Hey all, just thought I'd jump in on this conversation. Firstly, using the Gamma/LUT system in 3DS Max is not a true linear workflow. It's main purpose is to work in a gamma corrected workflow and to show renders in the 3DS Max frame buffer with a gamma correction as it doesn't have the sRGB button like the VFB.
Gamma/LUT setup puts your workflow into a Gamma corrected space of 2.2 or whatever you set the number to. Max by default works in a Linear space. Your material editor and colour selectors are Linear by default. You can add a 2.2 Gamma with the check boxes in the Gamma/LUT setup. Now whilst your texture maps will be fine with this setup, it's your colour selectors that are affected the most. See the attached image to show you the difference between a LWF and GCWF.
As you'll see, your colour selectors work in much tighter bounds in the darker areas. This can be difficult when working with reflection and refraction values.ie. A vaule of 128 (mid grey) in an LWF would be around about 58 (dark grey) in a GCWF. Simple enough to work it out, but do you seriously want to gamma correct your colour selector everytime you're trying to match a colour? I hear, just use a jpg or V-Ray colour, which is fine and a valid point for matching specific colours. However, not the case for reflection, refraction, translucent, bump, noise, etc... You get my point... Anywhere we use a black to white value, you would have to gamma correct the colour selector colour to get the value that is about the equivilant in a GCWF.
But this isn't necessary when using the V-Ray frame buffer. We can display and save out our renders with the sRGB curve applied.If you turn off the Gamma/LUT setup and render with the V-Ray frame buffer, it'll come down to how you set your colour mapping settings.
With the Gamma/LUT setup turned "OFF" try the follow setup for your colour mapping.
Set the Type to "Linear Multiply"
Set the Gamma to "2.2"
Set the Dark/Bright Multiplier to "1.0"
Set the mode to "None(don't apply anything)"
Set the "Linear Workflow" checkbox to "On"
The Linear Workflow check box applies an inverse gamma correction. You have now rendered in a Linear workspace. The button on the V-Ray frame buffer "Display colours in sRGB space" will apply the sRGB curve to the image, allowing you to view a Gamma corrected image.
Note in the above settings I set the mode to "None". If you set the mode to "Colour Mapping & Gamma", you can turn off the "Display colours in sRGB space", as the Gamma & Colour Mapping will be baked into the image.
This is just a basic overview and I'll be putting out a tutorial with full details about this very soon.
