Linear Workflow with Substance

[Wes McDermott]

Ok, how does this topic relate to Unity5?

Like when in "Player project settings" Color Space is set to"Linear" - will the shader expect a linear BaseColor texture-map?


kind regards

Hi Elowan,

With Unity, you don't need to make any changes to the textures. The Unity shader does this internally so it assumes the defaults are enabled. It will thus linearize the grayscale maps.

Cheers,

Wes

[elowan]

Hey Wes,

ja ok - the greyscale maps are just fine (and linear anyway), I just wondered about the color map slot in the standard shader, when player-settings are "linear", if it gets affected somehow and be expected to be linear, although it is sRGB.


Cheers!


edit: Hmmm, the more I think of it.. I guess Unity converts basecolor to linear, internally?!

[Wes McDermott]

Hey Wes,

ja ok - the greyscale maps are just fine (and linear anyway), I just wondered about the color map slot in the standard shader, when player-settings are "linear", if it gets affected somehow and be expected to be linear, although it is sRGB.


Cheers!


edit: Hmmm, the more I think of it.. I guess Unity converts basecolor to linear, internally?!

Hey Elowan,

The unity shaders are converting the maps to linear space that are needed. So for baseColor and Diffuse, they are linearized, but other map that are not color, are not linearized. The shader handles it so you don't have to check the bybass srgb sampling option.

Cheers,

Wes

[a_mattano]

Thx WES for deep explanation!

This is an old thread but still very useful and on top of google research.

This is an interesting 2007 old article explanation about:
https://developer.nvidia.com/gpugems/gpugems3/part-iv-image-effects/chapter-24-importance-being-linear

I want to mention that gamma was created for the old tube monitor (CRT) reasons. What I can understand, actual flat led monitors does not usually require further gamma correction nor digital cameras. But somehow we "tech society" are incapable of leaving behind the gamma. I hope one-day all the tech industry together makes gamma disappeared as it should and all textures and photos are converted to normalized linear (for example 2030!) :
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_correction

Somehow people think gamma is necessary (probably because of the analogic film industry have an s curve) and here there are some examples:

https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/53725/what-is-the-purpose-of-gamma-correction-in-todays-screens-and-how-does-it-relat

For other Unity users like me that are still reading this; If you are making a very dark game, there are chances gamma can help you. Or because on some platforms, the hardware only supports the gamma format. If not, go linear into your game.

In Unity: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/LinearRendering-LinearOrGammaWorkflow.html

Linear supported platforms: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/LinearRendering-GammaTextures.html

A Unity guide useful link: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/ExpertGuides.html