Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 3, 2018. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
With the latest updates, several developers have now integrated the Nvidia OptiX AI Denoising framework. This is intended to greatly accelerate render times through AI-based noise reduction. Alongside Isotropix, Chaos Group (V-Ray), Cebas (finalRender) and Redshift, among others, are working with Nvidia on this. Here is an overview of the current status of the integration in the individual software tools.
Clarisse 3.6
Since the 3.6 SP1 update, Isotropix has added the framework to Clarisse for realtime previews and as a post-process.
- Realtime denoising enables faster previews in the 3D view.
- Final render denoising can now be used as a post-process.
- CDenoise Tool is an additional command-line tool. It also allows you to use AI denoising on render farms that are not equipped only with Nvidia graphics cards.
Availability: Clarisse 3.6 SP1 is now available as an update for Clarisse customers. Further information about the update on the Isotropix website.
Cebas finalRender
In the finalRender Drop 1 release, Cebas Visual Technology officially added support for the AI denoising features. According to the developer, the Nvidia Denoiser and adaptive sampling result in render times that are up to 20 x faster. More about that is available here.
Availability: FinalRender can be purchased for 3ds Max under the subscription model; the Drop 1 release is automatically included. In addition, you can test the renderer in a free trial version. Further information on the Cebas website.
Chaos Group V-Ray Next
The next major release of V-Ray is just around the corner: V-Ray Next promises faster GPU rendering, new lighting analysis, Alembic workflows, GPU volume rendering and more! Nvidia’s AI Denoiser is also among them, and you can already test it in the beta. The AI Denoiser has been included since Beta 2. You can find more about the integration here.
Availability: V-Ray Next is available here in the third beta for 3ds Max. Any Max user with a V-Ray 3.x version can participate free of charge. An SSE 4.2-compatible processor is also required.
Redshift
Nvidia OptiX Denoising has also been included in Redshift since 2.6.04 as an “Experimental Build”, including IPR preview and baking features. Before releasing it as an official Customer Build, the developers are publishing further updates – including better trained data for OptiX and performance improvements.
Availability: The latest 2.6.05 version with AI denoising is available here for Redshift users of Maya, 3ds Max, C4D and Houdini.
