Lighting & Rendering: Sampling & Noise Reduction

This task focuses on cleaning up renders in Arnold using sample settings.  The first render, seen below, demonstrates an outcome using Arnold’s default state, no samples have been modified. This render has been included as a comparison to the later render, which undergoes sample adjustments.This took under a minute to render, which is relatively fast. However, the image shows lots of noise on the character within the scene.

Render 1 (Before)

In the screenshot below, Increasing lighting samples to three has vastly improved the smoothness of the shadows under the character’s feet (inside the square selection).  However, small amounts of noise still remain. These settings would be ideal for an animation, as the small amount of noise left would be undetected in motion, and render times are still quick. 

To increase the quality of our render further, adjustments are made in Arnold's render settings.

There is no fog or atmosphere, so ‘volume indirect’ isn’t needed. There are also no textures like skin, so ‘SSS’ is also unnecessary. There is minimal transparency in the scene, so ‘transmission’ should be minimal. However, our scene has lots of highlights, so ‘specular’ should be taken into account, along with ‘diffuse’ and ‘Camera AA’. Its important to analyse channels and to adjust in small increments. 

This second render took three and a half minutes. A jump in render times, but the outcome is more ideal. It’s a quality and time trade-off. 

Render 2 (After)