Using
this feature, you can control the color profile associated with
inputs to and outputs from the rendering process. Certain scene
elements can have color profile information attached to them, namely,
file textures, render passes, mental ray textures, and mental ray
file output passes. Additionally, you can specify the color profile
used for internal rendering color calculations.
NoteThis feature is currently
only supported for the mental ray for Maya renderer.
You can enable color
management through the
Render Settings: Common tab and
select your default input and output color profile. In order for
color management to work, you must select Enable
Color Management in the Common tab
of your Render Settings window. Simply
selecting a color profile under the scene elements or creating a colorProfile node
in the Hypershade does not enable
color management.
TipEnabling color management
can increase processing time.
You can associate color
profiles with different elements:
- File Texture
/ mentalrayTexture node
- Indicates the color profile that the
texture source uses.
- Render Pass
- Indicates the color profile to be used
when writing the render pass to disk.
- mentalrayOutputPass node
- The attached color profile will dictate
the color profile for use when the image is written to disk.
NoteYou must enable File
Mode under the mentalrayOutputPass node for
the Color Profile attribute to
be enabled.
To apply color management to your scene
- Open the Render Settings window
and select the Common tab.
- Select the Enable Color Management option.
The color profile attributes become active.
- Select a Default Input Profile from
the drop-down list. This is the default color profile for file texture
/ mentalrayTexture nodes.
- Select a Default Output Profile from
the drop-down list. This is the default color profile for writing
render passes or images to disk.
- Select the render pass node for which
you want to enable color management.
NoteThe same procedure
can be used to associate a color profile with other scene elements
such as a file texture. Simply replace renderPass node
with your scene element.
- In the render pass Attribute
Editor, use the Color Profile drop-down
list to select the color profile to use when writing the render
pass to disk.
There are two sections
available in the Color Profile drop-down list.
Under the first section,
there is a list of built-in color profiles. Under the second section,
there is a list of any existing color profile nodes that are currently
in your scene.
Note
- If you first select an existing colorProfile node,
then change your mind and select a built-in color profile instead,
the colorProfile node still exists in
your scene. It is simply disconnected from your scene element.
- If you select the default option under
the list of built-in color profiles, Maya will use the Default
Output Profile setting (for render pass or mentalrayOutputPass nodes)
or the Default Input Profile setting
(for file texture / mentalrayTexture nodes) that
you selected under the Render Settings: Common tab.
Creating a color profile
node
Color profile nodes are
useful when you want to apply the same setting to multiple targets,
for example, if the same color profile applies to multiple textures.
This way, you can create a node, customize it and associate it with
several scene elements.
TipAll colorProfile nodes
that you have created are visible through the Hypershade,
under the Utilities tab.
To create a colorProfile node (method
1)
- Select the File texture
to which you want to connect a color profile node.
- In the File Attribute
Editor, click the colorProfile node
icon.
A colorProfile node
is created and connected to the File node
that you have selected. The colorProfile node
appears in the Attribute Editor along with
its associated File node and you can edit
its attributes.
NoteThe same procedure
can be used to create a colorProfile node
and connect it to other scene elements such as render passes. Select
the applicable scene element in step 1.
To create a colorProfile node (method
2)
- Open the
Hypershade.
- Under the Maya > Utilities section
of the Create tab, click Color
Profile.
- Select the scene element to which you
want to connect your colorProfile node.
- the colorProfile node
and select Apply to Selection.
TipUsing this method,
you can connect your
colorProfile node to multiple scene
elements in one step. For example, you can use a MEL script to select all
of your render passes, then
the
colorProfile node
and select
Apply to Selection to connect
your
colorProfile node to all of
your passes.
NoteThe colorProfile node
and up to 10 of its connected scene elements are displayed in the Attribute
Editor at one time. If your colorProfile node
is connected to more than 10 scene elements, you can access these
additional scene elements using the Hypergraph.