ACES for Nuke via OCIO: Part 2 Default Lut Settings

Written by Deke Kincaid on .

In this tutorial we will go over all the defaults Lut settings in Nuke, what you should use and what you can change depending on your workflows.  This is meant for the average Nuke user.  In a more controled pipeline with lots of automation you may choose very different defaults.  This tutorial is not meant for you, so take this for the audience it is intended for.

1. Modify defaults for the average Nuke user

So as mentioned in part 1, the example below is a suggested alternative set of defaults to use for someone transitioning an existing Nuke pipeline to ACES/OCIO.

 

2. Working Space (workingSpaceLUT)

  • This is the colorspace all color nodes gets transformed to before applying the color operation.
  • ACES2605-1 is very large gamut encoding which makes it very hard to work with.
  • ACEScg primaries are much smaller making it an ideal working space for compositing and working with cg images.
 

3. Working Space: Under the hood

Manually it would be the same as using a colorspace node, transforming to that colorspace, applying the color and then transforming back.

 

4. Monitor (monitorLut)

  • This is the default colorspace for your viewer, sRGB S60 sim is a good default for uncalibrated computer monitors.
  • For more accuracy it is better to use a calibrated monitor to rec709, projector to p3, etc...
  • The "Raw (ACES)" is the equivilant of "None" in standard Nuke.
 

5. 8/16 Bit Files (int8Lut, int16Lut)

  • For people that don't have a full forward to back color managed pipeline I would stuggest sticking with "sRGB - Texture"
  • This is the better choice if all your files are sRGB coming direct from the web or a photographic cameras, jpg, png, etc....
 

6. Log Files (logLut)

  • Log Files - I set it to Arri LogC as a simple example.
  • This needs to be set to whatever the default camera log type you are using on your show/shot.
  • Most of these will be under the "Input" section as seen below.
 

7. Float Files (floatLut)

  • This is the default colorspace for all 16/32 bit floating point files come in as
  • The is also the reference trasform that all read/write nodes go to/from.
  • ACES - ACES2605-1 is the proper format for all files written to disk
  • ACEScg is an incorrect default as that is a working space, not a space to write out files.
 

Comments   

 
0 # revaz kvaratskhelia 2017-12-18 17:37
Hi Deke,
Thanks for this tutorial!

Still, I have a question. ACES2605-1 has a much wider color gamut than ACEScg. If working space is ACEScg, why to use ACES2605-1 for files written out on disc?
 
 
0 # fu kirin 2019-03-14 06:16
I think that because the ACES2605-1 has a much wider color gamut than ACEScg. There no information losing when we archive file. Guaranteed enough information When we on another monitor playing. :)
 
 
0 # A A 2023-05-04 19:23
 

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