Solid Angle Arnold 5.1 for Maya, Houdini, Cinema4D, 3ds Max, and Katana

[ #Arnold ]Solid Angle has unveiled Arnold 5.1 with adding a new toon shader, adaptive sampling, native Alembic support, two denoising systems, and an experimental progressive rendering mode for this major update. The integration plugin for Maya has also been updated, with MtoA 3.0 supporting all of the key functionality added in the Arnold 5.1 core.

Optimizing for quality and speed
  -Adaptive sampling offers a streamlined way to easily tune image fidelity, so users can reduce render times without jeopardizing final image quality.
  -Two new denoising solutions give you the option to use much lower quality sampling settings to optimize your rendering process:
    -The OptiX Denoiser based on NVIDIA AI technology is now integrated into Arnold.
    -The Arnold Denoiser is a standalone tool that offers the temporal stability needed for final frame denoising.

Toon shader
A new Toon shader has been integrated as part of a non-photorealistic rendering solution, provided in combination with the Contour Filter, making it easier to achieve incredible new styles and effects. While Arnold is long known for producing beautiful photorealistic imagery, many users have asked for functionality allowing toon or stylized non-photoreal looks, and this new shader will open up a tremendous range of options.

Managing complexity and scale
For technical users, Arnold continues to offer the stability needed to scale performance without sacrificing image quality.
  -A native Alembic procedural will help studios working with Alembic pipelines to better integrate Arnold, optimize their Alembic workflow, and eliminate production bottlenecks.
  -A new Profiling API plus structured statistics, including the ability to output data in JSON format, offer a set of powerful debugging tools so users can more easily identify performance issues and fine-tune rendering processes.

Interoperability for open pipelines
Arnold 5.1 lays the groundwork for major developments in supporting open industry standards, helping to dismantle technical roadblocks that might be limiting your choice of tools.
  -Material assignments and overrides: Fully interactive inside of Arnold, a new set of operators makes it possible to override any part of an Arnold scene and modify the Arnold universe at render time. Support for open standard frameworks including MaterialX will make it easier than ever to transfer rich material and look-development content between applications and renderers.
A full list of new features and functionality including progressive rendering and overall enhancements to built-in shaders can be found in the Arnold 5.1 release notes. Visit the Arnold Support Portal for details.

Availability

Arnold has supported plug-ins available for Maya, Houdini, Cinema4D, 3ds Max, and Katana. The software is due to go rental-only on 30 April 2018, with subscriptions starting at $65/month or $615/year.
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