Introducing Arnold 5.3 with Arnold GPU in public beta Arnold now brings artists the power and flexibility of CPU and GPU rendering in a single renderer UPDATE – March 20, 2019: Arnold 5.3 with Arnold GPU (beta) is now available for download. See release notes for details. Visit the Getting Started with Arnold GPU page for the latest information on Arnold GPU including supported GPUs, driver information, and system requirements. Questions? Be sure to check out the Arnold Answers community hub for technical Q&A on rendering with Arnold, including GPU-specific questions. San Francisco, CA (March 18, 2019) – Autodesk unveiled Arnold 5.3 with Arnold GPU in public beta today. The highly-anticipated release provides artists with a first taste of GPU rendering for a set number of features, and the flexibility to choose between rendering on the CPU or GPU without changing renderers. From look development to lighting, support for GPU acceleration brings greater interactivity and speed to artist workflows, helping reduce iteration and review cycles. Arnold 5.3 also adds new functionality to help maximize performance and give artists more control over their rendering processes, including updates to adaptive sampling, a new version of the Randomwalk SSS mode, and improved Operator UX. “We recognize the needs of Arnold users for increased speed and interactivity during the creation process,” said Chris Vienneau, senior director, Media & Entertainment Products, Autodesk. “We’re excited to introduce this beta version of Arnold GPU because it gives our users a first taste of the performance gains they can expect to see, while keeping the great look they love from Arnold. We’ve worked closely with NVIDIA to optimize Arnold GPU to run on the latest RTX technology, and look forward to continuing to collaborate to bring our customers the highest quality rendering.” "We are thrilled to collaborate with NVIDIA and Autodesk on the next generation of high-performance production rendering. Delivering the best creative results fast is critical to our success. GPU rendering on NVIDIA RTX Server with Autodesk Arnold promises to deliver the exponential leap in speed we hope to utilize in all production departments," said Carsten Kolve, Digital Supervisor, Image Engine. Image courtesy of Sohrab Esfehani Arnold GPU rendering makes it easier for artists and small studios to iterate quickly in a fast working environment and scale rendering capacity to accommodate project demands. From within the standard Arnold interface, users can switch between rendering on the CPU and GPU with a single click. Arnold GPU currently supports features such as arbitrary shading networks, SSS, hair, atmospherics, instancing, and procedurals. Arnold GPU is based on the NVIDIA OptiX framework and is optimized to leverage NVIDIA RTX technology. Other new features in Arnold 5.3 include: Major improvements to quality and performance for adaptive sampling, helping to reduce render times without jeopardizing final image quality

Improved version of Randomwalk SSS mode for more realistic shading

Enhanced usability for Standard Surface, giving users more control

Improvements to the Operator framework, including a new Include operator and more artist-friendly way to apply them

Better sampling of Skydome lights, reducing direct illumination noise

Updates to support for MaterialX, allowing users to save a shading network as a MaterialX look Randomwalk SSS V2 in Arnold 5.3. Images courtesy of Lee Griggs Visible lights in Arnold 5.3 Arnold 5.3 with Arnold GPU in public beta will be available for download on March 20, 2019 as of 12 noon PT / 3pm ET. Arnold is available as a standalone subscription or with a collection of end-to-end creative tools within the Autodesk Media & Entertainment Collection. You can also try Arnold GPU with a free 30-day trial of Arnold. Arnold GPU will be available in all supported plug-ins: Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, Houdini, Cinema 4D, and Katana.