Everything related to Maxwell Render and General Stuff that doesn't fit in other categories
#399123
I'm still on v4 as the v5 plugin for Mac has yet to be released. I'm trying to work with Maxwell again on a new project to see if it makes sense for me to upgrade (I've been using RenderMan quite a bit and, for the work I do, it's pretty good).

The issue I'm running into, and have run into in the past, is that when I save an image from Maxwell Render the resulting image (whether .jpg, .psd, .png) does not look the same as the image in the Maxwell Render window. This is true when opening the image in Photoshop as well as when viewed using Preview or a browser (on Mac). This is especially apparent when applying a LUT within the Maxwell Render (I typically use Portra 160 NC).

My questions are:

1) Has this ever been addressed and, if so, what is the fix in v4?

2) If this hasn't been addressed in v4, has it been fixed in v5?

3) Does this issue effect all users or just those of us on Macs?

Thank you for your time.

Best,

Matthew
#399133
Hey man. Not sure if it's just a Mac issue.
But I believe the problem might be in the bit depth.
Because Maxwell shows you 32 bit depth image while png and jpg is a 8 bit ones. And possibly with attached colour profile.
So I would suggest exporting tiff in 32 bit (or at least 16 bit) or MXI files.
I would say it's the best option - that I use myself mostly.
The other thing is that when you apply camera response (in Maxwell Render) like Porta 160 NC - make sure you're apply it. it might show on preview but not be actually applied to the image.

If with the above steps still getting odd results - then I would think it might be other export issue - feels like that something with colour profiles is not right.

Cheers
#399138
Trying to reproduce the issue, it seems that it only happens in Mac. My guess is that we are not taking into account some OSX specific values regarding gamma/color profile in our render viewport.

EDIT: if I change the display color profile for my retina display (settings -> displays -> color) from "iMac" to "sRGB IEC61966-1.2" the images inside/ouside maxwell match.
#399139
Thanks guys!

I redid it with a test on a retina monitor with sRGB profile and they do seem to match much better. On my calibrated EIZO monitor the difference is substantial. I will take this into account. Though I still don't understand why. If I'm viewing the render window on the EIZO and the resulting render on the EIZO why would they not match?
#399140
Doing some research, it seems that Qt (the framworks we use to create the UI) is not aware of the current color profile of the system, it just paint images using sRGB. So, it is our responsability to be able to detect (or be set by the user) the current color space so the user can view in they monitors the images displayed in the best way. For now, maxwell only displays images for sRGB so I guess the only way to have a match view between maxwell display viewport and other software display viewports, is to have all using the sRGB color space. Obviously this is not an option for you, since I understand that you want to use your calibrated configuration.

We take note of this and I hope we can do something about it in the future.
#399141
Oh that's right ... I just checked and, in fact, my display colour profile is set to sRGB and not "iMac" - which is, I guess, the default setting (I'm on iMac Pro - 5k retina display) - feels like I've changed it to sRGB back then .. probably forgot. 🤷‍♀️

I know I had an issue with After Effects and its colour management after export but that was mainly due to bit depth since blending modes work (or rather look) differently on different bit depth.

Anyways - I believe the best option would be to automatically detect the current colour profile that user has set up in his display (if this is even possible) and just give a pop up - warning if it is anything beside standard sRGB - so that user would be aware at least what's going on.

Alternatively, maybe there could be an advanced function to import custom colour profile - to MX UI. to match with custom calibration.

Cheers.
#399146
Brany wrote:
Thu Dec 12, 2019 7:24 pm
Doing some research, it seems that Qt (the framworks we use to create the UI) is not aware of the current color profile of the system, it just paint images using sRGB. So, it is our responsability to be able to detect (or be set by the user) the current color space so the user can view in they monitors the images displayed in the best way. For now, maxwell only displays images for sRGB so I guess the only way to have a match view between maxwell display viewport and other software display viewports, is to have all using the sRGB color space. Obviously this is not an option for you, since I understand that you want to use your calibrated configuration.

We take note of this and I hope we can do something about it in the future.
Thank you for investigating this further. I suppose for most it doesn't make a lot of difference, but my renderings all go to print and, therefore, utilizing a calibrated workflow is important to me.

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