Autodesk 3ds Max 2020: A Detailed Guide to Arnold Renderer, 2nd Edition

Book excerpt: The Autodesk 3ds Max 2020: A Detailed Guide to Arnold Renderer, 2nd Edition book walks you through every step of rendering projects using Arnold for 3ds Max. This comprehensive guide caters to the novices and intermediate users of Arnold for 3ds Max. This book will help you to get started with Arnold, you will learn important concepts and techniques about rendering which you can utilize to create high quality renders. Using a structured and pragmatic approach this guide begins with basics of Arnold, then builds on this knowledge using practical examples to enhance your skills. Each unit builds on the knowledge gained in the previous unit, showing you all the essentials of rendering with Arnold for 3ds Max, from sampling and ray depth, to shaders, maps, camera effects, and AOVs. As you go from hands-on exercise to hands-on exercise, you’ll develop a strong arsenal of skills that combined will form a complete end to end process to creating high quality renders using Arnold for 3ds Max. This book shares tips, tricks, notes, and cautions throughout, that will help you become a better 3ds Max rendering artist and you will be able to speed up your workflow. This book is aimed to be a solid teaching resource for learning Arnold for 3ds Max. It avoids any jargon and explains concepts and techniques in an easy-to-understand manner. The first page of the every unit summarizes the topics that will be covered in the unit. Hands-on exercises in this book instruct users how things can be done in Arnold for 3ds Max step-by-step. Practicing is one of the best ways to improve skills. This book contains practice activities which you are highly encouraged to complete and gain confidence for real-world projects. By completing these activities, you will be able to master the powerful capabilities of Arnold. By the time you’re done, you’ll be ready to render any scene in 3ds Max using the Arnold renderer. What are the key features of the book? Comprehensive guide to learning and using Arnold for 3ds Max. Covers all the basics as well as advanced topics using easy to follow, hands-on exercises. Explains what is Arnold and how it is different from other renderers. Covers Arnold lights and light filters. Covers Arnold shaders, materials, and maps. Covers the motion blur and depth-of-field effects. Covers AOVs and Arnold render settings. Detailed coverage of nodes and features. Features more than 20 hands-on exercises – complete with before and after files. Contains practice activities to test the knowledge gained. Additional guidance is provided in the form of tips, notes, and cautions. Important terms are in bold face so that you never miss them. The content under the “What just happened?” heading explains the working of the instructions. The content under the “What next?” heading tells you about the procedure you will follow after completing a step(s). Includes an ePub file that contains the color images of the screenshots/illustrations used in the textbook. These color images will help you in the learning process. This ePub file is included with the resources. Tech support from the author. Access to each exercise’s initial and final states along with the resources used in hands-on exercises. Quiz to assess the knowledge.