Autodesk releases Arnold 7.3.2
Autodesk has released Arnold 7.3.2, the latest version of the production renderer.
The update makes it possible to adjust hue and saturation when tonemapping toon-shaded images, and improves volume rendering and light linking.
The new functionality is available in all of Arnold’s integration plugins.
Adjust hue and saturation when tonemapping toon shaded renders
Arnold 7.3.2 updates tonemapping workflow in the toon shader, making it possible to adjust the hue and saturation of the image, as well as its tonal values.
There are separate parameter to control the hue and saturation of base image, silhouette, edges and specular component.
Arnold 7.3.2 improves output when denoising volumes, preserving more details and reducing ringing artefacts where objects are viewed against the background.
Workflow and performance changes
The update also changes how the albedo is calculated when rendering volumes, improving the accuracy of the volume albedo AOV and reducing denoising artefacts.
Performance improvements include updates to light linking, with Global Light Sampling now applied per group of lights linked to a shape.
According to Autodesk, the ALab USD test scene renders “twice as fast” when using Global Light Sampling.
There are also updates to GPU rendering and to support for OSL shaders; and the software now uses OpenVDB 11.0, the latest version of the volumetric data library.
Support in the integration plugins
All of Arnold’s integration plugins have been updated to support the new features:
3ds Max: MAXtoA 5.7.2.0
Cinema 4D: C4DtoA 4.7.31
Houdini: HtoA 6.3.2
Katana: KtoA 4.3.2.0
Maya: MtoA 5.4.2
System requirements and availability
Arnold 7.3.2 is available for Windows 10+, RHEL/CentOS 7+ Linux and macOS 10.13+. Integrations are available for 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Katana and Maya.
GPU rendering is supported on Windows and Linux only, and requires a compatible Nvidia GPU.
The software is rental-only, with single-user subscriptions costing $50/month or $400/year.
Read a full list of new features in Arnold 7.3.2 in the online documentation
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