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Scene-linear EXR, ACES, and OCIO: handoff checklist for Autograph-adjacent compositing

Published 2026-06-27 · Checked 2026-06-27

This page is a compact handoff note for artists moving rendered passes, plates, or motion-design composites between Autograph and the wider VFX pipeline. It is not a claim that Autograph is an ACES-first finishing system. It is a reminder of the questions to answer before trusting EXR passes, OCIO looks, or display transforms across applications.

Why this belongs in the Autograph wiki

Autograph is now being evaluated as a compositing and motion-design host, and public tutorial material already shows EXR passes, depth-based fog, grading, and OCIO Look Transform work inside Autograph. That makes color and file-format discipline relevant even when the page is not about a specific Autograph release.

Terms to keep separate

OpenEXR
A professional image-storage format for high-dynamic-range, scene-linear image data. It supports multi-part, multi-channel images and metadata, which is why it is common in rendering, compositing, deep compositing, and DI.
Scene-linear
Pixel values represent scene light in a linear relationship rather than display-ready values. Scene-linear files usually need explicit viewing transforms before they look correct on a monitor.
ACES
A color-management system and set of encodings intended to keep color more consistent across capture, VFX, grading, mastering, delivery, archiving, and remastering. In practice, productions still need to name the exact ACES version, working space, and view/output transform.
OCIO
OpenColorIO is a color-management framework used across many VFX and animation applications. A project may use OCIO without using ACES, or use an OCIO config that implements ACES views.

Minimum handoff checklist

  1. Confirm whether incoming EXR files are scene-linear, log, display-referred, or already baked with a look.
  2. Record the intended color space for every EXR layer or pass, especially beauty, utility, matte, depth, normal, motion-vector, and crypto-style passes.
  3. Keep utility data out of display transforms. Depth, normals, position, motion vectors, and mattes are data, not pictures.
  4. Confirm the OCIO config file and version used by the project. Do not assume two machines with "ACES" selected are using the same config or view.
  5. Write down the display/view transform used for artist review, client review, and final render. Those may not be the same thing.
  6. When moving between Autograph, Nuke, Resolve/Fusion, Blender, After Effects, or Flame, test one short shot with a gray card, saturated color, bright highlight, alpha edge, and depth/fog behavior before committing a sequence.
  7. Export a diagnostic still before and after the handoff. A visible match is not enough; check values on neutral gray, highlight rolloff, alpha edges, and any utility pass used by effects.

Common failure modes

Autograph-specific read

For Autograph, the practical question is not "does it support the right buzzwords?" The useful test is whether a project can round-trip a small EXR/OCIO example with predictable values, predictable alpha, and predictable view transforms. A tutorial can prove that a workflow is possible; it does not prove that a studio pipeline is safe without local tests.

Sources checked

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