Introduction to Maya - Rendering in Arnold
This course will look at the fundamentals of rendering in Arnold. We'll go through the different light types available, cameras, shaders, Arnold's render settings and finally how to split an image into render passes (AOV's), before we then reassemble it i
# 1 13-01-2018 , 07:23 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 2

Can ARNOLD render resolution free?

I am new to Maya and rendering with Arnold so I have a basic question.

In Maya when we press 3 for smooth preview that action raises poly count of the selected object while in smooth mode for whatever was set as a subdivision number. (2 by default). So when I import 5k poly mesh, press 3 to smooth preview, I see in HUD that it goes up to 80 thousand polys. Which if I was to do the same thing for a lot of them would put huge strain on the system (as expected).


Now when rendering with Arnold (AIstandardSurface shader), if I select my 5K mesh and I go to Attribute Editor - Shape - Arnold - Subdivision and I set CatClark as a Type and 5 for Iterations (subdiv levels)..... in this scenario Maya's HUD still reports 5K mesh but the thing is super smooth (as expected). So...is this mean that Arnold can subdivide mesh for the rendering purposes completely freely and separately from number actual polys in the scene ?

Like you can render million polys and have actual 1000 polys in a scene ?


Thank you

Attached Thumbnails
# 2 14-01-2018 , 07:38 PM
David's Avatar
SM Tea Boy
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Prague
Posts: 3,228
Yes basically Arnold will subdivide at render time so its independent. Be careful of going to high when you start to get to the 100s of millions off Poly's mark then ram is going to become a concern.

Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads