Use Arnold for Lighting, Rendering and Compositing with Ors Barczy

This course offers a comprehensive and structured approach to lighting knowledge, which is often scattered and difficult to access in one tutorial. Starting from the fundamentals, my lectures progress towards more complex and advanced lighting techniques, shading, rendering, and compositing workflows, all in the context of the ACES Colour Space. Additionally, I will share some of my own artistic methods to help you create visually compelling images. Join me on this journey to master the art of lighting!

The course begins with a thorough examination of the Theory of Color, Composition, Lighting, Rendering, and CG, including ACES, Ray-tracing, and PBR workflow. The fundamentals of lighting in Maya and Arnold, shading, and Nuke Compositing are then covered, equipping you with the necessary artistic and technical skills to become a Lighting Artist.

The course then progresses towards more complex lectures, where you will apply what you’ve learned to multiple interior and exterior lighting setups. You will learn to match your lighting to reference images, as in the industry’s look-development process, and create captivating atmospheres, volumes, and FX-es in 3D and post-production phases.

Next, the course focuses on character shading, particularly metal parts and the SSS shader of a bust. Once you have achieved a nice shading, you can create fantastic character lighting setups, add atmospheres, and learn some compositing solutions. The course also delves into creating exterior lighting with your character in the previously lit exterior scene.

The final chapter of the course is an advanced lighting, rendering, and compositing module. You will learn the basics of light path expressions and rendering with Arnold standalone using the kick command on pre-exported .ass files. Deep compositing benefits and tools will be demonstrated at the compositing stage to aid your future projects.

Throughout the course, the focus is on the artistic approach to lighting and compositing, providing insight into the instructor’s workflow and key tools. Upon completion, you will have the skills to create unique and aesthetically pleasing images.