The view specifies a meaningful preview of colors to show in Viewport 2.0, the Render View, and the UV Editor. Typically, it shows how a scene would look in its intended output format, such as standard dynamic-range video or in a game engine, possibly including adjustments for aesthetic reasons (for example, a look or color grade). Alternatively, the view may be a special one that is used only for diagnostic or other purposes.
The default view for a scene is the View set in the Color Management preferences . This is also the view used for color pots, including solid colors and ramps, in the Attribute Editor when Show Color Managed Pots is on.
You can also temporarily select a different view on the fly in Viewport 2.0, the UV Editor, and the Render View. See Preview color-managed scenes.
When using the default OCIO v2 color management system, the views must be defined in the configuration file used by the scene. Furthermore, only views that are specified in the active_views list in the configuration or that are specified by the OCIO_ACTIVE_VIEWS environment variable are available.
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.
For the best possible preview in general, you should set the default view of a scene to the same view that will be used for finishing. For example, if you are producing frames that will be sent for compositing, then you should use the same view that will be used for previewing in the compositing application or used for final output.
There are two configurations installed with Maya, and they each have several views available. However, your project or studio may be using a different configuration with different options.
| View | Description |
|---|---|
| ACES 1.0 SDR-video | (Default) Tone-maps using the ACES Output Transform for standard dynamic range video (previously known as the RRT and ODT). Neutral colors (equal RGB values) are mapped to the chromaticity of a D65 white point.
The Display menu specifies which type of monitor (i.e., primaries and gamma) the RGB values are encoded for. |
| Un-tone-mapped | Displays the source colors 1:1 on the display device, with no tone-mapping. This can be useful, for example, if you want to see texture values as they would appear in an image editing program.
This tone map is sometimes recommended for a "linear workflow", but proper color science requires a more complex view transform, such as ACES. This view transform is primarily for diagnostic purposes. The Display menu specifies which type of monitor (i.e., primaries and gamma) the RGB values are encoded for. |
| Unity neutral tone-map | Emulates the default tone-map in the Unity game engine.
The Display menu specifies which type of monitor (i.e., primaries and gamma) the RGB values are encoded for. |
| Log | Applies a logarithmic encoding to the rendering space values. This allows you to see a wide range of exposure values at once, and is intended for diagnostic purposes. |
| Raw | Shows the untransformed rendering space values. This is intended for diagnostic purposes. |
The Maya-legacy configuration is used for scenes saved from Maya 2020 and previous versions. The legacy color management system (known as SynColor) has the equivalent options available for the View Transform — the names are the same or very similar.
| View | Description | Primaries |
|---|---|---|
| sRGB gamma | Applies the gamma specified by sRGB. No tone-mapping is applied. | Converted from the rendering space to the sRGB/Rec. 709 primaries, followed by applying a single curve on all three RGB channels. |
| 1.8 gamma | Applies a gamma value of 1.8. No tone-mapping is applied. | Converted from the rendering space to the Rec. 709/sRGB primaries, followed by applying a single curve on all three RGB channels. |
| 2.2 gamma | Applies a gamma value of 2.2. This gamma is sometimes used to approximate sRGB. No tone-mapping is applied. | Converted from the rendering space to the sRGB/Rec. 709 primaries, followed by applying a single curve on all three RGB channels. |
| Rec 709 gamma | Applies the gamma specified by Rec. 709 for HD video cameras. No tone-mapping is applied.
Note that HD broadcast monitors typically have a gamma of 2.4 instead. |
Converted from the rendering space to the sRGB/Rec. 709 primaries, followed by applying a single curve on all three RGB channels. |
| Raw | Shows the untransformed rendering space values. This is intended for diagnostic purposes. | No conversion of the primaries. |
| Log | Applies a logarithmic encoding to the rendering space values. This allows you to see a wide range of exposure values at once, and is intended for diagnostic purposes. | No conversion of the primaries. A single curve is applied on all three RGB channels. |
| ACES sRGB RRT+ODT v1.0 | Tone-maps using the ACES Output Transform for standard dynamic range video (previously known as the RRT and ODT). Neutral colors (equal RGB values) are mapped to the chromaticity of a D65 white point. | Converted to ACES, followed by Academy transforms. |
| Stingray tone-map | Applies the same tone map used by the Stingray engine. This is a common tone map used in games, developed by Jim Hejl and described by John Hable. In the Maya 2015 Extension release, this was called the Bitsquid tone-map. | Converted from the rendering space to the sRGB/Rec. 709 primaries, followed by applying a single curve on all three RGB channels. |
| Unity neutral tone-map | Emulates the default viewing pipeline in the Unity game engine. | Converted from the rendering space to the sRGB/Rec. 709 primaries, followed by applying a single curve on all three RGB channels. |