Color space¶

The Designer is color-managed end-to-end. The output color space is chosen via Rendering > Color Space > …; the working space is fixed to Linear sRGB internally; OCIO transforms map between input textures, working space, and output.

Choose an output space¶

Space	Use for
sRGB	Web, social media, 8-bit screens; the default
Linear sRGB	VFX comp pipelines that color-grade downstream
ACEScg	Cinematic look-dev; matches feature-film pipelines
Rec.709	HD broadcast

For standalone skins, sRGB is the right call. For multi-stage pipelines that go on to a color grade, output Linear sRGB or ACEScg and apply the final transform downstream.

Working space¶

Internally the path tracer always works in Linear sRGB regardless of output. This is the right space for physical light calculations; gamma-encoded values produce incorrect lighting.

You do not need to opt into this; the Designer handles the conversions for you.

Input transforms¶

Textures imported into the Designer carry an implicit "space" based on their content:

Texture role	Default input space
Albedo / Diffuse / BaseColor	sRGB (will be linearized)
Normal map	Linear (raw RGB)
Roughness / Metalness / AO / Mask	Linear (single-channel)
HDR environment / IBL	Linear (already linear, never gamma-encoded)

Per-texture overrides are in the texture's Properties pane: Input Space. Useful when you have an albedo image that was mistakenly saved as Linear and needs to be re-tagged.

Custom OCIO configs¶

Preferences > Rendering > OCIO Config lets you point at an external config.ocio file. Useful when the production pipeline is using a specific OCIO config (ACES 1.3, AgX, etc.).

The Designer ships ACES 1.3 by default. Custom configs unlock additional output transforms that show up in the Rendering > Color Space menu.

Bit depth¶

The Designer renders internally at 32-bit float. Output bit depth matches the file format:

Format	Bit depth	Notes
PNG	8 or 16	sRGB encoded
JPG	8	sRGB encoded
EXR	16 (half) or 32 (float)	Linear (any of the spaces)
TIFF	8 / 16 / 32	Any space; OCIO embed available

For VFX work prefer EXR Linear; for delivery prefer PNG sRGB.

Color picker¶

Color pickers throughout the Designer (Channel Box, Properties pane, Hypershade) show colors in the working space's sRGB representation by default. Toggle the picker to OKLCH for perceptually-uniform color adjustments (the framework's themes use OKLCH math internally).

What happens at export¶

.esk bundles bundle the output color space in their manifest.json:

"color_space": "srgb"

The framework reads this on load_skin and configures its own renderer to match.