2018.05.11 05:01 "Re: [Tiff] Question about transfer function", by Larry Gritz

On May 10, 2018, at 10:00 AM, Graeme Gill <graeme2@argyllcms.com <mailto:graeme2@argyllcms.com>> wrote:

The less generous but perhaps more realistic interpretation is that the vast majority of programmers working in computer graphics are ignorant of color and the practices of color management, so of course the renderer doesn't tag the colorspace, because the authors don't know any better!

Ahem, renderer author right here. My team co-developed one of the leading production renderers used today (Arnold), AND we are the origin of the color management package used industry-wide in VFX (OpenColorIO), AND I'm the author of the package used ubiquitously in VFX for image file manipulation (OpenImageIO, which is also used for both texturing and output in almost all of the of high-end renderers, not just ours). We know color management very well, thank you.

We do in fact scrupulously pay attention to what color spaces everything is in. (And at our studio we don't output TIFF from the renderer anyway, but that's beside the point.)

But we also have a lot of input that comes from sources and programs less careful than we are, and we deliver imagery to people, places, and apps that are less aware of issues. Our software is used very widely (by virtue of its being embedded in so may other pipelines and products) in places we can't control, including other industries, so I'm always interested in good general approaches, hence my question.

[ In a CGI/movie context, perhaps the color spaces should be tagged with

  an ACES profile rather than an ICC profile. ]

Of course they should. Remind me again which TIFF tag is for ACES? :-)

--
Larry Gritz
lg@larrygritz.com