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Hey there,

I find it super hard to find proper workthrough on C4D Octane > AE. I use Camera Imager with Aces tone mapping on and exporting 32 Bit Open EXR.

Then in AE, I do open color io, color profile converter to srgb, but it's not correct when compared to redshift.

What's the proper way to export with aces?

Hi,

Overview
The operating system is irrelevant. The core principle remains the same across any OS. Although MacOS has superior OS color management, it doesn't affect what's being rendered / encoded, rather how its being viewed.

There has been several ACES workflow forum threads here. There is the official documentation and my own resources about it.

However, this is, hands down, recommended over ACES. Especially for digital imaging neophytes, which "statistically" represents the majority of the user base from renderer.

There is also this generic Octane Color Management Guide.

To answer you (TL;DR):

azumbrunnen wrote:I find it super hard to find proper workthrough on C4D Octane > AE. I use Camera Imager with Aces tone mapping on and exporting 32 Bit Open EXR.
Then in AE, I do open color io, color profile converter to srgb, but it's not correct when compared to redshift.
What's the proper way to export with aces?

1. 16-bit for beauty EXR, 32-bit is beyond unnecessary.
2. EXR = "neutral data output" (simply said), no OCIO, no ACES checkbox option will be applied, nothing.
3. In AE, whether it is ACES or another OCIO based system, it will have to be re-applied when exporting EXRs.
4. AE is not an appropriate post compositing software. Nuke, Fusion and similar are strongly recommended.

Do not hesitate to share any question you may have.

The only workflow that seems to work for me is...


1. In Octane Render Settings, set Color Profile to ACES
2. Save as EXR 16 or 32
3. Import to AE
4. Use OpenColor IO Plugin
5. Change Color Profile from ACES to RGB

does that sound correct? I don't have Nuke or Fusion and think AE is still widely used in the industry?

Hi, have you consulted the links I've shared? Nearly all the information is in it. Although I agree, quite thorough (yet, not as much as it could be).

azumbrunnen wrote:1. In Octane Render Settings, set Color Profile to ACES

"Color Profile" is not a defined technical term but rather an ambiguous over simplification, subject to avoidance.

azumbrunnen wrote:2. Save as EXR 16 or 32

Just 16

azumbrunnen wrote:5. Change Color Profile from ACES to RGB
RGB is basically a color encoding model, not a color space. It still remains "tristimulus RGB data".
Therefore, there is no such a thing as "RGB Color Profile" or "RGB Color Space". Or perhaps it's a typo where the "s" from "sRGB" is missing?

I would insist on avoiding ACES. It yields broken results and doesn't reflect what it claims to properly do.

I've shown a quick demo on one of my links. It's also not recommended for neophyte as it requires deeper knowledge that most don't want to dedicate time to learn. AgX is not only superior but simpler and Octane output is stunning with it.

azumbrunnen wrote:I don't have Nuke or Fusion and think AE is still widely used in the industry?

AE is nowhere used for CGI compositing, in the high-end industry (small to larger studios). It's a great (and quite unique still to these days) motion design software (which I've myself used many years ago for strictly graphic motion design), but that's it. It is used for small budget VFX cases but definitely doesn't come close nor is a Nuke/Fusion substitute.