Hi SSmolak, to quickly answer you:
SSmolak wrote:Main reason that ACES is better is that you still have compressed highlights and brighter dark areas on your Live Viewer (...)
So does "Blender-Filmic", which I personally call "Filmic by Troy Sobotka" or "the Filmic OCIO package" since it is not Blender-proprietary and could be misleading/misinterpreted.
Scene-exposition wise, ACES does not "brighten up" the "dark areas". In CGI, generally speaking, the rendering-working-color-space is ACEScg, being ACEScg chromaticity primaries coordinates, ACEScg white-point and a linear transfer-function mistakenly known as Linear ̶G̶a̶m̶m̶a̶ (
https://www.elsksa.me/scientia/digital-imaging/understanding-linear-in-digital-imagery). Octane being a spectral renderer, ACES is used slightly differently (
https://www.elsksa.me/scientia/cgi-offline-rendering/octane-render-aces)
SSmolak wrote:(...) And after saving it you still have 32bit depth for editing purpose. Also Filmic Blender color space doesn't support 32 bit depth on output.
Beware of the following:
• Color Space* ≠ Bit Depth
• both ACES and "Filmic" would export a
scene-referred linear OpenEXR and for beauty: only 16-bit as 32-bit is almost if not
never used in professional CGI/VFX studios and productions as it is most suited for data AOVs.
• Both are suitable for HDR Offline Rendering,
to not mistaken with HDR mastering.
When exporting a scene-referred EXR, the RRT/ODT on the ACES workflow, is not applied and the same principle is used for Filmic: the export is without the high dynamic range transfer function (and its "intensity gamut mapping").
For non-OpenEXR supported application where "color management" is limited, using Filmic allows to export a TIFF file with the logarithmic encoding applied to it, simplifying the compatibility with non-digital-imaging professional post-production applications.
At the export, ACES would be referred as
Linear-ACEScg and when using Filmic OCIO as
Linear-sRGB, basically, as if Filmic was disabled/not loaded via OCIO since it is "only a view transform" as opposed to ACES being a wide gamut color encoding system and affecting primaries (in the case of an R'G'B' renderer, that is - as mentioned previously, Octane is slightly different as it is a spectral renderer - more information in the link shared previously).
It is strongly recommended to acknowledge the fundamentals as well as avoiding common online misconceptions:
https://www.elsksa.me/scientia/cgi-offline-rendering/cgi-color-management-survival-kit* A color space is composed of three components described in the link above.
ACES is wide-gamut domain which is to this date incompetently handled by the vast majority of non-digital imaging technician/colorist individuals and only a selection of post-houses have properly mastered it, to some extent. Wide-gamut involves a much more specific and careful pipeline and workflow - CGI related, from the texturing, shading to lighting and in post. The default scene or display referred sRGB "color management" aka
"ITU-R Rec 709 with the sRGB EOTF specifications (pure ̶G̶a̶m̶m̶a̶ 2.2 function, which is an approximation of the piece-wise function, or the piece-wise function itself)" is capable of producing vibrant, contrasted and any other "subjective aesthetic looks" when in good hands.
While no solution is perfect (and likely never will be for many technical and philosophical reasons), Filmic remains the primary recommendation as it is much simpler, accessible to many and less prone to bold image artifacts but most importantly: better suited for individuals, as opposed to large budget productions with experienced digital imaging technicians, colorists as well as digital motion-picture scientists and engineers.