Blender Octane final render is different than viewer

[Hightechmech]

Can anyone show the correct way to match the final render to the viewer?

[pegot]

It is important to realize the viewport and camera final render have independent imager settings. So if you want your final render to look as it does in the viewport you need to synchronize those settings.

For me the best way to do that is using the viewport’s “override” check box. This will override the camera’s imager settings and use the viewport settings for final render.

Viewport Post processes also has an override that acts in the same way.

You also want to correctly set up color management and if outputting to .exr use a non-linear workflow and also pay attention to output options (Blender output vs. Octane output / tone mapped vs. non tone mapped).

Settings that work for me are as follows (though they diverge slightly from some of the ones recommended in the below posts):

Viewer Settings:
Override
Response Type: Linear
Exposure: 1
Gamma: 2.2

Color management Settings:
Display Device: None
View Transform: Standard
Exposure: 0
Gamma: 1
Sequencer: sRGB

These URL discussions can be of assistance:
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=73116
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=75015
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=68426

[linograndiotoy]

Maybe those settings work fine for you, but are not the best option.

1. Best Color Management settings:

* Display Device: sRGB
* View Transform: RAW
* Look: None
* Exposure: 0.0
* Gamma: 1.0
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2. Go to camera tab in Properties window and enable Octane Camera Imager (Render mode)
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3. Alternatively go to 3d view Properties panel (N key shortcut), locate Octane Camera Imager (preview Mode) and enable Override. This way all cameras will have the setting from this panel.

Camera Imager for preview should be set to sRGB.

Then is up to the user to decide to save the images in sRGB or Linear.

[tapanojum]

Maybe those settings work fine for you, but are not the best option.

1. Best Color Management settings:

* Display Device: sRGB
* View Transform: RAW
* Look: None
* Exposure: 0.0
* Gamma: 1.0
------------------------------------------------------
2. Go to camera tab in Properties window and enable Octane Camera Imager (Render mode)
------------------------------------------------------
3. Alternatively go to 3d view Properties panel (N key shortcut), locate Octane Camera Imager (preview Mode) and enable Override. This way all cameras will have the setting from this panel.

Camera Imager for preview should be set to sRGB.

Then is up to the user to decide to save the images in sRGB or Linear.

This last part about it being up to the user to decide to save the images in sRGB or Linear, what are the options in doing so? I'm having difficulty saving a linear EXR without the imager OCIO view/look being applied. I'm using 2022.1 XB1 and set up my color management following elsksa's blog post https://www.elsksa.me/scientia/cgi-offl ... gement-b3d.

Color Management

If I save the file via Octane Output, I get a correct EXR but this method seems to be prone to overwriting. Every time I hit F12 to render, I will be overwriting the saved EXR.

F12 Render -> Image -> Save As -> OpenEXR, I get an EXR with Filmic Log Encoding already applied.

F12 Window

Side by side comparison

Comparison

I want to save the sRGB Raw via Image -> Save As while having Octane Camera Imager(Preview Mode) display the Filmic Log Encoding in the viewport, how can I do it? Sorry for resurrecting an old thread.

Thanks

edit: A workaround I've found is to open Octane Viewport and save the EXR directly from there, although Octane Viewport doesn't seem to work in 2022.1 XB1.

[tapanojum]

Hi,

https://www.elsksa.me/scientia/cgi-offl ... gement-b3d may help.

It is strongly recommended to load Filmic OCIO. Octane alone, like any other renderer, does not include an advanced native solution to properly conform high dynamic range radiometrically linear data to "sRGB web ready", simply said. Without it, "visual flaws" will appear, more or less strongly, depending on the scene.

Hi Elsksa, thanks for the response. I've read over your blog over the course of a few days and found it very helpful.

I'm sorry but I may not be understanding your comment correctly. I already have my color management set up as described in your blog. My issue is that saving an EXR through blenders (F12) Render -> Image -> Save As -> OpenEXR gives a different image than saving the EXR via Octane Viewport or Octane Output.

The Viewport, (F12) Render view and the Octane Viewport render all show the same image.

EXR Saved from (F12) Render -> Image -> Save As -> OpenEXR

EXR saved from Octane Viewport

My goal is to have an EXR saved from Blender's native render window be the same as an EXR saved from Octane's viewport window in Linear. Just to avoid any confusion, by Octane Viewport I mean the "Show Octane Viewport" found in render settings.

[tapanojum]

Looks like Blender 3.2 has color management options for the Image -> Save As window. So this issue should resolve itself whenever Octane is updated for 3.2.

[tapanojum]

I think/hope that they've addressed that issue in 3.2.
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference ... 3.2/Cycles

Ed O'Connell (llennoco) mentioned to enable the Octane output option to save the EXR directly.

I considered this option but found myself constantly overwriting renders. My viewport settings are often different than the final render, so testing how different changes look with F12 results in overwriting prior saves if you're not careful. So far the most convenient method for me is to simply save via Octane Viewport, which unfortunately crashes in the 2022.1 XB1 version.

Thanks for asking about this on the Discord, Elsksa.