Linear Workflow Shelf Buttons:
Download wGammaTools here. v1.0
This is a tool that automatically sets up linear workflow for shading networks as described in the blog post here.
This tool is not a complete as I’d like, but it works really well. It was written for Maya 2009, and so doesn’t yet support the new display color management/lookup tables. Designed for MentalRay, VRay support is planned. For correcting materials, the tool will correct All materials if none are selected, or only those selected if any are. The same goes for inserting/removing individual gamma correction nodes.
Main Features:
- Correct selected/all shading networks (sRGB textures + procedurals + solid colors)
- May be used as a pre-render/post-render script
- exr and hdr textures are automatically skipped
- Material-to-Material connections are automatically skipped
- Manually insert/remove gammaCorrect nodes as needed
- User can choose Maya “gammaCorrect” or MentalRay “mip_gamma_gain”
- Includes lens shader setup/removal for MentalRay Maya
Installation:
1 - Copy the icons so that maya can find them, for example:
$MAYA_APP_DIR/2011-x64/prefs/icons
Or instead, add/update the XBMLANGPATH variable to your Maya.env
to include the location of the icons. (see Maya.env for details)
2 - Copy the shelf script to your prefs appropriately.
For example, put shelf_wGamma.mel into:
$MAYA_APP_DIR/2011-x64/prefs/shelves
Or instead, add/update the MAYA_SHELF_PATH variable to your Maya.env
to include the location of the shelf. (see Maya.env for details)
3 - Copy the wGamma folder as a whole to your scripts folder:
$MAYA_APP_DIR/scripts
You can move the contained subfolders, as long as Maya knows
where to look for the shelf and icons (mentioned above).
4 - Relaunch Maya. The Shelf buttons have tooltips to help.
EDIT: fixed broken download link and switched instruction to Maya.env instead of userSetup.mel
More info and improvements to come.
Pingback: Great Article on Maya Linear Workflow with Shader Networks in Mental Ray & V-ray
Pingback: Maya Linear Workflow Tool Sets Linear Workflow for Shading Networks
Hi William,
Firstly really great blog. Have enjoyed reading through your posts.
I have just downloaded your linear workflow script and having an issue with it and vray materials.
It works well with the VrayMtl but not with other vray materials such as the VrayCarPaintMtl.
When I try and run the Gamma Correct Shaders script, it will successfully connects a gamma correct node to the Base Colour but not the Flakes Colour.
That script all does not work with any colours of the VrayFastSSS2 material.
Do you get the same issue?
Many thanks,
Richard
Thanks for trying out the tool, and I’m glad the information has been of some use.
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I haven’t tested V-Ray materials at all with the scripts, so I’m not surprised you’re getting those results. I’d like to develop it in the future to work well with VRay and Renderman, but right now the “auto correct materials” wont work properly…
Hopefully you can use the “insert/remove gamma correction” buttons to your advantage, they should still work because the script just blindly inserts/changes connections, whereas the “auto correct materials” button depends on knowing which attributes names are valid (because some things don’t need correction). But in the case of VRay, I would generally just rely on the “linear workflow” render option. My original post regarding VRay was perhaps overzealous, and has since been corrected. (The tool doens’t quite work well with VRay and the “linear workflow” option is really not evil, as long as you understand what it’s doing)
In short, I’d like to get the tool to be more flexible eventually, there’s a more elegant and procedural solution, I’m just trying to find the time to program it (plus with python). But for VRay I’d recommend the “linear workflow” render option unless you’re depending on linear color maps. Getting feedback like yours encourages me to develop further, so thanks again.
Hi William,
Sorry I have only just seen your reply. Would it be possible to get notifications upon reply in comments? Or an rss feed for comments?
Thank you for taking the time to reply and again for sharing your script.
I thought as much in regards to it’s compatibility with vray materials. Not too much of an issue as i can indeed use the other workflow method.
Thanks again.
Richard
I’m sorry I didn’t reply sooner. I get emails when I get comments, but I haven’t yet figured out how to (optionally) send an email for a reply to the thread. If I manage that or another rss feed for comments I’ll at least make a post/mention about it in the general feed.
Hi William,
I ran into your Maya Linear Workflow Tools through the Lester banks link, and after reading your Linear Workflow: Shading and Maya post, I tried downloading the tool, but I think the link doesn’t work anymore. Is there a way I can try these tools?
This is what I get:
“Not Found (404)
automatic redirection in 6 seconds….
The requested URL:
http://www.williamgs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/wGamma-Tools.zip
was not found on this server.
You probably stumbled upon an old link. Sorry.
That should happen less now that I’ve updated my website.
Continue on to:
http://www.williamgs.com
williamgs.com…”
Thank you for your wealth of knowledge, and for sharing them!
Frank
Hello Frank,
Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve now fixed the broken link. And I updated the tool/instructions to use Maya.env instead of userSetup.mel. That way you dont need to copy anything out of the subfolders, you just have to check/update the paths.