Arnold enhancements over the years

Since 1998, Arnold has brought top-quality updates to help you render faster and with more flexibility. We continue to focus on bringing you powerful, yet easy-to use rendering experiences so that you can deliver beautiful and predictable results.  

Explore

Arnold over the past 5 years

11

Releases

29

Updates

723

Enhancements

 

Arnold enhancement timeline

7.2
featured enhancements for Arnold

  • Color Management Support
  • Toon Shader Improvements 
  • Distance and State Shader Improvements
  • Global Light Sampling Improvements
  • GPU Rendering Improvements
  • USD Enhancements
  • Native Apple Silicon Support 
  • Improved Workflow for Texture Files
  • Better Interactivity 

7.1
featured enhancements for Arnold

  • Volume Rendering Improvements
  • Light Manipulation Improvements
  • Scene Converter Improvements 
  • IPR Interactivity Improvements
  • Atmosphere Shader Enhancements 
  • Faster Per-Pixel Imagers 
  • Faster Bloom Imager 
  • Per Axis Texture in Triplanar
  • USD Improvements
  • GPU Enhancements

7.0
featured enhancements for Arnold

  • Open Image Denoise Imager
  • Higher Quality AI Denoising 
  • LUT Based Tone Mapping 
  • Improved Support for Imagers 
  • Improved Filter Performance in Progressive Rendering 
  • Added Support for Multiple Parallel Render Sessions on CPU
  • Multi-Part EXR 
  • Multiple Outputs for Shaders
  • OCIO Configuration 
  • GPU Enhancements
  • USD Enhancements

6 | 6.1 | 6.2
featured enhancements for Arnold

  • Bloom in imager
  • Light Mixer imager
  • Noice denoiser imager
  • OptiX denoiser imager
  • Enhanced USD Support
  • OpenColorIO v2 integration
  • Nested Dielectrics
  • Dielectric microfacet multiple scattering
  • Improved Oren-Nayer Diffuse Roughness Mapping
  • More accurate albedo AOVs
  • Improved rough thin-wall transmission in standard_surface
  • Physial Sky Shader Improvements
Image courtesy of Lee Griggs

5 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.4
featured enhancements for Arnold

  • Support for Bifrost
  • GPU support for OSL & Open VDB
  • GPU support for Volume displacement and volume sample shaders
  • Clip Geo shader
  • Less noise in progressive sampling
  • Alembic support improvements
  • Enhanced MaterialX support
  • Improved adaptive & skydome sampling
  • Enhanced usability for Standard Surface
  • Cell Noise shader
  • Sheen function in the Standard Surface shader
  • Texture baking supported with a native render-to-texture
  • Improved sampling of spherical lights
  • Faster adaptive subdivision

Arnold community resources

Explore an array of practical resources to enhance your Arnold knowledge and skills.

Find webinars, sessions, and videos for beginners to the most advanced users.

 

Get inspired with articles featuring industry news, artist interviews, and more.

 

Share your knowledge, ask questions, and explore popular Arnold topics.

Explore value delivered in other Media & Entertainment solutions

Image courtesy of Natalie Jerabek

Maya

Image courtesy of MBUSA, M+P, The-Artery​

Flame

Image courtesy of Marie Henry​

3ds Max