Getting Started with Arnold Rendering in Houdini 'vray for houdind'

Arnold rendering is a powerful toolset that allows artists to create high-quality images and animations within the visual effects (VFX) pipeline of Houd Arnold, a commercial 3D computer graphics software developed by Side Effects Animation. This article will cover how to install and set up V-Ray for Houdini with Arnold as your render engine.

Why Choose Arnold?

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Arnacing in houdford is one of the fastest rendering engines available today due to its native integration into both Maya 2016+ & Houdini 16+. When compared against other popular RenderMan-based solutions like V-Ray or Mental Images' finalRender, you can expect up-to-5x speed improvements without sacrificing any visual quality!

Installation Notes

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1. Download the latest version of Arnold for Houdini from their official website.

2. Extract all files into a directory on your computer (e.g., C:\Arnold).

3. Copy the contents of this zip file over top of what's already there inside \ Arnold\bin:

- arnoldlafortin64.so

- libArnoldSoLinux.a

4. Add these new .so and .a files to your Houdini preferences under 'Render Engines -> Arnold -> Plug-in Library':

/path/to/arnold/bin/$(ARNOLD_VERSION)_liblinux.so

5. Restart Houdini after making changes.

Setting up V-Ray for Arnold

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1. Download the latest version of V-Ray Next from Chaos Group's website and extract it into a directory on your computer (e.g., C:\V-Ray).

2. Copy these files from \V-RAY\bin\Windows64 to where you installed Houdini:

- cgauth.dll

- V4RCore.dll

3. Add the following paths in the 'Preferences -> Render Engines' section of Houdini under 'Arnold -> Plug-ins':

C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\V-Ray-Next-x86_64\

C:\V-RAY\bin\Windows64\Renderers

4. Restart Houdini after making changes.

Rendering with V-Ray and Arnold

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1. Create a new scene in Houdind, then add some geometry (e.g., spheres or cubes).

2. Go to 'Window -> Render Engine' and select 'Arnold'.

3. In the Arnold render settings window under 'Rendered Image Output', click on the three dots next to 'Image File Path'. Choose where you want your rendered image saved as an .exr file.

4. Underneath that, checkmark both 'Use GI' and 'V-Ray Denoise'.

5. Finally, hit Render!

Troubleshooting Tips

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- If you encounter any errors during rendering or see black output, make sure all necessary Arnold libraries are properly installed in your Houdini preferences under 'Render Engines -> Arnold -> Plug-in Library'.

- Also, double-check that the V-Ray render engine is correctly set up by following step 4 above.

Vray for houdini