V-Ray Tip: V-Ray Edge-Preserving (Bilateral) Denoising Workflow

Preserve hard edges and fine detail while cleaning noise by using an edge-aware (bilateral-style) denoising workflow in V-Ray.

Why it matters:

• Bilateral-style denoising smooths noise within surfaces but resists blurring across edges, keeping bevels, chamfers, text, and masks crisp.
• Minimizes halos, texture washout, and “plastic” surfaces often caused by aggressive, non–edge-aware smoothing.

When to prefer bilateral/edge-preserving denoising:

• Product and automotive shots with tight highlight transitions.
• Archviz scenes with CAD-sharp geometry and thin mullions.
• Lookdev with decals, labels, and micro-embossing you don’t want softened.
• Comps that rely on precise masks (Cryptomatte/Material ID) and clean linework.

Recommended V-Ray setup:

• Add VRayDenoiser as a Render Element. Enable and output the “Denoiser” result alongside the Beauty.
• Include Albedo and Normal render elements. Feature-guided denoisers leverage these passes to better protect edges and materials.
• Engine choice:
  • Intel Open Image Denoise (OIDN): strong detail retention for finals.
  • NVIDIA AI Denoiser: excellent for interactive lookdev; verify finals for temporal stability.
  • V-Ray Default: predictable, tuneable radius/strength behavior.
• Starting points (refine per scene):
  • Strength: 0.5–0.7 to avoid over-smoothing.
  • Radius: 4–8 px to limit cross-edge bleed on thin details.
  • Use Denoiser Blend (60–85%) to keep microdetail in metals, fabrics, and skin pores.

Edge protection tactics:

• Keep feature passes clean: clamp fireflies (Max Ray Intensity or highlight clamp) before denoising to prevent haloing around hot pixels.
• Prefer physically plausible exposure and balanced light intensities over post gain; better SNR means less aggressive denoising.
• If your comp tool provides a bilateral filter, apply it gently to residual noise on targeted AOVs (e.g., Raw Reflection), guided by Albedo/Normal to constrain smoothing inside material boundaries.
• Avoid denoising technical passes (Z-Depth, Cryptomatte, Object/Material IDs); keep them pristine for compositing accuracy.

Animation considerations:

• Use a consistent noise seed and a slightly higher sample floor (lower noise threshold) to reduce temporal flicker prior to denoising.
• Test 30–50 frame snippets; watch for edge “breathing.” If visible, reduce radius and blend the denoiser less.

Workflow tips:

• Iterate with region renders and the VFB History A/B compare to fine-tune denoiser radius/strength quickly.
• Deliver 16-bit or 32-bit EXR with all relevant AOVs to maximize denoiser and comp latitude.
• Combine a mild bilateral pass with subtle sharpening in the VFB stack or in comp to restore micro-contrast without ringing.

Pro move: run a mild bilateral-style cleanup on specular-heavy AOVs only, then reassemble the Beauty. This often yields crisper edges than denoising the full Beauty alone.

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