Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Assign physically-based shaders and adjust parameters.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
7 min.
Tutorial resources
These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:
Transcript
00:04
Before we begin developing physically based
00:06
materials with the Arnold Standard surface,
00:09
we need to finalize our environment lighting to get accurate previews.
00:14
We've got environment lighting in the scene already,
00:17
but we want to change that up a little bit.
00:19
So let's select the Skydome,
00:21
go over to the modify panel
00:24
and we'll see down here in color intensity. We do have a texture map assigned.
00:28
Let's edit that texture map
00:30
to do that. We'll want to open up the slate material editor.
00:34
Click on that button
00:36
once the slate material editor opens,
00:39
let's drag this texture map button over into the slate material editor view.
00:44
We get a pop up dialogue asking if we want to instance or copy this map.
00:48
We want to choose instance so that any changes that we
00:51
make in the material editor will actually affect the skydome.
00:55
So choose instance and click. OK.
00:58
Now we see a node in our graph
00:60
and that's the OS LHDR environment map
01:03
with it selected. Let's rename it.
01:05
We'll call it ENV map
01:08
just to verify that that map is actually instanced into the sky dome.
01:12
We can refresh the command panel
01:14
we see here down here it still says map number something,
01:17
we can switch over to the crate panel and then back to the modified panel
01:21
that refreshes the display. Now it says ENV map there.
01:25
OK. Let's render this
01:27
right click in the physical camera viewport
01:29
and choose from the main menus Arnold
01:32
Arnold render view.
01:33
And as before
01:35
click to initiate an interactive production rendering,
01:38
we get very soft shadows and suffuse illumination.
01:42
This panorama was taken on a cloudy day.
01:46
Let's store this in a snapshot to compare it to other renderings.
01:50
And we can swap out that HDR image for a different one.
01:53
Back in the slate material editor parameters.
01:56
In the HDR file, we can click to browse
02:00
and in our current project scene assets images, I've got another one
02:04
Urban Courtyard four K monochrome dot HDR.
02:07
Again, a modified version of a file from the website
02:11
HDR I haven.com
02:14
select that
02:15
and click open.
02:17
The Arnold render view will update automatically
02:19
and we can see that we'll need to change the exposure
02:22
back in the skydome parameters
02:25
under color
02:26
intensity exposure.
02:27
Let's bring that up to a value of positive two.
02:32
This panorama was taken on a partly cloudy day.
02:35
So we're actually getting some hard shadows.
02:38
We can rotate the environment either by rotating the sky dome
02:41
or by adjusting the rotation parameter here in the map.
02:45
Let's do it in the map.
02:47
I can click and drag on the rotation spinner
02:50
and release the mouse and we can see that the light has actually moved,
02:54
let's set the rotation amount to 100 degrees.
02:58
And now we've got pretty strong key lighting coming from camera, right?
03:02
That's going to better approximate the lighting in my final rendering,
03:06
we can store another snapshot to compare this version.
03:10
Click to create a snapshot.
03:12
Here's the rendering on a cloudy day
03:14
and here's the rendering on a partly sunny day
03:17
and this is going to be better because it's actually going
03:19
to show the highlights and specular a little bit more clearly.
03:22
OK. I'll go back to a live interactive production rendering.
03:25
We also want to make sure that the exposure is correct.
03:29
And when we're developing materials,
03:30
we don't want to have underexposed or overexposed previews
03:34
to set the exposure,
03:35
we can temporarily assign a bright white material to all objects
03:40
over in the slate material editor.
03:42
We'll create an Arnold standard surface
03:45
in the material map browser.
03:46
We'll see materials
03:48
and Arnold, we can open that up if it's not already open
03:51
surface
03:53
standard surface
03:55
drag that over into the view
03:57
and select it
03:58
and let's rename it
03:59
ideal diffuse.
04:02
To make this perfectly white,
04:04
we'll increase the base color weight, bring that up to a value of one
04:08
and to make it perfectly rough,
04:10
we'll set the specular roughness to a value of one.
04:14
Now, we can assign this to all objects in the scene
04:17
from the main max menus, choose edit,
04:20
select all
04:22
and with that ideal diffuse material selected in the slate material. Editor,
04:27
click the button to assign the material to the selection.
04:31
And again, the Arnold render view updates
04:33
and we can see that it's slightly over exposed.
04:36
We can verify that by viewing the pixel data
04:39
and that's done by clicking on this little gear over here
04:42
that's going to show the display panel.
04:46
Then we can go over to the pixel tab
04:49
and move the mouse around
04:50
and we can see statistics for the pixel underneath the mouse cursor.
04:55
We don't want any of those R GB A loom
04:58
or display values to be over one.
05:02
So we'll reduce the skydome accordingly.
05:05
So I'll reselect that sky dome.
05:08
So like the sky dome only
05:11
reichlin in the physical camera to give focus to that once again.
05:15
And then in the modified panel,
05:17
we can change the exposure value.
05:19
Let's bring it down to a value of 1.8.
05:22
And then as we move the mouse around in the Arnold render view, once again,
05:26
we'll see that those values never go over one,
05:29
which means that we're not over exposing our shot.
05:33
OK. We can close that panel once again.
05:35
At this time,
05:36
the Arnold render view does not support the three Ds max exposure control
05:41
and that is a sign to a physical camera when that camera is created.
05:46
So, in fact, right now, physical camera exposure control is enabled,
05:51
but the Arnold render view does not show that.
05:54
So we can go into the rendering menu
05:57
to exposure control.
05:59
We'll see that exposure control is enabled.
06:02
Well, let's just turn it off because
06:04
it's not actually doing anything.
06:06
It's going to work in the active shade or production render windows.
06:09
Just not in the Arnold render view.
06:12
I'll set the exposure control to no exposure control
06:15
and just to make sure that in fact, nothing really changed.
06:17
I'll go back to the Arnold render view.
06:20
And in the Arnold render view menu,
06:22
we can choose render
06:24
update full scene
06:25
that's going to force the render view to reread all of the scene parameters.
06:31
And once that's done, we can see that nothing is changed
06:33
and that proves our point. Once again, that
06:36
currently exposure control is not supported in the Arnold render view.
Video transcript
00:04
Before we begin developing physically based
00:06
materials with the Arnold Standard surface,
00:09
we need to finalize our environment lighting to get accurate previews.
00:14
We've got environment lighting in the scene already,
00:17
but we want to change that up a little bit.
00:19
So let's select the Skydome,
00:21
go over to the modify panel
00:24
and we'll see down here in color intensity. We do have a texture map assigned.
00:28
Let's edit that texture map
00:30
to do that. We'll want to open up the slate material editor.
00:34
Click on that button
00:36
once the slate material editor opens,
00:39
let's drag this texture map button over into the slate material editor view.
00:44
We get a pop up dialogue asking if we want to instance or copy this map.
00:48
We want to choose instance so that any changes that we
00:51
make in the material editor will actually affect the skydome.
00:55
So choose instance and click. OK.
00:58
Now we see a node in our graph
00:60
and that's the OS LHDR environment map
01:03
with it selected. Let's rename it.
01:05
We'll call it ENV map
01:08
just to verify that that map is actually instanced into the sky dome.
01:12
We can refresh the command panel
01:14
we see here down here it still says map number something,
01:17
we can switch over to the crate panel and then back to the modified panel
01:21
that refreshes the display. Now it says ENV map there.
01:25
OK. Let's render this
01:27
right click in the physical camera viewport
01:29
and choose from the main menus Arnold
01:32
Arnold render view.
01:33
And as before
01:35
click to initiate an interactive production rendering,
01:38
we get very soft shadows and suffuse illumination.
01:42
This panorama was taken on a cloudy day.
01:46
Let's store this in a snapshot to compare it to other renderings.
01:50
And we can swap out that HDR image for a different one.
01:53
Back in the slate material editor parameters.
01:56
In the HDR file, we can click to browse
02:00
and in our current project scene assets images, I've got another one
02:04
Urban Courtyard four K monochrome dot HDR.
02:07
Again, a modified version of a file from the website
02:11
HDR I haven.com
02:14
select that
02:15
and click open.
02:17
The Arnold render view will update automatically
02:19
and we can see that we'll need to change the exposure
02:22
back in the skydome parameters
02:25
under color
02:26
intensity exposure.
02:27
Let's bring that up to a value of positive two.
02:32
This panorama was taken on a partly cloudy day.
02:35
So we're actually getting some hard shadows.
02:38
We can rotate the environment either by rotating the sky dome
02:41
or by adjusting the rotation parameter here in the map.
02:45
Let's do it in the map.
02:47
I can click and drag on the rotation spinner
02:50
and release the mouse and we can see that the light has actually moved,
02:54
let's set the rotation amount to 100 degrees.
02:58
And now we've got pretty strong key lighting coming from camera, right?
03:02
That's going to better approximate the lighting in my final rendering,
03:06
we can store another snapshot to compare this version.
03:10
Click to create a snapshot.
03:12
Here's the rendering on a cloudy day
03:14
and here's the rendering on a partly sunny day
03:17
and this is going to be better because it's actually going
03:19
to show the highlights and specular a little bit more clearly.
03:22
OK. I'll go back to a live interactive production rendering.
03:25
We also want to make sure that the exposure is correct.
03:29
And when we're developing materials,
03:30
we don't want to have underexposed or overexposed previews
03:34
to set the exposure,
03:35
we can temporarily assign a bright white material to all objects
03:40
over in the slate material editor.
03:42
We'll create an Arnold standard surface
03:45
in the material map browser.
03:46
We'll see materials
03:48
and Arnold, we can open that up if it's not already open
03:51
surface
03:53
standard surface
03:55
drag that over into the view
03:57
and select it
03:58
and let's rename it
03:59
ideal diffuse.
04:02
To make this perfectly white,
04:04
we'll increase the base color weight, bring that up to a value of one
04:08
and to make it perfectly rough,
04:10
we'll set the specular roughness to a value of one.
04:14
Now, we can assign this to all objects in the scene
04:17
from the main max menus, choose edit,
04:20
select all
04:22
and with that ideal diffuse material selected in the slate material. Editor,
04:27
click the button to assign the material to the selection.
04:31
And again, the Arnold render view updates
04:33
and we can see that it's slightly over exposed.
04:36
We can verify that by viewing the pixel data
04:39
and that's done by clicking on this little gear over here
04:42
that's going to show the display panel.
04:46
Then we can go over to the pixel tab
04:49
and move the mouse around
04:50
and we can see statistics for the pixel underneath the mouse cursor.
04:55
We don't want any of those R GB A loom
04:58
or display values to be over one.
05:02
So we'll reduce the skydome accordingly.
05:05
So I'll reselect that sky dome.
05:08
So like the sky dome only
05:11
reichlin in the physical camera to give focus to that once again.
05:15
And then in the modified panel,
05:17
we can change the exposure value.
05:19
Let's bring it down to a value of 1.8.
05:22
And then as we move the mouse around in the Arnold render view, once again,
05:26
we'll see that those values never go over one,
05:29
which means that we're not over exposing our shot.
05:33
OK. We can close that panel once again.
05:35
At this time,
05:36
the Arnold render view does not support the three Ds max exposure control
05:41
and that is a sign to a physical camera when that camera is created.
05:46
So, in fact, right now, physical camera exposure control is enabled,
05:51
but the Arnold render view does not show that.
05:54
So we can go into the rendering menu
05:57
to exposure control.
05:59
We'll see that exposure control is enabled.
06:02
Well, let's just turn it off because
06:04
it's not actually doing anything.
06:06
It's going to work in the active shade or production render windows.
06:09
Just not in the Arnold render view.
06:12
I'll set the exposure control to no exposure control
06:15
and just to make sure that in fact, nothing really changed.
06:17
I'll go back to the Arnold render view.
06:20
And in the Arnold render view menu,
06:22
we can choose render
06:24
update full scene
06:25
that's going to force the render view to reread all of the scene parameters.
06:31
And once that's done, we can see that nothing is changed
06:33
and that proves our point. Once again, that
06:36
currently exposure control is not supported in the Arnold render view.
How to buy
Privacy | Do not sell or share my personal information | Cookie preferences | Report noncompliance | Terms of use | Legal | © 2025 Autodesk Inc. All rights reserved
Sign in for the best experience
Save your progress
Get access to courses
Receive personalized recommendations
May we collect and use your data?
Learn more about the Third Party Services we use and our Privacy Statement. May we collect and use your data to tailor your experience?
Explore the benefits of a customized experience by managing your privacy settings for this site or visit our Privacy Statement to learn more about your options.