ACES with Denoised pass (into After Effects)

[Jengo_1]

So I've seen a lot of discussions on ACES, however the more I read the more confused I get.

I'm trying to render a scene in ACES, to composite in After Effects, however I can't seem to get nice looking results. (Latest Octane update)

Here's where the confusion comes from:
1. When I render out a ACES2065 EXR for beauty pass AND denoised pass, the beauty pass is extremely noisy and the reds are very saturated. It looks horrible. (My OICO input is ACES2065 -> ACEScg, and output ACEScg -> sRGB). The denoised pass is even more saturated, and still has some noisy parts.
2. When I render out a linear HDR for all passes (like I always did), but still work in ACES color space in AE, and choose linear sRGB as my OICO input, the render still has some noisy parts but generally looks better however has a strong and pretty ugly contrast.

The only time the scene looks not as saturated and contrasty, and flat enough to be able to color correct it beautifully is when I don't work in ACES color space at all and work on linear HDR like I always did. This is a bit frustrating as I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Why is the image so noisy when working in ACES? Why does the color spectrum actually feels more limited when I'm in this color space? (As everything is super saturated and noisy so every slight curve correction feels like its way too dark or way too bright)

I'm lighting my scene with an HDR image only, and it looks beautiful if I work like I did before ACES.

I can attach examples but it'll require some time, which I'm willing to spend if anyone cares enough. Was just wondering if these are obvious issues, or anything obvious I'm missing here.

Thank you!

[charlieL]

Hello! I Have a few issues with ACES as well.

@Jengo_1, are you sure you have unchecked "use display color management in After effect" that blow my lights too if still checked on.

I am not able to render Passes and denoised beauty if I use the ACES filename box. it only save the noisy beauty . ( but is correctly saved as a s ACES2065-1).
in the passes section, I guess you have to choose ACES tone mapped? but the file saved (using the regular save filename) has passes but is still interpreted as a regular SRGB linear file...

I dont get why I cant get the passes correctly. tonemapping ACES onto a Srgb space is a bit pointless, or i missed a part of the workflow.
does anyone have a solid ACES Workflow with 2020.1?

[aoktar]

Hello! I Have a few issues with ACES as well.

@Jengo_1, are you sure you have unchecked "use display color management in After effect" that blow my lights too if still checked on.

I am not able to render Passes and denoised beauty if I use the ACES filename box. it only save the noisy beauty . ( but is correctly saved as a s ACES2065-1).
in the passes section, I guess you have to choose ACES tone mapped? but the file saved (using the regular save filename) has passes but is still interpreted as a regular SRGB linear file...

I dont get why I cant get the passes correctly. tonemapping ACES onto a Srgb space is a bit pointless, or i missed a part of the workflow.
does anyone have a solid ACES Workflow with 2020.1?

You have to use Octane EXR format for saving passes if you wish to use ACES.
I believe settings are intuitive enough. But are you sure you're using Octane's passes section to save?

[Jengo_1]

Yup, unchecked "Use Display Color Management". Also checked "Preserve RGB" in the color management settings of the image in AE. I also make sure I work in linearized ACEScg color space inside AE.
I followed these tutorials very closely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwIo-WPW3WU&t=3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QO6t2iR1JI&t=302s

The denoised pass looks super saturated and reddish whether I chose Linear OR ACES2065 tonemap type....Same thing goes for the beauty pass thats saved in the Passes (not the one saved from Main - that one comes out dark and less saturated)

The only time it's not super saturated and reddish is when I select Linear RGB as input on the OCIO (even tho it's rendered as ACES2065). But it's still super noisy.

The render passes are EXR(Octane)

And it's impossible to color correct them - every tiny move in the curves or saturation blows out color either in the bright or dark areas, and the reds are either unbearably saturated or greyish.

So far, the only thing that looks good is the same old Linear sRGB.

[charlieL]

You have to use Octane EXR format for saving passes if you wish to use ACES.
I believe settings are intuitive enough. But are you sure you're using Octane's passes section to save?

Hello @aoktar.
Maybe i am wrong here but it doesn't seem correct.
for me using a tone mapper means that you remap a space to another. so here it would be ACES to sRGB linear. while saving natively would save the file as withing ACES color space.

Maybe it is just an issue with file interpretation, however, within AE you can see that the file saved from the main sub-menu ACES path is recognized as ACES chromaticity(Linear) while the EXR(octane) passes file is read as a sRGB (linear) file.
FInally Using OCIO workflow. there is a difference between the octane EXR beauty pass and the beauty saved from the AXES sub-Menu.

Octane ACES workflow pass VS frameBuffer

( also the option of saving the denoised beauty doesnt work)

does this makes sense? did I do something wrong?

The only time it's not super saturated and reddish is when I select Linear RGB as input on the OCIO (even tho it's rendered as ACES2065). But it's still super noisy.

yes it feel like the Passes are still sRGB linear

[aoktar]

In short, you mean saved passes are not like with ACES but linear? I can test it if so.

[jayroth2020]

@charlieL, Did you try to set your render buffer type to Float (Linear)?

[charlieL]

In short, you mean saved passes are not like with ACES but linear? I can test it if so.

yes.
try to compare ACES and a beauty pass and you will see difference.
( and the denoiser is not working with ACES too).

@charlieL, Did you try to set your render buffer type to Float (Linear)?

Yes, it looks different and denoiser works. and AE interprets it as sRGB (linear). the same as the passes.

[ceen]

Hi,

I also have alot of questions regarding ACES in Octane/C4D

Info for textures is here:

https://community.acescentral.com/t/do- ... sue/2773/6

• An HDRI coming from an online vendor will likely need to be converted to the ACES working space, i.e. ACEScg with the Utility - Linear - sRGB OCIO Colorspace.

• A SDR/LDR image from an online vendor, e.g. jpeg, png will likely need to be decoded/and converted to the ACES working space with the Utility - sRGB - Texture OCIO Colorspace.

Do we have the transforms in C4D? No we do not, right?
So it means for a correct ACES workflow we have to process our tex libs completey new or we are not able to use ACES as a C4D artist? On the other hand is C4D not lineraizing the textures by using linear workflow automatically?

Here is a walkthrough described for AE:
https://community.acescentral.com/t/ace ... rough/2595

The last link I am not sure about if it is correct....