Denoising animation renders for free • HDRMAPS™

Why You Should Avoid Inbuilt Denoisers for Animation Renders

Most modern 3D software like Blender, 3ds Max, or Maya offer built-in denoisers (such as OptiX or Intel’s OIDN) that work great for still images. They can quickly clean up noisy renders and make previews look much nicer with fewer samples.

However, when it comes to animation rendering, relying on these inbuilt denoisers can cause serious problems.

Once you render your sequence and turn it into a video, you’ll often notice:

Flickering between frames, even if each frame looks fine on its own
Strange blotchy artifacts or textures that seem to “dance” or shift subtly
Loss of detail in motion, especially in soft gradients or shadows

This happens because most inbuilt denoisers work on a per-frame basis, with no understanding of motion continuity. Since noise patterns vary from frame to frame, the denoiser may interpret these inconsistencies as actual detail and react differently each time — creating visible jittering or unnatural movement in the final animation.

For clean, professional results in animations, it’s much better to denoise after rendering, using tools designed to work with image sequences and ideally optimized for temporal consistency — such as NVIDIA’s AI-based denoiser.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Download the NVIDIA AI Denoiser Tool

Go to the project’s GitHub page: https://github.com/DeclanRussell/NvidiaAIDenoiser and download the zipped release package.

2. Extract the Files

Unzip the downloaded package to a directory of your choice on your computer.

3. Prepare Your Rendered Frame Sequence

Navigate to the folder where your rendered image sequence is stored. Make sure:

The inbuilt denoiser was turned off during rendering.
You can lower your rendering settings to save time, since noise will be removed after rendering.

4. Create a Batch File

In the same folder as your image sequence, create a file named batch.bat.

Open it in a text editor (like Notepad) and paste the following content:

SET FILE_EXTENSION=jpg
SET PATH_TO_DENOISER=D:\Projects\NvidiaAIDenoiser\Denoiser_v2.0
SET OUTPUT_PREFIX=denoised_

for /r %%v in (*.%FILE_EXTENSION%) do %PATH_TO_DENOISER%\Denoiser.exe -i "%%~nv.%FILE_EXTENSION%" -o "%OUTPUT_PREFIX%%%~nv.%FILE_EXTENSION%"

cmd

5. Adjust the Settings

Before running the script, make sure to:

Change FILE_EXTENSION to match your actual image format (e.g., png, exr, etc.).
Update PATH_TO_DENOISER to point to the location where you unzipped the denoiser.

6. Run the Batch File

Double-click batch.bat. The denoising process will start automatically. Depending on the number and size of frames, it may take a few minutes.

And that’s it — your frames are now denoised and ready to be compiled into a flicker-free animation!