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willanie
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openexr renderpasses from Maya are black in photoshop

May 4, 2012 10:38 AM

You can render passes in Maya that split up a beauty image into layers like reflection, diffuse, specular etc.

One option is to save these passes in float openexr files(for ultimate color fidelity).

The beauty exr file reads just fine in photoshop.

The render passes however show up as black in photoshop even though they are not as verified by imf_disp,

a viewer program that comes with Maya.

 

I know the problem is that the header in the renderpass openexr file is the name of the "renderpass"(eg "specular") as opposed

to RGBA.

 

The solution for me has been to use a program that comes with Maya called imf_copy to replace the headers of the renderpass files.

 

in windows I use the following command line:

 

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2012\bin\imf_copy.exe" specular.1.exr specular_forphotoshop.1.exr

 

This results in the new file specular_forphotoshop.1.exr which is no longer black when opened with photoshop.

950 Views   4 Replies   Latest reply: fnordware, May 8, 2012 10:38 AM
 
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  • Chris Cox
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    1. Chris Cox,
    May 4, 2012 12:35 PM   in reply to willanie
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    Photoshop opens RGBA EXR files without a problem.

    This sounds like Maya is writing to channels with non-standard names, which Photoshop does not currently support.

     
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  • fnordware
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    2. fnordware,
    May 5, 2012 8:07 AM   in reply to willanie
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    Hey Willanie, I have a Photoshop plug-in called ProEXR to open the extra channels created by Maya. There is a 15-day free trial period.

     

     

    Brendan

     
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  • willanie
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    3. willanie,
    May 8, 2012 10:18 AM   in reply to Chris Cox
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    Howdy Brendan,

     

    I have used ProEXR and yes it reads extra channels.

     

    In this case Im writing javascript which loads stacks of raster passes into a single psd file.

    Renaming the layers to nice labels and then setting the appropriate composite modes as they are loaded.

     

    How would I utilize ProEXR in a javascript?

     
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  • fnordware
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    4. fnordware,
    May 8, 2012 10:38 AM   in reply to willanie
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    If you have ProEXR installed, it should become the default plug-in for opening EXR files. So you open the file and have layers, with which you may do whatever you wish.

     

    When saving, you might have to create an action to Save As ProEXR. I don't think there's an easy way to Save As a third party format using JavaScript.

     

     

    Brendan

     
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