5.1.1 - Arnold for Maya
30 Mar 2022
MtoA 5.1.1 introduces Arnold 7.1.1.0
- Download the Arnold for Maya plugin
- Follow these installation instructions .
System Requirements
Maya 2019, 2020, 2022 or 2023
Windows 10 or later, with the Visual Studio 2019 redistributable.
Linux with at least glibc 2.17 and libstdc++ 4.8.5 (gcc 4.8.5). This is equivalent to RHEL/CentOS 7.
macOS 10.13 or later .
CPUs need to support the SSE4.1 instruction set. Apple Mac models with M series chips are supported under Rosetta 2 mode.
GPU rendering works on Windows and Linux only and requires an NVIDIA GPU of the Ampere, Turing, Volta, Pascal, or Maxwell architecture.
Optix™ denoiser requires an NVidia GPU with CUDA™ Compute Capability 5.0 and above.
We recommend using the 511.09 (Quadro), 511.09 (GeForce) , or higher on Windows and 495.46 or higher drivers on Linux . See Arnold GPU for more information.
The driver type must be set to DCH.
I n the driver page select "Windows Driver Type:" DCH
The cache will also need to be re-populated after installing a new Arnold version, updating to a new NVIDIA driver , or changing the hardware configuration of GPUs on the system. More information can be found here .
Maya Plugins Compatibility
MtoA 5.1.1 works with the following Maya plugins
- Bifrost Extension for Maya 2.4.0.0
- MayaUSD 0.16.0 (USD 21.11)
Enhancements
- Improved IPR interactivity: GPU and CPU interactivity is improved. ARNOLD-11981, ARNOLD-12007
- Stability improvements: We've improved the stability of Arnold, especially when using multiple render sessions.
- Per axis texture in triplanar: The triplanar shader can now optionally use different textures for each axis. ARNOLD-11708.
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input_per_axis: disabled (default) | input_per_axis: enabled |
A wide range of shading effects such as snow, dust, sand, and moss, can be achieved using input_per_axis (Y).
Rollover images to view with and without triplanar.input_per_axis (Y)
A video that shows how to use the input_per_axis can be found here .
- Flip_on_opposite_direction in triplanar: A new parameter called flip_on_opposite_direction can also be used to control the behavior of the shader on faces facing the corresponding negative axis. ARNOLD-11615.
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flip_on_opposite_direction: enabled (default) | flip_on_opposite_direction: disabled |
Reduced overhead of running Imagers in IPR: Imagers will no longer always run after every progressive pass or bucket update. This can give a substantial speedup with expensive to run imagers. ARNOLD-11760
Better startup and update times with atmosphere shader: Starting renders and updating parameters when using a high number of AA samples with a volume_scatter atmosphere shader should now be much faster. ARNOLD-5503
Render times of a simple scene with volume_scatter.samples=30:
| AA | AA\_max | Arnold 7.0 | Arnold 7.1 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 4 | 50 | 5:28min (node update: 5:20min) | 8 sec (node update: 0 sec) |
Case insensitive output image file extension:
AiFindDriverType()
is now case insensitive, so asking, for instance, for a "png", "PNG", or "Png" will all return the png driver. This can be observed withkick -o
, which will now work for different case types. ARNOLD-11934Updated MaterialX to 1.38.3: We now use MaterialX 1.38.3. Surface materials defined in a nodegraph are now supported. ARNOLD-10534, ARNOLD-11903
Updated Alembic to 1.8.3: The alembic procedural has been upgraded to use version 1.8.3 of the alembic library. ARNOLD-11973
Faster TextureResolveUseExistingTx: The
TextureResolveUseExistingTx
stage is now much faster when many threads are trying to open textures for the first time with the use existing tx option enabled. On a 128-core machine we saw about an 8x speedup. ARNOLD-11689Faster per-pixel imagers: We removed overhead in imagers that can execute independently on each pixel. The exposure and tonemap imagers, for instance, are now significantly faster. This likely will be most noticed when interacting in IPR with small buckets. Note that bloom and denoising imagers require access to all pixels and so will not benefit from this optimization. ARNOLD-12011
Faster bloom imager: The bloom imager has been optimized. In one test we saw a 10% performance improvement. ARNOLD-11568
AOV denoising with the OptiX denoiser: Upgraded from the Optix 6 to Optix 7 denoiser. This newer denoiser supports denoising AOVs in a way that allows the denoised result to be compositable. Previous OptiX denoisers had no guarantees that the denoised results would combine correctly. ARNOLD-11726
Original beauty Denoised beauty Denoised diffuse AOV Denoised specular AOV Denoised diffuse + denoised specular Upgraded OIIO to 2.4.0: This allowed for fixing several defects listed in the Bug Fixes section. ARNOLD-11651, ARNOLD-11785, ARNOLD-11790
Invert view and display transform for textures using OCIO: When using an explicit OCIO or the default color manager, it is possible to specify both a display and view transform when writing outputs, using the View ( Display ) syntax. It is now possible to use the same syntax for input color transforms as well. For example, reading a texture using the ACES 1.0 SDR-video ( sRGB ) color space will correctly invert a file with a view transform baked in. (ARNOLD-11961).
Adjust how often imagers are run during IPR: A new options setting has been added called
options.imager_overhead_target_percent
which can be used to control how often imagers should run during a render. Animager_overhead_target_percent
setting of 0 will cause the imagers to only run at the end of the render. The default value of 1 will periodically run the imager during the render so that the overhead from running the imager is no more than approximately 1%. ARNOLD-11750Noice imager runs only at end of render: The noice imager, which is generally too slow for interactive IPR, will no longer run during a render and instead is only run at the end of the render pass. ARNOLD-11761
Overrides for specific instances in the instancer : Instead of specifying a value for all instances, overrides for specific instances can be defined by declaring a user data array of
instanceidxs_
prefix on the instancer node. ARNOLD-12142Reference time for OpenVDB volumes: The global
options.reference_time
attribute is now also used as the time the grid data exists, so velocity motion blur is relative to this reference time. Usually this is zero, which for frame-relative time values means "on the frame", which is typical of OpenVDB simulation data. ARNOLD-12143
GPU Enhancements
- Improved GPU IPR interactivity: GPU IPR rendering is now more interactive. ARNOLD-11981
USD Enhancements
Point Instancer improvements : Per-instance primvars and nested instancers are now handled both in the procedural usd#944 as well as the render delegate usd#482 .
Mesh builtin normals : The procedural now reads the builtin USD description for mesh normals usd#962 usd#986
Curves UVs : The procedural now supports UVs on curves, for per-strand primvars usd#975
Light-linking : ignoreRoots wasn't supported correctly for light / shadow links in the procedural usd#987
Shadow parameters : The procedural now reads shadow parameters (enable, color) from USD lights usd#945
Shader connections to array attributes : The render delegate now supports rendering shader connection to an array attribute. This is needed e.g. to have shader connections on ramps usd#970
Render tags : Render tags are now taken into account by the render delegate usd#883
Procedural search path : USD is now properly considering the options procedural_search_path when loading nested procedurals #usd942
Motion blur with UsdSkel : the procedural now extends the interval used to bake the skinning, so that it includes surrounding integer frames usd#951
Author defaultPrim in the USD writer : When an Arnold scene is saved as USD, a defaultPrim is now authored, which is needed for nested instances usd#1064
Don't force export of ArnoldOptions: When exporting USD files, we now store the list of authored frames as custom metadatas in the usd file, and no longer need to force the export of the ArnoldOptions primitive usd#963
Write shading trees under their material's scope : When authoring shading trees, the shaders are now written under their material's hierarchy. usd#1067
Support velocity/acceleration in Hydra : Meshes and curves with varying topologies and velocity or acceleration primvars are now supported in the render delegate usd#1039
Reduce default subdivision level in Hydra : The different subdivision quality settings in Solaris are now interpreted as (0, 1, 2, 3) subdiv_iterations in Arnold, instead of (0, 2, 4, 8) which was too high for Arnold subdivision usd#1056
Control amount of arnold-usd threads when rendering a usd file : A new environment variable ARNOLD_USD_READER_THREADS allows to control how many arnold-usd threads will be used to translate the usd data to arnold when running kick on a usd file. Default value is 0 and means that all threads will be used usd#1055
Support light temperature in Hydra : Usd native lights have a light temperature attribute that is now supported in the render delegate usd#1051
Default to smooth meshes in Hydra : In the render delegate, meshes are now smoothed by default, as in the usd procedural usd#24
Specify which RenderSettings to use when calling AiSceneLoad : A custom parameter render_settings allows to control which RenderSettings primitive to export to Arnold options node usd#1017
API Additions
AiRender(): We provided a new version of the deprecated
AiRender()
call, which receives a render session parameter, in line with the rest of the render API. This function provides a convenient way to make a quick batch render in a synchronous way, returning only when the render is finished. (ARNOLD-11240).AiRenderSessionGetOptions(): AiRenderSessionGetOptions() will return the render options node used by a given render session. This read-only render options node holds a separate set of options, initialized from the universe options but partially modified for render specific requirements. The differences with the universe copy of the options are mostly related to invalid values that are sanitized for rendering and temporary changes to sample values made during interactive render. ARNOLD-12012
Incompatible Changes
Warnings about deprecated API usage enabled by default: Warnings about deprecated API usage are controlled by the AI_ENABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS macro, which is now set to 1 by default. This will help you find any use of old Arnold API that might be causing issues. If you still need to disable them for some specific part of your code, they can be disabled by setting AI_ENABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS to 0. (ARNOLD-11751).
Changes in node_initialize/node_update : Those functions now receive a new parameter for the render session where the node is being rendered. This render session can be used for any API call requiring it to be specified. (ARNOLD-11817)
Changes in logging API : Logging functions have been modified so that log messages are associated with a universe instead of a render session. This means the
AiMsgSetLogFileFlags
,AiMsgSetConsoleFlags
,AiMsgGetLogFileFlags
andAiMsgGetConsoleFlags
API functions will now require a universe pointer instead of a render session pointer. Also, the log callback will receive a universe pointer parameter (called "universe") instead of a render session pointer. (ARNOLD-11983)Autodesk Network Licensing version : Arnold 7.1 switches to
ARNOL_2023
licensing.- Single-user subscriptions will work with Arnold 7.1. The plugin installers automatically register the new version. If you do not use a plugin, then after you download Arnold, open the Arnold License Manager and click Register .
- Existing network licenses will not work with Arnold 7.1. Log on to your Autodesk account to generate your new
ARNOL_2023
licenses.
Arnold 5 porting guide removed. The Arnold_5_Porting_Guide.pdf has been removed. Arnold-11696
Bugfixes
ARNOLD-11958 - Color correct shader produces incorrect values with small gamma values
ARNOLD-11852 - Memory leak with imagers when rendering multiple frames
ARNOLD-11835 - Full frame imagers crash with negative render region
ARNOLD-11827 - Intel Alder Lake CPUs did not always use high performance cores in Windows
ARNOLD-11795 - Spotlight penumbra should affect the specular intensity
ARNOLD-11667 - GPU and CPU+FIS filtering generated sampling patterns that could alias
ARNOLD-11242 - 'n' key was no longer toggling AI denoisers in kick IPR
ARNOLD-10400 - Volume motion blur advection computation was incorrect
ARNOLD-10391 - Volume motion blur used incorrect motion/shutter intervals
ARNOLD-11889 - Maketx --monochrome-detect should generate Y not R image for exr formats
ARNOLD-11968 - AiUniverseGetRenderSession returns invalid pointer instead of null if the session was previously destroyed
ARNOLD-11982 - Texture invalidation in Linux and macOS occurred even when texture was not modified
ARNOLD-12055 - [GPU] Crash switching from CPU to GPU with optix denoiser
ARNOLD-10577 - [GPU] Textured skydome_light leaks memory over multiple frames in a session
ARNOLD-12158 Bucket corners in kick should not be drawn for negative AA passes
ARNOLD-12154 Poor sample quality when using multiple render sessions
ARNOLD-12143 Volume velocity motion blur does not support non-normalized shutter intervals
ARNOLD-12139 The legacy bifrost procedural for Max does not work with an explicit universe
ARNOLD-12123 Changing the output driver from an operator doesn't work
ARNOLD-12122 Arnold-7.1.0 slowdown when reading hdr images
ARNOLD-12119 Crash rendering ramp with one point
ARNOLD-12097 Crashes related to null strings
ARNOLD-12026 Overlapping spotlight and camera artefact
ARNOLD-11954 Overlapping dielectrics with equal IOR can generate a spurious specular reflection
ARNOLD-12201 [GPU] Random slowdowns
ARNOLD-12017 [GPU] rendered output can contain random invalid pixels
usd#1049 Fix instanceable primitives without prototype
usd#1045 Fix crashes with invalid indexed primvars
usd#1031 Fix element connection in arnold node graphs
usd#1025 Fix random results with instancer and multiple referenced files
usd#1024 Ensure the lights normalize attribute is authored in usd
usd#1005 Get proper instancer matrices when some instances are hidden
usd#1010 Fix shadow/light linking when some lights don't have any collection
usd#1019 Fix light linking with nested procedurals
usd#1012 Light linking referencing shape parents
usd#1088 Fix attribute calls in camera reader that were causing random crashes
usd#1071 Write enum attributes as tokens instead of strings
usd#1084 Fix issues when writing USD geometry lights
usd#1081 Add point_light to the list of schemas to be generated
[MTOA-388] - Add environment variable support to color_manager_syncolor (trac #4491)
[MTOA-90] - Unloading Arnold on Mac or Linux crashes Maya (trac #2499)
[MTOA-772] - MtoA plugin crashes when unloading
[MTOA-906] - OSL shader no longer displays nice names for the generated parameters in the AE
[MTOA-961] - colorspace missing from attribute editor in Maya 2022
[MTOA-980] - crash when repeating Arnold > Render, closing ARV, File > New
[MTOA-983] - MtoA logging to console is generating too many duplicates
[MTOA-990] - About MtoA button not working
[MTOA-1015] - "Cache ID not valid" errors with instanceable XForm prims
[MTOA-1018] - USD: "USD threading violation" errors in IPR updates when rendering Bifrost-USD content when sharable is off
[MTOA-1036] - Proxy Shape extension always sets procedural attributes
[MTOA-1037] - aiImage using file sequence fails, throws python errors.
[MTOA-1041] - aeImagerColorCurves template not loading in Maya 2019 and 2020
[MTOA-1040] - Various fixes in MayaUSD exports
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