question for Ver 4.20, AI Denoiser?

function

in @rbtwhiz 's post Daz Studio Pro 4.20[.0.x] - NVIDIA IRAY , he mentioned this:

• Fixed regression that lead to unnecessary rendering restarts on some parameter changes (e.g. en/disabling the AI denoiser).

So what this AI denoiser is? Is this the Post Denoiser in the render settings?

If so, whose AI it is, Nvidia?  Is this Post Denoiser can provide same function as the Nvidia denoiser software which can be installed in Windows sololy? Then why many people using Nvidia denoiser separately, not in the DAZ3D together?

If not, what this AI denoiser is, and how to active it in DAZ?

AndrewJJP

It's under Render Settings.

Set "Post Denoiser Available" to "On", and then the other settings below appear. You also need to set it to be available. I would recommend setting the start iterations to something much higher than 8. I set it to 100,000, then reduce it during the render if I feel it’s needed. Some people would tell you not to use it, but I think it works well with a high starting iteration number.

I believe it's nVidia, yes. I’ve never used the Windows version, but it will probably be different as this runs during the render, not just at the end.

Matt_Castle

function said:

Then why many people using Nvidia denoiser separately, not in the DAZ3D together?

Various reasons:

- Because it's GPU only and takes VRAM to run, and while it should never cause a render to drop to CPU, the integrated version will shut off if there's not enough memory available. Running it separately avoids both processes needing VRAM at the same time
- The stand-alone version can be more up-to-date than the version implemented in DS, as the development cycle naturally lags.
- The stand-alone version is non-destructive. You can get both the noisy and denoised images, and layer them to affect the strength of the result. Personally, I think the denoisers are a bit aggressive, and often look better with a bit of the noisy version mixed back in.
- As a standalone tool, it can be fed albedo and normal passes to significantly improve its detail retention. I don't believe these functions are implemented in DS.
- And you don't have to use the Nvidia option as a standalone. I personally prefer the results from Intel's denoiser, but that's not integrated into DS.

AndrewJJP

Matt_Castle said:

function said:

Then why many people using Nvidia denoiser separately, not in the DAZ3D together?

Various reasons:

- Because it's GPU only and takes VRAM to run, and while it should never cause a render to drop to CPU, the integrated version will shut off if there's not enough memory available. Running it separately avoids both processes needing VRAM at the same time
- The stand-alone version can be more up-to-date than the version implemented in DS, as the development cycle naturally lags.
- The stand-alone version is non-destructive. You can get both the noisy and denoised images, and layer them to affect the strength of the result. Personally, I think the denoisers are a bit aggressive, and often look better with a bit of the noisy version mixed back in.
- As a standalone tool, it can be fed albedo and normal passes to significantly improve its detail retention. I don't believe these functions are implemented in DS.
- And you don't have to use the Nvidia option as a standalone. I personally prefer the results from Intel's denoiser, but that's not integrated into DS.

Thanks for this info. I never even knew it existed standalone. I shall look into the Intel too. 

The non-destructive nature is very appealing.

function

Thanks. 

So it confirmed the 'post denoiser' is an NVidia AI denoiser's DAZ Studio version?