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Ok, this is an age-old story but here goes...

My renders look good in Maxwell. I think I'm putting an sRGB profile into them at render time.

I open it in Photoshop. It looks dull.

If I ctl-Y (proof) and look at the Monitor RGB the image looks good again. (I profile my monitor monthly)

If I convert to sRGB Photoshop says the image is already sRGB.

If I then save it, in a browser the image looks dull.

If I assign a profile and choose one of the monthly-made monitor profiles the image looks good. BUT for some reason I only have a few years work of profiles - 2010 and 2011, say, and nothing recent.

If I then convert to sRGB and save the image it FINALLY looks good in a browser.

dull
http://jfrancis.smugmug.com/photos/i-t7 ... 7jT3cC.jpg

nice
http://jfrancis.smugmug.com/photos/i-CL ... LHSwNK.jpg

NSFW 18+ for naked virtual Poser figure breasts - I guess

And if I change the profiles in the tone mapping section at render time it changes the look of the render -

rendering with it at sRGB looks vibrant, and rendering in ProPhoto looks dull.

So I guess I'm not sure what the best procedure is to preserve the most data as long as possible and only go to sRGB when necessary - and still preserve a vibrant look.

Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I know how to control it and get what I want even if I don't understand the motivation for everything - particularly the tone mapping profiles.

I've been having this problem again lately as well. Strangely enough, if I assign my custom monitor profile to the image in photoshop, it matches the way it looks in Maxwell render.

No clue why this works, as it is 100% wrong way to use a monitor profile, but it seems to work.

itsallgoode9 wrote:I've been having this problem again lately as well. Strangely enough, if I assign my custom monitor profile to the image in photoshop, it matches the way it looks in Maxwell render.

No clue why this works, as it is 100% wrong way to use a monitor profile, but it seems to work.

That's where I am, too.

Under Win 7 / Control Panel / Color Management, use sRGB IEC61966-2.1 (sRGB Color Space Profile.icm) color profile and all should be fine.

But doing that won't let us use our calibrated monitor profiles, right?

Using cutting sRGB color information is not better to use Abobe RGB 98 with color information?

itsallgoode9 wrote:But doing that won't let us use our calibrated monitor profiles, right?

Use whatever system profile you calibrated and make sure you use the same profile in Photoshop. I think Maxwell will use the current system profile.

You can also set your monitor to AdobeRGB if it supports a wide gamut, and again make sure you are using that same profile in Photoshop. Just be aware though that if you plan on showing these images online, sRGB is the best way to go, otherwise most people will see a very different image than what you're seeing on your monitor set to AdobeRGB.

Unless things have changed recently, It is incorrect to use your calibrated monitor profile in photoshop. you are supposed to use whatever working space profile you are intending (sRBG, Adobe 1998 etc). You are supposed to apply the calibrated monitor profile into your OS' color management settings.

This is where the confusion with this color issue comes into play...the only way we're able to get maxwell renders to look the same in photoshop, as they do in maxwell render, is to apply the calibrated monitor profile in photoshop (which as i've said, is the incorrect way to do it)

After thinking more about your post, this line concerns me:
". I think Maxwell will use the current system profile."

Based on this, If you have calibrated your monitor, this is the profile your system is using, if setup correctly. This hich means a maxwell render image would have my color profile embedded in the image...which is incorrect

An image should embed the color profile of the intended output space (srgb etc) not the calibrated profile. The purpose of a calibrated profile is to Adjust the colors on my computer based on the incorrectness of the display so that the colors look the same on all calibrated monitors. For example, on two uncalibrated monitors, a 255 blue will probably look different on both. The color profile compensates for these differences so that a 255 blue looks the exact same on different monitors. Embedding a custom profile into an image can screw up this whole process. It sounds like maxwell render is doubly color correcting the image because of the way it's using profiles?

When im in the office tomorrow I'll check to see if maxwell images embedding or using the system profile because that would cause the issue that were seeing

Adobe 98 contains more information than sRGB

segnoprogetto wrote:Adobe 98 contains more information than sRGB

Which is why I try to keep away from sRGB until the last possible moment. But any image I put on the web gets an sRGB profile.

I had a similar problem, asked for help and everything is fixed now.
Here's the discussion: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=38487
Hope it helps...

Justin is accurately correct. Maxwell will write the image in the intended color space independent of your OS setting. OS setting defines how you like to see the colors on your display. It doesn't have something to do with Maxwell's output color space or PS's working color space.