On Friday, May 30, 2025, Logoscope Inc. held a workshop titled “Scene-linear Workflow / ACES” in collaboration with the CG/VFX studio MARK Inc.
This workshop adopted an interactive format in which the instructor (Kamemura of Logoscope) guided the session while viewing each participant’s desktop screen in real time. All participants’ desktop sessions were recorded as an archive, allowing them to review their own work afterward through video reflections. The workshop brought together four participants (CG artists from MARK), two auditors (production managers from MARK), and two facilitators (technical artists from MARK) who assisted with the session, resulting in an intensive workshop that ran from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
In the first of the seven workshop modules listed below, participants explored a scene-linear workflow, constructing a CG scene while referencing the physical properties of a color chart. Participants began by sampling values from the color chart and creating graphs in Google Sheets. While reviewing these shared cloud-based graphs, they worked together to verify whether the materials preserved proper linearity and adjusted tonal values numerically. By evaluating gradations based on numeric data rather than visual intuition, they were able to eliminate inconsistencies between artists, establish a more unified workflow, and improve efficiency in real production environments. (In the workshop digest video, two participants compare the luminance of a real-world scene and a display operating in a linear domain.)
1. Mechanisms of scene-linear color management (comparing real-world scenes, computers, and displays)
2. Handling scene-linear images (arithmetic operations such as Add and Multiply)
3. Color space operations (Gamut Compression and Negative Values)
4. Scene-linear compositing (Un-premultiply, Pre-multiply, Screen, etc.)
5. Working color spaces (comparison of ACEScg and sRGB)
6. Look development and HDRI
7. Matte painting workflow
In the fifth module, Working Color Spaces, we examined how the working color space of the software—such as the workspace used for material color palettes (as shown in the workshop digest video)—affects the visual quality of VFX. With a variety of color spaces available, including sRGB and ACEScg, the session focused on identifying which working color space is most appropriate for look development in terms of minimizing data loss and accurately reproducing real-world colors and tonal values. Participants evaluated, in real time, how different working color spaces influence intuitive color adjustments as well as the physical color measurements displayed on the monitor.
In the post-workshop survey, participants provided many positive comments about the session. As shown in the chart below, the workshop also received high satisfaction ratings when compared to traditional classes and seminars.
