Rendering in Maya and Arnold at Our Vimeo Library

Arnold is the principal ray-trace renderer that comes bundled with Autodesk Maya. Below are some simple lighting setups in Maya and Arnold that can be learned very quickly and get great results. 

For our students who want to render in Arnold, animation tutor Lee Caller has put together a YouTube playlist of videos. 

In addition, UG programme leader and third year animation tutor Michael Davies has recorded his own Arnold tutorials, which you can find at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel here.

Michael Davies

Programme Leader
Michael Davies is our undergraduate program leader with a long industry track record. His main areas of expertise are rigging and modelling, but he has also worked as a 3D generalist and supervisor. 

Accredited Trainer

Michael Davies is also an Accredited Trainer for Maya at Autodesk. Michael has worked on many VFX blockbusters such as Batman vs Superman, Doctor Strange and Thor Ragnarok. He also rigged Smaug ("The Hobbit") and the Minions for Illumination-McGuff.

Arnold tutorials at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel

You can find Michael's Arnold tutorial, which walk you through all the steps needed to render in Arnold, here: https://vimeo.com/album/5396970. 

Password

Like all our tutorials at Vimeo, the videos are password protected; the password is available to all our current students and Escapees.

Vimeo Channel

Our Vimeo Tutorial Channel offers a central hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easier than ever for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies. Tutorials begin with the bouncing ball and progress through to complex character and creature animation.  

All the tutorials are free for our students and Escapees.

Beginner Tutorials in Arnold

Introduction to Arnold Rendering - Physical Sky

Simple Lighting in Arnold with Physical Sky

To see a simple setup for lighting and rendering in Arnold, watch the video on Creating a Physical Sky in Arnold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s20eFoWTH6o

This is as simple a lighting setup as can be achieved in Arnold, lighting your scene with just a few clicks. Tutorial with Alexander Williams. To see more, read the blog post here.

Simple Lighting Setup in May with Arnold Sky Shader

Arnold Physical Sky Shader Tutorial

In this simple lighting tutorial, aimed at Autodesk Maya beginners, we explain how to achieve a basic lighting setup in Arnold using the Arnold Sky Shader.  

This is a simple lighting setup, only slightly more sophisticated than the Arnold Physical Sky tutorial - which is as simple as it is possible to achieve in Arnold, and gives good results for an outdoor scene with just a few clicks.

Light and Render a Starry Sky with Arnold Skydome

 Light & Render a Starry Night Sky in Arnold

In this short video tutorial (just five minutes long) we demonstrate how to create a starry sky in Maya with just a few clicks, using the Arnold Skydome. 

Using an HDRI night sky texture map (Google one to get started), we can create a night sky effect with little or no effort, using the Arnold Renderer. 

To see the step by step plan, follow the outline at the blog post here. You can find the tutorial video at YouTube here.

How to Create a Render Sequence in Maya

Export a Render Sequence in Arnold

In this simple tutorial we show how to export a Render Sequence in Arnold, in Autodesk Maya. Watch this video to see how to render out a series of images that can be imported into Adobe Premiere or Blender - or any editing software - ready to export as a movie file.

https://escapestudiosanimation.blogspot.com/2024/01/how-to-create-render-sequence-in-arnold.html

How to Turn on Motion Blur in Maya and Arnold

To see how to use motion blur in Maya and Arnold, read this blog post. 

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our new BA/MArt starting in September 2024, follow this link.