Loma Vista Estate · USA · Practical Application of ACES Workflow
Advantages and peculiarities of the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) have been studied in the frame of the personal CGI rendering project to produce high-fidelity cinematic visuals of the Loma Vista Estate designed by Urban Architecture Lab in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
Being an industry standard for filmmakers, ACES also adds a number of benefits for the CGI rendering workflow. In particular, ACES colour management is known for delivering beautiful colours while preserving highlights and shadows. The primary objectives of my visualisation project were to (1) evaluate the performance of the ACEScg colour management implemented by Chaos V-Ray renderer; and (2) adopt my Photoshop post-production workflow to handle 32-bit EXR images rendered in ACEScg.
A C E S R E S U L T S I N A C T I O N :
To evaluate the V-Ray ACEScg colour management, the exterior scene of the Loma Vista Estate was modelled, textured, and rendered in two lighting scenarios.
The Golden Hour scenario was chosen to test ACES ability to handle soft shadows and beautiful red colour cast.
The Twilight scenario tested ACES ability to present wide range of colours and saturations in a low-light environment.
W O R K F L O W S U M M A R Y :
A simplified view of the adopted ACEScg workflow is presented by the following diagram:
• 3Ds Max V-Ray 6 is configured to use ACEScg colour management.
• V-Ray produces a 32-bit EXR render image containing Render Elements necessary for post-production in Photoshop.
• Photoshop is configured to display linear ACEScg EXR images correctly. In Photoshop, non-destructive post-production is performed in the 32-bit mode and then in the 16-bit mode.
• The final image is exported as a 16-bit PNG sRGB file.
A C E S vs s R G B :
During the project, at different stages of the CGI pipeline, the exact same scene with exact same light sources was rendered in sRGB and then in ACEScg colour spaces for meaningful assessments. Side by side comparisons are presented below.
Light / Shadow Composition
Light Colour Composition
V-Ray Output RAW Renders
As showcased above, the beautiful filmic response curve of the ACEScg has produced richer shadows, light, and colour representations in both the Golden Hour and the Twilight lighting scenarios.
P O S T - P R O D U C T I O N :
In summary, the post-production of the ACEScg renders required minimum tweaks to produce the desired emotive "look and feel".
A R C H I T E C T U R E · D E S I G N :
Urban Architecture Lab
T O O L S :
3Ds Max, V-Ray, Substance 3D Painter, Photoshop
W O R K F L O W :
ACEScg Linear Workflow
