. To view
images, you can apply a viewer lookup. In Nuke this is applied by
default. I know it's possible in Fusion but I don't have it in front of me.
Then you must add a gamma 2.2 to just before your final output.

Attached is a diagram of the workflow.