0 noise renderings

[DIEGOFONSECA78]

Im using Arnold, and even tho that Im using a scene from 3Ds max (a Robot), when I render the scene with only 3 lights, there are noise in the background.

I set my lights in 16 samples to reduce Direct light noise, and then in Arnorld Rendering I set the specular to 6 to reduce the indirect light. Yet, there is always some noise in the darkest areas.

My question would be...I see 3D movies and the results are crisp, clean, and just sleak with no noise at all...can I get those results from Arnold? Or there are always going to be some noise (at least at the minimun) that I have to deal with in post production? 

[Diffus3d]

Noise is necessary in dark areas to prevent banding.  In many places they actually add noise back in in post so that there are no strange moire patterns.  It's also common to see in matte passes, especially in shadows.  I'm not sure going totally 'noise free' is going to make life easier if it's an animation.  If it's a still image you can just blur it out in post easily, more easily than tweaking your renderer for a while and waiting on longer frames.  It's common these days to use NVIDIA or other AI noise reducers rather than increase the sampling a lot.  

The quest for perfection is a pointless one in my opinion.   The field is all about 'good enough'.  Every decision is weighed on that premise.  I doubt that the movies you quote are as clean as you think they are.   Take this image for example.   His face has tons of detail but what is happening with those pants?  Post noise removal/add, that's what happened.  Look at the noise on his bow edges... yowzers!  But... looks good enough.  

Best Regards,

[ddzakrys]

Noise (though very little) is essential anywhere, media or static image alike. Without it bleeding colors and fringes on edges would be more noticeable and moiré patterns would start appearing on segmental objects from enough distance. When you look at "crisp clean" images you actually look at at least 1% noise at the cleanest areas. With todays AI technology (like Gigapixel Topaz for static images), they can easily remove or add noise as long as its not insane and the final product is clean enough. But even then they leave or even add noise purposely in post in needed parts for various reasons. If you talk about animated movies from like DreamWorks then to simply put... they have a lot of resources and at the very worst anyone can use CloudRendering services but other than that, 1% noise is ideal and really the best you can get as any lower than that is pointless (you would barely see difference between 2% and something like 0.1%)