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.

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.

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.

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.

Arnold 5.0 represents an evolution in rendering for artists everywhere. With a significant update to the Arnold core, faster rendering, new feature additions, enhancements to existing workflows, and exciting new capabilities, Arnold 5 will help artists create more stunning imagery than ever. Join Autodesk Technical Specialists John Paul Giancarlo and Morgan Evans for this hands-on class, where you will experience the power and simplicity of rendering with Arnold in Maya for yourself. Arnold 5 is available now as a stand-alone renderer, as well as a plugin for Maya (MtoA), 3ds Max (MAXtoA), and Cinema4D (C4DtoA).

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.

During this presentation, you’ll learn how to win more business by using 3ds Max software, which is part of your Architecture, Engineering & Construction Collection. Starting with an InfraWorks file, you’ll learn a step-by-step visualization approach that’s easy to understand and use in your own environment. After getting your InfraWorks data, you’ll start by adding lighting, so we’ll discuss image-based lighting techniques with daylight and photometric lighting, both rendered with the default ART and Arnold render engine. We’ll also learn how to set up a nice environment with 3D trees, cars, and people, which are part of 3ds Max. Materials and textures will be the final step. You’ll gain a good understanding of which materials are being imported from InfraWorks and the advantage of converting your materials in an automated environment.

3ds Max software is a mature 3D digital content creation package, widely used in the video game industry and by numerous television and visual effects studios. And it is a standard in design and architectural visualization. With the recent addition and democratization of the Arnold renderer, creating stunning imagery and video has never been more accessible. Arnold now brings the visual quality of Hollywood blockbuster movies back home to 3ds Max. In this session, you’ll learn how to import any CAD models in 3ds Max. Then, we’ll show how to create and edit shaders and build realistic lighting setup in an interactive environment. Next, we’ll see how to capitalize on out-of-the-box features to bring your designs to life, such as 3ds Max Fluids to simulate physically accurate liquids and nCloth to generate realistic fabric type objects. Last, we’ll look at flexible techniques for final project delivery. You might also have a chance to see what's coming next! Take your viz game to the next level with Arnold and 3ds Max. Brute force for all!

3ds Max software is a mature, 3D digital content-creation package. It is widely used in the video game industry by numerous TV and VFX studios, and it’s a standard in design and architectural visualization. It’s the perfect outlet to let you explore and express your creativity and design intent. In this session, we’ll first explore best practices for importing design data into 3ds Max. Next, we’ll take a look at workflows for embellishing, adding details, and bringing your designs to life. Finally, we’ll use the flexibility of 3ds Max software’s powerful artist tools to achieve a look and feel that is truly your own. Take the lead, convey your vision, and tell your story with 3ds Max!

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 simple model, moving to using Generative Design in Fusion 360 software for a final model, then shifting to 3ds Max software and Arnold to render the final animation. Explore how Fusion 360 Team software can help manage the workflow files, review the Fusion 360-to-3ds Max import process, and see how to render photo quality images. Learn how to use Physical Materials, the Physical Camera, and adjust the scene exposure to get a good rendering. Get ahead of the competition by learning to create realistic animations from your Fusion 360 models.

In the real world, one program just can’t do it all. Sketching, massing models, final design, animation, and rendering of architectural models—this class will discuss the workflow for using multiple Autodesk products in a production environment. Discover the details of this workflow, starting with an AutoCAD sketch, going to a FormIt massing model, then to Revit software for final design, then to 3ds Max software and Arnold to render the final animation. Learn how BIM 360 software can help manage the workflow files, and discover methods for creating models in FormIt and how it affects working with Revit downstream. Review the Revit-to-3ds Max linking process, and discover how to render photo-quality images. Learn how to use Physical Materials and the Sun Positioner to simulate outdoor lighting and composition to create compelling images. Use 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.

Learn how to use USD across the Maya tool set to help solve the problem of being able to store, edit, and export complex asset data like modeling, materials, lighting, and shading variations in a single USD container. This also allows users to transport and share these data across different software products along various stages of a pipeline non-destructively and without any loss of fidelity. Create, edit, and share complex USD prototypes with multiple variants, purposes, and so on, using only the Maya tool sets. Finally, use the power of Maya Bifrost to procedurally create an entire city of pods from one unique module by creating complex prototypes and USD Point Instancer that can be rendered easily with the Arnold MtoA plug-in.

Over the past year, we’ve seen the pandemic change the way studios work and affect how artists collaborate with one another. With remote work becoming the “new normal”, it’s become apparent that sharing a common physical space isn’t always necessary. We decided to put ourselves in the shoes of our customers by setting up a small remote studio to create a 3D sequence called Mkali's Mission, from concept through final render. We set out to create our animated short using each of the tools in the Media & Entertainment Collection – including Maya, 3ds Max, Arnold, and Mudbox – to showcase the breadth and power of the toolset. We also set up a ShoGrid site to track our progress and manage reviews. To bring this project to life, we hired freelance artists from across the globe for modeling, rigging, animation, FX, look development, and rendering. During this session, I’ll take you through each step of our journey, sharing all of the challenges, successes, and learnings along the way.

In the real world, a single program just can’t do it all when it comes to sketching, massing models, final design, animation, and rendering of architectural 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 an AutoCAD sketch, going to a FormIt massing model, and on to Revit software for final design—then using 3ds Max 2019 software and Arnold to render the final animation. Learn methods for creating models in FormIt and discover how it affects working with Revit downstream. Review the Revit-to-3ds Max linking process and how to render photo-quality images. Use Physical Materials and the Sun Positioner to simulate outdoor lighting. Learn photographic techniques and composition to create compelling images. Utilize the Physical Camera controls to adjust scene exposure and depth of field. Get ahead of the competition by learning how to create your renderings using photographic composition in a streamlined workflow.

Through Maya software, we can solve the limits of digitally shooting both on-set and recreated environments so that the initial ideas can come to life. Whether it's recreating a museum for Missy Elliott or the Staples Center for rapper Cal Scruby, Maya has played an essential role in making these ideas happen. This class will show you how the speaker placed the live-action talent into new environments, and how those environments were built from the ground up. You will see what went into creating the interior of the Staples Center from scratch—including modeling, texturing, lighting, and rendering—and how the artist was placed inside with the camera sweeping all around. You will also see how we overcame some obstacles on Missy Elliott's latest music video, "Cool Off," by digitally recreating a museum.