ArnoldOptions

Sets global scene options applicable to the Arnold renderer. Use the StandardOptions node to set global options applicable to all renderers.

user

Container for user-defined plugs. Nodes should never make their own plugs here, so users are free to do as they wish.

enabled

The on/off state of the node. When it is off, the node outputs the input scene unchanged.

options

The options to be applied - arbitrary numbers of user defined options may be added as children of this plug via the user interface, or using the CompoundDataPlug API via python.

options.bucketSize

Controls the size of the image buckets. The default size is 64x64 pixels. Bigger buckets will increase memory usage while smaller buckets may render slower as they need to perform redundant computations and filtering.

options.bucketScanning

Controls the order in which buckets are processed. A spiral pattern is the default.

options.parallelNodeInit

Enables Arnold’s parallel node initialization. Note that some Arnold features may not be thread-safe, in which case enabling this option can cause crashes. One such example is Cryptomatte and its use in the AlSurface shader.

options.threads

Specifies the number of threads Arnold is allowed to use. A value of 0 gives Arnold access to all available threads.

options.aaSamples

Controls the number of rays per pixel traced from the camera. The more samples, the better the quality of antialiasing, motion blur and depth of field. The actual number of rays per pixel is the square of the AA samples value - so a value of 3 means 9 rays are traced, 4 means 16 rays are traced and so on.

options.giDiffuseSamples

Controls the number of rays traced when computing indirect illumination (“bounce light”). The number of actual diffuse rays traced is the square of this number.

options.giSpecularSamples

Controls the number of rays traced when computing specular reflections. The number of actual specular rays traced is the square of this number.

options.giTransmissionSamples

Controls the number of rays traced when computing specular refractions. The number of actual transmitted specular rays traced is the square of this number.

options.giSSSSamples

Controls the number of rays traced when computing subsurface scattering. The number of actual subsurface rays traced is the square of this number.

options.giVolumeSamples

Controls the number of rays traced when computing indirect lighting for volumes. The number of actual rays traced is the square of this number. The volume ray depth must be increased from the default value of 0 before this setting is of use.

options.aaSeed

Seeds the randomness used when generating samples. By default this is set to the current frame number so that the pattern of sampling noise changes every frame. It can be locked to a particular value so that sampling noise does not change from frame to frame.

options.aaSampleClamp

Sets a maximum for the values of individual pixel samples. This can help reduce fireflies.

options.aaSampleClampAffectsAOVs

Applies the sample clamping settings to all RGB and RGBA AOVs, in addition to the beauty image.

options.indirectSampleClamp

Clamp fireflies resulting from indirect calculations. May cause problems with dulling highlights in reflections.

options.lowLightThreshold

Light paths with less energy than this will be discarded. This saves tracing shadow rays, but cuts off the light when it gets dim. Raising this improves performance, but makes the image potentially darker in some areas.

options.enableAdaptiveSampling

If adaptive sampling is enabled, Arnold will take a minimum of ( aaSamples * aaSamples ) samples per pixel, and will then take up to ( aaSamplesMax * aaSamplesMax ) samples per pixel, or until the remaining estimated noise gets lower than aaAdaptiveThreshold.

Note

Arnold’s adaptive sampling won’t do anything if aaSamples == 1 : you need to set aaSamples to at least 2.

options.aaSamplesMax

The maximum sampling rate during adaptive sampling. Like aaSamples, this value is squared. So aaSamplesMax == 6 means up to 36 samples per pixel.

options.aaAdaptiveThreshold

How much leftover noise is acceptable when terminating adaptive sampling. Higher values accept more noise, lower values keep rendering longer to achieve smaller amounts of noise.

options.enableProgressiveRender

Enables progressive rendering, with a series of coarse low-resolution renders followed by a full quality render updated continuously.

options.progressiveMinAASamples

Controls the coarseness of the first low resolution pass of interactive rendering. A value of -4 starts with 16x16 pixel blocks, -3 gives 8x8 blocks, -2 gives 4x4, -1 gives 2x2 and 0 disables the low resolution passes completely.

options.giTotalDepth

The maximum depth of any ray (Diffuse + Specular + Transmission + Volume).

options.giDiffuseDepth

Controls the number of ray bounces when computing indirect illumination (“bounce light”).

options.giSpecularDepth

Controls the number of ray bounces when computing specular reflections.

options.giTransmissionDepth

Controls the number of ray bounces when computing specular refractions.

options.giVolumeDepth

Controls the number of ray bounces when computing indirect lighting on volumes.

options.autoTransparencyDepth

The number of allowable transparent layers - after this the last object will be treated as opaque.

options.maxSubdivisions

A global override for the maximum polymesh.subdiv_iterations.

options.subdivDicingCamera

If specified, adaptive subdivision will be performed relative to this camera, instead of the render camera.

options.subdivFrustumCulling

Disable subdivision of polygons outside the camera frustum. ( Uses dicing camera if one has been set ). Saves performance, at the cost of inaccurate reflections and shadows.

options.subdivFrustumPadding

When using subdivFrustumCulling, adds a world space bound around the frustum where subdivision still occurs. Can be used to improve shadows, reflections, and objects the motion blur into frame.

options.textureMaxMemoryMB

The maximum amount of memory to use for caching textures. Tiles are loaded on demand and cached, and when the memory limit is reached the least recently used tiles are discarded to make room for more. Measured in megabytes.

options.texturePerFileStats

Turns on detailed statistics output for each individual texture file used.

options.textureMaxSharpen

Controls the sharpness of texture lookups, providing a tradeoff between sharpness and the amount of texture data loaded. If textures appear too blurry, then the value should be increased to add sharpness.

The theoretical optimum value is to match the number of AA samples, but in practice the improvement in sharpness this brings often doesn’t justify the increased render time and memory usage.

options.textureUseExistingTx

Automatically uses a <filename>.tx file if it exists, in preference to a <filename>.jpg (or any other file format) that has been specified. Particularly useful when used with textureAutoGenerateTx, which will automatically create the .tx file as necessary.

Info : The .tx file format provides improved performance and reduced memory usage, because it contains mip-mapped textures.

options.textureAutoGenerateTx

Automatically generates a <filename>.tx when given <filename>.jpg (or any other file format). Requires that textureUseExistingTx is also turned on. By default, textures are generated in the same folder as the source texture. Use textureAutoTxPath to specify an alternative destination.

Caution

This feature might cause problems if multiple render farm nodes are trying to convert the same textures in the same target folder at the same time, resulting in potential crashes, corrupt textures, and poor performance.

options.textureAutoTxPath

Specifies an alternate destination folder for textures generated by textureAutoGenerateTx.

options.ignoreTextures

Ignores all file textures, rendering as if they were all white.

options.ignoreShaders

Ignores all shaders, rendering as a simple facing ratio shader instead.

options.ignoreAtmosphere

Ignores all atmosphere shaders.

options.ignoreLights

Ignores all lights.

options.ignoreShadows

Skips all shadow calculations.

options.ignoreSubdivision

Treats all subdivision surfaces as simple polygon meshes instead.

options.ignoreDisplacement

Ignores all displacement shaders.

options.ignoreBump

Ignores all bump mapping.

options.ignoreSSS

Disables all subsurface scattering.

options.ignoreImagers

Disables all imagers.

options.textureSearchPath

The locations used to search for texture files.

options.proceduralSearchPath

The locations used to search for procedural DSOs.

options.pluginSearchPath

The locations used to search for shaders and other plugins.

options.abortOnError

Aborts the render if an error is encountered.

options.errorColorBadTexture

The colour to display if an attempt is made to use a bad or non-existent texture.

options.errorColorBadPixel

The colour to display for a pixel where a NaN is encountered.

options.errorColorBadShader

The colour to display if a problem occurs in a shader.

options.logFileName

The name of a log file which Arnold will generate while rendering.

options.logMaxWarnings

The maximum number of warnings that will be reported.

options.logInfo

Whether or not information messages are included in the log output.

options.logWarnings

Whether or not warning messages are included in the log output.

options.logErrors

Whether or not error messages are included in the log output.

options.logDebug

Whether or not debug messages are included in the log output.

options.logAssParse

Whether or not ass parsing is included in the log output.

options.logPlugins

Whether or not plugin loading is included in the log output.

options.logProgress

Whether or not progress messages are included in the log output.

options.logNAN

Whether or not pixels with NaNs are included in the log output.

options.logTimestamp

Whether or not timestamp prefixes are included in the log output.

options.logStats

Whether or not statistics are included in the log output.

options.logBacktrace

Whether or not stack backtraces from crashes are included in the log output.

options.logMemory

Whether or not memory usage prefixes are included in the log output.

options.logColor

Whether or not coloured messages are included in the log output.

options.consoleInfo

Whether or not information messages are included in the console output.

options.consoleWarnings

Whether or not warning messages are included in the console output.

options.consoleErrors

Whether or not error messages are included in the console output.

options.consoleDebug

Whether or not debug messages are included in the console output.

options.consoleAssParse

Whether or not ass parsing is included in the console output.

options.consolePlugins

Whether or not plugin loading is included in the console output.

options.consoleProgress

Whether or not progress messages are included in the console output.

options.consoleNAN

Whether or not pixels with NaNs are included in the console output.

options.consoleTimestamp

Whether or not timestamp prefixes are included in the console output.

options.consoleStats

Whether or not statistics are included in the console output.

options.consoleBacktrace

Whether or not stack backtraces from crashes are included in the console output.

options.consoleMemory

Whether or not memory usage prefixes are included in the console output.

options.consoleColor

Whether or not coloured messages are included in the console output.

options.statisticsFileName

The name of a statistics file where Arnold will store structured JSON statistics.

options.profileFileName

The name of a profile json file where Arnold will store a detailed node performance graph. Use chrome://tracing to view the profile.

options.abortOnLicenseFail

Aborts the render if a license is not available, instead of rendering with a watermark.

options.skipLicenseCheck

Skips the check for a license, always rendering with a watermark.

options.renderDevice

Can be used to put Arnold in GPU rendering mode, using your graphics card instead of CPU. This is currently a beta with limited stability, and missing support for OSL and volumes.

options.gpuMaxTextureResolution

If non-zero, this will omit the high resolution mipmaps when in GPU mode, to avoid running out of GPU memory.

extraOptions

An additional set of options to be added. Arbitrary numbers of options may be specified within a single IECore.CompoundObject, where each key/value pair in the object defines an option. This is convenient when using an expression to define the options and the option count might be dynamic. It can also be used to create options whose type cannot be handled by the options CompoundDataPlug.

If the same option is defined by both the options and the extraOptions plugs, then the value from the extraOptions is taken.