Autodesk VRED is known for rapidly adopting state of the art rendering technologies, open standards, and AI workflow tools. This Autodesk University session explores new key capabilities including Vulkan Ray Tracing, Gaussian Splat rendering, CloudXR streaming to Apple Vision Pro, and the use of constraints and physics. Learn how these technologies work together to deliver highly realistic visuals and physically plausible behavior for complex digital twins with minimal setup time. Discover how designers, engineers, and visual artists can accelerate projects, improve collaboration, and reduce costly errors early in the digital model. Ideal for visualization, XR, and automotive workflows focused on performance, realism, and scalability.

Modeling is no longer just about clean quads and edge loops it's about data integrity for a global pipeline. As studios transition to OpenUSD, Maya artists must evolve their workflows to ensure assets are portable and performant. In this technical deep dive, we'll move beyond basic topology to explore the authoring of "smart" USD assets. We'll cover the latest Maya 2026 USD modeling tools, demonstrating how to manage complex hierarchies, variants, and metadata within a single file. You will learn how to optimize meshes for seamless deformation across platforms and avoid common pitfalls in a multisoftware environment. Stop modeling for a single scene start building assets that thrive in a universal production ecosystem.

Discover the essentials of design visualization in our AU class. Learn how to effectively use 3ds Max software for modeling, Arnold for rendering, and Moxion for collaborative workflows. Gain practical skills to create visually striking designs efficiently and accurately.

The kids are all grown up! The gamer generation has entered the workforce and they are not afraid to push technology to the limits for fast, high-quality results. In this class, you will see how the Autodesk Media and Entertainment collection can take AEC storytelling, visualization and simulation to the next level. Additionally, we will explore game engine workflows to create immersive experiences that help projects get to a finished state faster. Join us!

This class will present a fast, easy-to-use workflow for creating great-looking textures using Maya software and Substance Painter. This hands-on class has the indie artist and 3D generalist in mind, instead of the big company with an army of specialized artists. Substance Painter has become the industry standard tool for creating textures for games and films, but it's a very complex and daunting software, and its integration with Maya is not always straightforward. This class will cut to the chase and show you how to prepare your model in Maya, set your materials, export, procedurally create the texture in Substance Painter, and then—finally—bring it all back to Maya and render beautifully with Arnold.

A modern VFX (visual effects) rendering pipeline is made up of many materials with detailed descriptions called looks. Looks need to be passed across different software products without loss of fidelity. Current workflows involve duplication across complex pipeline tasks that are hard and laborious to maintain. Arnold software lets you author asset looks in any supported software and then reuse the same looks in another software using the Arnold data format, which is fully extensible. Arnold furthers this approach by capitalizing on open-source back ends like MaterialX and USD, enabling users to build a very flexible, reusable, and connected pipeline. Arnold users can take advantage of this interoperability right out of the box. The data is always live, enabling users to make alterations (major or minor) at any point in the pipeline. In this talk, you will learn about setting up your pipeline to capitalize on reusability of looks. You will also see examples of taking your asset looks through different software.

Let's push the boundaries of architectural visualization! This workshop will focus on seamless integration across Revit and 3ds Max software from Autodesk and Twinmotion from Epic Games to revolutionize your design presentations. You'll gain expertise in transferring detailed building information modeling (BIM) data from Revit to 3ds Max for high-end rendering, followed by immersive virtual reality (VR) simulations using Twinmotion. Expect a hands-on session where you will learn to create visually stunning, interactive VR experiences to captivate and engage your clients. Whether you're enhancing project pitches or refining design reviews, this workshop will equip you with the tools for next-generation presentations. A live VR demo will underscore practical applications, showcasing how to bring architectural concepts vividly to life. This session is perfect for architects, designers, and visualization specialists eager to adopt the forefront of technology in their workflows.

This class will present a quick and easy-to-use workflow between Maya software and ZBrush. Maya is the industry-standard software for 3D animation, and ZBrush is the industry-standard software for 3D sculpting. Although both are widely used in the industry, it is not common to see beginner tutorials about the workflow and integration between both software systems. This course will try to fill this gap with plenty of examples and best practices. We will show you how to create basic meshes in Maya, how to refine the basic mesh in ZBrush using Live Boolean, how to go back and forth between both programs using the GoZ plug-in, how to export high and low-poly models back to Maya, and how to create textures in ZBrush and apply them to an Arnold shader, among other interesting topics. In the end, you will have a very good grasp of how to use Maya and ZBrush together.

It's 2023 and you've been wondering "WTF is USD?” You're not alone! Software never stops evolving, and it is easy to feel left behind when new tech enters the scene. Funny enough, that is exactly what USD is aiming to address. USD stands for Universal Scene Description, and it is an open-source initiative, meaning it is being built in a public facing manner, without any single company claiming ownership of its development. Rather, multiple companies share the same vision – a world where sharing production assets among programs is consistent, reliable and easy. In this class you will learn USD's origin, where its currently at in the Media & Entertainment Industry, where it is headed, and how these techniques and technologies add benefit to any industry pipeline.

How do you design for a space, not just a screen? This talk will explore how to think outside of the box (literally) when creating immersive experiences for physical environments. We'll share insights into how our team approaches spatial design—from the earliest concept art to the final install—while always keeping the visitor experience a priority. We’ll cover the importance of prototyping early and often, we’ll look at strategies for working efficiently on small multidisciplinary teams, and we’ll discuss how stepping away from the computer can help creative problem-solving. Whether you're an artist designing with projections, VR/AR/XR, or touchscreens, this session will cover the framework involved in building immersive, accessible, people-first experiences.

SYNK is an innovative real-time production toolkit that enables content creators to produce linear and virtual content using the same tools and processes used by big studios with decades of experience in animation. SYNK allows assets from traditional digital content creation software and outputs from game engines to be managed in a single accessible environment through an integrated real-time workflow. SYNK manages the data from the early concept phase all the way to final delivery, enabling output to virtual reality (VR) and extended reality (XR), cinema, animation, video games, and virtual productions.

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has opened new frontiers for creative expression and world building, transcending traditional boundaries of imagination. This session will explore the potential of AI-generated worlds in fostering empathy, rituals, and community building, while reflecting on the environmental challenges faced in the Anthropocene. We’ll discuss a case study of an imagined world, that we call Eden. This world was designed to have one-to-one mirrors of the relationships formed between ecosystems on planet Earth, while being different enough to avoid an uncanny valley effect. We’ll highlight the role of AI-generated worlds in providing a mirror for understanding our own planet and community, emphasizing the importance of empathetic practices for planetary interests.

Industries are converging, and so are the workflows and products that today's leading brands are using. In this session, we'll explore workflows with 3ds Max software for digital representations of products that can be used in a variety of ways, including marketing materials, online product imagery, and real-time applications such as augmented reality with the use of open standards which can also extend into the metaverse.

High-quality architectural presentations are more than just good-looking renders; your images need to tell a compelling story. This course will show you how to use 3ds Max software to create cinema-quality presentations and expertly showcase your architectural projects. The course will explain the basics of composition and visual storytelling from a filmmaker’s perspective, including such topics as storyboarding, shot selection, shot sequencing, and screen motion. We’ll then dive into camera techniques and workflow in 3ds Max, including camera selection, animation, rigging, and rendering, following through to postproduction and final output. Every building tells a story—learn how to tell the best story for your project.

Creating animations in 3ds Max software is quick, easy, and fun. In this class, you will learn to animate the movement of daylight throughout a day to create an animated shadow study. This study will provide an accurate representation of how daylight will cast shadows in the scene. You will start by creating a Sun Positioner that provides realistic sunlight with a full sky environment. This system uses a simple and intuitive workflow to create geographically correct positioning and movement of the sun. You will then animate the position of the sun over time for a realistic shadow study.

As technology continues to evolve, the intersection of 3D design and artificial intelligence (AI) presents exciting opportunities for innovation in content creation. In this session, we'll showcase experimentation with innovative techniques—namely, ComfyUI, ControlNet, and Stable Diffusion—to forge a future pipeline that seamlessly integrates 3D rendering with AI-driven processes. We'll outline a visionary approach toward empowering artists and streamlining the content creation process. By using advanced AI algorithms and data-driven insights, we aspire to give artists greater control over their creations as they enhance their efficiency and creativity while using Autodesk tools, specifically Maya and Arnold software. Our vision for the future pipeline revolves around achieving a seamless transition from 3D design to AI render, while empowering artists with unprecedented control over their creations.

365 Materials Challenge started as a case study to create realistic materials. The goal: create one physically based rendering (PBR) material per day. In this demo, we'll learn how Open Shading Language (OSL) maps and Arnold Renderer helped us achieve this goal. We'll explain how to make the transition from 3ds Max legacy maps to OSL maps, and describe some tips and techniques for making the best use of OSL maps. Then we'll show how to create photorealistic materials with Arnold Renderer with OSL maps and Arnold's Standard Surface. Then, we'll see how Autodesk’s Physical Material is the best software for studios and individuals handling multiple renderers. Last, we'll look at techniques for starting to use Arnold Renderer for architectural visualization, and explore why it is such a powerful tool.

This class will teach you a typical workflow for creating a basic rendering of a scene using the highly efficient renderer Arnold, which was incorporated into 3ds Max 2018 software. The class will begin with a brief overview of the Arnold renderer before learning to use Arnold-specific lights to illuminate the scene. You will learn about the shaders provided for Arnold and how to modify the parameters of the Arnold Standard Surface shader to create different kinds of materials. Finally, we will use the Arnold renderer to render the scene.

In the real world, one program just can’t do it all. Sketching, massing models, final design, animation, and rendering of engineering models; this class will discuss the workflow for using multiple Autodesk products in a production environment. Discover the ins and outs of this workflow, starting with a SketchBook, moving to a massing model, then Inventor software for final design, and finally 3ds Max software and Arnold software to render the final animation. Learn how Drive can help manage the workflow files, review the Inventor-to-3ds-Max import process, and learn how to render photo-quality images. Use Physical Materials and the Sun Positioner to simulate outdoor lighting and composition to create compelling images. Utilize the Physical Camera controls to adjust the scene exposure and depth of field. Get ahead of the competition by learning to create your renderings using photographic composition in a streamlined workflow.

We believe every content creation organization (CG-VFX) using Flow Production Tracking software in some way faces challenges when transferring data between its offices or with its outsourced vendors and clients. To address these challenges, we designed and developed a UDP-based high-speed application in sync with Flow Production Tracking. FastX is highly reliable for all types of data movements—transfers of scans, work files, final output, multisite/remote renders, CG Files, vendor output, files to DI, disaster safe backup, and final output to clients. Most of the transfers mentioned resemble work related to the CG-VFX industry. But FastX was actually designed to address many industries that deal with high-volume data transfers in daily operations.