Even after a few years since linear workflow (also known as gamma 2.2 method) first “appeared”, there still is quite a lot of confusion around the subject.
This is caused by the fact that there are several methods to achieve the same result and several tutorials on the internet most of them explaining different workarounds.
In this tutorial I will try to show all the steps that I use for linear workflow (working with 3ds max and vray) and keep things as simple as possible.
Bellow there are 2 images; the first one is rendered without linear workflow while the other one is rendered using this method. Although the second one looks much more natural, due to the even illumination and without color bleed, both of the scenes have exactly the same number of lights with the same light multipliers.
Click on the image to view a higher resolution rendering
Step 1
Go to “Customize”, “Preferences” and click the “gamma and lut” tab.
Check “Enable gamma /lut correction”, type 2.2 in the field next to “Gamma”.
Under “Materials and Colors” check both “Affect Color Selectors” and “Affect Material Editor”.
Step 2
In the material editor, select one of the materials and click on the texture in the diffuse channel. In the Bitmap Parameters rollout, click on the path of the bitmap and in the pop up window, under “Gamma” check override and type 2.2
If you haven’t started the scene from scratch and you are using an older scene, you must repeat the step above for all the textures that you have used.
This is what most people forget to do and as a result they end up with washed out textures.
Step 3
Believe it or not, you are now ready to render 
The only thing that you need to do when the rendering process is ready, is to save the file as an .exr format (you need a 32 bit image, not an 8 image).
If you need to convert it to a jpg, open the exr file in photoshop, click on “image”, “mode” and choose 8bits/channel.
Just out of curiosity, you can try to save the image as a jpg directly from the render. You will end up with a dark rendering. This is because the gamma is not burnt in the image, but with the settings shown in the previous steps, you have set 3ds max to display it correctly.
If for some reason you need to burn the gamma into the image, you need to activate the Vray frame buffer, and under the color mapping options change the gamma from 1 to 2.2
I really don’t recommend doing this tough, because of the loss of quality.
The advantages of working with gamma 2.2 are obvious… less lights are needed to setup a lighting rig for an interior scene, less color bleed, faster rendering times, etc.
I use this for almost every daylight interior scenes; for interiors with night illumination I tend not use it since I find it easier to get more “drama” in the renderings, the old fashion way.
19 Responses to 'Linear workflow (LWF) the easy way'
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Thank you for your explaination, i will give it a try, hoping i could get the same result as your do here.
bytheway, will you make a tutorial of how to make a spiral staircase from ground floor to 5th floor?
Hi Mr.Alex,your website is back,congratulation!!
i have try the LWF for several day, but still facing some problem about which color mapping i should use and also textures show out blur and some weird white spot too.
may i have your email address, so i can send some of my test rendering images to make you clear on what is my problem is.
thanks in advance.
Cgdigest (at) gmail.com
Send me the details and I’ll be glad to help.
Best regards,
Alex
Thank you for allow me to send my work to you,
i have just sent it,
perhap i can learn more from you.
thanks in advance.
thank you for your explaination.
i have just sent the max file to you,
please check your email,
and hoping to learn from you.
thanks in advance
Thank you Alex very nice tutorial
@jackie teh – Thanks! I will check it out and try to do that case study these days.
@Alexa – My pleasure. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Best regards,
Alex
Thank you Mr Alex, and don’t forget the spiral staircase tutorial too. =)
Nice tutorial. Thanks for posting it.
[...] little introduction After having written the latest tutorial on linear workflow, I have received an email from Jackie (a frequent reader of this blog), who claimed that he had [...]
thanks for the tut., but, by the way, like you said, there is so many information that i dont know really which steps follow
.
in this case, for example, we have to change de color mapping too, and the “input gamma” in “preference settings”….so finally we have the same with those differents ways?¿
best regards
uopppsss, sorry, here is the link: http://jg3d.blogspot.com/2008/12/v-ray-lwf-easy-way-for-3d-studio-max.html
First of all, thanks for the visit pep (and for the feedback you sent me via email).
The tutorial you are referring to is a bit old, and was done before the 1.5 version of vray came out.
As you can see, in the next step it advices to change the parameter of the “inverse gamma” to 0.4545, which is not needed for vray 1.5 and above.
Best regards,
Alex
thanks for such a great help for my study…….
the tutorial is very nice, although i have a question regarding the use of archshaders in vray material. when ever i use it with gamma 2.2, the result is washout. is there any other way to make the color correction other than manually changing the color parameter of the arcshaders??
This really is the best tutorial for gamma linear workflow
hi,
nice tutorial…..u wrote it in the easist way to understand…nice job alex
hi,
very nice tutorial.i got help full from this tutorial.carry on.thnx a lot
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