Sorry for the lengthy post but I’m trying to be descriptive and it’s a bit difficult to describe the workflow on this tricky subject matter. In the latest version of Substance Painter I know there’s the ability to color manage the viewport using an OCIO config. But I’m finding it confusing to be able to use an ACES workflow from SP to UE4.
Ideally, I want to be able to work in SP with ACES workflow and ACES-sRGB output transform enabled then have that look exactly the same in UE4.27.2
The way I’ve been able to get the closest look from SP to UE4, is to use an ACES workflow in SP but to disable the color management so I’m viewing the linear/ACEScg colorspace. I then do my surfacing without viewing the typical ACES-sRGB transform, or whatever output transform is applicable to you.
It seems like Unreal is in linear sRGB color space? and I have no way to manage a texture’s color space, except for the standard sRGB or linear workflow. When attempting to view ACES-sRGB as my monitor’s output transform, I don’t seem to see that option. I’m using an ACES 1.2 OCIO config from here:
colour-science OCIO aces-1.2-config
I’m using the same ACES config from above in Substance Painter to ensure consistency.
I have set up an OCIO actor and added some colorspace transforms I think would make consistent results but nothing seems to work as I would expect. Not sure if there’s a specific working space transform and output transform I should be using? When trying to apply my transforms in the viewport, I only see source color profile and output color profile listed in documentation. I assume the source color profile option in the viewport is actually the working space transform that UE4 is natively using?
My current assumption is that we don’t have much color management options in UE4 for working space transforms and instead this OCIO implementation is catered towards virtual productions needing OCIO for composure purposes. Specifically, that while we can correctly ingest media color space by indicating the correct input transform, we can’t specify our working colorspace. Similarly we can export into a different output transform colorspace, so this allows us to work in Resolve or other such post color grading software.
I’ve read the below documentation but may have missed something
OCIO UE4-27 documentation
Any guidance on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Apologies for any incorrect terminology as I’m still learning to apply and explain OCIO/ACES workflow.
Thanks,
Rob