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General Category => General CG Discussion => Topic started by: K u r a i on 2015-11-19, 08:27:19

Title: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: K u r a i on 2015-11-19, 08:27:19
Hi Folks,

I thought I would share this because it is a revelation for those wanting to work in 32bit EXR in Photoshop.
I am not a techie guy and do not know all the swings and roundabouts about how stuff works. I just want to be able to get on and do it with as little fuss as possible.

As you all know PS does not allow you to work in Open EXR in 32bit... well, it does, but you can only use 40% of the adjustments. Which is pointless.
I have tried Fusion and Natron to composite but just get frustrated with all the messing around. I personally feel more at home in PS.

After days of research I found a Youtube video which explain how to work in 32bit EXR in 32bit and be able to adjust as normal. Yes.... I am NOT lying.

Follow this video. The guy even includes a new LinearRGB setting which makes this possible and includes it with the download. I tried it this morning and it works perfectly in PS CC.
You must have the ProEXR plugin installed too so you can see your cessential layers in the EXR file.


I notice alot of discussion on this matter and hope this workaround helps.... since from what I read from Adobe.... working in 32bit in the future is not as simple to build into PS as most think.
It is something that will need a total PS architecture remake. So don't hope it's round the corner. It might never happen.

Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: Nekrobul on 2015-11-19, 09:46:06
Interesting workaround, got to remember it. Thanks.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: maru on 2015-11-20, 12:29:45
After days of research I found a Youtube video which explain how to work in 32bit EXR in 32bit and be able to adjust as normal. Yes.... I am NOT lying.
Well, if you have watched the video, than you are lying, kind of. ;)
He is working on a 16-bit, not 32-bit image, and that's the most important part of the tutorial. This is still better than 8-bit. I will do some tests later.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: maru on 2015-11-20, 16:59:20
I just wanted to check this, but I am not able to run OpenEXR plugin on Photoshop CC 2015. I am getting "could not complete your request because of a disk error". Anyone ever encountered this?
Also, when I saved all the elements separately and merged them in PS (direct, indirect, reflection), I got exactly the same result as in beauty, the contrast/colors was not as extremely altered as in the example in the video. What am I doing wrong? :)

Also, in the attachment is what you lose when you convert to 16-bit. Take a look at the reflection in the eyeball...

Please correct me if I'm doing anything wrong.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: K u r a i on 2015-11-20, 17:12:04
Just trying to help....

After reading countless forum posts on the subject I think this is a very helpful fix that opens doors... not closes them.
Nuke, Fusion and Natron are way over the top for 2D stills. At least this simple fix stops
the need for simple folk (that don't work in studios) to go down yet another software magical mystery tour.

Bottom line is... I can now work with 32bit EXR files... where before I had to use PNG or TIFF....Case closed :)
















Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: K u r a i on 2015-11-20, 17:25:26
I just wanted to check this, but I am not able to run OpenEXR plugin on Photoshop CC 2015. I am getting "could not complete your request because of a disk error". Anyone ever encountered this?
Also, when I saved all the elements separately and merged them in PS (direct, indirect, reflection), I got exactly the same result as in beauty, the contrast/colors was not as extremely altered as in the example in the video. What am I doing wrong? :)

Also, in the attachment is what you lose when you convert to 16-bit. Take a look at the reflection in the eyeball...

Please correct me if I'm doing anything wrong.

I have noticed that if I install a newer version of Photoshop (like CC 2015) and uninstall my previous versions of PS (like CS6) I encounter
lots of problems. I had to reinstall PS CS6 for CC 2015 to show all the format icons... they disappeared. Don't know if that info will help.

Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: maru on 2015-11-20, 17:31:01
Bottom line is... I can now work with 32bit EXR files... where before I had to use PNG or TIFF....Case closed :)
No, you cannot. You are working with 16-bit files. Unless I really do not understand something important.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: Juraj on 2015-11-20, 17:35:18
This is outdated tutorial (4 years old). Photoshop has no issue with .Exr files since CC-2014 version. Of course, you still can't use all the tools, but it's pretty wide set.

Converting to 16bit will clamp the file unless it's on smart layer. How to keep consistent transition has already been discussed few times on the forum too.

Quote
I can now work with 32bit EXR files... where before I had to use PNG or TIFF

You never needed to use PNG or TIFF. It was always possible to work with .exrs in 16bit mode.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: K u r a i on 2015-11-20, 17:42:06
That's interesting to know. So as long as I use smart filters I can avoid clamping?

But.... my point is that I want to work with Photoshop.
What format is best to work with.... straight answer.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: maru on 2015-11-20, 17:46:03
Thanks Juraj for shedding some light on this as I was really getting more and more confused. :)

But.... my point is that I want to work with Photoshop.
What format is best to work with.... straight answer.
My guess would be any format which supports the features you need and is supported by PS. EXR seems to be a good choice.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: K u r a i on 2015-11-20, 17:50:38
This subject has confused me soooo much. Trying to find the right format.

Once I create a routine... I don't like to change it cos it means wasting alot of time trying new stuff.

Some people say TIFF cos it's 32bit but the files are very big unless to clamp.
Others say PNG. I personally like PNG cos it's straightforward in PS.

Guys.... what is the definitive answer.... if your life was on the line...:)
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: Juraj on 2015-11-20, 17:51:42
Yes. But if you use "smart layer", you still can't use lot of tools on them :- ) So you might as well stay in 32bit mode.

The format doesn't matter outside of linear/non-linear compositing. It's only input. If you want to do non-clamped, fully linear compositing, you need to use 32-mode, at all the times. And for that, you need linear file format like .Exr or .HDR. None other.
16 or 32bit .exr is linear file but you can use it any way you want, even instantly clamp down to 16bit and continue working. You still has a lot of bit-depth to work with, but it's clamped, so you loose dynamic range.

16bit PNG/Tiff is non-linear clamped file with higher bit depth but not higher dynamic range. You can use for non-linear compositing though.

Once you clamp down to 16bit mode, it doesn't matter what the input was. Photoshop doesn't even know what the file-format was, it just took data from it.


With Photoshop, you simply can't have it all. If you need to composite linearly, do so in 32bit mode and do all you "heavy" tonality adjustments, like exposure. Once you're done with that, convert it down to 16bit mode and do your manual re-touching, or any further color adjustments you want.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: Juraj on 2015-11-20, 18:00:51
The whole workflow, depends purely on your needs. You only need linear file if you need the dynamic range from it. For example to extract highlights like glare and bloom, keep correct highlights in z-depth based DOF approach, lower down the exposure, tonemapping the image yourself (highlight crushing),etc..

For that you will always need unclamped 32bit floating (or "16bit" half-float) linear file like OpenExr. And it will only work in 32bit mode in Photoshop. You also need to save your file from Corona using 1.0 highlight compression and 1.0 contrast.

But you may not need any of that. And you can still use OpenExr just fine. And work with it in 16bit mode. You just won't be able to use the features I outlined above. Which is perfectly fine for most color correction and post-production.
If that is OK for you, you can use directly tiff or png and Photoshop will open it in 16bit mode directly, so you will save one step.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: K u r a i on 2015-11-20, 18:08:32
I want to go in a different direction to photo realism. People like yourself do that very well and the software is getting better
and better. When the camera was invented artists had to rethink how they approached art. Thus the Modern Movement was
born and artists like Picasso led the charge. I want my renders to be much more arty... since this suits my nature.

I guess PNG would suit my needs best for this sort of thing.... and use EXR 32bit for photo realistic stuff.

Thanks for helping me sort my choices out. I am just fed up of rendering for 6 hrs at a time. I want to adopt
an approach where I can render for one hour and do the rest in Photoshop.

Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: Juraj on 2015-11-20, 18:17:45
Sure. Do whatever you want.
Title: Re: Working in EXR 32bit in Photoshop (Workaround)
Post by: RobH2 on 2024-01-06, 01:17:20
I realize this is a really old thread but it is still useful. As a few users pointed out, it's not a way to actually get all the filter functionality while still in a 32-bit environment. This is simply a color profile that allows you to convert from 32-bit to 16-bit without a lot of hassle. From that perspective, it's pretty handy.

Sometimes it's really tedious to take a nice stack of render passes from 3ds Max or wherever, and convert them to 16-bit without the values all changing and getting really bright. You can merege layers, make sure they are smart layers and a host of other things to try to get the conversion. I haven't tried this technique on a really deep and complex layer stack in Photoshop, but if you just have the normal stack of GlobalIllumnation, Reflection, Refraction, Lighting, Specular, etc., it works well for me.

This simple color profile is a great solution and works nicely. But, again, you are now working in 16-bit because you've converted, but, you converted without much trouble.