Denoiser

With the Denoiser, you can achieve significant reductions in render time for production-quality images.

The Denoiser is available in SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2018 Service Pack 3.0 and later.

The Denoiser uses a post-processing technique based on machine learning to filter out noise from unfinished and noisy images produced with Fast and Accurate render modes.

To achieve increased performance from using the Denoiser, you need to reduce the number of render passes. For example, if a scene routinely needs 500 passes without the Denoiser, specifying 50 passes when the Denoiser is on may achieve the same rendering quality. You may be able to achieve the same rendering quality with even fewer passes using the Denoiser depending on your goal for the image. Actual reductions in the number of passes, and therefore render time, depends on the computer’s hardware and the scene rendered.

To use the Denoiser, you must have this hardware:

  • NVIDIA® GPU (Kepler™ architecture or newer) with CUDA® 9.0 support
  • At least 4 GB of video RAM

The following image shows typical results with Denoiser off (left) and on (right).



Denoiser Example

In this example, you render a SOLIDWORKS Visualize project, first with the Denoiser turned off and then with it turned on. Then you examine the resulting images and compare the number of render passes, the render time, and the image quality.

Creating the Baseline

First, you specify the options for offline rendering. Then, with the Denoiser turned off, you render the project to create a baseline .jpg image.

  1. Open system_dir:\Users\Public\Public Documents\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS 2019\samples\whatsnew\visualize\Food Processor.svpj.
  2. Click Output Tools (main toolbar).
  3. In the dialog box, on the Render tab, under Output File:
    • For Image format, select JPEG (*.jpg).
    • For Output Mode, select Render.
  4. Under Resolution:
    • For Size, select 800 x 800 pixels.
    • For Resolution, specify 96.00 pixels/in.
  5. Under Render Settings:
    • For Renderer Selection, select: Accurate .
    • For Render Mode, select Quality.
    • For Render Passes, specify 500.
  6. For Render Device:
    • Select Hybrid.
    • Select Show Progress.
  7. Click Start Render.
    A Render tab opens.

    Click to dismiss the message about closing Visualize if it appears.

    The offline rendering operation will take several minutes to finish.

  8. When the render is finished, note the Elapsed Time reported at the top of the window.
    The baseline image Food Processor.jpg is automatically saved to your output folder.

Using the Denoiser

Now render the same project using the Denoiser.

First, you need to initialize the Denoiser to make it available for use. When the Denoiser is initialized, it requires a certain amount of video RAM even if it is not currently being used. To use it for a particular rendering, you need to turn it on in a later step.

  1. In the upper left of the window, click the Food Processor tab.
  2. Click Tools > Options.
  3. In the dialog box, click 3DViewport.
  4. Under Denoiser, select both options:
    Option Description
    Initialize Denoiser Makes the Denoiser available for use.
    Show Button in Main Toolbar Adds Toggle Denoiser to the main toolbar, where you can click it to switch the Denoiser on and off.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click Toggle Denoiser (main toolbar) to turn on the Denoiser.
    Denoiser is on for real-time rendering in the 3D Viewport.

    Now you need to enable it for offline rendering. Also, to achieve increased performance from the Denoiser, you need to reduce the number of render passes.

  7. Click Output Tools (main toolbar).
  8. In the dialog box, on the Render tab, set these options:
    • Under Render Settings, reduce the value for Render Passes to 50.
    • Select Enable Denoiser.
  9. Click Start Render.
    A new Render tab opens. The icon in the heads-up display indicates that the Denoiser is on.

    Click to dismiss the message about closing Visualize if it appears.

  10. When the render is complete, note the Elapsed Time reported at the top of the window.
    The image rendered with the Denoiser on, Food Processor 1.jpg, is automatically saved to your output folder.
  11. Click the link to your output folder.
    You can open both images of the food processor in your favorite image viewing application. You can zoom in and compare the amount of noise in various areas. For example, zoom to the area around the blade shaft:
    Denoiser Off

    500 passes

    Denoiser On

    50 passes

    Using the Denoiser, you may be able to achieve the same rendering quality with even fewer passes, depending on your goal for the image.
    Actual reductions in the number of passes, and therefore render time, depends on the computer’s hardware and the scene rendered.