Tone Mapping Study

[Largent]

I used three images, rendered with three different exposures, in Oloneo to give tone mapping a try. The results are interesting.

[schmeerlap]

You can also do tonemapping with just one render if you save that render as an OpenExr High Dynamic Range format. I did that recently with my White Tower scene, tonemapping it in Photomatix. I was quite pleased with the result especially as I didn't want to take the tonemapping to the extremes of the range.

John

[reck]

You can also do tonemapping with just one render if you save that render as an OpenExr High Dynamic Range format
John

Ideally this would be the best option because of course you're only rendering once instead of 3 times. Unfortunately the method Largent uses seems to produce better results than using exr sadly. So be prepared for longer render times to get the best image.

[Oshyan]

All the data is there in the EXR, it's just a matter of how a given app treats the data. Most apps that do tone mapping at the consumer level are oriented toward multiple exposures because the typical source of data is digital cameras with shots taken at multiple exposure levels. In theory EXRs should work just fine. Oloneo doesn't deal with them well, Photomatix might do a bit better. Photoshop may be even better.

- Oshyan

[domdib]

Oloneo doesn't deal with them well, Photomatix might do a bit better. Photoshop may be even better.

- Oshyan

As far as I understand, Oloneo currently doesn't deal with them at all, but is slated to gain the ability to do so. Did I miss something?

[Oshyan]

Sorry, you're right, I had converted EXR to TIFF (16 bit TIFF though) and tried that, and with that there were issues, but at least it loaded.

- Oshyan

[Goms]

but you can use the EXR to generate the needed pictures...

[reck]

I think it was Photomatix that produced better results from the separate renders compared to the single exr. Someone posted some images on here and the x3 separate ones looked better than the single exr.

Maybe this is just a limitation of Photomatrix.

[bigben]

16 bit TIFF and Tufuse. Single render with simulated bracketing by Tufuse.

Personally though I'd rather see a more controlled use of TG to get the required results in the first place.  Why use tone mapping when you have full control over the lighting/colours of surfaces and atmosphere?