Any tutorials on proper rendering with Arnold?


#1

I “render” with arnold and I feel like im missing something, its hard to explain.

Basically if you lookup arnold renders in the gallery here, I find all these awesome looking renders. I get most of them are composited in photoshop, but it cant be THAT much more detailing in photoshop could it?

For example, if you ever done a BPR render in zbrush with no filters, it looks pretty basic. Simple tone, simple lighting. It has no pop or flare, its just a simple shaded render. I find it troubling that I cannot achieve anything better with arnold. My arnold renders look exactly like they do in BPRs. It just looks simple. It always feels as if I need to add more in photoshop. As if a render is never good enough.

There arent many tutorials around for arnold and the ones on digital tutors seem outdated. None that ive seen point out what exactly makes the render in terms of lighting.

Obviously im missing something. I get compositing, but is it not possible to get a really good render without the need of additional detail in photoshop? I feel whats the point of rendering if you can simply bpr it and it looks the same.

For example this amazing render of a crab
The lighting, the tone, everything. Can this not be achieved simply with rendering?
Sorry if my english isnt good.

Is there any tutorials out there that touch on lighting or shading when rendering in arnold? Or should I be looking up lighting techniques? Is this even lighting or simple settings in arnold?


#2

Why don’t you post one of your renders that you’d like to look better and maybe we can help?


#3

Often times what makes good renders look good isn’t the software, it’s the artist. I’m no expert but I’ve fell in to the same trap wondering why my stuff doesn’t look awesome. I did turn on gi, I did use hdri lighting, I did use maps to map effects like glossiness and bump in materials, but it’s definitely more about the artistry of it all.

Try reading some books on lighting, composition, colors, and then you can start “painting with lights”. Leigh would explain this much better.