Table of Contents

This page offers information about the Color corrections tab in Chaos Vantage. 



Overview


The Color corrections tab allows control over the post-rendering effects such as Highlight burn, Contrast, Filmic Tonemap, LUTs, Bloom, Hue/Saturation, Color balance, and Chromatic aberrations.



Scene sub-state


Scene sub-state – A dropdown list of all saved scene color corrections sub-states.

Create (Vantage_CCtab_CreateSubState.png) – Creates a new scene color corrections sub-state.

Update (Vantage_CCtab_UpdateSubState.png) – Updates a scene color corrections sub-state.

Delete (Vantage_CCtab_DeleteSubState.png) – Deletes a scene color corrections sub-state. Double-click to delete.

Note that the default scene color corrections sub-state cannot be updated or deleted.


EnvironmentTab_SceneSubstate.png



Exposure corrections


Exposure corrections – Turns on/off exposure corrections.

Exposure bias – Adjusts the Exposure bias value.

Highlight burn – Applies exposure corrections to highlights in the image. This option is hidden when Filmic tonemap is on.

Contrast – Positive values push the colors away from the medium gray value to increase image contrast. Negative values push the colors closer to medium grey.


Vantage_CCTab_Exposure.png



Filmic tonemap


Filmic tonemap – Applies a parametric mapping curve and gamma correction. 

Type – Specifies the type of curves used for the tone mapping. You can choose between Hable and AMPAS.

Gamma – Specifies the gamma correction. It is applied before the operator.

Hable

Shoulder strength Determines how sharp the shoulder is. Higher values sharpen the shoulder, which results in an overall brighter image.

Linear strength – Determines the strength of the effect from changing Linear angle.

Linear angle –  Determines the angle of the curve at the base. Higher values increase the angle.

Toe Strength –  Low to mid tone compression. Higher values darken the low and mid tones.

White point – The intensity, which gets mapped to 1. This parameter scales the whole curve evenly.

AMPAS

AMPAS mode applies an approximate ACES standard curve.


Vantage_CCTab_FilmicTonemap_Hable.png



LUT


LUT – Applies a lookup table file to the scene.

Amount – Specifies the LUT weight, where 0 is no LUT effect and a value of 1.0 applies fully the effect.

Load LUT file... – Loads a LUT (lookup table) file. See the LUT Preset example below.

Color space – Specifies the color space for the loaded LUT file. See the LUT Color Space example below.

Linear – The loaded LUT file is interpreted in linear color space.
sRGB – The loaded LUT file is interpreted in sRGB color space.
V-Ray Log. – The loaded LUT file is interpreted in a V-Ray logarithmic color space.


Vantage_CCTab_LUT.png



Lens Effects


Lens Effects – Applies lens effect. The Lens Effects layer simulates real-world camera lens effects such as bloom and glare. See the Lens Effects example below.

Recalculate after X samples – Lens effects may reduce the FPS at larger resolutions if updated immediately (value = 1). When the value is > 1, the lens effects are updated after this many samples are accumulated.


When Lens effects are enabled, regular Bloom will be disabled and hidden from UI.




General


Size – Specifies the size of the filter as percentage of the image's diagonal.

Intensity – Multiplier for the bloom/glare source bright pixels. Increasing the value can boost the effect by simulating up to 20 times brighter source. Values lower than 1 can be used to produce subtle bloom/glare from overbright sources. 

Bloom – Controls the blend between bloom and glare. A value of 1 forces bloom to be applied to full extent and without any glare. A value of 0 removes the bloom completely and applies only glare. Values in-between blend the two effects proportionally.

Threshold – Sets a minimum value for the rendered pixels to be considered as lens effects source. The Bloom/Glare effect is generated only regarding pixels with larger value than the specified threshold.

Rotation – Rotates the final result, whether it is a filtered image or a procedurally created one.

Saturation – When the value is set to 0, the effects use the original hue of the bright pixels to create bloom and glare. Larger values intensify the hue set with the Cold/Warm option. 

Cold/Warm – When enabled, the Bloom/Glare effect is toned to cold hues. When disabled, the effects receive warm hue. The hue shift requires Saturation values larger than 0.



Aperture


Aperture blades – Enables the Blades effect.

Sides – Sets the custom camera aperture blades number to be considered for the lens effects. This parameter directly controls the number of "rays" of the glare.

Blade rotation – Controls the rotation of the camera aperture and blades.

Streak blur – Determines the width of the angle at which glare rays spread. The larger the value, the wider the spread. If set to 0, rays are directional; if set to 1, glare rays spread out and completely blend together. 

Peripheral grating – Enables grating along the sides of the aperture shape.

Density – Controls the density of the grating effect in percent, where 100 is fully black.

Length – Controls the length of the grate lines.

Zoom – Controls the size of the halo around the lights.

Slope – Controls the direction of the lines.

Strength – Controls the strength of the blades effects.

Occlusion – When enabled, it controls the aperture shape by occluding part of it.

Symmetric – Enables symmetric occlusion of the shape. When disabled, the occlusion appears only on one side of the shape.

Percent – Controls how much of the shape is occluded.

Rotation – Determines the position of the occlusion over the shape by rotation.

Arc – Controls the arc of the occlusion. A value of 0 sets a straight line, while a value of 100 makes an arc.



Lens


Lens scratches – Enables the lens scratches effect. See the Lens Effects example below.

Symmetric – When enabled, creates a symmetric pattern of the scratches.

Pattern – Specifies Random, Stripes, Square or Hexagonal type of pattern for the scratches.

Streaks – Specifies the number of streaks that are clustered together. If Symmetric is enabled, the streaks are stemming from one point with equal angles. If Symmetric is disabled, the streaks are scattered from random angles.

Density – Controls the density of the scratches effect in percent, where 100 is fully black.

Length – Controls the length of the scratches.

Slope variance – Randomizes the direction of the scratches.

Width variance – Randomizes the width of the scratches.

Seed – Specifies a seed parameter to introduce variance in the randomization.

Zoom – Controls the size of the pattern.

Rotation – Determines the position of the scratches by rotation.

Strength – Controls the strength of the effect.

Lens dust – Enables the lens dust effect. See the Lens Effects example below.

Pattern – Specifies the Random, Square, or Hexagonal type of pattern for the dust. See the Lens Effects example below.

Density – Controls the density of the dust effect in percent, where 100 is fully black.

Radius variance – Specifies a variance in the radii of the dust dots. A value of 0 makes the dust dots uniform.

Jitter – Controls randomization of the position of the dots.

Zoom – Controls the size of the dust dots.

Rotation – Determines the position of the dust dots by rotation.

Strength – Controls the strength of the effect.



Image


Use obstacle image – When enabled, an obstacle image can be specified. The image diffracts the wave light when it goes through the small imperfections produced by the image. The file format can be HDR, PNG, etc.

Load obstacle image – Loads an obstacle image.

Zoom – Controls the size of the obstacle image. 

Rotation – Rotates the obstacle image. 

Strength – Controls the strength of the effect.

Use filter image – Enables a custom filter image that has central dispersion. Uses an HDR image as an input, that has a center point of scattering. It can be generated with different external applications.

Load filter image – Specifies the path to custom bitmap image (in HDR format) to use as filter.




Bloom


Bloom – Applies bloom to the scene.

Intensity – Multiplier for the bloom source. Increasing the value can boost the effect.

Threshold – Sets a minimum value for the rendered pixels to be considered as lens effects source. The Bloom is generated only regarding pixels with larger value than the specified threshold.

Iterations (spread) – Specifies the size of the bloom spread. Larger values increase the spread but impact performance.


When Lens effects are enabled, regular Bloom will be disabled and hidden from UI.


Vantage_CCTab_Bloom.png



Blur / Sharpen


Blur / Sharpen – Applies blurring/sharpening effect to the scene.

Blur RadiusDetermines the radius in pixels used for blurring. Higher values lead to greater blurring effect. Zero disables the blur effect.

Sharpen RadiusDetermines the radius in pixels used for sharpening. Requires a non-zero value. Higher values lead to more extensive sharpening.

Sharpen Amount – Applies sharpening to the image. Increasing the amount leads to a sharper image, while setting the amount to 0 switches off this filter.




Hue / Saturation


Hue / Saturation – Applies HSL transformation on the image colors.

Hue – Changes the overall hue of the image colors (grey colors remain intact).

Saturation – Specifies the image colors' intensities. Positive values produce a more vibrant, saturated image while negative values desaturate and dull the image colors.

Lightness – Adds or removes white from the image. Positive values add white to the image, making it lighter. Negative values remove white from the image, making it darker.


Vantage_CCTab_HueSaturation.png



Color balance


Color balance – Applies color balance adjustments:

All – Applies adjustments to the overall color tone of the image.
Highlights – Applies adjustments to the bright (highlight) colors of the image.
Midtones – Applies adjustments to the medium (midtones) colors of the image.
Shadows – Applies adjustments to the dark (shadow) colors of the image.

The color corrections are additive in that the All correction affects all colors of the image, and the Shadows/Midtones/Highlights options adjust the individual components in the image on top of the All correction.


Vantage_CCTab_ColorBalance.png



White balance


Temperature – Adjusts the white balance of the image by specifying the color temperature in Kelvin. Lower values make the image bluer, higher ones make it more amber.

Magenta-Green tint – Adjusts the white balance of the image to make it greener (positive values) or more purple (negative values).

Color – Chooses a color to be the new "white point" for the image, adjusting all colors. Use it to pick a neutral color from the image (e.g. one that should be white or gray).




Chromatic aberration


Chromatic Aberration – Applies a chromatic aberration effect to the scene. See the Chromatic Aberration example below.

Value – Specifies the amount of chromatic distortion from the center to the edges of the viewport. See the Chromatic Aberration example below.


Vantage_CCTab_ChromaticAberration.png



Examples


The following examples demonstrate the effect of some Color Correction layers. Click on any image to view it at a higher resolution.


LUT Presets

The following example shows the effect of all default LUT presets.


LUT Color Space

The following example shows the difference between the LUT Color space options.


Filmic

Filmic Warm

Filmic Cool

Filmic Contrast

Warm

Cool

Cold

Hot


Linear

sRGB

V-Ray Log




Lens Effects

This example shows the usage of the Lens Effect layer.


Chromatic Aberration

This example shows the effect of the Chromatic Aberration layer.

Lens Effects is off

Lens Effects is on

Lens Effects is on, Lens Scratches is on

Lens Dust is on, Random mode

Lens Dust is on, Hexagonal mode

Lens Dust is on, Lens Square mode


Chromatic aberration = -1

Chromatic aberration = -0.5

Chromatic aberration = 0

Chromatic aberration = 0.5

Chromatic aberration = 1


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