Hey there! Quick question about denoising.
This session was recorded with Blender 3.3 and while the Cycles Denoising feature was already available in Cycles you recommended that we would denoise the image through the compositing stage.
Is there a difference between using one or the other, and if yes, what is the benefit of using the compositor vs the properties panel?
Just curious! Thanks for any insight!
If you're using OpenImage Denoiser then there is no difference in the result. The one in the properties panel and the compositor node both use the same, since 4.1, I believe, the properties panel OpenImage can use GPU though, which cuts down the render time slightly with the compositor using CPU and being so slow. Not sure how it is in 4.2 now with the ability to switch to GPU.
The main difference would be that, hardware depending, you could switch to Optix denoiser in the properties panel, if you have an nvidia card. I read a bunch of times it's better for animation with fewer artifacts, where OpenImage is better for stills.
If you want to use OpenImage and have a capable GPU and use 4.1 or higher then I'd activate it in the properties panel. With 4.2 that's open for debate. Optix is only available in the properties panel anyhow.
Got it! Thank you for the detailed explanation Sascha! I work on Macs, so unfortunately Optix is not an option for me. Metal support has been improving at every release though!
I remember JL saying he prefers doing denoising on the compositor, can't remember the reasons though, it was on a video on a lesson on a course or the ones he releases on YouTube, dangs can't remember where it was. Perhaps one of the guys remember. But that was a while back, things might have changed and both denoiser are the same now, I don't know. I always use the compositor to denoise, because Kent also prefers the compositor, so if two of the masters have said so, then I'm denoising in the compositor. It's been a while since I used the denoiser in the properties, but I had noticed the denoiser in the properties panel tended to smear the details more, it didn't preserve them as much, so yeah, another reason I've used the compositor for denoise.
Interesting! I might run some tests with the same image to see if I end up with a personal preference then. Thanks Omar!
I'd be curious to hear from the masters too. Maybe that will be somewhere in the new CORE lessons. We'll see!!
That's a new thought for me! Denoising just portions of the render in Blender. Very interesting. It is part of my every day work inside of AE, but I never made the connection/ extrapolation out of the layer workflow. Thanks Martin! I'm definitely taking that compositing course once it comes out. I sure can use some fundamentals in that.
True about the non-destructive workflow.
The difference in quality might come up because I think by default in the properties panel it's set to fast, not accurate. I guess at the end of the day it comes down to the use case, as so many things. :)
