Color Space Field Guide

Luma's HDR model, Ray3.14 HDR, is designed to integrate directly into professional VFX and film pipelines. That means one thing above all: clear, production-ready color specifications.

This article is split into two parts:

• Exact technical specs (what you need to plug into your pipeline)
• Context (why those specs matter and how to think about them)

Ray3.14 HDR Tech Specs (TL;DR)

If you only need the implementation details, here they are:

Model: Ray3.14 HDR

Primary output (video):

• Format: OpenEXR (.exr)
• Bit depth: 16-bit (half float)
• Compression: DWAB, quality 45
• Color space: ACES 2065-1 (AP0 primaries)
• Encoding: scene-referred linear

Key properties:

• Wide gamut
• HDR (no tone mapping, no display clipping)
• Suitable for ACES-based pipelines

Most AI-generated images and videos are designed to look good on a screen. Ray3.14 HDR is designed to hold up in a pipeline.

In VFX and filmmaking you're not just creating images, you're creating assets that need to survive compositing, grading, relighting, and delivery across formats. That comes down to: how much color and light information you actually have to work with.

Ray3.14 HDR generates outputs that behave like camera data, not finished images. You're not getting final pixels, you're getting a source asset with headroom.

The real limitation of most AI outputs

Most generative models today output:

• 8-bit images or compressed video
• Rec.709 / sRGB color space
• Display-referred imagery

In practice, that means:

• Highlights are clipped or baked in
• Colors are already compressed
• Very limited flexibility in post

They're optimized for final delivery, not intermediate assets.

Color gamut and dynamic range

Color gamut = the range of colors a format can represent

Dynamic range = the range of brightness a format can represent

Ray3.14 HDR sits at the high end of both.

Why ACES 2065-1

ACES 2065-1 is the standard interchange format of the ACES ecosystem, the canonical way to move high-end imagery between cameras, software, and facilities.

Where typical AI output sits in Rec.709 / sRGB (a small container), ACES 2065-1 sits at the other extreme. Its AP0 primaries form a container large enough to hold any current camera or display gamut without clipping.

Why deliver in it:

• Universal handoff format for any ACES-based pipeline
• Conversions to working spaces (ACEScg) and display spaces (Rec.709, P3, Rec.2020) are well-defined and stable

You can always map down to a smaller space. You cannot recover information that was never captured.

Dynamic range

Ray3.14 HDR is trained to generate true high-dynamic-range scene data, values that extend well above diffuse white, and the output is never tone-mapped or compressed to a display range.

That means:

• Highlights are not baked
• Shadows retain detail
• Exposure adjustments behave as they would on real footage

You can treat outputs like footage, not flattened renders.

What this unlocks

This enables:

• Direct ACES pipeline integration
• HDR delivery workflows

You are not adapting AI outputs into production. You are generating assets that already conform to it.

Key takeaway

By outputting 16-bit EXR in ACES 2065-1, Luma's Ray3.14 HDR model gives you the same flexibility as high-end camera pipelines so you can shape color and light after generation, not be limited by it.