Arnold for Maya 4.2.4 / 2019-2020-2022 + MacOSX + Linux

MtoA 4.2.4 is a release addressing an issue with injecting ai_translator attrs in scenes (#mtoa-684).

This version uses the Arnold 6.2.1.1 core.

Arnold очень старинный рендер

EnhancementsIncompatible ChangesTicket
Summary
Ticket
Summary
#3906MacOS - Maya crashes with docked ARV and switching Viewport to Arnold#4049Cannot run kick on macOS#3122Light linking doesn't work with XGen#4052Maya triplanar projection node renders incorrectly#4060Changing cameras in Arnold Viewport is not triggering a re-render.#4064Adding second aiAxfShader to objects the AxF Filename and Texture Path is blank.#2876Attributes added to a set go under Arnold > Extra Attributes#3494MtoA - User added attributes appear under the Arnold tab, should be in Extra Attributes.#3834'Isolate Select' crashes when a shading node is deleted#3873Saving an image with a .mb extension crashes MtoA#3879Saving an image with the extension .hdr crashes MtoA#3950Arnold Render View crashes when isolate selecting bifShapes#3973deepexr crash when editing scene and Save Final Image enabled in ARV#4016Import materialx files as maya shading nodes#4031aiAfxShader does not appear in Hypershade node <tab> add node search.#4036AxF: failed to export error when adding AxF shader#4037AxF: no texture path provided error#40413D Manipulation capability in Arnold RVW has regressed#4042error with monochrome 8bit images processed to .tx#4044Set 8bit compression to dwaa#4048aiMotionVector custom AOV crash when merging_geometries#4051[ARV] Test resolution scales the image buffer#4053'Solid Angle' is still mentioned in the Help menu#4059Arnold crashes while making graph changes while bifShape was isolate selected in RVW#4062make licensing manager launch asynchronously#4065export radius_attribute fro alembics on aiStandIn#4066GPU Cache prepopulation error#3966template file navigation not intuitive#4008-seq does not work with arnoldRender command#4015[Import Arnold Shaders ] : Support connection where data types are not the same#4020Create MaterialX shader Node#4024export aiLookSwitch to include_graph / MaterialX#4033Export / Import shaders should support shading groups#4056add aov_write_vector shader

XGen motion blur was incorrect in Maya 2019
Fixed crash in the viewport when assigning aiStandardSurface to aiVolume
Support linking transmission_depth in aiStandardSurface
Fixed regression in wrapU and wrapV parameters of place2dTexture
Exposed maya batch render arguments for adaptive sampling
Fixed slowdown with many operators

Enhancements

• Faster GPU cache pre-population. 
• Arnold RenderView  now displays properly with High DPI monitors. 
• Improvements in the Operators UI for Standins / Alembic.
• Added option in ARV to clear the whole arnold session when IPR is stopped. When IPR is restarted, the whole scene is converted from scratch (as with Update Full Scene).
• aiUserDataColor now supports RGBA data, with an alpha channel.
• All matrix parameters in shaders can now be exported in motion blur
• Added more options for exported node names, to control the namespacing as well as the hierarchy separator
• MaterialX exporter allows to export hierarchy with slash separators, in order to work with exported alembic files
• Maya Playblasts can be generated from the Arnold Viewport. 

Bugfixes

• Fixed 3.2.0 regressions in Maya Ramp shading
• Fixed 3.2.0 regressions in Projection shader results
• Fixed 3.2.0 regression in Image plane when displayMode=None
• Fixed  vector displacement order with tangent maps

MtoA 3.2.0.2 is a hotfix release, that is binary compatible with 3.1 versions. It includes the following fixes:

- Fixed crashes with Arnold RenderView on MacOS
- Instancer and Mash nodes were freezing the render in MtoA 3.2.0
- Fixed Ramp gain linked to another shader
- Maya 2d textures weren't working in volumes
- Fixed crashes when disabling light nodes in IPR
- Fixed hangs when using "Isolate Selected" in Arnold RenderView
Ticket
#3765ARV crashes on Mac
#3750Instancer nodes freeze Maya when ARV updates and renders
#3755Maya Ramp links on colorGain not working
#3763Maya 2d textures not working in volumes

MtoA 3.2.0 is a major feature release, which is binary compatible with 3.1.* versions.

It includes the following improvements :

GPU Rendering (BETA):

You can now switch between CPU and GPU render devices interactively and expect visually similar results. NVIDIA GPUs from Turing to Maxwell architectures are supported, and Arnold will take advantage of multiple GPUs, NVLink and NVIDIA RTX hardware accelerated raytracing if available. Note that due to beta status of GPU rendering, a number of features are missing, performance is not final, and use in production is not advised. We plan to gradually improve this in subsequent releases and would appreciate your feedback.

Improved Sampling:
- Improved adaptive sampling : Adaptive sampling is now much more effective and predictable than before.
- Improved skydome sampling : Skydome light's sampling has been improved, in particular in darker areas. Note that existing scenes which were adjusted with previous versions of Arnold will now need to lower down the amount light samples for an equivalent result.
- Faster sample generation : Scenes with a high number of AA and light samples could take a very long time to start rendering. This is now much faster (some use cases went from 11 minutes to a fraction of a second, before the render starts).
Improved Shading:
- Microfacet multiple scattering : The GGX microfacet BSDF used in the standard_surface shader has been improved to account for multiple scattering between the microfacets, which is more physically correct and reduces energy loss on reflection, especially at higher roughness settings. The reflection from rough metals in particular will be significantly brighter and more saturated as a result.
- Improved randomwalk SSS : A new randomwalk_v2 SSS mode has been added that scatters more accurately and deeply through highly-transparent/optically-thin objects, which produces SSS with more saturated colors around fine surface detail and heavily backlit regions of an object
- Smart opaque : When using builtin shaders, arnold will now automatically set the opaque parameter in the shapes. Setting transparency only in the shaders will now be enough (exceptions are curves / points using min_pixel_width). Custom shaders can support this feature by setting metadatas opacity_term and transparency_term in the shaders.
- Improved bump and normal_mapping : bump and normal mapping now correct for non-physical shading normals (eg. extreme values) while preserving detail.
- Anisotropy controls for coat in aiStandardSurface
- Support for negative "Transmission Extra Roughness" in aiStandardSurface
- New aiUvProjection shader allows to do spherical / cubic / etc.. projections on a surface
- Exposing Arnold shaders aiCameraProjection, aiRampRgb, aiRampFloat, aiRgbaToFloat
Visible Lights:
- Area Lights and point lights can now be made visible to camera and transmission rays by increasing parameters camera and transmission
StandIns & gpuCache workflow improvements:
- New UI for shader assignments and overrides using arnold operators : A new UI in Standins and gpuCache allows to introspect nodes, assign shaders to specific elements, override parameters, etc… in a user friendly way. It will allow to create and edit operators attached to the Standin, that will therefore be portable across scene references.
- Standins can now load alembic files
- Show selected item in the viewport : While introspecting a Standin contents, selecting items will highlight them in the viewport. Picking in the Arnold RenderView will also select the corresponding item.
- New workflow for Standin's proxy geometries in the viewport : A new parameter ignoreGroupNodes will skip all the nodes below the Standin hierarchy for rendering. The desired proxy geometries just need to be parented to the Standin, and they will only appear in the viewport when this parameter is enabled.
- Subivision creases supported in Alembic
Export Shading trees as MaterialX files:
- New menu Export Selection to MaterialX allows to export the selected shading trees to a materialx document. It's also possible to append several looks to a single mtlx file and then to switch between both in the materialx operator. Geometrie's properties (subdivision settings, etc…) can also be baked to the file.
Operators:
- Added option to Export / Import operator graphs : New menu Export Operator Graph allows to export an operator graph to a .ass file (either the selection or the scene's graph). It's then possible to import it back to Maya, or even to another DCC.
- New include_graph operator : Includes an operator graph that was previously exported to .ass
Other:
- Improved workflow for motion vectors AOV : new attribute Instantaneous Shutter in the motion blur settings allows to get correct motion vectors AOV while rendering a still image. The shutter range will now be taken into account in the AOV.
- Faster .ass file writing : Writing to .ass, especially over Windows networks, can be dramatically faster (up to 51x reported)
- Faster OSL UDIM texture reads : Reading UDIM textures in OSL is now much faster (up to 10x reported)
- Disabled Swatch rendering by default, to avoid non-necessary excessive slowdowns
- Exposing "autobump visibility" in meshes to solve artefacts for objects appearing through sharp reflections / refractions.
- Updated to OIIO 2.1.0
Bugfixes:
- Fixes on triplanar used for displacement
- Adaptive sampling was being reset to OFF during IPR updates
- Interactivity optimizations when IPR is stopped
- Texture repeat wasn't working with custom uv sets
Incompatible Changes:
- Default specular_roughness in aiStandardSurface is now 0.2. Existing scenes that had left this parameter to its default value might now look different.
- Changes in skydome sampling require to lower down the skydome samples on existing scenes for an equivalent result and render times. For the same settings as before, the result will be less noisy but up to 30% longer.
- Removed support for NVIDIA Kepler GPUs
- Specular AOV: The sheen component has been removed from the specular AOVs
- Removed SSS on curves

Shaders
- New aiOsl shader, that allows to write inline osl code and use it in a shading tree.
- Added Sheen parameter in aiToon and in the list of AOVs.
- Added "Azimuthal Roughness" to aiStandardHair.
- Added Velvet preset for aiStandardSurface.
- Fixed crash when assigning a shader to a custom shape procedural.
RenderView / IPR
- Always add default persp camera to the list of available cameras in ARV.
- Fixed error "Arnold RenderView is not unique" that could prevent from using ARV when opening an existing scene.
- Removing objects inside Render Setup collections wasn't refreshed in IPR.
- Enabling / disabling collections from Render Setup wasn't refreshed in IPR.
- Deleting an assignment in aiSetParameter wasn't refreshed in IPR.
Other
- Added arguments to Maya batch render to output Stats and Profile info.
- Set Overrides were not working on Standins.
- Upgraded Cryptomatte to 1.1.0 which contains the fix: "Preview AOVs are now always displayed in display drivers, even when preview_in_exr is disabled".
- Upgraded OIIO (2.0.1) and OSL (1.10.1).
Incompatible Changes
- Curves first segment wasn't rendered with the right amount of CVs. This was mostly visible for low samples and is now fixed. Existing scenes might, therefore, render differently.

#3637incorrect sampling of curves at low sample rate
#3656Deleting assignment expressions in set_parameter doesn't trigger an update
#3144IPR doesn't react when disabling/enabling collections in Render Setup
#3350Removing objects inside Render Setup does not refresh the ARV
#3560xgen_procedural: inconsistent evaluation of parameters
#3616Crash when applying shaders to custom shape procedural node
#3624delta flag not being set for the xgen_procedural
#2812Include date and hash in MtoA daily builds
#2841Support OSL node
#3297AOV shaders cause AOV UI re-populating issue
#3591Set override on AiStandin not working
#3623Hide Subdiv Iterations when subdivision is disabled
#3626add sheen AOVs to the main aov list
#3633traslate order of instanced reference objects inconsistent
#3634aiStandardSurface node missing Specular Weight input connection.
#3636[AVP] Ignore Test Resolution
#3639mtoa_constant_ does not work on aiStandIn instances when rendered in ARV
#3644aiMixShader isn't showing textures in VP2
#3645[ARV] "Arnold RenderView is not unique" error
#3655persp camera not available in ARV if it's non-renderable
#3657Add Velvet preset for aiStandardSurface
#3622Add Stats and Profile file output to the Batch Render flags
#3651Expose azimuthal roughness in standard_hair
#3630Add sheen parameters to Toon shader UI

- Round Corners
A new shader aiRoundCorners allows rendering of rounded edges at shading time, without having to subdivide the geometry.


Features
- Out-of-the-box support for VDB sequences in aiVolume and image sequences in aiImage
- Added support for sequences in Render Selection to Texture
- Added Shader Motion Blur parameter to turn off motion blur on shader parameters
- Support User Data in Override Sets
Bugfixes
- AOVs from references scenes used to be rendered even though they didn't appear in the AOVs list
- Fix issues with instanced Standins
- XGen Interactive Groom Splines: visibility wasn't properly supported
- XGen : Instancing Xgen shapes wasn't supported properly
- Fixed error when trying to add a new output driver to an AOV

#3606xgen_procedural Instancing Issues
#3429AOVs in scene that is referenced still render but not displayed in Render Settings.
#3563Crash with Color Picker (color editor eyedropper tool) with ARV
#3595Add Frame Offset to gpuCache
#3083Changing Rendering Space in preferences does not trigger ARV mktex until ARV is closed and reopened.
#3280Improve animated VDB workflow
#3512AVP - Arnold Viewport not updating scene on changing Render Layers.
#3518Hypershade Material Viewer in Arnold mode does not un-pause after close ARV
#3541Soloing nodes in hypershade triggers ARV and AVP re-render.
#3582createMeshLight errors with duplicate node names
#3596Arnold attributes appearing below Shape in Channel Box
#1713Standin loads the ass file twice after opening a scene
#2085Maya shader implementations are creating a whole copy of the parameters with ai prefix
#3521Render Settings doesn't dynamically update when a camera's renderable attribute changes
#3528AVP: "Refresh Render" doesn't work
#3550Export lookdevkit shaders as arnold native shaders - Part 1
#3581xgen_procedural: visibility settings not applied when rendering in Maya
#3592Standin instances should be exported as duplicated procedurals
#3600Install CLM components during MtoA installation
#3602Support sequences in Render to Texture
#3604Expose Round Corners
#3608Expose options.ignore_list
#3611Python error when adding a new output driver on an AOV
#3612Adding new output driver to AOV not working
#3619Expose Shaders Motion blur parameter
#1741Read custom user data from override sets when exporting nodes
#3069Support image sequences for aiImage
#3553CNodeParameter::ProcessParameter should support color/vector components
#3587Add node editor templates for Arnold Nodes
#2113Don't export anim curves when motion blur is disabled

Fixed crash with animated hidden curves
Mesh light transformation wasn't updated properly during IPR sessions.
Fixed false positive virus detection of Uninstall.exe
0-based Zbrush tiling mode wasn't rendering properly
Cell noise time parameter not evaluated properly when animated
Fixed the gain parameter in range shader (introduced in MtoA 3.1.0), which was not returning the expected curve.

Arnold Viewport rendering (Maya 2018 only):
- It is now possible to render inside the Maya viewport, by switching the viewport "Renderer" to Arnold. Some of the Arnold RenderView options are exposed, like Region Rendering, Debug Shading, Isolate Selected, AOVs, etc… This feature is only available with Maya 2018
AOVs:
- Added <LightGroup> token in output filename, so that Light Group AOVs tokens can be inserted in custom ways.
- Option Output Denoising AOVs now automatically dumps the optional AOVs for noice (diffuse_albedo, Z, N). This requires EXR output files.
Arnold Denoiser UI:
- The new menu "Arnold -> Utilities -> Arnold Denoiser UI (noice)" allows to denoise previously rendered images. This requires that the input images were rendered in exr with merged AOVs enabled.
Bugfixes:
- Improved stability with incompatible OptiX versions
- Fixed crashes when editing nHair nodes during IPR sessions.
- Fixed crash happening with snapshots resolution changes.
- Fixed errors in Render To Texture when '|' characters exist in the Maya node name
Incompatible changes:
- MaterialX Operator's parameter mtlx was renamed filename
- Light Group AOVs now add the group suffix before the frame number

#3430Common attributes tab inside Render Settings shrinks when loading customer file
#3456Transforming or changing attributes to nHair object with ARV running crashes Maya.
#3460Light group names always appended to frame number
#3470ARV: crash with isolate selected when window is closed and reopened
#3398replace getAttr(…, size=1) with python API impliementation
#3414Crash when changing resolution with snapshot selected
#3415Crash when "Display Pixel Information" is checked and different resolution images have been snapshot
#3444license infomation missing from kick test render in diagnostics
#3417Isolate Select in ARV throws warning.
#3421Add Install Trial License to the Arnold > Licensing menu
#3427createStandIn doesn't work in MtoA 3.0.0.x
#3459Automatically add the optional AOVs for noice
#3466Add parameter to optix-denoise the beauty
#3468Prevent erros in Render to Texture when pipe characters exist in the object name
#3469Warning about near_plane in render to texture
#3343Arnold Rendering in Maya Viewport
#3461Add UI for the Arnold denoiser
#3465Rename mtlx attribute to filename

Fixed several crashes and malfunctions in the Arnold Render View.
"Solo" shader feature in Material Viewer wasn't working for most of Arnold shaders.
Fixed IPR update issue when deforming mesh lights, or editing a mesh displacement.
Fixed double transformation applied on particles system which are parented.
Fixed error in ParticleSampler shader.
Volume visibility on shapes wasn't exported properly.
Hiding legacy "padding" attributes from volumes, which were previously ignored.
State and Trace Set shaders couldn't be created from Hypershade.
OSL binaries were not executable on Mac.
Moved the merge AOVs parameter in the common render settings, along with the other EXR parameters.

Fixed memory leak when animated standins were displayed in the viewport
Exporting selected shading groups wasn't including the custom AOVs
Fixed regression in "Bake selected geometry" with displacement
Matte controls weren't working with Standard Hair
Fixed regression in "Render To Texture" with Standins
Fixed UI error when filter nodes were selected
Volume grids list wasn't filled for animated VDB