Use the OCIO config specified in OCIO environment variable

[rodrigo_almeida_tcs]

Hello,

It would be very useful if After Effects could load the OCIO config (i.e. the config.ocio file) specified by the OCIO environment variable.

Almost all other Windows softwares in the Image and VFX industry do - such as Adobe Substance, Maxon Cinema 4D, Foundry's Nuke, Maya, Houdini, among many others.

Why would it be useful?
When a user work in multiple projects (some of them with specific color config and LUTs), there's one config.ocio file per project. Thus, we can create specific project contexts in Powershell (with all the necessary environment variables). For example, say that we have a project A context in Powershell where $env:OCIO=T:/projects/A/ocio/config.ocio. When the Artist will launch AE from this context it will automatically load the correct config.ocio file. Then, if she launches a Cinema 4d from the same context, it will also automatically load the project A's config.ocio file, and so on.

In short, the workflow for working with multiple projects, multiple tools, and multiple color configurations become much simpler when OCIO environment variable is supported.

Thanks,
Rodrigo

[Vinnie_Vee]

yes please. It would be very useful.

Thank you Rodrigo for asking this.

[Chetan Nanda]

Hi  @rodrigo_almeida_tcs , This should be supported already in the application.

Please try and lets us know if it is not functional.

Environment variable OCIO

Custom OCIO configuration files can be selected via setting an environment variable OCIO.

The application reads environment variable at startup, then sets the Custom config to the

one specified in environment variable.

The system may need to restart after setting environment variable.

If OCIO configuration file is selected and project is saved, this information is saved along

with the project file. Next time the project is opened it will use the configuration file it was

using last time. Any new project will automatically use the OCIO configuration specified

using OCIO environment variable.

Thanks,

Chetan Nanda

[VictoriaNece]

Setting environment variable on MacOS:
launchctl setenv OCIO <path to config.ocio>/config.ocio

Setting environment variable on Windows:
Set the environment variable 'OCIO' in system settings with path pointing to
configuration file.

[rodrigo_almeida_tcs]

Hello,

Thank you very much for your feedback, Chetan Nanda an VictoriaNece.

We've just ran some more tests here, using After Effects version 24.5.0 on Windows 10 Enterprise - during our tests, the environment variable "OCIO" is always set to a path indicating a valid config.ocio file.

We've found out that After Effects seems to switch to OCIO Config (and to find and use the config.ocio file indicated by the environment variable "OCIO") but only if we first manually set the Project Settings > Color > Color Engine to "OCIO Color Managed", as indicated in the image below : 

If we do so, the next time we launch After Effects, it will automatically look for the config file indicated by the OCIO environment variable and load it, as indicated in the image below.

However, if the user doesn't go to "Project Settings > Color" and switch to OCIO Color Managed, it seems that After Effects will never switch to OCIO and will remain in "Adobe Color Managed" forever, as indicated in the image below. This default behavior also comes back when the user loses her User Preferences.

So I have the impression that the default "color engine" is never switched to "OCIO Managed" except if the user manually manually changes it once.

D you know whether this default behavior is intended or something that could be improved? Do you know if this behavior changed in more recent versions of After Effects?

Thanks for your help,
Rodrigo

[Chetan Nanda]

Hi @rodrigo_almeida_tcs ,

Default Color engine for After Effects is Adobe Color Managed mode. So user has to update the mode to OCIO once and then we save it in user preference and retain it till user change back to Adobe managed mode or User preference is deleted.

So, the behaviour is as designed and present in the app since introduction of OCIO in AE.

But definetly we can update the workflow here to meet the requirement. 

Thanks,

Chetan Nanda

[rodrigo_almeida_tcs]

Hi @Chetan Nanda ,

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I understand now that this behvior (Adobe Color Managed being set by default until the user changes it) is the behavior that was designed and adopted by After Effects (and not a bug or an user error).

And yes, if it were possible to make After Effects automatically switch to OCIO color management once the "OCIO" environment variable is set, it would be great.

Thank you very much,
Rodrigo