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Sorry to jump in like this, I picked up this plugin just recently. Jim, the plugin rocks, awesome.

I too had a scene scene where 'Imager' wasnt't working, and also the Post Processing stuff (Bloom, Glare, etc) was not working either.
Guys, I would test that too, see if you can confirm that besides Imager, the Post Processing stuff also is not affecting the displayed image on viewport.

Post by ka-ra » Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:19 pm
Same bug here.

It's working only when the Gamma is disabled in 3ds max
But in this case when you want to save your image, you can't choose a custom gamma (usefull when you want to store the png and exr, one in gamma 2.2 and one in gamma 1)

Ka-ra, are you talking about unchecking
CUSTOMIZE > PREFERENCES > GAMMA AND LUT > Enable Gamma/LUT Correction ?

That did not seem to do anything in the instance I found where the Camera Imager was not affecting the image, so not sure if there is another 'master gamma' setting in 3DS Max you are referring to? If so, please tell!
Thx!

Yes, the master Gamma and LUT master settings

I can also note that the issue applies to some scenes while not others. For example, I can create a scene from scratch and everything works fine ('Imager' and 'Post Processing' work).
But on importing 2 separate ready-made for VRay Evermotion scenes, one works just fine and the other one doesn't. So this leads me to believe the phenomenon may be scene-specific, and not a fault of the plugin.
However, yes, to play devil's advocate, there could be the scenario that this phenomenon is exposing a breakdown between the scene and the renderer when certain parameters exist.

(1) For anyone that has the "issue", try making a simple scene from scratch. Do you see that the 'imager' is working as you would expect/want? (Yes/No)
-If "yes", you may see it works fine at the very beginning, but then at some point in building the scene further you may encounter the breakdown. We may narrow down this way what is the culprit.
-If "no", very strange indeed because it works for me when creating a scene from scratch.

Interesting -
When I try to export a rendered image from the scene that would not let me manipulate the 'Imager' and 'Post Processing' for, it displays the save image dialogue with a preview of the image as normal, and it looks fine. Then when you open the file that is saved, the image looks darker. So, then I re-save, but instead of using default Gamma, I apply an override of +2.2 on the gamma, and then re-save. Then when I look at the saved image, it is the proper lighting!
It is a workaround at least to some degree...
Although, on the other scene that works fine with 'Imager' and 'Post Processing', or the scene I create from scratch that works fine, I don't need to do this. In these cases the image saves what the save dialogue displays.

Something up with these crazy rascal scenes where you can't tweak the 'Imager' and 'Post Processing'...

@ Notiusweb sounds like you are trying to change the default scene settings and not the camera settings in those scenes.

Re: OctaneRender® for 3ds max® v2.24.2 - 2.16 [STABLE]
Post by jblessing » Tue Jan 19, 2016 9:27 pm
@ Notiusweb sounds like you are trying to change the default scene settings and not the camera settings in those scenes.

I was trying to see what was occurring as I had the same issue as this quote below:

Re: OctaneRender® for 3ds max® v2.24.2 - 2.16 [STABLE]
Post by Goldisart » Tue Jan 19, 2016 10:01 am
NO WORK Use thone mapping !!!!! don't even get this version.... while it is possible to work 2.15

But, I did find something that was useful, to me at least, now. The reason in my case why the 'Imager' and 'Post Processing' weren't working was because it was being rendered through the VRay Cam. When I selected a different pane (1 of 4) on the main 3DS Max workspacve, I was then able to mod these settings. It could be that the issue experienced with Goldisart of the non-working 'Imager' has to do with the cam he is rendering from, in that if he tried a different one, it might work like it did for me...

So, now I can use Imager and apply Post Processing, but I still see a darker image saved,even though the save-file dialogue shows a lighter image...
So then now, as Ka-ra had stated, if I uncheck that Gamma correction thing in the settings, I can now get the file to save as it is displayed in the save-dialogue/viewport

Hope this helped someone!

F$&* !!!

ka-ra wrote:Same bug here.

It is not a bug.
Read my explanations here please. Use 3ds Max gamma to see the rendered image in any needed gamma in 3ds Max user interface. If you disable 3ds Max gamma - the rendered image will be shown by 3ds Max "as is" from its bitmap-buffer holding the render-result.
This is how 3ds Max gamma processing works. When showing the rendered image in user interface the render-buffer is always recalculated by 3ds Max to gamma set in its gamma settings, no matter what gamma correction is already applied to the image in render-buffer. Think of it as major gamma correction setting for 3ds Max user interface display, which is above the setting of Octane Imager. The only advantage of setting gamma in Octane Imager if you have 3ds Max gamma enabled is: when Octane Imager gamma and 3ds Max gamma are the same - there are no processor resources spent to recalculate gamma before displaying the image in 3ds Max user interface.
No matter what Octane Imager gamma is set - the non-HDR image can be always saved with any needed gamma, so again, there is only matter of some processor resources spent on gamma recalculation during saving. "Automatic" will save it as is (with Imager gamma). The HDR images are saved by 3ds Max from render-buffer as is - that is with gamma which is in render-buffer (which had been set in Octane Imager).

The only one issue so far which can't be fixed right now (but has a simple workaround).
This is exactly the reason why you see the rendered image in correct 2.2 gamma in 3ds Max user interface when 3ds Max gamma is set to 2.2 and Octane Imager has gamma 1.0 when non-Linear camera response is set, and you get the over-brighted image as soon as you change Octane Imager gamma to 2.2 not changing anything else.
I've checked the Octane core engine code and found a tonemapper bug in there which happens when both "camera response is non linear" and "gamma is not 1.0" is set in Octane Imager. This bug affects both Octane standalone and Octane plugins. This is why in this particular case the image becomes slightly over-brighted both in a standalone and in a plugin with such settings in Imager, and this image can't be correctly recalculated to any other gamma. You will see the same result both in a plugin and in standalone, 'cause they both use the same Octane rendering engine.
I've fixed this in Octane trunk, so the next 3.0 alpha will have the correct tonemapping in this particular case. But I'm not sure if there are any other 2.X SDK releases planned...
But the workaround of this in a plugin is easy: if you have gamma 1.0 set in Octane Imager - the tonemapping result is always correct, no matter what camera response curve is chosen (and it can be correctly recalculated by 3ds Max to any other gamma). And you are still able to save the rendered image from 3ds Max with any gamma needed - 3ds Max just applies to it the gamma correction you've chosen when saving.

I edited my last post because I solved my situation. Maybe it helps you guys. It's not a plugin bug.

Hi Jim, "But I'm not sure if there are any other 2.X SDK releases planned..."
It would be neat from Otoy to correct last 2 release before asking max user to upgrade...
Linear workflow is always a nightmare, don't let us in the dark.

Hello, Jim

Thanks for the explanation, it is more understandable.

But...
Saving exr file is broken both with max gamma/LUt at 1 or 2.2, both with octane gamma at 1 or 2.2

here you can download the same image saved as .png and .exr:
http://we.tl/HzkFzP55Qy

Do you have a date for the release of the beta version of the V3 3ds max plugin?

Thanks