Lynda – 3ds Max: Rendering with Arnold

Arnold is the high-quality rendering engine in 3ds Max. Realistic rendering is easier than ever with this brute-force Monte Carlo ray tracer. The physically based rendering in Arnold accurately simulates light in the real world, but allows you to break physical laws to achieve artistic styles. This course is an overview of the core Arnold features for lighting, materials, and rendering in 3ds Max. Instructor Aaron F. Ross shows how to adjust render settings and object properties, add image-based and studio lighting, simulate natural daylight, customize and apply materials, and build a shading network. Finally, learn how to apply a variety of camera and rendering tools such as displacement, subdivision, and panoramas to get exactly the look you want.

Topics include:
Arnold rendering concepts
Controlling sample quality and ray depth
Rendering on an NVIDIA GPU
Arnold lights such as Quad, Spot, and Distant
Modifying Arnold object properties
Image-based lighting
Daylight simulation with Physical Sky
Arnold Standard Surface material parameters
Diffuse, opacity, and bump mapping
Rendering refractions with Transmission
Building an Arnold shading network
Test rendering with utility maps
Mesh subdivision and displacement at render time
Rendering a spherical environment