Learn Arnold - Fundamentals of Shading and Lighting

A brief introduction on what shaders will be covered, and how each lecture is tied to the next one.

The Image node is a color shader which performs texture mapping using a specified image file.

The Color Correct node allows you to adjust the gamma, hue, saturation, contrast, and exposure of an image

Remap input from the [input min, input max] range to the [ouput min, output max] range linearly.

This shader will sample around the shading point within a given radius to output the curvature.

Ambient occlusion is an approximation of global illumination that emulates the complex interactions between the diffuse inter-reflections of objects

A noise pattern generator with various different options which can be used as an input to several other shader nodes to produce various effects.

This simple to use shader is useful for creating car paint materials. It supports three layers: Base layer, Specular and clear Coat.

Standard Hair is a physically based shader to render hair and fur, based on the d'Eon model for specular and Zinke model for diffuse.

The Standard Surface shader is a physically-based shader capable of producing many types of materials.

Brief introduction on what this section will cover, and how lights will affect the final image.

Simulates light from an area source (a quadrilateral, specified by four vertices

Simulates light from a hemisphere or dome above the scene, representing the sky. 

Photometric lights use data measured from real-world lights, often directly from bulb and enclosure manufacturers themselves. 

Light filters are extensions for lights to add interesting shading effects to your renders.

This section will focus on creating the most common materials which you will find all around you. After this section you will be able to create convincing and realistic procedural shaders.

One of the most common materials we are facing today, Plastic aka. Pmma. This lecture will focus on creating simple up to advanced plastic materials, which have scattering and a clear coat.

After this lecture you be able to generate most of the common plastic materials by adapting the techniques outlined in this course.

Something we wear every day, Cloth. This shader will help understand sheen and specular contribution to create convincing cloth shaders.

You will be able to create basic cloth shaders with normal maps, you can make dresses shine in colorful satin materials and you can apply these workflows on any other kind of cloth material.

Conductors? Semi-Conductors? This lecture will help you understand how to create realistic metals. After this course you will be able to create basic metals and if needed advanced broken up metals for more convincing shaders.

Glass is not always easy to handle, especially not in CG. After this lecture you will be able to render glass shaders with ease.

Cars - Something we see every day. Paint, especially metallic paint can be very complex. After completing this lecture you will fully acknowledge this shader and will mass produce CG cars.

Humans, Aliens or something completely different. This complex material is very intricate and complex to simulate. This lecture will help you understand the fundamentals of skin shading.

This section is all about lights, and how to create great light rigs for your renders. You will learn about most common setups like 3 point lighting, cookie lighting and other ways of created the look you strive for. After this section you can easily create good looking renders which stand out in the community.

An introduction to the workflows of studio lighting. You will learn the techniques of lights, backdrops, bounce light and other important factors to create realistic setups. This lecture will help you understand the ways of studio lighting and the benefits of doing it digitally.

The most common used lighting technique for studio setups. You will learn how to create a typical 3 point setup and how this can help you make your renders more interesting.

Before all the fancy VFX studios, people had to create convincing lighting on the film sets and really play with lights to make a beautiful picture. This lecture will show you the basics of film noir lighting which are still used today in digital lighting. After this lecture you will understand how to apply these techniques to your renders and make them shine.

This section is bringing everything together, materials, complex networks, light rigs, bounce cards. All the important aspects of shading and lighting are outlined and detailed in this section. After completing the section you will be able to create convincing shaders and material networks. Also you will be able to studio light vehicles and other assets after finishing this section.

After learning the fundamentals of the common shaders, you will dive into learning complex materials. Several layers of shaders blended together to give you exactly what you want. After completing this lecture you will be able to create photoreal and detailed shaders with ease. This lecture will focus on vehicle shading, and how to make a photorealistic car paint shader.

With the knowledge of the previous lectures you will now be taught how to light a complete set. With several techniques like light filters, kelvin values and more you will become a true lighter in the competitive VFX industry.

This section will briefly touch up on setting up your scene for final renders. You will be able to output correct depth of field, output the correct AOVs for compositing and you will be able to render noise free images.

Setting up the camera should be straight forward, setting up depth of field not so much. After this lecture you will be able to set up DOF to render those beautiful bokeh.

Sounds complex, but is actually a very simple process which will go a long way. AOVs are components of the final render which can be used to color correct the image in compositing. This lecture will teach you how to setup the right AOVs for compositing to easily be able to control the image after render times.

Without optimizing the render settings, the farm, our your computer will be busy a long time. This lecture will teach you how spot bad/good noise and submit a final render the most efficient way possible.

Extra lessons which don't belong the the curriculum.

The showreel, your business card! In the VFX industry it is very important to have a polished, stand-out reel. You will learn essential tips and tricks to create good showreels which will land you a job in the right department.

This lecture will help you prepare to land a job in the industry. You will get essential tips and tricks to help you get a foot in the industry.