Archive translation. Specifications, services and availability reflect the original publication date in 2021. Verify current compatibility before production use.
In brief: Autodesk released Arnold 7.0 with Open Image Denoise support, an expanded post-processing framework, lower GPU memory use, broader USD workflows and ACEScg as the default rendering colour space.
Denoising: Intel Open Image Denoise joined Arnold’s CPU denoiser and NVIDIA’s OptiX GPU denoiser. OIDN and OptiX could use the new denoise_albedo_noisy AOV, which retained additional reflection information to improve denoising.
Post processing: Imager Color Curves provided separate controls for RGB channels and luminance. The tone-mapping imager gained a LUT mode for look application.
GPU memory: Autodesk claimed up to 33 percent less GPU memory use for heavily subdivided polygon scenes compared with Arnold 6.2.1. NanoVDB support for OpenVDB volumes was said to reduce memory use by a further 50 to 60 percent in applicable cases. These figures were vendor estimates.
USD and MaterialX: Arnold added deep AOVs, light linking and MaterialX 1.38 support. AOVs could be written as multipart EXR files or a single AOV could be rendered to multiple formats. MaterialX documents used nodes and inputs rather than the earlier ShaderRef and parameter representation.
Autodesk documented the release in the Arnold 7 release notes. Digital Production’s archive also covers Arnold 6.0.4, Arnold 6.1 and Arnold 6.2.
Amplified Rendering Performance in Arnold
Watch the overview
Benchmark memory use, denoising, colour management and AOV output before production deployment.
