I’ve been studying Linear Workflow recently and was wondering if anyone has any techniques for using it with EI8.
Here is a little video on the topic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jM44iCCkEw
Linear Workflow and EI8
WHD
#2
Hey Steve,
I know that the AG Cineon shader set now at Northern Lights allows you to compress some of the dynamic range into an 8 bit output. Also, back when ELin first came out Stu Maschwitz had some videos on how to use it that suggested rendering dark (under exposed) and adjusting in the composite as a workaround for limited output from 3D programs.
I had tested a cludged version of linear workflow at one stage but most jobs that I’m doing don’t justify it. I even had some folks who are so used to the 8 bit compositing look that when light behaved in a more natural way they had issues with the look. Still a lot of filters that are not 32 bit ready in the composite end at least not in AE.
Now for visual effects I think it is worth the extra set up time, render time ,effort and data specially when any aspect of the shot deals with light.
As for a truly organized linear workflow for EIAS, I unfortunately have none at this stage. I look at each job and try to figure out what I can afford to do with the existing budget and time.
Johnathan Banta (excuse my spelling if wrong) aka AG had described using EIAS in linear workflow a while ago. Maybe he might chime in here. Stu Maschwitz also has lots of stuff on his Prolost blog that might help. FXguide also has stuff over there. In the event you missed any of these they are worth checking out.
Bill
ediris
#3
Hello everybody,
Interested in these thread i wanted to know, now with HDRI being able to be maped in the Global Reflection Maps , etc… is there a need for the AG CIneon plug in?
Before it will add you that extra light depth but i donot know about now.
Any comments on the subject, thanks.
Edgard
halfworld
#4
Everything I render out of EI I now use with a linear workflow in Nuke (and sometimes AE).
Two things to think about:
- Bit depth:
Rendering out of EI is only 8bit, but that’s not a real problem with modern compositing techniques (throwing it into 32bit space and doing alterations) - then adding 0.1% noise to the final to get rid of any remaining banding and you’re away.
- Gamma:
For linear workflow people generally render out to gamma 2.2, EI can do this, but there is a problem, when you go to gamma 2.2 (default 1.0) your lighting and colours will alter wildly, you need to compensate for this - adjust your lighting, and your textures, so that you get an acceptable result, in all renderers the lighting adjustment is manual, however, the colour adjustment is sometimes automatic, in EIAS this is not the case, you have to alter your materials manually, and, this can be very difficult with 100% saturated colours, see the example below.
A ‘corrected’ render from Gamma 2.2 is always nicer to look at (and more realistic) then a Gamma 1.0 render that is traditionally used, however, in EIAS it is not always possible, and when it isn’t, Linear workflow becomes something for post-production only.
It would be good if EIAS could have some auto-colour correction. Great infact.
Gamma 1.0
Gamma 2.2 (corrected, notice the saturation difference, though, it in fact looks a little more natural).
Cheers,
Ian
ediris
#5
Hello my friend,
I read again and my question is how do you know if is naturally looking right when you pased from 1(Default )1.8 (Machintosh Gamma)to 2.2(Windows Gamma)?
So at the ned you change the bit depth in post right but how? 
You output your render as PNG sequence
And than?
Like to know more of your workflow with Nuke ?
Thanks,
Edgard
edit: I still like the deafult render to 1.0
The 2.2 version is missing the contrast IMOP, it all looks a bit lit allover the place Maybe is my monitor set to 1.8
halfworld
#6
Hi Edgard,
I’m not going to get into the technicalities and theories behind the linear workflow, you can get that anywhere on the web, the intro here is okay: http://www.djx.com.au/blog/2008/09/13/linear-workflow-and-gamma/
I have a much better link at work though, I’ll post it on Monday.
Simply put, you render to Gamma 2.2, that’s all you need to do from EI.
I render out to either PNG sequences or, more often, PSD sequences.
You simply import these into Nuke or AE (in AE, you need to do some set-up to prepare it for a linear project, but Nuke is ready by default). Once imported, the images are treated and modified in a linear colour space, it’s automatic, you don’t need to ‘convert’ your images.
I’ve written several gizmos and scripts for Nuke to automate the reading in of EIAS PSDs etc., and automatically re-build them into the composite image, if anyone is using EIAS with Nuke I’ll gladly share the files.
Hope that helps a bit,
Ian
WHD
#8
Hi Edgard,
As I understand it you can still benefit from AG Cineon because it compresses the dynamic range during the render to produce a wider usable range on output that fits within EIAS’s limited 8 bit out. Cineon format was created to bridge this 8 bit gap in early days of digital imaging and until EIAS has higher bit depth in its output files I suspect this will still be a viable method of using a linear workflow with EIAS.
Bill Dempsey.
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