Arvid Schneider covers the basics for working with Arnold’s Surface Shader in Maya.

Arnold’s Standard Surface shader is a versatile monolithic-style physical shader that works well for most materials. If you are getting into Arnold, this new tutorial from Arvid Schneider can help you understand how Arnold’s Surface Shader works. If you already use Arnold, there are still some helpful tips here for working with all the attributes of the shader.

Arnold’s Surface Shader

Arvid covers a bit some basics of Arnold, the modern brute force renderer that so many of us love. The tutorial covers the basic concepts for working with the Standard Surface that is the foundational building block for all scenes.

AiStandard Versus Standard Surface

For those of use working with Maya 2020, there are some exciting changes. Arvid notes that there are two standard surface shaders (well three if you count the deprecated one too). Arvid notes that Arnold is on track to become Maya’s default renderer and, as a result, has a new Standard Surface that varies in small ways from the AiStandard Surface of which we are familiar. Standard Surface is now the way to go.

About Arvid Schneider

Arvid Schneider is a Senior Lighting TD And Look-Dev Artist at Industrial Light and Magic, with more than eight years of commercial and visual effects experience. You can help to support Arvid in creating more tutorials like this one by becoming a Patron.