Planetside Software Forums

General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: rodpacker1 on May 17, 2010, 03:24:13 AM

Title: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: rodpacker1 on May 17, 2010, 03:24:13 AM
Hey,

I've always wondered what LUT the renderViewer in TG2 uses, as if I render images to exr and open them in i.e. Nuke or any other viewer, the results look completely different and by different I mean not as good.

What is the default used for the render viewer so I can replicate the same outcome whilst editing the exr's in another tool?

thanks for your help
rodpacker
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: Tangled-Universe on May 17, 2010, 03:57:26 AM
When you render to a lower bit format the contrast and gamma settings in the rendernode will be applied to the image.
When designing your scene you will always asses your results using this low dynamic range.
However, when rendering to EXR these contrast and gamma parameters are not applied and thus the result looks entirely different.
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: rodpacker1 on May 17, 2010, 04:02:38 AM
Hi Tangled-Universe,

cheers for the quick reply. 

I am aware of this, what I was trying to find out are these settings as I think they work very well with TG2 created images.

cheers
rodpacker
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: Oshyan on May 18, 2010, 01:24:35 AM
The gamma that is applied is standard, and is set through the render settings. Contrast may also be a standard function, but I'm not certain about that. What may be harder to emulate is the "soft clip" effect that is - as far as I recall - a somewhat proprietary tone mapping effect. I think the biggest difference will be made by the gamma and contrast adjustment though.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: rodpacker1 on May 18, 2010, 09:29:52 AM
thanks for clarifying Oshyan,

that explains why I can't get it to look exactly alike :)

makes sense now. 
cheers
rodpacker
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: domdib on May 18, 2010, 09:56:42 AM
Interesting, I was just wondering what "soft clip" did. How does it relate to tone mapping?
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: Tangled-Universe on May 18, 2010, 10:38:26 AM
Quote from: domdib on May 18, 2010, 09:56:42 AM
Interesting, I was just wondering what "soft clip" did. How does it relate to tone mapping?

How do you mean, relate? "Soft clip" IS tone mapping, done by TG2 in a proprietary way.
To see what it does you might compare renders using and not using it.
I've played with it some times, but I couldn't tell if it makes a huge difference.
It might depend on the scene I was using then.
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: Oshyan on May 19, 2010, 01:49:39 AM
I believe soft clipping basically tempers the highlights a bit to bring more detail to bright areas without them "blowing out". I've seen similar effects in other programs that are also actually called "Soft Clip".

- Oshyan
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: domdib on May 19, 2010, 07:32:42 AM
Thanks for the explanation.
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: rodpacker1 on May 31, 2010, 07:55:27 PM
Hi,

just another question on this topic...

is there  a way of converting rendered exr's to jpeg's using the TG2 proprietary algorithm by batch converting them by any chance?
Or render out both (jpg and exr's) at the same time?


That could be VERY handy :)


cheers
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: Oshyan on June 03, 2010, 02:31:01 AM
There is no way to do post-conversion at this time, however we are considering adding that kind of functionality to the render viewer eventually, along with render "history", etc. When you make a render you can manually save both a JPG and EXR by simpling saving twice and changing the format. However you can't do this automatically with a sequence render at this time.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: TG2 render LUT?!?
Post by: rodpacker1 on June 04, 2010, 06:34:28 AM
Thanks for clarifying Oshyan.

Yes I meant an automated way whilst rendering a sequence. 

Ok guess we'll just have to wait for the post processor - which would be a wicked thing to have :)