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All textures or photos that come with our products were calibrated and processed in Linear Color Space. It is used in visual effects (VFX) and computer graphics to ensure accurate color representation. Unlike the sRGB color space, which is non-linear and designed to match the human eye's non-linear response to light, the linear color space represents the light intensities in a scene more directly and mathematically linearly. This means that the values within this space are proportional to the actual light in the scene.

For textures and materials to react correctly under different lighting conditions in a CGI environment, they must be calibrated to be in linear space. This ensures that the material properties, such as reflectivity and transparency, behave in a physically accurate manner. It’s done through a process known as "linear workflow," which involves converting all input images from their native, often non-linear color spaces (e.g., sRGB) to linear color space at the start of the pipeline. On the later stage, all rendering and lighting are performed in linear space to take advantage of accurate light addition and color mixing.

Linear Workflow

Every model we scan is photographed holding a Color Checker (Macbeth chart). This serves as a reference for calibrating colors, white balance, and exposure in post-processing.

Color Calibration. Using specialized software, the Color Checker is used to color-correct raw photos by referencing the captured data to the original chart values. This process helps in eliminating color casts and other factors that may impact colors, ensuring accuracy and consistency.

White Balance Adjustment. The neutral grays on the Color Checker serve as a benchmark for adjusting the white balance, ensuring that whites are accurately represented. The white balance is set using the neutral 5th patch on the Color Checker.

Exposure. Measured scene linear-light quantities are normalized to a known reference. Specifically, the reflectance value of the neutral 5 (.70 D) sample on a Color Checker (the third neutral gray sample from the right) is 18.4%. It is generally used as the middle gray point in the VFX industry, and its exact representation in 8-bit integer non-linear sRGB (with the sRGB OETF applied to the linear sRGB values) is [122, 122, 122].

ACR. The ACR tone curve is a creative tone curve whose purpose is to increase contrast and saturation on image. It is perfectly fine (and needed) for Photographers and in applications aiming direct representation on a display (Display-Referred imaging) as it provides a faithful and pleasing output. Physically-based rendering implies inputting linear values into the rendering system. To ensure that colour textures which are typically representing reflectance factors of a given surface are proper linear reflectance factors, ACR tone curve is removed from the output.

Special thanks to Thomas Mansencal from Colour Science for providing a valuable advice on color calibration.

To ensure you achieve realistic and visually consistent results, it is recommended to follow a linear workflow. This approach has become a standard in the industry and is supported by most professional-grade software.