Keyshot v14.0.1.2 [4.13.1]
MacBook PRO / macOS Sequoia 15.5
I am having an odd and frustrating issue at the moment. Suddenly, Keyshot is treating the Value scale for color completely differently. For example, if I load a default or custom material with a gray value that was saved at 11%, it will now show as 1%. A gray value of 5% will now show as 0%. 25% is now 6%. If I move the 1% value back to 11%, I get a medium gray instead of nearly black.
All existing scenes exhibit this discrepancy, and a new scene confirms the same. I have toggled “Compensate for Image Gamma when applying Library Colors” back and forth in both existing and new scenes. I have restarted Keyshot, my MacBook Pro—Nothing.
Check out the color picker from Keyshot vs. Photoshop, and you will see a significant difference between my Keyshot’s current 25% gray and Photoshop’s 25% gray. Until today/yesterday(?), they have both matched as expected.
This is a show stopper for me as I have lost all adjustability I used to have between 0% and around 15%. I am wondering if anyone has encountered this or has thoughts.
OK. If I delete preferences (/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.luxion.KeyShot.plist) there is no change.
If I delete settings (/Library/Application Support/KeyShot Studio/KSSettings.xml) the color issue is resolved. BUT, all settings are reset—render paths, recent files, color management, render settings, UI settings—far from ideal.
Hoping someone might have an idea of what actually caused this so don’t have to set Keyshot up again.
The issue with not being able to get low values in the color thing in KS started with 2024.3 I think. And it’s still the same. My mouse is pretty fast and I’m already happy if I’m able to pick something like 20/20/20 and gave up a bit so now I just type values.
Since it’s an xml file, can’t you just copy most of your old xml file in the newly generated one? So replacing the default lines with the paths etc?
Interesting, I have not encountered this before. I wonder if the issue I encountered is the same, though, because an 11% gray value in a material was now showing as 1% but had the same appearance. When I would move the value slider back up to 11% I was getting into dark-medium grays, not “blacks.” In another material, Keyshot was interpreting what used to be 25% as 6%. So odd.
I had not thought of trying to copy most of my old .xml file over. I’ll have to open it in an editor to have a look. Thanks for that!
[Solution] Deleting the settings file did do the trick and I’ll call that semi-solved for now. I would like to understand what caused it—how did the settings get “corrupted?”
I’ve done some more digging, and I hope this can shed some light for the devs.
I examined the code block for “color” in the .xml file and compared the “corrupt” version with a newly-generated version. I noticed two additional lines of code in the “corrupt” version:
<enable_color_management bool="true" /> (this is the only line present in a fresh settings file)
<enable_gamma_correction_input bool="false" />
<enable_library_colors_gamma_correction bool="true"/>
The third line, I think, I can assume is related to the Color Management dialog checkbox (pictured below). The second line? Not sure.
So, I deleted the second line and ran Keyshot. Interestingly enough, the Value slider was working as expected. Check the screenshots below from the “corrupt” .xml file, which includes all three lines of code under the “color” block—the displayed gray is incorrect (too light). Then check the screenshots with the unknown line of code removed. I’m not sure where in the Keyshot UI one would find the option to affect that second line of code.
As one more bit of information, if I leave that second, unknown line of code in but change <enable_gamma_correction_input bool=“false” /> to true, the Value slider works correctly as well.
I have no idea what this feature is, how it got changed in the first place, or where in the UI to change it now.
Nice research Dan! I’m maybe the gamma value has something to do with the difference between Apple and PC with the default gamma, would be interesting to know.
