OTOY Forums

bepeg4d wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 10:41 am
Sorry, I cannot reproduce the issue.
Output AOVs are untonemapped, so you need to apply the same color conversion with layers, to obtain the same result you have in Main pass, and Live View color dropdown menu shouldn't have any effect on Output AOVs

Could you share an example scene that shows the issue?

ciao,
Beppe

Hey Beppe, thank you for replying! Of course, I agree that LV color dropdown shouldn't have an actual effect on the exported Output AOVs. But when showing an Output AOV within the LV, what would be the harm if the LV view transform was respected? That is the behavior for all the other passes. (EDIT: excluding the "info" ones, but reflection, refraction, etc.)

The context is: I'm trying to do some grading directly in Octane, so I'm running the Main Pass into an Output AOV. As a clean starting point, with no grading applied, I need these two to match when viewed in the LV under a sRGB: ACES view transform. That is currently not possible, as the LV transforms one but not the other.

The solution, as you say, is to add a "convert for SDR display" node in the Output AOV graph, so I can accurately preview my composite in the Live Viewer. The problem is: That transform is then permanently baked into the final EXR on render. So I need to disable the node before any export, then later enable it again for further look dev.

So I was looking for a way to avoid this type of workflow and/or hear that I misunderstood something about how the plugin currently handles this, which is very possible. I can share a scene, but we may be describing the exact same behavior. : )

What about using two Output AOVs?
One with color correction for Live View preview, and the other without it for compositing in post.

You can use the same nodes connected to both Output AOVs, and add the color correction only on top of the first one.

ciao,
Beppe

bepeg4d wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 2:28 pm What about using two Output AOVs?
One with color correction for Live View preview, and the other without it for compositing in post.

You can use the same nodes connected to both Output AOVs, and add the color correction only on top of the first one.

ciao,
Beppe

That would work, true - though it would then save two output AOVs into the multilayer EXR? Unless I manually disable the preview one before rendering, but that would be similar to manually switching the node on/off each time. I could use multiple render settings, but changes to the Output and Render AOVs in one would not be automatically reflected in the other.

The extra clicks are not the end of the world, of course, but long term I would like to add this as a feature request: Have the LV apply its view transforms to Output AOVs in the same way as to the main pass.

If Output AOVs typically contain a "main pass + compositing", then having their LV presentation match would be consistent and remove a gotcha. And in cases where an Output AOV is used as more of a data/info pass, we can still set the LV view transform to none. In both cases, there would be no risk of accidentally changing an export setting, as this is purely an LV display thing.

Overall, still not fully wrapping my head around Octane + Color, but I'll keep at it : )