Does this sound better?
The reason why there are differences between the VFB and the saved image previewed in Windows viewer or Photoshop is that 3ds Max and Corona are not color-managed or "color-profile aware" while the viewer and Photoshop are.
I was able to find two solutions on the Corona forum:
This is more of a workaround, but it works, in the sense that you will get identical appearance of the image in the VFB and after saving it:
https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=27672.msg182592#msg182592You need to assign the color profile that you have in the Windows Color Management (e.g. "DELL U2724D Color Profile") to your image in Photoshop. I used a different color profile just to test this, but the point is to use the same color profile in Windows and in Photoshop.
The "proper" solution, which is only available for monitors which support it was shared by Juraj Talcik here:
https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=27672.msg182552#msg182552 "To have identical and correct colors between 3dsMax/Corona VFB and Photoshop, you need to physically clamp color space (space, not profile describing one) of the Display down to sRGB. That needs to be done on hardware level, in monitor OSD menu either through factory calibrated profile (the Monitor stores 14bit 3D LUT, not ICC profile) or custom hardware calibrated profile (again, stored as 14bit 3D LUT internally in Monitor OSD, not in Windows).
BenQ PD3200U doesn't offer hardware calibration, so you are stuck with factory profile which is ok because it's pretty good.
This is correct workflow for this monitor for 3dsMax/Corona.
1) Monitor OSD Menu: Select sRGB mode. Then adjust brightness to your liking. (Fun fact: Calibration is also done to exact brightness levels, but if you move it +/- 50perc. the difference in accuracy is not drastic).
2) Type Color management into taskbar in Windows, select your monitor, check "Use my settings" and select "sRGB" ICC profile. Set "Use as default".
3) When loading any rendering into Photoshop, you don't need to do anything if your settings are set to "Don't Ask". It will stay unmanaged and you only need to "Assign" sRGB profile at the end of export, for example when saving to final file. Don't convert to any other profile.
The above workflow doesn't work for high-gamut displaying (DCI-P3, HDR workflow,etc..) or printing (AdobeRGB, LAB,etc.). But since 3dsMax & Corona are not color managed (Autodesk Maya and Vray for example are), this is the best scenario to use right now. Least headaches. Colors are always correct, you're just not using wide-gamut capability, which is ok since most devices are sRGB only, even today."
So to conclude: the issue is caused by the fact that 3ds Max and Corona are not properly color-managed. If they were, the images would come out the same. The workaround is to assign your monitor's color profile to your image in Photoshop. The proper solution is to enable the sRGB profile in your monitor settings (if available) and in the Windows Color Management settings. Then you need to assign the sRGB profile to the final images you are saving from Photoshop.
If color accuracy is crucial for you and you want to avoid all the hassle, you may want to consider switching to V-Ray, which is color-managed.
