AUTODESK ARNOLD

Autodesk Arnold is an advanced rendering engine based on Monte Carlo ray tracing, designed to deliver high-quality photorealistic results. Used by visual effects, animation, architecture, and advertising studios worldwide, Arnold is appreciated for its power, scalability, and ease of use. Its physically accurate approach allows for the creation of images with an extraordinary level of realism, while maintaining full creative control over lights, materials, and composition.

Who it's suitable for

Arnold is designed for:

•VFX and CGI Artists working in cinema, TV, advertising, and games

•Animation studios that require reliable and scalable renders

•Architectural and industrial visualizers for complex scenes and realistic settings

•3D Freelancers looking for a professional renderer integrated into the main modeling software

Main features

Physically accurate rendering (PBR)

Arnold simulates the behavior of light in the real world, offering consistent, realistic, and balanced results. It supports effects such as reflections, refractions, soft shadows, light scattering, subsurface scattering, and caustics.

Advanced lighting

It includes a wide range of physically correct lights (area, point, spot, distant, mesh light, photometric) and supports HDRI sky domes, environmental textures, and light portals for realistically managing global illumination.

Customizable materials and shaders

Arnold offers a very flexible and powerful node-based shading system, compatible with the OSL (Open Shading Language). It supports standard shaders such as Standard Surface and toon shading for stylized results.

Real-time interactivity

Thanks to the IPR (Interactive Preview Render), artists can see real-time changes to lighting, materials, and framing without having to wait for long rendering times.

Support for complex and procedural geometries

Arnold easily handles millions of polygons, displacement, hair/fur, particles, volumes, and instances, ensuring high performance even with very heavy scenes.

Volumetric rendering

Advanced capabilities for rendering fog, smoke, fire, and volumetric liquids, with the ability to integrate data from physical simulations (OpenVDB).

Deep EXR and AOV

Support for multilayer rendering with advanced output (AOVs – Arbitrary Output Variables) for flexible and professional composition.

Integration with 3D software

Arnold is integrated or available as a plugin (MtoA, C4DtoA, HtoA, KtoA, MAXtoA) for the main modeling and animation tools:

•Autodesk Maya

•Autodesk 3ds Max

•Houdini

•Cinema 4D

•Katana

GPU and CPU Rendering

Arnold supports hybrid rendering on both CPU and GPU (via NVIDIA RTX), allowing a perfect balance between quality and speed. The transition between the two engines is simple and maintains consistency in results.

Compatibility and system requirements

Supported operating systems:

•Windows 10 and 11 (64 bit)

•Linux (various compatible distributions, including CentOS, Ubuntu, Fedora)

•macOS Monterey and higher (CPU rendering only)

⚠️ GPU rendering is only supported on Windows and Linux, with compatible NVIDIA CUDA cards (RTX series recommended).

Recommended hardware requirements:

•Processor: Multi-core Intel® or AMD with SSE4.1 support

•RAM: Minimum 16 GB (32 GB or more recommended for complex scenes)

•Video card (for GPU rendering): NVIDIA RTX with at least 8 GB VRAM, CUDA 11+ support

•Disk space: SSD with at least 10 GB free for installation and cache

•Screen resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher

🌐 Internet connection required for license activation and updates.

What's included

•Native plugins for Maya, 3ds Max, Houdini, Cinema 4D, and Katana

•Node-based shading system, OSL support, and standard PBR materials

•CPU and GPU rendering, with dynamic switching capability

•Interactive rendering engine (IPR)

•Tools for volumetric and fluid rendering

•Advanced management of AOVs and compositing passes

•Support for HDRI images, high dynamic range textures, and OpenVDB files

•Distributed rendering and resource management through Arnold License Manager

Why choose Autodesk Arnold

Arnold represents the perfect balance between power, visual quality, and creative control. It is designed to face the challenges of modern production, providing accurate and scalable rendering even for the most complex scenes. Its user-friendly interface, combined with advanced features, makes it an indispensable tool for professionals demanding the highest in terms of quality and realism.

Whether it's a cinematic animation, a product advertisement, or an architectural visualization, Arnold guarantees professional, consistent results, ready for post-production.