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The V-Ray installation with 3ds Max, Maya, and MODO includes a standalone denoising tool called vdenoise that can be used to denoise still images or animations outside of the V-Ray host application. This is especially useful for animations because the standalone tool can look at multiple frames at once and produce a better denoising result.

The vdenoise tool runs from the command promptis both a command-line utility and a GUI application. It works with either .vrimg or multichannel OpenEXR files and writes out files with the same format.

The vdenoise tool requires certain render elements in order to work correctly. These render elements can be generated easily with the VRayDenoiser Render Element.

 

Location

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To open a command prompt in the folder where the vdenoise tool is located, use go to Start Menu > Programs > Chaos Group > [Host Application] > Tools > Denoiser tool. This opens a up the vdenoise GUI along with its associated command prompt window, navigates to the folder where vdenoise is located, and runs the command vdenoise -help to give a full list of vdenoise options. Here you may type the desired command into the command prompt window. If you prefer not to use the vdenoise GUI, you can navigate to the vdenoise executable through any command-line interface and run it with one of the possible commands listed below.

The folder to which the Denoiser Tool ordinarily navigates is navigates to, by default, is: C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\[host_application]/tools or C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\[host_application]/bins, depending on the platform being used.

 

  • Atmosphere (named atmosphere or VRayAtmosphere)
  • Background (named background or VRayBackground)
  • Global Illumination (named globalIllumination or VRayGlobalIllumination)
  • Lighting (named lighting or VRayLighting)
  • Reflection (named reflection or VRayReflection)
  • Refraction (named refraction or VRayRefraction)
    • Specular (named specular or VRaySpecular)

    For example, if the images in the sequence are named anim_0001.exr, anim_0002.exr, etc., the question mark (?) replaces the digits in the sequence's file names. In this case -  anim_????.exr

    Specify Frame Interval – When enabled, specifies which frames to process.

    Start – Specifies the start frame.

    End – Specifies the end frame.

    By – Specifies the frame increment step.

    Blend Frames – Specifies the number of adjacent frames to use when denoising animations. This reduces flickering between adjacent frames.

    Skip existing frames – When enabled, skips an input image if an output image with the corresponding file name already exists.

    Select denoise elements – Opens the Select denoise elements dialog that allows selecting which color elements to denoise.

    Preset – Selects a preset for the strength of the denoiser.

    Strength – Specifies the strength when Preset is set to custom. Large values remove noise more effectively but may blur the image too much. The default value 1.0 uses the noise level render element as it is.

    Radius – Specifies the pixel radius for denoising when Preset is set to custom. Large values slow down the denoiser, but may produce smoother results.

    Threshold – Specifies threshold for denoising when the noise levels render element is missing. Typically, this is equal to the noise threshold for anti-aliasing in V-Ray.

    Boost – Boosts the effect of the selected preset.

    Hardware acceleration – When enabled, the denoiser will attempt to use all suitable OpenCL (GPU) devices, and fall back to the CPU if unsuccessful.

    GPU Memory Limit (MB) – Sets a maximum GPU memory usage limit when Hardware acceleration is enabled. The default 0 uses all available memory.

    Verbosity – Specifies the type of information that will be printed upon denoising.

    Display Progress – When enabled, the denoising result will be displayed in a preview window.

    Auto-Close – Automatically closes the preview window after the denoising is complete.

    Save config – Saves the current denoise configuration into an .xml file.

    Load config – Loads a previously saved .xml denoiser configuration.

    Denoise – Denoises the selected frame(s).

     

    Command Line Usage

    The denoiser can also be used as a command-line utility without GUI display. Simply run the executable with one of the following commands to denoise an image or a sequence of images from within your command-line interface. You can also change the settings and behavior of the denoiser through CLI. To do so, please refer to the Denoiser Options tables below for a list of all available options.

     

    Denoising Still Images

    To denoise a single .vrimg or .exr image, use the following format for the command:

    vdenoise -inputFile="path\to\image.ext"

    where path\to\image.ext is the path and file name of the .vrimg or .exr file that you want to denoise.

    For example, if the file you want to denoise is called render.exr and is located in the folder c:\renderoutput, the full command will be

    vdenoise -inputFile="c:\renderoutput\render.exr"

     

    Denoising Animations

    To denoise a sequence of images, you must have all frames already rendered, as the denoiser needs to look at several frames at the same time. Use the following format for the command:

    vdenoise -inputFile="path\to\sequence_????.ext"

    where the question mark (?) replaces the digits in the sequence's file names.

    For example, if the images in the sequence are named anim_0001.exr, anim_0002.exr, etc. and are located in the folder c:\renderoutput, the full command will be

    vdenoise -inputFile="c:\renderoutput\anim_????.exr"

    Denoiser Options

    You can control the denoiser through optional switches on the command line. To list all available options in the command prompt window, run the denoiser without any arguments (vdenoise command) or use the -help switch:

    vdenoise -help

    The table below shows the optional switches, which are also displayed by the vdenoise -help command. To use a switch, precede the switch with a hyphen (-) and follow it with an equals sign (=) and the desired parameter, as shown in the table.

     

    Excerpt

    Required Render Elements

    The required render elements are listed below. Add the VRayDenoiser or Denoiser Render Element to your scene to generate the necessary render elements automatically.The standalone denoiser will still run when some or all of these render elements are missing, but results might be too blurry.

    For single pass RGB denoising:

    Fancy Bullets
    typecircle
    • Noise level (named noiseLevel) - The denoiser relies heavily on this render element to provide information used during the denoising operation.
    • Defocus amount (named defocusAmount)
    • World positions (named worldPositions or wpp)
    • World normals with bump mapping (named worldNormals)
    • Diffuse filter (named diffuseFilter or VRayDiffuseFilter)
    • Reflection filter (named reflectionFilter or VRayReflectionFilter)
    • Refraction filter (named refractionFilter or VRayRefractionFilter)


    GUI Usage

    Running vdenoise without any parameters, or from the Start Menu on Windows, will open the GUI version of the tool. This allows you to denoise still images or animations; as well as save and load preferred denoise configurations.

    Image Added


    Input File... – Specifies the .vrimg/.exr image or sequence of images to denoise. Wildcards (?) can be used to define a sequence. 

    Additional render elements for multipass per-render elements denoising:

    Fancy Bullets
    typecircle
    SwitchDescription
    -inputFile="<fileName.ext>"

    Specifies the input . vrimg or .exr file. Can contain paths and wildcards such as a question mark (?) to indicate digits in file names. Examples:

    vdenoise -inputFile="c:\renderoutput\render.exr" - Denoise a single image named render.exr located in the c:\renderoutput folder.
    vdenoise -inputFile="c:\renderoutput\anim_????.exr" - Denoise a sequence of frames in the c:\renderoutput folder named anim_0001.exr , anim_0002.exr , etc. 

    Note that in order to denoise a sequence of images you must have all frames already rendered, as the denoiser needs to look at several frames at the same time.

    -outputDirectory="string"

    Specifies the full or relative path to an output directory for the denoised files. If the directory does not exist, it is created. If no output directory is specified, the output directory is the directory of the input files.

    -mode=strong|default|mildSets one of three predefined presets for the radius/threshold/noise level multiplier.
    -elements=0|1Specifies the method for denoising render elements.
    0 - Colors in the final image are denoised in one pass. (default)
    1 - Render elements are denoised separately and then composited together.
    -boost=0|1|2

    Boosts the effect of the selected preset.
    0 - No boost. (default)
    1 - Moderate boost.
    2 - Large boost.

    -skipExisting=0|1 Determines the file-processing behavior when a corresponding output image already exists.
    0 - Do not skip: The input image is processed and the existing output image is overwritten. (default)
    1 - Skip: The input image is skipped and the existing output image is not affected.
    -frames=bN[-eN[,sN]]{;bN[-eN[,sN]]}Specifies the frames and/or frame intervals to process.
    bN - N denotes start frame.
    eN - N denotes end frame.
    sN - N denotes frame increment. If not specified, all frames in the sequence are processed.
    -display= 0|1 Specifies whether to display a preview window with the denoising result.
    0 - Do not display preview window.
    1 - Display preview window. (default)
    -autoClose=0|1 Specifies whether to automatically close the preview window after denoising is complete.
    0 - Wait for user to close preview window. (default)
    1 - Automatically close preview window.
    -useCpu=1Forces usage of CPU version even if OpenCL support is found.
    -useGpu=0|1|2 Specifies when to use GPU (OpenCL) or CPU version for denoising.
    0 - Use CPU. (default)
    1 - Attempt to use the best OpenCL device available, and fall back to CPU if unsuccessful. (experimental)
    2 - Attempt to use all suitable OpenCL devices, and fall back to CPU if unsuccessful.
    -verboseLevel=0|1|2|3|4Specifies the verbose level of information printed to the standard output.
    0 - Print no information.
    1 - Print only errors.
    2 - Print only errors and warnings.
    3 - Print only errors, warnings, and informational messages. (default)
    4 - Print all output.

     

    Advanced Options

     

    SwitchDescription
    -abortOnOpenCLError=0|1Specifies the behavior of the denoiser when an error is encountered while attempting to use OpenCL.
    0 - If an error is encountered, fall back to CPU. (default)
    1 - Denoising is canceled upon any OpenCL error.
    -strength=NSets the strength of the denoising based on the noise present in the noiseLevel Render Element. Larger values remove noise more aggressively but might blur the image too much. This is the main parameter for controlling the level of denoising. The default is 1.0, which uses the noise in the noiseLevel Render Element as is without adding any additional strength.
    -abortOnOpenCLError=0|1Specifies the behavior of the denoiser when an error is encountered while attempting to use OpenCL.
    0 - If an error is encountered, fall back to CPU. (default)
    1 - Denoising is canceled upon any OpenCL error.
    -strength=NSets a value for the strength of the denoising based on the noise present in the noiseLevel Render Element. Larger values remove noise more aggressively but might blur the image too much. The default is 1.0, which uses the noise in the noiseLevel Render Element as is without adding any additional strength.
    -radius=NSpecifies pixel radius for denoising. Larger values slow down the denoiser but might produce smoother results. The default is 10 pixels, which corresponds to the Default preset.
    -frameBlend=NSpecifies the number of adjacent frames to use when denoising animations. Higher values help reduce flickering between adjacent animation frames. The default is 1, which uses one frame before and one frame after the current frame.
    -oclquery="<string>"Explicitly specifies which OpenCL devices should be used for denoising. Examples:
    -oclquery="nvidia" - Use only NVIDIA OpenCL devices.
    -oclquery="fiji" - Use only Fiji-based AMD OpenCL devices.
    -strips=NForces image to be split into N strips for processing. The default is -1 (negative 1), which uses an algorithm to automatically determine the optimum number of strips.
    -autoRadius=0|1Specifies whether to automatically adjust the denoising radius based on the level of noise present in the noiseLevel Render Element.
    0 - No adjustment. Fixed radius is used for the entire image based on the -radius switch if set, or the default value of 10 if not set. (default)
    1 - Automatically adjusts the denoising radius. For very noisy images, this setting might slow down the denoiser significantly.
    -threshold=NSpecifies a threshold for denoising when the noiseLevel Render Element is missing. This value is typically equal to the noise threshold for antialiasing in V-Ray. If this switch is not set, the denoiser relies on the noiseLevel Render Element and a threshold of 0.001 is used.
    -memLimit=NForces the GPU memory usage limit to N gigabytes. The default value of 0 specifies that all available memory be used.

     

    Output

    When the standalone Denoise tool is run in the command prompt window, it outputs information about the process, including settings, warnings, progress, and files written in the command prompt window.

     

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