cmrhm Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 It is time for me to tackle the linear workflow issue again. I think the first step is to calibrating my screen. According to some articles, I should use hardware calibrator first, am I right? Based on the following link, I can't see any color appeared in the graph, that means I definitely need to calibrate my sceern. What is your opinion? http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 When in doubt, use a hardware calibrator. I put some recommendations on the bottom of this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmrhm Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 The link is broken? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 No it isn't. http://www.3datstech.com/2011/02/february-workstations.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmrhm Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Andrew: yes, I can see the link now. Thanks! I saw some hardware with GPU, Fermi card( wow, nVIdia finally put this fermi in the market!) but not calibrator. What did I miss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Fermi is just the name of nVidia's Geforce 4xx and newer GPUs - it's been on the market for a year now. I'll just summarize the part on calibrators: -It seems that a large percentage of photographers prefer this Eye One Display 2 device. -This ColorMunki calibrator is more expensive, but also more useful because you can also use it to profile a printer. Most people use printer profiles provided by the paper supplier, but if you do your own you might get a more accurate result for your particular hardware. (If very high quality printing is not a priority, don't bother.) Calibrating a monitor is best done with a hardware calibrator, and it's important because most monitors have a color cast (usually they're too blue these days) and if you don't control the color, brightness and gamma you won't see your results accurately so it will be impossible to get prints right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmrhm Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Thank you. Finally I understand there is indeed a hardware calibrator. For now, I just need clibration to make my vray engining render great color in 3dmax, do I still need calibrator? Last year, I was trying to adust Gamma or use linear workflow to adjust my rendering result, but it isn't successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Well, you'd have to ask on the Vray board about whether you're getting the linear workflow setup right. A calibrated monitor won't guarantee an improvement, and the whole thing can be a bit complicated, as I'm sure you've noticed I consider calibration a prerequisite for decent rendering and photography work, because without it output won't be consistent. Color matching materials, getting reasonable prints, being able to share images between yourself and other pros, etc. If you only want this for practicing on your own system or showing on other monitors that aren't calibrated (so you won't be able to get the output right no matter what you do to your own) it's not as big a deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmrhm Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 I put originally in Vray, the moderator moved the thread to here. I guess I need to study more by myself first. Thanks for your help, Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Gamma corrected space and a calibrated monitor are nice to have together, but they are not related in a 'vital' way. I believe that gamma corrected space more or less is simply making sure your input and outputs of max are adjusted in a way that better represents how the calculations of your render engine will process the information gathered from image maps, and light settings. Since most modern monitors are roughly factory calibrated to a 2.2 gamma you shouldn't have any problems setting up the basic 2.2 gamma corrected settings in Max, and get reasonably predictable results. The colors will not be perfect, but that is not because the lack of monitor calibration effected the rendering process. The colors will not be perfect because the monitor was not calibrated in a way that made the colors you were inputting correspond to industry standards. I would however recommend investing in at least a low cost profile device. Otherwise you are rendering blindly and doing yourself and your clients a disservice by not taking the necessary professional steps. Now all that said, ...I think it is safe to say that no one on this board actually works in true LWF. Most work in a hybrid gamma corrected mode if they do attempt to work in LWF. I believe true LWF requires your monitor to be calibrated to a gamma of 1.0, and for all textures to be developed at a gamma of 1.0. Most, including myself, work with their monitor at a gamma of 2.2, and then 'gamma corrects' their textures to behave closer to how a texture would at gamma 1.0. Anyway, this is more information than you actually need, but I would highly recommend doing one step regardless if it is calibrating your monitor first or switching to a gamma corrected space first. The work for a bit to get used to it and see what that step actually did to your workflow. Then do the next step so you can actually see what that step does to your workflow. It is important to understand these aspects and because they are confusing in general, they can easily blend together, which will make it more difficult on yourself if you need to troubleshoot or tweak something in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Thomas Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 It is time for me to tackle the linear workflow issue again. I think the first step is to calibrating my screen. According to some articles, I should use hardware calibrator first, am I right? Based on the following link, I can't see any color appeared in the graph, that means I definitely need to calibrate my sceern. What is your opinion? http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM Interesting link, I just profiled our monitors and printer with the ColorMunki yesterday and these tests confirm it did a great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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