Arnold - 4.2.1.1 optix denoise

[DigiFX]

Hello,

I updated to mtoa 4.2.1.1 and found that the optix denoise is missing from the usual tab. I did find it in the new imager area, but it notes that denoise can only work for exr. I've been using denoise with optix to output tiff files for a long time now... is this no longer possible? I really don't want to have to implement exr workflow as the files are huge when rendering out sequences. 

See below for image where optix used to be. Its no longer there. 

[Stephen.Blair]

The Arnold Denoiser works on EXR files. 
Optix denoiser works on other file formats.

[DigiFX]

Yes, that I understand, but it's not the problem I'm having.

I can't seem to output tif files with Optix Denoise in 4.2.1.1 as the denoiser option has either moved or completely gone. You can see in my reference image that it is in 4.1.1.1 which I rolled back to in order to render out tif files with Optix Denoise. My team depends on this denoiser to render out within reasonable time frames, so just looking for some help on how to do it or if it's at all possible in 4.2.1.1? I do like the new features in 4.2.1.1 and would love to use them, but will have to stick to 4.1.1.1 until we can figure this out.

As a note, we do have nvidea capable cards for the optix denoise (2080)

See below for comparison of mtoa v 4.1.1.1 with optix denoiser and 4.2.1.1 without

[DigiFX]

oh, its seems as of 4.2 that the feature was removed and can only be used via imagers now. I'll play around with it later and see if I can get it working. 

[Stephen.Blair]

It works. You can add an Optix denoiser imager either in the Render Settings (Arnold Renderer tab, Imagers section) or in the Arnold Render View.

[andreas.olofsson]

But how do we output the denoised AOVs? I can see the denoised versions in the Arnold render view after adding the Optix imager but when I try to render a sequence it only outputs the noisy AOVs.

[Stephen.Blair]

Render Current Frame and Render Sequence won't work, you won't get the denoised AOVs. That's because of a known issue, which will be fixed in a future update.

For now, if possible (eg you have an Arnold subscription), you'll have to use batch render.

[andreas.olofsson]

Okay, thank you for the information! Not a fan of subscriptions personally, having Maya ticking every month is enough. I'll go back to Maya 2019 in wait for an Optix update since it's a pretty crucial part of my workflow (which probably could use a revision too)

[Anonymous]

Hey, when u add optix denoiser in (imagers), go to it's attributes and name something in (output suffix). Hope It will works.

[DigiFX]

Hi All,

I've circled back to this topic and wondered if this issue has been resolved? 

Again, the issue is that we want to render out custom AOV's such as an AO pass with the OptixDenoiser for animation sequences using render > render sequence. 

We can still use this feature in arnold 4.1.1.1, but all the new Arnold versions seem to have removed this feature with imagers being the replacement. 

The new work flow is to use imagers. For the life of me a cannot get the OptixDenoiser imager to apply to any AOV's, even when using exr output which I would prefer to avoid. 

I've followed online tutorails and can't get this working. I CAN get the denoiser to apply to my beauty pass though. 

Any help or workflows apprecaited! 

[andreas.olofsson]

Bumping for an answer to this problem