Camera : Color Map

Hi all,

I was wondering what file type does the Camera Color map take? Is it a LUT file, like a .cube file? Or just a color jpg? I haven’t found anything that it will read yet.

Thanks to anybody who can lend a hand figuring this out!

Hi.

This is the response I had from Wojciech when I asked this question a while ago

We use the same LUT format as game engines (Unreal, Unity): a 256x16 PNG texture. So, the workflow is basically the same as in these engines:

  1. Load a neutral LUT PNG (attached to the email) into an image editor.
  2. Apply the same post-processing steps that you would apply to the visualization screenshot to achieve the desired effect.
  3. Save the post-processed LUT as PNG and load it into Shapespark.

(You can compare this process with Unreal’s: Color Grading and the Filmic Tonemapper in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.1 Documentation )

If you use Photoshop, I think you should be able to produce a PNG LUT from one of your other-format LUTs by applying the other format LUT to the neutral LUT PNG in Photoshop (according to: Convert a CUBE or 3DL LUT to a PNG Image)

This should answer your question.

Also these ready LUTs: Dropbox - LUT_Tables_PNG.zip - Simplify your life from this forum thread work well.

So it was brought to my attention after doing some research that UE4 and Unity are getting rid of that workflow for compatibility with future monitors and features. Also, they aren’t HDR so they quickly clamp the scene and can make things a bit noisy when trying to do any extra stuff.

Something you may want to consider in the future…

From UE4:

“In the past, the color correction would have been implemented through Lookup Tables (LUTs), which happens in LDR and on the final color that was output to the monitor in sRGB color space. This presents a problem when working with HDR displays because the LUT is just a snapshot in time of the currently supported display it is being adjusted for and cannot be used to the same effect on an HDR display. To solve these types of issues, the color correction controls do their work in Scene Referred Linear Space, which means all colors are captured before they are tone mapped. This makes it possible to only adjust your colors on one HDR display for any color correction to look correct on all displays the image is being outputted to, whether they are HDR or LDR.”