AccuRender Studio with Denoiser

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

I've just implemented Intel's denoising library in AccuRender Studio. I think the results are very exciting.  Most models seem to be something like 4-10 times faster(!).  I'm pretty darn sure this makes AccuRender Studio faster than the original Standard Engine, with much better results and much less monkeying around (no daylight sources, reflective shaders, etc.)

The Intel Open Image Denoise, unlike nVidia Optix (which I had previously implemented), does not require a specific GPU.  It runs on modern Intel CPUs and seems to be equally fast and perhaps a little better in quality.

You can get it on the Download->AccuRender Studio page.  Please note that I have changed the names of the AutoCAD plugins, so early adopters will have to repeat the netload command step.

*******

A couple of examples, courtesy of Peter Milner's models.  Click on them to see them full size.

I do have a relatively fast 16 core machine, however, this one ran for one minute(!):

This one ran for five minutes-- it's got a ways to go but this level of completion would have been hours and hours before.

More to come.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Let the first one run during breakfast.  At 1hour 16 or so:

Without denoising:

[George Ioannidis]

Impressive results Roy! Does this feature "wipes" some texture and reflections details? Luxcore and Cycles (and other rendering engines as well) have this feature for some time now, but if used with less (say 200-300) passes it blurs noticeably some details. On the other hand, it speeds up the whole process drastically. nXt seems to be returning to my sphere of interest, I am definitely following the nXt denoising development hereafter. Good job!

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

It's not perfect, it can blur detail and it does improve with more rendering time.  It also isn't mine, it's Intel's, so many other products will have it.

It is, however, revolutionary.  It makes this type of physically-based rendering much more practical for many applications, including things like CGI movies (Intel used this on the Moana set with very good results.)

Give it a try when you get a few minutes free and let me know what you think.  I'm finishing up the details for saving HDR denoised images-- otherwise the version that's out there is functional.

[Peter Milner]

Does this need a new version of ArFarm to work with it?

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Yes, I don't have plans to do denoising for the current product. 

ArStudio does come with a farm.  You would want to install it on each farm node and run the ArFarmNode.exe.  In this case, denoising will happen in the new image editor when you combine the results of the nodes.

I would try it interactively first, and see what you think.  There are instructions on the download page about how to get legacy data (materials, lights, etc.) included.

[George Ioannidis]

Great! Roy, does that mean, that to benefit from this feature one should have strictly Nvidia GPU? I reckon AMD GPUs cannot run this technology...

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

No GPU is required.  AMD CPUs will work fine.  SSE 4.1 is required, but that should be present on all but the oldest machines.

[Zdravko Todorovic]

I have a license for AR NXT v. 1.0.349.
I have not used it for many years. Mr. Roy, if nothing prevents you from creating a plugin for the good old AutoCad 2008 (works exclusively on wim. 10 pro 64bt.)

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Unfortunately, Acad 2013 is currently as far back as I can reasonably go.  Many factors, including technology, prevent going back further.

The download comes with a Rhino 6 plugin.

AccuRender Studio when run as a standalone can read Sketchup files and some other formats.

[Zdravko Todorovic]

Can I run this application with ProgeCAD 2019

http://www.progesoft.com/en/products/progecad-professional/

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Not as a plugin, no.

[Jonathan Jonas]

That's too bad.  I'm still sitting on 2012 here.  Rhino is about as old as well.  Neither will be updated anytime soon I figure.

As for the standalone, can it read DWG files?  If so, that would be great.

Also, since more and more firms are running LT due to the costs of a full seat, will it run under that? Assume not since LT doesn't like most programming languages.