Adding ACES to my 3D workflow.
I’m constantly looking for new ways to improve my 3D skills and ACES is quite literally the closest thing to having a ‘make it pop’ button. The dynamic range on show is even superior to a linear workflow for 3D rendering.
Ever since watching the Corridor Digital video on YouTube about ACES, I’ve wanted to include it in my workflow.The difference between ACES and rendering is huge and makes the sRGB workflow look dull and flat. Below you can see a comparison between the two and you can clearly see how more vibrant and wide the dynamic range is. The below shot was rendered in Cinema 4D with Redshift. Whilst there is no official workflow for ACES in both Cinema and Redshift, it is possible with a pretty convoluted workflow.
The workflow I used can be watched here, although stop when it gets to After Effects. He admits in the comments he got it wrong but you can use Andrey Lebrov’s excellent tutorial here.
As you can see, the difference is pretty huge. Whilst it won’t save a poorly designed/made shot, it can add that extra 10% in terms of realism. It’s just up to you as to whether or not you want to go through the somewhat tedious method of adding it to your workflow. For a large project I’m about to start, I’m planning on using it although I will be doing some tests in Octane to see how its native support compares to Redshift’s somewhat hacky approach. Come on Maxon, please add this.