First go to Customize -> Preferences -> Gamma tab and change the values to:


This allows us to see correct linear values in the material editor and the original max render view.

* Brazil users, you're pretty much done. Go to the end of this page for the rest of the Brazil settings.
* Mental Ray users - you are done! Now you're working in a more correct linear method.
* Scanline render users - you are also done. You're linear all the way now.

Now, for the VRay part, go to the VRay renderer menu and in the Frame Buffer rollout change a few things:


Why did we do this? Well, the VRay vfb allows us to do some post render color correction to the image. Thanks to Vlado and the rest of the dev team for these changes!

Next be sure to turn off any color clamping in the GBuffer/Color Mapping rollout:


Now, do a quick render to get your VRay vfb up. Once you do we need to turn on a few things.

First, click on the curve correction and then open the color correction panel


The basic color correction panel looks like this. We'll be changing that of course...


Start by right clicking on the lower point of the curve and pick the bezier smooth option


Now, drag the tangent point to where is indicated here. Important!!! Make sure your numbers at the top read like what I have.


Right click on the high point of the curve and change it to reset tangents.


This may not be exactly the correction for sRGB but it's pretty darn close.

Now look at your image:


What we've done is apply the correction for sRGB on your image (aka we've linearized the image). The viewer is doing this because that's its job. This is a linear response and also shows the HUGE amount of detail truly visible in this render.

We are now looking at an image that is perceptually linear. You'll notice that without tons of multiplying of the colors using the Color Mapping option we get a lot of detail in the dark areas.

So, there you go. Working in linear space means that you get a more realistic look and that your lighting will actually be more correct and true to what a real camera does. This should allow you to achieve your desired results with more ease and possibly faster render times too.

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Other Apps Info

Maya / Mental Ray
For you Mental Ray/Maya users, go to the Render Globals and click the mental ray tab. Go to Framebuffer Attributes and change a few things:


Brazil
In the Brazil render settings, go to the General Ottions rollout and make sure your setting match this
Now, inside the vfb, open up the exposure/color panel
Set the gamma to 2.2



Questions or comments can go here :