Arnold Render in 3ds Max introduction tutorial

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Exclusive content on my patreon: / eloiandaluz
My webpage: www.andvfx.com/
Arnold for 3ds Max is the standard renderer now. Arnold its an industry Standard renderer, used for multiple blockbuster movies, present in multiple 3d Apps, and for some time reintroduced in 3ds Max.
On this tutorial we will do a quick overview of Arnold History, and the basics to use it in 3dsmax, materials, lighting, properties, how to use cpu or gpu, Arnold render view, and some basic questions that you can have you are jumping from other renderers.
Its a basic introduction in to Arnold, so I am not covering materials in depth, or talk about adaptive rendering, or anything really specific. Let me know if you want some more in depth sections.
Let me know in the comments what do you think of arnold, if you are actually using it, or do you plan to use it soon. Thanks!
Note: Arnold creator is Marcos Fajardo, not "Carlos" as I said on the video.
Didnt notice that I record this tutorial with a "non oficial Arnold version". However, ALL the video can be followed using the actual MaxtoA (4.2.2.20 or anything newer).
Here the timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:32 Arnold History
2:35 Arnold in 3ds Max
4:03 Lights
6:41 Materials
8:12 HDR Illumination
9:43 Matte shadow
10:00 Preview/Progressive rendering
11:54 GPU rendering
13:28 AOVS
15:02 Sampling
16:41 Sampling Example
18:01 Denoising
18:22 Object Properties
19:22 Arnold Objects
19:53 Extra learning resources
20:47 Final conclusions
Links to more Arnold information:
arnold help: docs.arnoldrenderer.com/displ...
lee griggs: leegriggs.com/
mads: www.masd.dk/arnoldconverter/
jose M Elizardo: • Arnold GPU in 3ds Max ...
Arnold learning channel: / arnoldrenderer
Ciro Cardoso: / @cirocardoso3v
Adan Martin (spanish): • Introducción a MAXtoA ...
3ds Max learning channel: • 3ds Max 2018 - MAXtoA ...
Thumbnail Image by Lee Griggs: leegriggs.com/volume-mesh
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Other interesting links: (AL means Affiliate Links):
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Geometryy (Use coupon: "eloi50" for 10$ off)
benches: bit.ly/3pMVPLx
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sliding doors (AL): bit.ly/3mnz3Yv
Figment Caustics (AL): bit.ly/3oUOZ4K
CablePlacer (AL): bit.ly/3CDEUh6

[@bahramkhadiv2234]

Thanks for Sharing Eloi, You keep the Max alive and improve our knowledge with your wonderful videos

[@oso_Peligroso]

EXCELLENT VIDEO! I have been struggling with other renderers and Arnold seemed very hard to get a handle on ,but this video cleared a lot up!

[@hejar_art]

You keep 3ds Max alive more than Autodesk ;)

[@cinnamocole]

Thank you so much, Eloi. You have made it possible for me to achieve great grades in my first year of 3D Animation at college. Thank you thank you thank you!! Much love from Scotland my friend.

[@baldoski]

Thanks for the video, Eloi. I'm waiting for more tutorials with Arnold, especially covering the VFX field where this engine really shines.

[@samueljimenez8456]

thanks for the video excellent explanation I hope you keep making more video about Arnold

[@jixal]

Nice! Thanks for making this. I've voided Arnold for ages now at it required more effort than other engines just to get something to baseline. Considering its free with 3DS, I think I'll try switching over for a while for personal projects.

[@jeremydelastreet]

You are like a clear voice on a dark old place. You give me all good tips. You make me like this new 3dsmax. Without you i will change to other free soft.

[@Cola-42]

I was waiting for a video about Arnold! 👍

[@cirocardoso3v]

Fantastic Intro to Arnold Eloi. Well done. I think you covered all the topics for people to start using more Arnold and see how fast it is.

[@andvfx]

Thanks! I added a link to your channel on the description. You are doing a very in deep covering of arnold as well! We need more quality content.

[@cirocardoso3v]

@@andvfx Thank you Eloi.

[@deleokeniyi]

My guy, I like this tutorial. it really helped me. Thank you very much.

[@Dan9953]

Got tired from tweaking all kind of light maps to figure out in the morning that something still flickers. Arnold is so nice to use.

[@moleytv]

Now. At last I think I will put down Corona and try Arnold. All I need was a simple explanation, like this, of how the samples work. Thank you.

[@Rito1968]

Dear Eloi, thank You so much for Your content. It is very enjoyable to learn from You.

[@AbbasKhan-dk5sb]

Very informative man! Thank you for making this video :)

[@joelaguilarfuentes8758]

Great intro to Arnold Eloi.

[@pascalcreativedesign8790]

everything you do is amazing. thank you

[@albertyu1358]

Great video, thanks for keeping 3ds Max alive more than ever! Would love to see a comparison between render engines for 3ds max (i.e. vray, arnold, corona, fstorm and etc.) in terms of speed, ease of use, and more!

[@andvfx]

Its quite complicated, because I used vray an arnold, and just a little corona when was on beta. To do a proper comparission just between 2... will involve a looong video just to cover all what a renderer do, and to be fair I will need to be using both in a production environment for a good judgement.

[@morder81]

Great tutorial, I would like to is it more on this topic. I am also using V-ray for a long time, but like Arnold more and more :)

[@friendlyreptilian3767]

as usual great info, thanks!

[@EburdeyGordei4]

Arnold is good. I'm using it. Would be nice to see more tutorials, also in depth.

[@chandlerchase8993]

I used Vray through school and am switching to 3ds max for work this seems to have more capabilities than vray and am excited to explore

[@waxx37]

Great vid, thank you! I think I'll move to Arnold with the new 3DS MAX.

[@ozaffer77]

thank you for the breakdown, btw if anyone has an issue with environment background not showing up hit the home logo near your view/key thing. no idea why this happens but it seemed to fix it.

[@dischodave]

Yet another wonderful video. Such an awesome channel. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge Eloi. Means a lot. :) edit: To answer your question I have used Arnold in Maya but only beginner type stuff. We're using Max in college so it's great to see Arnold properly implemented in the latest version.

[@peterbowen3100]

At £ 346 for a one year subscription in the UK for 3ds Max Indie is an absolute bargain for this type of software. The fact you get a fully licensed renderer with Arnold included is amazing. I understand why people say V-Ray is easier to use out of the box, but I believe you really need to understand how to model, how to create materials, how to light and how to use cameras and animation if your going to try to earn a living from using 3ds Max. Nothing comes easy. MographPlus have a very good paid Arnold tutorial but is a bit out of date now. Eloi I always like to watch your monthly update videos on 3ds Max so would welcome an in-depth Arnold tutorial series from you in the near future. I sometimes think the reason why so many V-Ray tutorials for 3ds Max is that the people creating them are getting free licenses from Chaos.

[@juniorbueno6503]

Excellent

[@widespectrumcreators4691]

great man Arnold rock

[@gabi_quintana]

Muy buen resumen!

[@LynasAnimation]

Thank you!

[@ryancounts8131]

Eloi, can't thank you enough for the overview video. I've found Arnold confusing. This overview did explain some issues I was having two years ago when I was forced to use Arnold. It would be great to see more in-depth videos. The 'object properties' and 'Arnold objects' sections of this video would be great to learn more about as well as the ins' and outs' of the material options. I use it with GPU rendering. What are the limitations? For me, these would be great starter videos. Thanks. Please keep the tutorials coming.

[@Intercepto]

Nice tutorial. Very basic but it helps. I wanted to use Arnold for one of the future project just to learn it, I know it is very capable and you can do almost anything that other render engines offer, except maybe point cache GI solutions. However looking at your tutorial, the way object properties are done with modifiers worries me ... it will be very easy to loose track of all of the modifiers once scene complexity grows. They should probably do a classic approach that V-Ray or Corona implemented, where you do right click on objects and then activate Arnold properties.

[@pascalcreativedesign8790]

Love it

[@oliveiraluis3540]

At 0.5 speed sounds like the dude had a few drinks. Nice video.

[@andreasoberg2021]

I used a lot of Redshift and Octane in Houdini. Just wondering how to does Arnold compare to say Octane in 3ds Max. I like that it seems nicely integrated with 3ds Max and render times seems to be good on my computer for standar objects at least.

[@VinCarbone]

I''m waiting a sort of HDcache/Light Cache for Arnold. The engine it's great but it shines with IBL.. In complex interior with few light sources it lacks an high bounces solution.

[@vitocorleone5080]

please do a render engines comparison ( speed , quality, price.. etc)

[@jedimangia]

thank you for video

[@janjanas6644]

Is there a way to reduce noise from the N AOV? It comes from my normal and displacement maps. Can I use denoiser or something? Trying to use it for Normal lighting in to post.

[@PetarStamenkovic]

Thank you for this video. I still can't use Arnold as it still doesn't support proper reflections on the matte shadow. Arnold uses simple additive reflections. That means that dark and black objects have no reflections on the shadow matte. I'm still looking for a workaround that would enable Arnold to do this. I'd really appreciate help to solve this and/or if you could ask Arnold team to fix this long standing issue. Thank you!

[@teofilattodeleonzi]

. Thank you Eloi!!! Tips about settings for animation; both Arnold and Vray? :)

[@grimmx]

Thanks for this overview, just moved to max 2021 And as you said in the video Arnold for Max is not that popular, very hard to find as many tutorials and resources as Arnold for Maya or C4D. Would love it if you did a tutorial on setting up a SSS skin shaders.

[@khanshameer000]

Thanks for the great tutorial Eloi, would be helpful if anyone can tell me how to use Arnold converter in 3Dsmax 2021.

[@vvdhorstgmailcom]

I’ll be adding 5K more views to this video. Clear and extremely dense information here.

[@nov3000]

nice thank you

[@pproestos]

life savior videos

[@Raretdr]

Hello Eloi! Just saw the video and thank you so much for that. To create realistic portraits, do you prefer the Arnold StandartSurface? I mean ive seen so many realistic portraits, and its like the Standardsurface Material would be the best, to put in your Textures for your portrais. (Looks like, that even in maya they use for realistic portrais the standartsurface material.) Cheers

[@andvfx]

I am not really advanced on shading. But for what I saw, Arnold standardSurface with the powerful sss makes a good job, but you will found for sure a better answer from lookdev artists.

[@TheClaudinho2010]

Nice and informative video. Is there any chance to show how to transform some mental ray materials to arnold materials?

[@andvfx]

Thanks Jomar, check this video, is quite easy and almost automatic process: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3vRYYCLiaqSfJY

[@dokn221]

tnx dude

[@ThePatrvq]

is there a way to use ACES with Arnold for 3DsMax ?

[@muhammadasad9147]

nice

[@ExacoMvm]

Great video! But besides pricing is there any reason to use Arnold over lets say V-Ray 5 ? Since they both offer CPU+GPU computing only from what I've heard and seen myself Arnold's GPU is pretty much trash currently and needs alot of work especially in the optimization/speed aspect ( just like Redshift itself in an unbiased mode ).

[@andvfx]

I will not say GPU its trash exactly. For example Arnold GPU supports OSL, where vray doesnt. Arnold is great dealing with huge amounts of triangles, its reliable to whatever you thought at it. I like for example more the control you have over shaders in volumes with Arnold over vray. Or arnold use less memory when dealing with instancing over vray. At the end its another very good renderer available for max, its included on the package so.... why not.

[@ExacoMvm]

@@andvfx V-Ray 5 GPU supports OSL too ( partially ) similar with Arnold GPU: "Note that this initial support is still not complete and currently has a number of limitations...". Tbh I always wanted to try/use Arnold, but it's simply not as efficient as V-Ray both in performance and workflow, Arnold doesn't have anything close to VFB for all the post-process stuff and other nice features such as "Real Zoom", "Focus picker", History w/ A/B comparison etc, it's also slow af and so far it's mostly just an OK-Great CPU renderer but CPU rendering is sort of dead nowadays except for super large CGI scenes where alot of mem is required. Stability and geo optimization like you've mentioned might be it's best strenght and maybe nodes, haven't tested it for that long and completely opposite in V-Ray, V-Ray GPU just crashes every few mins on me when working on something more complex, so it's becoming annoying to the point I want to switch to something else, but ofcourse it's just my hardware limitation for most part.

[@andvfx]

Exaco man, check the arnold renderviwe I show on the video. You have post effects, you can save/compare renders, isolate by element.... actually has some cool features over vray framebuffer now (others are missing). And arnold gpu its getting on a good spot on the latest updates.

[@Mrlloydvideos]

How to render a sequence images with the arnold render view please ?

[@andvfx]

on render settings, you can choose to use "arnold render view" as default. this way launching a sequence will use the aRV.

[@snesoey]

Does Arnold support distribute render on several PCs?

[@TheBigNegative-PhotoChannel]

I miss renderproxys and conversion tools are there any?

[@andvfx]

Render Proxys in Arnold are called Procedurals. Conversion tools, its the 3dsmax Scene converter.

[@rendericeib4513]

Would go to Arnold because v-ray got ridiculously expensive for indie productions. They went greedy. 3ds max has an indie version available for some countries, chaos should learn from that.

[@masterfootage5481]

Thank you very much! However, the good old vray will still be faster?

[@andvfx]

Arnold its a full path tracer only. Has not "cache" or biased modes like vray has. Its like using Vray only on Brute force mode. For a total brute force renderer is one of the fastest, but Vray or corona will always will be faster when dealing with a lot of indirect illumination if you use Light cache for example.

[@georgeneverland896]

@@andvfx So is only faster than.. maxwell? :-D Joke aside great content! Keep working on this series, Max would need a renderer recognized like Cycles in Blender or how mental ray was years ago.. it would lead to greater standardization, nicer viewports, and maybe fewer costs not purchasing external plugins.

[@baldoski]

@@andvfx yeah, Arnold is faster/more flexible for VFX and maybe outdoors

[@heltrak3547]

in which version is Arnold render view? i have 2020 but cannot find it anywhere

[@andvfx]

Make sure to update Arnold to the latest version available.www.arnoldrenderer.com/arnold/download/product-download/?id=4006

[@80sOGRE]

AGHHH ! i go to open Arnold Renderview and i just get a grey box, not even acknowledging my scene and the tab next to beauty, the one below view won't open or do anything when clicked. here in this video, he just opened the Renderview and his scene was there. ARGGHHH

[@indigooo3d]

Es Marcos Fajardo! Un saludo #3dsymax

[@andvfx]

Oh lol, Lo tenia incluso bien escrito en el script, cruzada de cables. XD

[@iLEZ]

Gosh, I WOULD like to give Arnold a chance, especially now with this very comprehensive video, but I have only had trouble with it. Arnold previews will not render, 3ds max starts to use 99% of CPU and gets unresponsive for a very long time, some maps won't render at all in Arnold, like Advanced Wood even though I have enabled legacy map support, renders will just stop in the middle of the rendering without any warning, the activeshade will reload randomly and start from the beginning even though I haven't touched the window. I can see that whenever Arnold actually works it is very quick, but something is wrong either with my max 2021 or my computer or whatever, because the loooong freezes and compatibility issues with max materials makes it unusable for me.

[@andvfx]

I will say... try again with the newer maxtoA available. Some considerations from what you say: avoid activeshade now that we have Arnold renderview, way more responsive and predictable. Advanced wood works. Just active "enable legacy map support". If you are rendering on activeshade on viewport, make sure to enable this on "Activeshade" settings, not on "Production render" settings.

[@kenzorman]

If you have an nvidia card make sure to use the studio drivers NOT the Game ready drivers ... everything will be a lot more stable

[@baldoski]

@@kenzorman game and studio drivers are basically the same in the core and I don't see any benefits from using studio drivers exept for the 10-bit color support (tested many times in few engines in Max and Houdini). Stability or instability are the same in both packs. Aditionally, Arnold is still in development for Max and it's behind Maya's and C4D's plugins. But it will get there someday.

[@kenzorman]

@@baldoski studio drivers gave me a lot of stability improvements. Especially gpu calculations and open cl .... which is what the are meant to do.

[@baldoski]

@@kenzorman It might be the scenario- or hardware- dependend. I haven't noticed any improvements and I heard similar stories from the others. I'm not judging, just sharing my experience. In my opinion it's just the fancy naming from Nvidia to promote things. But good for you if you're getting some benefits.

[@barcodeguy7627]

I started using MaxToA in Max 2017 when it got introduced and it was a true mess back then, incomplete, lacking features, super slow unless you spend alot of time optimizing your scenes and when optix got the first implementation it caused crashes basically on a 15-30 minute basis. It's so smooth now, i cant remember the last time it crashed on me, OSL and materialx in combination with physical material and now pbr makes everything so easy to setup and share to different applications and especially procedural workflows are lightning fast and now with OSL Bitmap and HDRI Environment fixed even texture based workflows can be rendered on the GPU. Since it's shipping with 3DS Max for free i'd definitely recommend any 3DS Max user to atleast try it out before you're looking to purchase a licence for a different renderer. Also if you're looking to do some ideas regarding rendering/max tutorials why not combine them with some smaller scene building and maybe some tyflow effect. Something like a car with tyflow water drops and some basic lighting... idk. Anyway great Video Eloi!

[@joelaguilarfuentes8758]

This

[@joelaguilarfuentes8758]

Yes. Eloi could make a new flashy small tutorial using tyFlow, Viewport new improvements and perhaps render in Arnold.

[@andvfx]

@@joelaguilarfuentes8758 I did one actually, but didnt cover Arnold much: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWjMqGiHp9iqq68

[@FXPearStudio]

@@joelaguilarfuentes8758 for some tyflow tutorial, it all what my channel is about so far. please have a look

[@joelaguilarfuentes8758]

@@FXPearStudio yeah. I know. I think I have watched some of your videos, also from RedefineFX and Allan. I was saying mostly to incentive building some hype for Max, cause Eloi channel is pne of the most viewed. What we need sre co-ops between youtubers.

[@XsK5]

Moltes gràcies per aquests videos! Són genials, tenint en compte que tothom sempre parla de Arnold a Maya, però molt poca gent utilitza Arnold a Max (o com a mínim, en comparació a KZbin hi ha molt menys videos).

[@AviatorAddis]

Thanks! Ditched Arnold for Redshift since the GPU renderer was so slow in development. Now I'm ready to ditch Redshift for saying OSL was coming for the past year. Annoying.

[@jangrashei1752]

You know it's practically out, right? There's a relatively stable osl beta out now for customers to try out.

[@AviatorAddis]

@@jangrashei1752 Yes. But practically, and eminent don't work in the ad world. Frankly, if Arnold got the GPU going as RS, I'd keep my money and stay native.

[@jangrashei1752]

@@AviatorAddis all I'm saying it really looks to be right around the corner

[@andrewogrady7505]

I wish I could use Arnold but simple opacity controls do not work in Arnold, so I cant use it :( , it is also so hard to get a natural material look in materials, eg stone, walls etc. I had to move to Corona Renderer, it is SO MUCH EASIER an works better out of the box. It pays for itself in the time I save. I wish Autodesk would buy Corona Renderer. (I do not work for corona or get any kick backs.)

[@samueljimenez8456]

🥰

[@Iigua]

Is there a Spanish version of this video?

[@andvfx]

I am doing it! but takes more than expected.

[@Rito1968]

May I ask You a question here? I made a large water sim a few years ago with PhoenixFD.kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHOqgax6jZZmqqs I didn't mange to render the sprayvolume particles with Arnold. So I had to use Vray. I might have done something wrong, but I tried for a couple of weeks. Did it change? Is Arnold working better with PhoenixFD now? Thanks in advance, and thanks again for Your great Videos here.

[@andvfx]

Hello! Never tried to render phoenix with arnold. But you can render particles as points in arnold so should be a way.

[@Rito1968]

@@andvfx Hi there. Yes, I tried to do so. Didn't really worked out, but could be my lack of skill. Thanks for the answer, all the best for You!

[@hotlineoperator]

I have move to Corona Render. Arnold should have default settings so that everything looks natural, metal is metal, stone looks stone etc. Now it require multiple settings before render start looking "natural". Simply too many settings if you just want natural look.

[@baldoski]

Try Renderman or Mantra engines (ofc only in Houdini/Maya) - there are too many settings. Arnold is very simple to setup comparing to those two.

[@digimaks]

I been a solid user of Mental Ray. But jeez, I was so pissed off when Autodesk decided to scrap Mental Ray. All I was left with was Vray, which is extremely counterintuitive, very cluttered, slow (when dealing with GI), and allot of stuff is in confusing places. The render engine is especially overcomplicated and confusing - if you need done something quick, and don't have the right preset - you waste allot fo time tinkering with it to get it look right and not take too long when rendering.

[@MonkeyForNothing]

Unreal 5...

[@Eternal_23]

No caustics, lame