Imagers
See Imagers in the Arnold User Guide
Imagers in the Render Settings (left). Imagers in the 'Post' tab in the Arnold Render View window (right).
Post-processing nodes called imagers operate on pixels before the output driver. Imagers can be chained together.
The Intel ® Open Image Denoiser imager (OIDN) is added by default to new scenes (existing scenes will be unchanged). This can be disabled in the Arnold settings within the Maya Preferences.
Arnold Create Denoiser option in the Maya Preferences
Known limitations:
- Currently, Arnold refreshes the IPR when a new imager is added. It is, therefore, recommended to add imagers before starting an IPR session.
- Denoiser imagers should be applied before post-processing imagers if the post-processing is introducing new features in the image (ex: bloom).
- You should apply the imager_light_mixer before any denoiser imagers, as light AOVs won't necessarily be denoised by the denoiser.
- Writing imager output to separate AOV is available only in multi-layer Arnold drivers (e.g. EXR) and when rendering to the Picture Viewer, but not supported by single-layer Arnold drivers (e.g. jpeg, png, etc).
The following post-process imagers are available below:
- imager_arnold_denoiser
- imager_color_correct
- imager_color_curves
- imager_denoiser_oidn
- imager_denoiser_optix
- imager_exposure
- imager_lens_effects
- imager_light_mixer
- imager_overlay
- imager_tonemap
- imager_white_balance
An introduction video to imagers can be found here. It is not possible to connect Maya nodes or other MtoA shaders to imagers.
A scene that demonstrates how to use the imager_light_mixer can be found here.