Change color management to prevent error on legacy content

[Craig_Lamorte]

hi,

in maya 2022 we are getting color management errors when we open up a scene from one of our assets saved in 2020.  After the error it automatically sets the color management to sRGB gamma legacy, and all the options are now legacy.  We have a ton of assets that were saved in older versions of maya, and I don't want this error showing up every time an artist opens an asset.  Is there a way to fix the old assets so this error doesn't show up, or for a way in code to force it to the legacy color option.

[118143]

Hi Craig,

Thank you for reporting the problem.

But, I cannot reproduce the problem so I need some information. Could you attach a problematic scene (or a subset of the scene)?

Maya 2022 now has two modes for the Color Management. The legacy mode (i.e. synColor) which is used by Maya 2020 and older and the new OpenColorIO version 2 (i.e. OCIOv2) which is now the default mode starting with Maya 2022. So any scene creation automatically switches to the OCIOv2 mode. For backward compatibility loading a Maya 2020 scene also switches in the OCIOv2 mode using a dedicated 'legacy' OCIO config file. For example, loading a Maya 2020 scene in Maya 2022 converts the legacy synColor mode to the OCIOv2 mode using a dedicated config file (i.e. <MAYA_RESOURCES>/OCIO-configs/Maya-legacy/config.ocio) to map all the legacy color spaces. It explains the new view transform names.

To avoid the error window opening, you can set the env. variable MAYA_CM_DISABLE_ERROR_POPUPS in the console before starting Maya. The error message will then only be reported on the console.

In Maya 2022, you can also switch back to the synColor mode for your legacy scenes. To do so, you only need to set the env variable MAYA_COLOR_MANAGEMENT_SYNCOLOR in a console before starting Maya.

It that's possible in your context, the long-term solution is to save the legacy scenes you need to rework using Maya 2022 so they are automatically switched to the OCIOv2 mode.

Patrick 

[Craig_Lamorte]

here is an asset that is giving the error the first time i open a scene

[Craig_Lamorte]

Ok I added that env variable to my maya.env and it now disabled the error message. it still switches color management to legacy on first scene open, but as long as it doesn't do that error popup.  btw this is what it said the console

# Error: line 0: The view transform is invalid: ACES 1.0 SDR-video (sRGB) #
# Error: line 0: The view transform is invalid: ACES 1.0 SDR-video (sRGB) #
# Error: file: C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2022/scripts/others/createColorManagementSection.mel line 100: Item not found: ACES 1.0 SDR-video (sRGB) #

[118143]

Thanks for the console output and the scene.

Please note that the behaviour when loading a pre Maya 2022 scene file, is to switch from the legacy color management to the new one (i.e. OCIOV2 mode). In order to provide a full backward compatibility, the OCIOv2 mode provides a dedicated config file explaining the switch to <MAYA_RESOURCES>/OCIO-configs/Maya-legacy/config.ocio and color space name slight changes.

[118143 · Accepted solution]

We did reproduce the problem, and it has already been fixed internally. It will be part of the next update release.

[Anonymous]

Hi Craig,

Please rename your Maya2022-default to Maya2022-default_backup  and copy your OCIO folder(used in Maya 2020) and rename to Maya2022-default.

Restart your Maya 2022. Color management issue will resolved. You can find the Maya2022-default folder in the below path

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2022\resources\OCIO-configs

Thanks,

Manivannan

[118143]

Hi Manivannan,

I would *not* recommend to manipulate the Maya OCIO config files. These files are critical for running Maya 2022. On the other hand, Maya 2020 exclusively runs in synColor mode so these files are not present in a Maya 2020 (or older) installation.

Note:
If someone would like to use a custom OCIO config file, he/she can change the OCIO Config file from the Color Management Preferences in Maya -- or -- set the env. variable OCIO to point to an OCIO config file before starting Maya.

The problem explained above is an unfortunate bad transition state when loading a Maya scene file with on older version (e.g. Maya 2020 scene file). But the end state should be the right one or easy to fix using the Maya Color Management Preferences.

Please let me know if I misunderstood something or if you have questions.

Patrick

[Anonymous]

Hi Patric,

You are absolutely right, it's not recommended .Tried setting a custom OCIO
file from preference, then opened the older file that worked in maya 2020,
It showed the same error as the original post.

Then I tried setting a custom OCIO file from preference. Once Maya restarts
color management automatically switches to the default one. Tried multiple
times but not worked.

Then tried around multiple ways and this way worked out without any issue.
This is just a quick fix to run a file/project and not a permanent solution.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Manivannan

[Anonymous]

Hi there, 

I am getting the same error message when loading a scene to Maya 2022. 

But I am unsure of how to do the solution below; could you instruct step by step how to set  the env. variable etc., to fix the problem. Thank you so much, Bec

To avoid the error window opening, you can set the env. variable MAYA_CM_DISABLE_ERROR_POPUPS in the console before starting Maya. The error message will then only be reported on the console.

In Maya 2022, you can also switch back to the synColor mode for your legacy scenes. To do so, you only need to set the env variable MAYA_COLOR_MANAGEMENT_SYNCOLOR in a console before starting Maya.

[Craig_Lamorte]

under your documents/maya/2022 folder edit maya.env in notepad and paste - MAYA_CM_DISABLE_ERROR_POPUPS=1

that will stop the error popups

[Anonymous]

Thank you! It worked 🙂

[townsendkenzie]

Is there a way to switch back to the older OCIO version in a file on Maya 2025. I have an old shader I like using right now.