Roughness maps over time

[stuz0r]

I've noticed that I cannot for the life of me, get the look of roughness maps as I used to. One image (the left) is from 2017 the other is from yesterday. I've used both C4D R21 with octane 2020.1.5 R4 and C4D 2024.3.1 with octane 2023.1.2 R4. I've slid all the sliders checked all the boxes (compatibilities as well) and tried all options to try and get that look, but cannot get it to look the same. I know that C4D changed its color profiles over the years... And I feel like AE has changed the way it handles color as well in the past year or 2.

If any of you know how to get the "old" look then pls let me know I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!

[elsksa]

It was may be set to the Octane BRDF model instead of GGX.
In the Kernel settings, changing the White Light Spectrum to Legacy (instead of D65) might also lead to a closer match.

None of the above is recommended, though. Besides the matching purpose.
GGX energy preserving and D65 are both recommended.

[stuz0r]

Unfortunately, I've tried all of those things. I'm not so much talking about the actual color of the image, but how the roughness map is interpreted. I just spent the past few hours going through almost everything in the node editor as well to see if I could find something there. I didn't. However, I did find a chaos node which is pretty awesome!

[elsksa]

I'm not so much talking about the actual color of the image, but how the roughness map is interpreted.

Fully aware of that. I thought it would be worth mentioning.

I did find a chaos node which is pretty awesome!

It is, but to be used moderately as it is computational heavy.

I must ask, as humans aren't perfect,
did you ensure diffuse and specular reflection BRDF models were matched?

Are the texture files color managed correctly?
Here's a guide, just in case some of the changes appear confusing.

I'll reply as new thoughts kick in.
Questions in bold for better readability.

[stuz0r]

Appreciate the info!

BRDF models are indeed matching.

Also, tried several file types of the roughness map, including EXR.
All color spaces, from what I've read, are managed properly.

Any additional info you come across I'd love to try!

[bepeg4d]

Hi,
do you have a Bump map in the material?
If yes, it has an effect on roughness, and it is changed a lot in 2023.1 from previous versions.
Now it has a separate "Bump height" value, instead of using the Power of the texture.
In this case, try to go to the Basic tab of the material, and set the Compatibility mode to 2022.1, to bypass the Bump height, and use the Power of the texture instead:

ciao,
Beppe

[AWOLism]

Hi Bepe!

Is there a bump height value that will make the new bump match the old version?

Cheers
Andreas

Hi,
do you have a Bump map in the material?
If yes, it has an effect on roughness, and it is changed a lot in 2023.1 from previous versions.
Now it has a separate "Bump height" value, instead of using the Power of the texture.
In this case, try to go to the Basic tab of the material, and set the Compatibility mode to 2022.1, to bypass the Bump height, and use the Power of the texture instead:

IMG_1206.jpeg

ciao,
Beppe

[stuz0r]

Hey Beppe!

I did know about the new bump setup. Took me a bit to get the hang of it, but finally did haha.
In this example, there is no bump, just roughness.

All in all, it's not a big deal. I just liked the look of the older version a little more.

[elsksa]

All in all, it's not a big deal. I just liked the look of the older version a little more.

Can't sleep at night. Now we need to know.