OpenColorIO Quick Start

This page guides you through getting started with OpenColorIO in Unreal Engine (UE). It shows how to create an OpenColor Configuration Asset from your OCIO configuration file, and apply color transformations in Unreal Editor's Viewport.

Prerequisites

You must enable the OpenColorIO plugin to use OpenColorIO (OCIO) in UE. Refer to Working with Plugins for how to enable plugins in UE.

The OpenColorIO plugin is automatically enabled by UE when you create a new project.

Importing OCIO Config Files

You can import your OCIO configuration (.ocio) file into your project's Content folder shown in the Content Browser.

UE may display a warning when copying your config file directly into the Content folder. One such warning is that it does not recognize the .ocio file extension. If this happens, copy your OCIO config file into your project's Content folder using your computer's file explorer.

Example OCIO Config File

If you don't have your own .ocio configuration file, you can download and use the ACES OCIO config files from GitHub, or you can use the example .ocio config file simple.config.ocio and lookup tables (LUTs) included with the OpenColorIO plugin. This example config file is located in your engine install folder under Engine\Plugins\Compositing\OpenColorIO\Content\OCIO.

Browsing to the OpenColorIO plugin's contents in the Content Browser does not show these files since the Content Browser only shows .uasset files. Use your computer's file explorer to browse to the files.

Create an OCIO Configuration Asset

Follow these steps to create an OCIO Configuration Asset from your OCIO configuration file. This example uses the simple.config.ocio configuration file included in the OpenColorIO plugin.

1. In the Content Browser, right-click to open the context menu and select Miscellaneous > OpenColorIO Configuration to create an OCIO Configuration Asset. Rename the Asset.
   

1. Double-click your OCIO Configuration Asset to edit its settings. In this example, the Asset is named OCIO_Example.
   

1. For the Configuration File parameter, click Browse to locate and select an OCIO configuration (.ocio) file on your computer.
   

1. For the Desired Color Spaces parameter, click Add (+) to add a new color space entry.
   

1. In the new entry, open the drop-down list and select one of the color spaces defined in the config file that you want to use in UE.
   

1. Repeat the last two steps for each color profile you want to use, then Save your Asset. Only set up the color profiles you actually need to use in UE. This helps your configuration Asset remain as lightweight as possible.
   

Your OpenColorIO Configuration Asset is now set up so you can use it to apply color transformations to different systems in the engine.

Configure the OpenColorIO Configuration Asset

While the method to set up color conversions for systems in UE may be different, the color conversion settings with OpenColorIO are the same. You'll need to specify which OpenColorIO Configuration Asset to use, and the source and destination color spaces:

• Configuration Source: The OpenColorIO Configuration Asset you're using.

• Source Color Space: The input color space you want to convert from.

• Destination Color Space: The output color space you want to convert to.

• Destination Display View: The display view that you want to convert colors in