[4.2.2.20] noice doesn't works at all.

[RGhost77]

Can someone confirm that Noice denoiser doesn't work in 4.2.2.20 MAXtoA?

Steps to Reproduce:
1. render any scene with "Output Denoising AOVs" (save to .exr using Render Output )
2. Use "image"_Noice_Input.exr with Arnold Denoiser (noice.exe also doesn't works)

Denoise not applied in output denoiser image.

p.s. I already submit bug report (DEFECT-3719) through 3ds Max beta.

[Stephen.Blair]

I tested the release version MAXtoA 4.2.2.20 and the denoiser works.

Is there an error in the log? Or is there no error and the log shows that the denoiser works, but there's something wrong the output exr?

The beta is for reporting issues with the beta build. I did not test the beta builds.

[Stephen.Blair]

Ok, I'm guessing you mean the output of noice = the input ?
Testing now...

[RGhost77]

Log shows no error, but final image doesn't have denoised result.

-- denoiser log: ---
Denoising G:/temp/!vray2arno/aa_Noice_Input.exr to G:/temp/!vray2arno/aa_denoise.exr


"c:\programdata\autodesk\applicationplugins\maxtoa_2022\noice.exe" -i "G:/temp/!vray2arno/aa_Noice_Input.exr" -o "G:/temp/!vray2arno/aa_denoise.exr" -v 0.5 -sr 9 -pr 3

noice 6.2.0.0.beta25 [a11d841a] - the Arnold denoiser
Using 16 threads.
Loading images...
Loading file "G:/temp/!vray2arno/aa_Noice_Input.exr".
Using feature AOV 'denoise_albedo' with filter 'gaussian_filter'
Using feature AOV 'N' with filter 'gaussian_filter'
Using feature AOV 'Z' with filter 'gaussian_filter'
Working with 1 frame at 800x600
Will denoise AOV "RGBA", using associated variance
Output file will be "G:/temp/!vray2arno/aa_denoise.exr"
Start denoising (patch radius 3, search radius 9, variance 0.5)
Denoising RGBA
Finished denoising
Saving image G:/temp/!vray2arno/aa_denoise.exr (800 x 600 x 4)
-----------------------
Denoising complete.
-------------

Also I attach images (input and output). https://www.dropbox.com/s/413sc9ypurzsrqc/aa.zip?dl=0

P.S. MAXtoA 4.3 beta has the same problem.

[Stephen.Blair]

Using a scene from our test suite, I get a denoised result.

Using other quick test scenes, there was a difference, but the denoising wasn't obvious to my eye, I had to do a diff

I didn't have a chance to look at your files yet (it's still early here in Montreal)

[Stephen.Blair]

noice works, but there's only so much it can do with that [not-so-noisy] image.

Here's the diff in Nuke, where I had to bump up the gain and gamma to really see it:

Even with -v 0.000001 -pr 6 -sr 21 there's not much of a difference between the original and the denoised.

[RGhost77]

I see, but it seems strange that denoised image looks much more the same as noise. I checked Arnold documentation and doesn't find any big changes in noice denoiser in last versions.

I ported back to old version of 3ds Max this scene and rendered test with 3.2.66 MAXtoA and achieved good denoise result.
Take a look (old version doesn't have Imagers so image exposure corrected in Photoshop):

Right side - input, left side denoised with default values.

Here the .exr files from 3.2.66 :https://www.dropbox.com/s/el230mg34t656qa/aa3.2.66.zip?dl=0

[RGhost77]

Problem in Imagers. If disable it, noice works as expected. I think Imagers dramatically change RGB image so stored variance data is not valid for it.

So the question, Imagers would be supported by denoisers or not?

[Stephen.Blair]

@Mike Samoylov What imagers do you have in the scene?

[RGhost77]

Exposure and Tonemap

[pproestos]

I didn't saw this thread, and I have post again the issue

that as I understand noice.exe don't work with imagers.

That's sad. What are we going to do now?

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