Help with calibrating monitor and 3ds max for linear workflow

[dogragurjeet]

I have been through tons of text telling me the importance of linear workflow and it's advantages. I have searched google like 100 times. The confusion that i have is that is it advisable to manage the gamma correction just inside 3dsmax and vray, or is it better to first setup my monitor. If the answer is the latter i cant get hold of a good website which guides me how to setup my monitor with least bit of fuss.
Any help in this regard will go a long way. Thank you in advance.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

They really don't effect each other. ...or at least not as much as people would like you to believe.

A calibrated monitor effects the way colors are seen on the screen, mainly what gamma, and what white point. I think you will find most monitors today are roughly centered around 6500 and a 2.2 gamma based on the srgb profile. This is probably what you would be calibrating to anyway, so while calibration is important, it isn't nearly as far off as it was a couple of years ago. Having a calibrated monitor simply guarantees that you are viewing an image a certain way, and gives you a point of reference.

LWF is more about replicating how light and color react in the real world than it is how it is displayed on your screen. You have to assume that real world is a 1.0 gamma, so therefore you need to correct the 2.2 or srgb profile so that the light in the scene is behaving as a gamma 1.0. You then are viewing it at 2.2 so that it displays correctly on your monitor.

Some people will work at 1.8 even if your monitor is a 2.2, but that has to do more with what they feel looks better. Personally I use 2.2, and then adjust the compression of black and whites in post to my taste.

You will get a wide variety of answers on how to set urself up, but I would start by just setting your 3d app to LWF, and then worry about your monitor. Oh, and the website that is going to calibrate your monitor for you is like looking at a dart board, then closing your eyes, and throwing the dart. You need to spend a couple of hundred dollars and buy yourself a spectrometer.

Jeff M is the expert on color calibration. Search some of his past posts, and they will walk you through everything. The expert on LWF hasn't been seen outside of his industry in a couple of years. Or at least not that I know of.

[dogragurjeet]

thank you so much.... that was a very detailed answer and hope that it solves some of my problems. I never used to get any reply for my renderings that i used to put up... maybe they were of poor quality... now i think i can setup myself properly... thank you again

[Jeff Mottle]

When you get to the display calibration stuff, feel free to post here again and I can help you.

Cheers,
Jeff

[danb4026]

Related to this question, I have a question as well. Jeff, please chime in. This pertains to image output options rather than the actual workflow.

Let me know if I should start another thread..

I am set up with a 2.2 linear workflow. Typically I save as a simple JPG or Tiff. I read somewhere that saving as an 8-bit image might require different correction than saving as a 16-bit image, and that saving as a floating point openEXR might even change things more. It's one thing making Max gamma correct, but what about all of the options for saving images??

What is the best format to save rendered images bases on linear workflow and why?

[BrianKitts]

Originally Posted by danb4026

What is the best format to save rendered images bases on linear workflow and why?

answered in your other thread.....
http://forums.cgarchitect.com/37045-...tml#post257435

[Spooner04]

Just out of curiosity, who is the expert on LWF? Nichols?

Good explanation travis, btw.

[BrianKitts]

Originally Posted by Spooner04

Just out of curiosity, who is the expert on LWF? Nichols?

Not sure there is "1" export... chris definitely knows his stuff as does Pierre-Felix Breton.