[lord.saddler]

If I understand correctly Maxwell internally uses a linear workflow, which is great. How does it handle the Colorspace from Textures - are Jpegs (=sRGB), for example, automatically converted into linear space while rendering? What happens if I input a linear Texture?

Another question I have are the Color Space Output options - there seems to be no option to stay in linear color space.

[tom]

Today, we can easily say 99 percentage of texture packs are coming profiled in sRGB color space. It would also add an extra complexity for 99 percent of our userbase. So, input color space was surely not one of the priorities in the very first release of this feature. But, we have plans supporting it later.

[tom]

Another question I have are the Color Space Output options - there seems to be no option to stay in linear color space.

Yes, yet there's no chance to make gamma 1.0 entries but, you can still ask for linear output by setting output gamma as 1.0.

[lord.saddler]

Dear Tom,

first of all thank you for the fast reply!

Okay, so with the textures it is alway sRGB to Linear, good to know. I was asking because I read in this older post a recommendation to convert images for lighting purposes into linear first. So this tip is "wrong" with the current version.

I would love to see a gamma 1 entry.

Do you mean setting the Gamma to 1 in the Tone-Mapping Tab? Will the render Engine then still not apply some sRGB/Rec709 gamma setting...?

[tom]

to convert images for lighting purposes into linear first. So this tip is "wrong" with the current version.

For lighting purposes we offer Image Emitters (MXI, EXR, HDR) which are already working in gamma 1. So, nothing is wrong about it in this version. I've meant color (reflectance and transmittance) textures for materials.

[lord.saddler]

Sorry for the misunderstanding - I did not want to imply something being wrong with the current version.

The whole linear workflow thing can be really confusing sometimes... if somebody is interested in the topic, there is a podcast by Master Zap on the general benefits of working in linear on

http://www.fxguide.com/qt/1576/linear-w ... discussion

[tom]

No, it's welcome. As you know sRGB images are encoded in gamma 2.2 because we view them on monitors having output gamma 2.2. So, the resulting look becomes perceptually linear. As Maxwell applies output gamma 2.2 to the final image (for making it look linear on the monitor), it applies invert gamma to textures (this is only valid for reflectance and transmittance textures) to initially bring them back to gamma 1.0. Because, the calculation space is free of gamma and it's totally linear. On the other hand, it doesn't apply any gamma to any kind of illumination texture (HDR, EXR, MXI) as they are always in gamma 1. Therefore, it's true an RGB (127,127,127) entry does not mean 50% reflective surface but it ensures same level of grey in rendered output.