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What method do you use to get just the right colors?

Posted By Dragonskunk 6 Years Ago
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Dragonskunk
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How to do you set the right colors for your objects in iClone?
I used to make all my characters and props to be shown in toon mode so this is a new thing for me for iClone7.
I had many props, they looked perfect indoors then took it to an outdoor scene and they were all completely washed out.
So if I want a color of an object to be correct in either the dark and light,
how do I set up a method that will give me accuracy of an object correct colors for any lighting situation?
 


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Kelleytoons
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The quick answer is that you can not.  That's a bit like saying "How can I paint my house so that it always looks the same color all the time?"  An object has a "color" depending on the lighting that hits is, so your "white" house can look bluish in the morning, redish at sunset, and dark gray at night when no or very little light is hitting it.  

And iClone does the same thing (which is a Good Thing -- we want iClone to mimic Real Life as much as possible).  Your lighting will totally effect the color any particular object has, so either you use very flat lighting (which is kind of what you did when using the toon shader) or you just accept that whatever object you have will change colors as the lighting colors change (the brighter the light the more washed out the colors will be).

If you want a very consistent look experiment with having very consistent lighting (for example, your "night" scene might be as simple as just having a black background and use daylight lighting -- your objects will still then be saturated as long as the light isn't too bright and it will be a sort of "day for night" sequence).



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justaviking
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This doesn't solve your problem, but your question reveals one of the biggest values of PBR materials and shaders.  Since they "respond to light" in a physically realistic way, a properly constructed material will appear "correct" whether it is out in the desert sun, in an office evironmnet, or sitting around a campfire at night.  Lacking that behavior, an artist might need to make two or three variations of a weapon, clothing, or a character's skin to look good in different environments.  Most people highlight PBR materials with shiny metallic objects, but the value goes beyond that.

How that concept should work with  "toon" shader, I don't know.

P.S.
I'm curious now, and am doing a bit of searching and asking on another forum, and will let you know if I learn anything applicable.

P.P.S.
I re-read your post, and noticed you said you "used to" use the Toon shader.  So you are now using a regular, non-toon shader?  If that's the case, then "PBR" is probably the best answer, but you can't make automatic conversions from traditional to PBR materials without expecting to some manual refinement in most cases.  However, once done, you should not need to keep adjusting the materials just because the lighting changes.



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6 Years Ago by justaviking
Dragonskunk
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I understand the never getting the same color for any chosen scene.
Here's an example of my problem:
I've been having trouble getting a bright red so I kept saturating the color till it was at 100% and it was still burgundy red meanwhile there's a beige on the same object that with any more light would get it washed out white. So I need some kind of method to avoid pushing one setting too much that would unbalance the colors I want. I need to know what I was doing wrong to avoid this weird imbalance.


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Edited
6 Years Ago by Dragonskunk
Kelleytoons
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You don't say how you are actually changing the color, but in general it's better to use diffuse maps on any object and not just use the color shaders (or whatever you want to call them) as they don't actually work intuitively.

If you get the right color in a map and apply it to an object it *should* render correctly no matter the light.



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justaviking
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a) Which shader are you using; traditional or PBR?
b) Are you changing only the diffuse (base color) map?  Are you changing Diffuse or Ambient color?

c) It's also possible your lighting setup is either the culprit, or is compounding the problem.  Sadly, I basically suck at lighting.





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6 Years Ago by justaviking
sonic7
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Part of my 'background' (way back) was lighting. But it was a lot 'simpler' then ...
Basically any desired 'look' was achieved in one of 2 main ways ....
The 'Design Department' would check the look with 'pieces' of a proposed set to play around with the paint colors.
Then when the full set was in place, further changes could be made by the lighting director (by using color filters or dimming levels - which changed the color temperature) - and the Camera Control techs (who could *tweak* the camera's 'color balance' during a show).
And that was it - it was all relatively simple ..... There wasn't any great 'science' to it like there is today. No HDR, AO, IBL etc etc.
So yeah - it was either 'paint' or 'light' to get your look. 



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justaviking
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ADDENDUM -- I wanted to add that by "lighting" I mean to include the entire lighting system.  Any lighting effects, Look Up Table (LUT), whatever.  Not only the default lights themselves.



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Kelleytoons (7/26/2018)
You don't say how you are actually changing the color, but in general it's better to use diffuse maps on any object and not just use the color shaders (or whatever you want to call them) as they don't actually work intuitively.

I agree. They don't yield great results.
If you get the right color in a map and apply it to an object it *should* render correctly no matter the light.

So True.  Tis why Game engines use "LightMaps."
Deferred Light - Parallax Diffuse - yields awesome results.

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Ah, Swoop -- we've missed you SO much (note sarcasm).



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