Hello
Im rendering in 3dsMax 2024 Arnold with OCIO activated, a EXR sequence in ACEScg,
when I render the sequences in my PC the colors are Ok, but when I do the Network rendering using Deadline, the colors are different. I noticed that in the Render window i have the message: "Color mgmt OFF"
even when I assign the PC where the project was made to be the only machine in the TASK, it turns off the OCIO config, and the colors are wrong. Someone had this issue before with the plugin?
Thanks
Hello @Oscar_Diaz
Could you share the log with me? Also try turning the the color management on from 3dsMax on the node which runs Deadline.
You could also open the scene on the render node and render it within Max. Check if it produces the correct output.
Hello @zainali
I dont see a Color management option in the Deadline 3dsmax plugin
I checked the log and I have this messages:
STDOUT: [OpenColorIO Info]: All parameters could not be used to create the menu: Found no color space using app categories. Categories have been ignored since they matched no color spaces.
[color_manager_ocio] default ocio.config found in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\MAXtoA_2024\bin…/ocio/configs/arnold/config.ocio
I have the same issue here with max 2024 and standard bitmaps in V-Ray. Since I render with V-Ray I could fix the issue by deactivating 3ds max’s aces option again (and set it back to the mode ‘gamma’ which is default). I then activated V-Rays aces primaries and VFB display to aces which result in the same in local renderings as well as deadline’s renderings.
Im still having problems with this, the colors of my renders are wrong. Is totally ignoring the OCIO config
For my projects im using the OCIO - 3ds Max Default and when I render using Deadline the colors looks exactly if I put my project in the color config “Unmanaged” so seems that is skipping the ocio configuration
Checking the logs I get this:
[color_manager_ocio] default ocio.config found in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\MAXtoA_2024\bin\../ocio/configs/arnold/config.ocio
but if I look that route, there is no ocio file in the BIN folder, that .ocio file is in
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\MAXtoA_2024\ocio\configs\arnold
I have the same problem! Whenever Max is started by Deadline it seems to be running with color management completely off!
I made a simple test scene which looks like this when rendered locally using OCIO/ACES:
If i set color management to “Unmanaged” and still render locally, it looks like this instead:
However, both these scenes look identical if rendered via Deadline:
This is with the Deadline worker on the same machine, so the exact same Max installation in all cases.
The test scene uses the “ART” renderer, but we normally use Redshift and the problem is the same in both cases, so not specific to any one renderer!
Test scene: ColorACES.zip (57.2 KB)
This issue is preventing us from using color management (specifically the ACES profiles) in our process! Any solution to how we can get this working would be greatly appreciated!
Regards,
Johnny
This seems to be from the Autodesk documentation for Max 2025: https://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2025/ENU/?guid=GUID-AB673701-2483-4022-9C7C-1D766A23EACE
… and it is weird that the ART renderer is listed since color management certainly makes a difference when rendering (unless the render is started via Deadline in which case it does not).
We are also having the same problem using the Redshift renderer, but since that is a separate install (and license) I did not want to use that in my example.
I will see if I can reproduce the issue using the Scanline or Arnold renderers.
I am not sure I get the point of the screenshot by @MarcoA above. “Backburner” is highlighted, and Deadline has similar functionality as Backburner, so is that the point?
However, my test scene was using the ART renderer and apparently Autodesk claim that it does not support OCIO-based color management, so I made the same tests using the Scanline renderer with the same result:
In the Max app, color management makes a difference:
… and when rendering the same scenes via Deadline, it does not:
Same test scene but with Scanline renderer: ScanlineColorACES.zip (56.7 KB)
Deadline cmd is basiccly Backburner, and SMTD is backburner mode with some custum functionalities thks to the deadline pluggins that allow us more function…
So it’s not a deadline issue, but a know issue on max side, we discuss about this months ago on stack FB group and a another thread here…
Somehow you could have it working, perhaps, if lucky, if the renderer got ACESCg build in, like Vray, for it working you need to keep color managment as gamma 2.2 and use the renderer ACESCg option…
Some have it working using custum OCIO Env Variable, in 3DSMAX OCIO settings…
Up to 3dsMAX 2025, this is a know issue…let’s hope for a fix in max 2026 
…
Then I understand the situation. Thanks for the info @MarcoA!
3dsMAX 2026 is OUT , ACESCg will work on farm with 2026.
That is great news, thanks @MarcoA !
I assume we will have wait for an updated Deadline release that supports it first, right? For Max2025 that took quite a while…
I can’t tell Anything BUT…
check here : 3dsMax 2026 support - Deadline - AWS Thinkbox Discussion Forums
