Optix Viewport Denoiser Makes Objects Glow When Using High Exposure Even When There is no Light in the Scene #77552

New Issue

Zijun Zhou · 2020-06-07T03:31:48+02:00

Zijun Zhou commented

2020-06-07 03:31:48 +02:00

System Information
Operating system: Windows-10-10.0.18362-SP0 64 Bits
Graphics card: GeForce MX130/PCIe/SSE2 NVIDIA Corporation 4.5.0 NVIDIA 446.14

Blender Version
Broken: version: 2.90.0 Alpha, branch: master, commit date: 2020-06-06 14:18, hash: aed11c673e
Worked: (newest version of Blender that worked as expected)

Short description of error
The latest build added the feature to let non-RTX GPUs use the denoiser, so I tested it on my scene right away. However, the objects in the scene start glowing when the denoiser starts working. The scene was lit using the Physical Lights feature that the Photographer 3 addon has provided, which offers units like Lumen and Candela, etc. And since physically correct light values can sometimes be very dim (like a candle = 1 candela), sometimes be very bright (like the Sun at noon 111,000 lux), Photographer offers real life camera's settings for modifying the exposure in the color management in the render settings to adjust the overall brightness. And in my scene, I used a candle, which is very dim. Therefore the exposure has been set very high. It has been fine until the denoiser came.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error
Based on the default startup

Delete the default point light
Turn the World Background Strength to 0
Turn the Exposure in the Render Settings under Color Management to 10
Change the render engine to Cycles
Turn on render view, you should see nothing but complete darkness
Turn on the Optix Viewport denoiser
Wait for a while and see the default cube glowing

I don't know if this is a bug or not, if it is not, please at least get some work around. Like making the denoiser refresh when the exposure changes or something?

**System Information** Operating system: Windows-10-10.0.18362-SP0 64 Bits Graphics card: GeForce MX130/PCIe/SSE2 NVIDIA Corporation 4.5.0 NVIDIA 446.14 **Blender Version** Broken: version: 2.90.0 Alpha, branch: master, commit date: 2020-06-06 14:18, hash: `aed11c673e` Worked: (newest version of Blender that worked as expected) **Short description of error** The latest build added the feature to let non-RTX GPUs use the denoiser, so I tested it on my scene right away. However, the objects in the scene start glowing when the denoiser starts working. The scene was lit using the Physical Lights feature that the Photographer 3 addon has provided, which offers units like Lumen and Candela, etc. And since physically correct light values can sometimes be very dim (like a candle = 1 candela), sometimes be very bright (like the Sun at noon 111,000 lux), Photographer offers real life camera's settings for modifying the exposure in the color management in the render settings to adjust the overall brightness. And in my scene, I used a candle, which is very dim. Therefore the exposure has been set very high. It has been fine until the denoiser came. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** Based on the default startup 1. Delete the default point light 2. Turn the World Background Strength to 0 3. Turn the Exposure in the Render Settings under Color Management to 10 4. Change the render engine to Cycles 5. Turn on render view, you should see nothing but complete darkness 6. Turn on the Optix Viewport denoiser 7. Wait for a while and see the default cube glowing I don't know if this is a bug or not, if it is not, please at least get some work around. Like making the denoiser refresh when the exposure changes or something? ![image.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F8588268/image.png)

Zijun Zhou commented

2020-06-07 03:31:48 +02:00

Added subscriber: @Eary

Emir Sinan Gürlek commented

2020-06-07 13:03:34 +02:00

Added subscriber: @filibis

Zijun Zhou commented

2020-06-08 04:29:48 +02:00

Just want to stress it here just in case, I encountered the problem when using the addon but the problem is completely reproducible without the addon. I have asked my friend, who doesn't have the addon, to try the steps and he can reproduce the problem just like that. Just saying it here just in case.

Philipp Oeser commented

2020-06-22 11:28:18 +02:00

Added subscribers: @pmoursnv, @lichtwerk

Philipp Oeser commented

2020-06-22 11:28:18 +02:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Confirmed'

Philipp Oeser commented

2020-06-22 11:28:18 +02:00

Can confirm.

This might be something the AI is confused with, or an issue with non-RTX cards?
Btw. this can also be observed with a light (on unlit surfaces)

It is also a bit of an uncommon situation, but will confirm for now.

CC @pmoursnv

Can confirm. This might be something the AI is confused with, or an issue with non-RTX cards? Btw. this can also be observed with a light (on unlit surfaces) ![image.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F8636548/image.png) It is also a bit of an uncommon situation, but will confirm for now. CC @pmoursnv

Patrick Mours commented

2020-07-06 18:43:59 +02:00

That's just the nature of AI denoising. The HDR denoiser that comes with OptiX was trained for a specific usecase (AI is only ever as good as the data that was used to train it), which is HDR images with color data between 0-10'000 that on average is not close to zero (see also https://raytracing-docs.nvidia.com/optix7/guide/index.html#ai_denoiser#nvidia-ai-denoiser).
In this particular case this contract cannot be abhold, since the scene is very very dark and therefore values are very close to zero (it's only later after tonemapping that the final image gets scaled up using the exposure value). The AI is therefore unable to produce a good output.

This could only be solved by running the denoiser on the LDR image after tonemapping and exposure has been applied already. But that is handled by Blender and not Cycles (which is where the denoiser lives) and so is not possible with the current architecture. I'd put this in the Known Issue category.

That's just the nature of AI denoising. The HDR denoiser that comes with OptiX was trained for a specific usecase (AI is only ever as good as the data that was used to train it), which is HDR images with color data between 0-10'000 that on average is not close to zero (see also https://raytracing-docs.nvidia.com/optix7/guide/index.html#ai_denoiser#nvidia-ai-denoiser). In this particular case this contract cannot be abhold, since the scene is very very dark and therefore values are very close to zero (it's only later after tonemapping that the final image gets scaled up using the exposure value). The AI is therefore unable to produce a good output. This could only be solved by running the denoiser on the LDR image after tonemapping and exposure has been applied already. But that is handled by Blender and not Cycles (which is where the denoiser lives) and so is not possible with the current architecture. I'd put this in the Known Issue category.

Zijun Zhou commented

2020-07-13 16:18:40 +02:00

Alright, I think I would just use open image denoise then.

Zijun Zhou commented

2020-07-14 02:46:20 +02:00

Added subscriber: @chafouin

Zijun Zhou commented

2020-07-14 02:46:20 +02:00

@pmoursnv I told the author of Photographer @chafouin what you have said, and he said:

Terrible idea, do not do it on LDR. You should be able to just pre-expose the values that you feed into the denoiser.

I think it may be necessay to let you know this, and probably get you guys to talk directly.

@pmoursnv I told the author of Photographer @chafouin what you have said, and he said: > Terrible idea, do not do it on LDR. You should be able to just pre-expose the values that you feed into the denoiser. I think it may be necessay to let you know this, and probably get you guys to talk directly.

Zijun Zhou commented

2020-07-27 10:03:15 +02:00

The option to use Optix Denoise for non-RTX cards is... gone? I can no longer find it!
EDIT: Nevermind, Optix is back in today's 2.90 build.

The option to use Optix Denoise for non-RTX cards is... gone? I can no longer find it! EDIT: Nevermind, Optix is back in today's 2.90 build.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2020-11-11 18:10:57 +01:00

Added subscriber: @brecht

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2020-11-11 18:10:57 +01:00

I think the proper solution here would be to use Exposure in the Film panel, and for denoising to take that into account.

Exposure in color management is not intended to be used for this case, compositing or saving .exr files with very low values does not work well either.

I think the proper solution here would be to use Exposure in the Film panel, and for denoising to take that into account. Exposure in color management is not intended to be used for this case, compositing or saving .exr files with very low values does not work well either.

Philipp Oeser removed the

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Optix Viewport Denoiser Makes Objects Glow When Using High Exposure Even When There is no Light in the Scene #77552