Tutorials: Learn to Use Arnold - Helpful YouTube Channels

Autodesk finally got rid of Mental Ray (Sweet!) in Maya 2017 and replaced it with Arnold by default. Since Arnold works quite differently, I want to share some of the resources I’ve personally found that can help you get a jump start using it. These range from super introductory going over the basic shader attributes, all the way to more advanced concepts like hair shaders, layered shaders, rendering optimization, and AOV workflows.

Arnold 5 for Maya User Guide

This link is incredibly handy to reference when learning Arnold (and even if you know it pretty well.) It’s chock-full of tips, tricks, and explainations of what all the settings do. There are even some tutorials worth checking out like this one for rendering a wooden floor, complete with diffuse, spec and bump maps.

Arvid Schneider YouTube Channel

Arvid is a super talented artist and also an excellent tutorial presenter. His videos cover a wide range of topics and are very easy to follow along with. He also has a Patreon page that I suggest you check out if you like his videos.

Yone Santana YouTube Channel

Yone is a really great animator and artist, and like Arvid, a great tutorial presenter as well. I found his tutorials to be the most helpful to get started from zero when approaching Arnold for the first time.

At the time of this posting, it seems Yone hasn’t updated his channel in around 9 months or so. That said, he has a couple of really great introduction videos to help the unfamiliar get started lighting and rendering their scenes in Arnold and Maya 2017. Check them out here, here, and here. I would still check out his channel for his other tutorials as well.

Have any other links worth checking out? Leave a comment below and I’ll add them to this post!

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