Rigorously Tested NVIDIA Studio Drivers Keep Post-Production up to Maximum Speed and Creative Output
Millions of video editors and creators around the world depend on their high-performance computers for work and art. How then to leverage the latest editing and creating capabilities being released onto the market?
It would be illogical to release new GPUs every month to keep on the leading edge of technology, let alone for creators to purchase and install them at that rate, and that’s where NVIDIA Studio Drivers step in with a welcome solution: regularly released software to improve existing hardware, maximize new creative software functions, and push your machine to its limit.
NVIDIA GPUs have made PCs able to display and render the graphics that we are driven to create, and Drivers are responsible for keeping those GPUs on the cutting edge of the abilities of our favorite NLE’s and creative apps.
About once-a-month NVIDIA releases Studio Drivers that are free software that communicate between your GeForce GPU and the operating system, graphics APIs, and the creation applications that you are using to edit and design. This software tells your computer how to work with apps in the most efficient and productive way possible, based on thorough testing across thousands of GPU and computer combinations by NVIDIA prior to each release. The result of that systematic testing ensures that your workflow will be unhampered by freezes and bugs, so you can enjoy the speed upgrades to save more time and enhance your creative output.
However, Studio Driver releases will always be tuned to the latest post-production NLE you rely on to get optimal performance through your GPU, including Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Substance Painter, DaVinci Resolve, Cinema 4D, VEGAS Pro, Autodesk Maya, and Topaz Denoise AI, as well as plugins like Boris FX Sapphire. NVIDIA tests for multi-app workflows too, so it’s important to stay up to date on Studio Drivers to shave time off of your workflow and to provide yourself with the advantages of the new features that have been added to your favorite NLE.
Updating NVIDIA Studio Drivers
To update your GPU with the latest NVIDIA Studio Driver, navigate to NVIDIA’s Studio Driver page. Here the immediate option is to manually search for your particular NVIDIA Studio Driver, using each dropdown menu to select the specific graphics card, product series, and operating system you use, then hit “search” to find the latest applicable Driver. When the Driver has been identified, simply hit download and follow the prompts.
For automatic notifications on NVIDIA Studio Driver updates and the ability to approve each update with a simple click, sign up for the GeForce Experience. Once you have this app downloaded to your desktop, you can either create an account or log in through Facebook or Google. Within GeForce Experience users can be automatically notified of NVIDIA Driver updates available for each individual configuration instead of manually entering the details into the website every time one suspects that a new Driver update might be available.
Once inside the GeForce Experience app, three dots in the top right corner will allow you to change your Driver preferences from Game Ready Driver to Studio Driver in order to receive updates for NVIDIA’s performance improvements for creative software. When each Studio Driver downloads, users can choose an Express Installation to quickly install the entire update, or a Custom Installation to pick and choose which components of the Driver update you’d like to see in your system as well as the option for a clean installation.
NVIDIA supports a vast collection of GPUs with Driver updates. The Studio Driver program is applicable to every GeForce GTX card 10-series and higher, GeForce RTX series, TITAN V and RTX, NVIDIA RTX series, and all Quadro releases since 2012.
NVIDIA Studio Driver July 2022 Release With Support for V-Ray 6 Within 3ds Max
Chaos, the photorealistic creation software, has evolved V-Ray to be more intuitive and effortless with each version, and as of July 2022 V-RAy 6 for 3ds Max adds a laundry list of highly anticipated features.
NVIDIA’s July 2022 Studio Driver has also been released to enhance the new powers in V-Ray 6 with the usual strengthened performance in GPUs, as well as faster Light Cache, and a new Device Selector to assign rendering devices to specific tasks without restarting 3ds Max. Specifying GPU use for the AI denoiser allows a user to manually shift gears and double the efficiency of the software.
NVIDIA’s July 2022 Studio Driver update contributes function to each of the new V-Ray 6 features:
Finite Dome Light helps integrate 3D models in spherical environments by preventing distortion between an object and its environment.
Procedural Clouds in the V-Ray skies will add believable clouds to your scenes with a click. These AI generated clouds fully interact with light from the sun by glowing or casting shadows, depending on the position of the sun. The density of clouds can be increased or decreased, and their look can be adjusted to suit the mood of the composition.
Chaos Scatter can distribute vegetation procedurally, generating plants randomly but giving you control over the degree of randomness, height, spacing, the ability to define what slope your objects generate on, and much much more.
EnMesh modifier will replace 3D surfaces with complex geometry, giving you parameters to adjust for a fine-tuned result.Displacement support for V-Ray Decals gives an offset to decals applied to a 3D object, which separates the decal from the object it’s clinging to for realistic definition.
Enhanced Sub Surface Scattering is a Shader improvement that, in addition to the Direction Mode, offers a new option of Uniform Mode to allow for a deeper sub-scattering surface texture that renders faster. V-Ray 6 Shader also now allows a map input to interject even more detail into the texture and makeup of a 3D object.
ThinFilm option generates various film effects, such as a rainbow film on a bubble or oil slick, with parameters for the thickness of the film, as well as a noise map option for added detail.
Energy Preservation program now renders rough shaders much more realistically by allowing the color and roughness to appear more true to life, especially for metallic objects.
Framebuffer Improvements include the Proportion Guide for planning and framing your scene with an overlaying grid. Choose from the rule-of-thirds, diagonal guides, the golden ratio, or create your own custom defined grid.
Panorama Viewer will allow you the ability to view your creation in the frame buffer to see objects from all perspectives and angles, saving the time of going back and forth between creation and panorama to simplify your work.
Collaboration is a new tool for projects to be uploaded, shared with friends, and receive suggestions and comments.
In The NVIDIA Studio, Featuring Studio Driver Enhancements to Brian Liu’s Artistry
The One Academy lecturer and renowned 3D artist Brian Liu, featured in this week’s In the NVIDIA Studio, takes advantage of his RTX GPU, Autodesk Maya, Adobe Substance Painter, and NVIDIA’s latest Studio Driver to smoothly produce a photorealistic cozy breakfast scene. Amid a palpably fuzzy blanket, in the comfortable glow of a candle, crispy waffles and hot coffee beg to be eaten. Indistinguishable from reality, the project is complete with reflections in the flower vase and candle glass, syrup over the waffles, and scratches on the metal fork.
Brian’s Afternoon Coffee and Waffle scene began in 3D model blocking in Autodesk Maya, supported by an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 GPU, where he roughed together a clay model to get a feel for what his scene would eventually look like.
Having prepared the scene for photorealistic render, Brian then created a higher resolution model and added texture with Adobe Substance Painter. With a ZBrush integration, Brian shaped the waffles, then colored and applied micro-bumps in Substance Painter. He added coffee inside the coffee cup and minute random scratches to the outside, wax and a wick to the candle, and built the rest of his set with deliberate imperfections that would eventually make a perfectly real image.
When the lifelike textures, reflections, and minute surface details were rendered, the candle’s flame reflected in both sides of the candle enclosure, the reflection on the drinking glass slightly obscured the fresh-poured coffee bubbles, and light rays penetrated through the water of the glass vase.
Brian Liu described the creation process with his RTX 3090 as “butter smooth”, and thanked the “power from RT and Tensor Cores on the graphics card” for supporting his AI denoising and allowing him to complete his texturing in 4K preview. Between his GPU and the latest Studio Driver, Brian could focus on producing authentic results in less time.
Check in with In the NVIDIA Studio every week for more inspiring stories that spotlight the new heights reached with NVIDIA hardware and Studio Driver updates.
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