Maya workflow
A video showing how to setup lentil in Maya. The scene file is provided at the bottom of the page.
1. Switch the camera type to lentil_camera
Select your camera's shape node. In the attribute editor under the Arnold tab, switch the Camera Type to lentil_camera.
2. Set up parameters in the camera attributes
Set the bidirectional sample multiplier param: bidir_sample_mult. The bokeh samples are decoupled from the AA sample count. A good interactive baseline is around 1-10, although you might want to increase this when dealing with very small highlights, or decrease it when dealing with larger high luminance areas. Lentil will automatically modulate the sample count based on the screenspace area footprint of the bokeh.
3. Adding the Lentil Imager
In the render settings window, under the Imager section, create an aiLentilImager. This will allow feeding back the bidirectionally sampled result into the renderview.
lentil_imager needs to be the first imager in the imager stack. It cannot accept inputs from other imagers, unlike the default arnold imagers.
4. Adding the Lentil Operator
In the operator section of the render settings, add a lentil_operator.
5. (optional) Double check the samples that will trigger the bidirectional component
A debug AOV lentil_debug is automatically created. The AOV will show the amount of bidirectional samples per pixel, with a closest filter.
Final checklist
The bidirectional sampling only kicks into action when:
- The AA samples are larger or equal to
3. - An imager of type:
aiLentilImagerhas been added. - param: bidir_sample_mult is not
0.