Color Management preferences

You can set the following preferences in the Color Management category of the Preferences window.

To return to the default factory settings, choose Edit > Restore Default Settings in this window. Note that this resets the preferences in every category in the Preferences window.

All color management options are stored in the scene file unless noted otherwise. Some options are available only with the default color management system (OCIO v2), and others are available only if you are using Maya's legacy color management system (known as SynColor) as described in Using Maya's Legacy Color Management (SynColor).

Enable Color Management

Turns color management on or off for the current scene. Use the other options to control how color management is applied.

See Important settings for color management for other scene options that should be set.

Use OCIO Configuration (SynColor only)

Uses the color spaces and transforms defined in an OpenColorIO v1 configuration file. To allow this option to be activated, first set OCIO config path to a valid OpenColorIO v1 configuration file. When this option is activated and OCIO config path is set to a valid configuration file, the SynColor options for Rendering Space and View Transform are replaced by the options defined in the file.

Use OCIO Input Color Space Rules (SynColor only)
Uses the standard OpenColorIO v1 rules to assign initial input color spaces to File textures and other image inputs when they are added to a scene. The OpenColorIO rules consider whether the color space name appears in the file name.
  • When this option is on, only OCIO Standard Rule and Default appear in Input Color Space Rules below. You cannot add any other rules, and you cannot reorder them. You can only specify a color space for the Default rule, which is used only when the OCIO Standard Rule does not specify any color space for a particular file.
  • When this option is off, you can define your own rules to assign color spaces to input images in Input Color Space Rules. However, the available color spaces are restricted to those defined in the OCIO configuration file. See Define rules to assign color spaces for input files.
OCIO Config Path

The absolute path and name of the OpenColorIO configuration file to use for color management. You can type directly in the field, or click the control on the right to browse for a file.

When using the default OCIO v2 color management system, you can also click to:
  • Select the default configuration used for new scenes. Note that this configuration is stored in the OCIO-configs/Maya2022-default/ subfolder of Maya's resources directory because it was introduced in Maya 2022.
  • Select the legacy configuration used by default for scenes saved from Maya 2020.x and previous versions.
  • Select the most recently used configuration, if it's not one of the defaults.
Note that:
  • When using OCIO v2, both v1 and v2 configuration files are supported. However, only features that are available in OCIO v1 are supported when using a v1 configuration file.
  • When using the legacy SynColor color management system, only v1 configuration files are supported.
Note: If the OCIO environment variable is set, then OCIO Config Path is read-only and Enable Color Management is activated on startup, on scene load, and for new scenes. In addition, Use OCIO configuration is activated when using SynColor.
Note: If you experience delays related to color management when starting Maya, make sure that the OCIO configuration file has an environment section. It does not matter if the section is empty, for example: 
environment:
  {}

Color Transform Preferences

Rendering Space

Choose the working color space in which rendering is performed. Images such as 2D File textures get converted automatically from their input color spaces to this color space for rendering. See Choose a rendering space .

Display (OCIO v2 only)

Choose the space that best matches the characteristics and calibration of your display device, such as sRGB for a standard sRGB monitor, or AdobeRGB if you have a suitable monitor, or DCI-P3 D65 for a digital cinema projector. After the view transform has been applied, the appropriate transform gets applied to convert the display-referred colors to integer code values suitable for your display.

Note: In the Maya-legacy configuration that is used for scenes from versions prior to 2022, the only available option is legacy. This emulates the display pipeline used by Maya's older color management system.
View (OCIO v2 only)

Choose the transform to use by default for previewing colors in the Render View, Viewport 2.0, and UV Editor. This transform is applied to rendering-space colors before they are converted for display. The view transform converts scene-referred colors to display-referred colors, and might also apply other adjustments for aesthetic reasons (for example, a look or color grade).

In the OCIO configuration files supplied with Maya, some of the views give a preview of how an image will look (for example, as standard dynamic-range video or in the Unity game engine), while other views are intended to be used as diagnostic views. For more information about views in general, see Choose a view for previewing.

Some configurations might allow a different set of views depending on the display, so it is best to set the Display before selecting the View.

Note that the View is mainly intended for previewing images. This transform is not applied to rendered image files unless you activate Apply Output Transform to Renderer under Output Color Transform Preferences below.

No matter which view you choose here to be the scene's default, you can temporarily switch to another view or even disable the view in the Render View and Viewport 2.0 toolbars. This is useful, for example, if you want to quickly check the raw color values. See Preview color-managed scenes.

View Transform (SynColor only)

Choose the default color transform to apply for viewing images in the Render View, Viewport 2.0, and UV Editor. This is equivalent to the combined View and Display transforms when using OCIO v2 for color management. Color values are automatically converted from the working space to the space selected here for previewing only. See Choose a view for previewing.

No matter what view transform you select, you can temporarily select a different one or even disable it in the Render View, Viewport 2.0, and UV Editor toolbars. This is useful, for example, if you want to quickly check the raw color values.

Input Color Space Rules

Lets you create rules to automatically assign initial color spaces to image inputs. The rules are applied whenever you select an image file as an input in the scene, such as for a File texture or image plane. See Define rules to assign color spaces for input files.

No matter what color space gets assigned by the rules, you can always specify a different input color space for individual color-managed nodes. This is useful, for example, if most of your textures are sRGB but you are also using scanned film in DPX format as image planes for background plates. See Specify the color space for textures and other image inputs.

The first time you use an OCIO configuration file, the rules are imported from it. After that, the rules are stored with your Maya preferences and used for all scenes that have the same config. The config file is not modified — the rules in your preferences simply override the rules in the config.

Reapply Rules to Scene

Resets the input color spaces for image file inputs that already exist in the scene by reapplying the rules. This can be useful if you have changed the rules, or if you are applying color management to existing scenes that did not previously use it. See Change existing input color spaces automatically by reapplying rules.

Output Color Transform Preferences

Apply Output Transform to Renderer

Applies the selected Output Transform to convert from the working space after rendering. This option might not be supported by your renderer.

In general, you should:
  • Turn this option on if you are rendering images for preview that will be displayed using a device or viewing software that does not apply the appropriate view transform to scene-linear images.
  • Turn this option off if you are rendering final images for compositing or other tasks that require scene-linear color values.

Note that when an output transform is applied, the Render View still applies the view by default. Turn off the view in the Render View to avoid applying a double transform.

Apply Output Transform to Playblast

Applies the selected Output Transform to convert from the rendering space when creating a playblast. Normally this option should be on, to allow the result to be played with devices or viewing software that does not apply the appropriate view transform to scene-linear images.

Each of these have two additional options:
Transform Type
  • View Transform lets you select any combination of view followed by display (shown in parentheses) in the current configuration.
  • Color Space Conversion lets you select other available transforms, including any available input color spaces. This is useful, for example, if you need to convert images back to one of the original input spaces.
Output Transform
Choose the color space to convert images into. Use View Transform applies the View and Display transforms specified for the scene in the Color Transform Preferences section.

Transform Directory/LUT Path (SynColor only)

User Transform/LUT Directory Path (SynColor only)

The disk location for storing user-defined references to third-party color transforms. See Work with user color transforms .

This path should always point to a valid directory. If you do not want to load any user transforms, enter the path of an empty directory.

UI Settings

This option is stored in the user settings, not in the scene file.

Show Color Managed Pots
Enables color management for color controls, including solid colors and ramps. You can also set this using Show > Show Color Managed Pots in the Attribute Editor.

Floating Point Render Target

Renders floating-point values in Viewport 2.0, instead of integer values. This option is also available in the Viewport 2.0 options window.

To see and pick colors correctly in the viewport when color management is enabled, this option should be enabled and Format set to R32G32B32A32_FLOAT.

If you choose other settings, then you may see color clipping, banding, and other artifacts in the viewport. In addition, using the Eyedropper tool to pick colors in the viewport may result in incorrect color values.

Export or Load Color Management Preferences from XML File

Enter the full path and name of an external color management preferences file to use when creating or loading scenes. See Use color management policies (external preference files) .

Export CM Pref
Exports the current color management settings as an external preferences file.
Parent topic: Preferences window