Today was our first introduction to Maya 2017/18 and Arnold. I was pretty apprehensive going into the session, worried that it would all be pretty confusing and I would get lost, but I actually really enjoy Arnold and can see its a very powerful tool. We focused mainly on learning the basic render settings and trialling out some of the different lights Arnold has to offer on a pre-built scene, seeing what sort of effects could be achieved and how, and how to try and correct any issues, eg graininess, that can occur from using different lights together. I'm particularly fond of the mesh light, here's a few screen grabs from messing around with different bits.
