Now, when it comes to tone mapping, we might wonder: if Khronos PBR Neutral gives us output sRGB colours that match the input sRGB base colours more faithfully, why not just use it and be done?

Well, here’s the thing: while Khronos indeed preserves colour fidelity (meaning the rendered colours closely match the original sRGB inpu), AgX still wins in terms of realism. The way AgX handles the gradient between light and shadow feels much closer to how light behaves in real life. Using Khronos alone can make it harder to achieve realistic-looking metals and glass.

In short:

• AgX gives more cinematic and realistic light behavior, but sacrifices some colour accuracy.

• Khronos preserves colour accuracy but can look flatter or more "CGI" in some cases.

Even when switching to the AgX Punchy look, you’re primarily adjusting contrast and not addressing the core limitation of AgX regarding colour fidelity. While the AgX view transform excels at tone mapping for cinematic purposes (managing highlight roll-off and shadow compression), it does so at the cost of accurate sRGB colour reproduction. In contrast, Khronos PBR Neutral prioritizes accurate colour matching, which is critical in product visualization and advertising, where colour precision is non-negotiable. 

In a direct comparison between the two, AgX tends to retain more subtle detail in metal reflections, whereas Khronos often clips highlights, leading to overexposed or less nuanced reflections. 

I created a total of 12 test renders, revisiting Blender’s default tone mappings - AgX, Khronos, Standard, and Filmic - and also developing some custom configurations. Some of these experiments did not achieve accurate colour reproduction, especially when trying to match brand colours (see Raw + Composition + DiffCol Mix 😬) .

To preserve Khronos-level colour fidelity and retain the natural light falloff similar to AgX, I found that working with the Raw tone mapping as a base was necessary. This gives you full control in the compositing phase, allowing you to correct colours manually without tone mapping interfering.

As you’ll see in the comparisons, most of the experiments successfully achieved the light falloff and shadow gradients similar to AgX. In the following sections, I’ll explain the node setups and techniques used to reach those results.

In this setup, I used the Raw view transform in the render settings, and then in the compositor, I added two “Convert Colorspace” nodes:

• from Linear Rec.709 > to AgX Base sRGB

• from Linear Rec.709 > to Khronos PBR Neutral sRGB

⚠️ But there’s a catch...

Using AgX Base sRGB (equivalent to AgX – None in the render settings) results in very flat contrast, especially in the black and shadow regions. The tones can appear dull or washed out, making the render feel unfinished.

This led to further experimentation to bring back the richness and visual punch we expect from an AgX render.

In terms of colour, both methods produced similar results.
However, when it comes to values, there was a noticeable difference:

• When exposure and gamma adjustments were applied before the AgX conversion, the light tones were better preserved, and the shadows gained more depth and punch.

• When applied after the conversion, the image looked overexposed in the highlights. 

This small tweak ended up being very powerful: it helped retain the realism and roll-off from AgX, while reinforcing the contrast needed for product visualization, especially in black and metallic surfaces.

In the end, we probably won’t escape some level of post-production and retouching. Especially when strict brand colour accuracy is required.

Even Khronos, for all its RGB precision, struggles to cover the full range of colours we see in print or real-world materials. Since it's RGB-based, it naturally struggles to replicate CMYK-like colour appearances, particularly in the more saturated or pastel ranges.

Still, this study feels like a step forward a way to bring creative flexibility and improved colour accuracy into product rendering workflows without sacrificing the natural realism we get from AgX.