Khronos vs. ACES Tone Mapper
What’s a tone mapper? A tone mapper adjusts the brightness and colors in a game to make it look good on different screens. It helps ensure bright and dark areas are clear and detailed, without being too washed out or too dark.
For ages, we have been using the ACES tone mapper in Second Life, but then suddenly, Second Life introduced the Khronos tone mapper, which I have been told is better for video games. I’ve seen various tone mapper options in the Alchemy viewer before, but I decided to venture back into the latest Firestorm beta viewer to see how everything appeared with Khronos.
First impressions: it’s brighter. I think it’s nice, but if you choose to switch to Khronos, be aware that you may need to adjust some or all of your EEP settings.
I suppose I’m making the switch, so going forward, all of my EEPs will be created for Khronos unless I am using the Alchemy viewer, which has not yet integrated this new tone map.
It’s worth noting that Khronos does not fix the issues with broken Second Life PBR water or skies, but the skies are slightly better. The water still has a long way to go before it’s good.
To change your tone mapper
Firestorm Beta 7.1.12
Graphics -> Rendering -> Tone Mapper: Select Khronos Neutral
Second Life Viewer
Graphics -> Advanced Graphics Settings -> Tone Mapper: Khronos Neutral
Leave Tone Mapping Mix at 0.7, I have no idea what that does.
I’m also a fan of the new SMAA antialiasing, try it out!
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