Key details

Autodesk Ray Tracer (ART) course for 3ds Max users, teaching skills for producing visualisations of your designs in real environments.

Learn to use ART to produce photo-realistic rendered images and animations of your designs in whatever environment you work in, whether it be architecture, interior design, product design, industrial design, or any other.

3ds Max – Rendering with ART training is arranged on-request, i.e. one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group. Your training can be tailored to take into account any existing knowledge you have, and the work you’re going to be doing.

In-class or online

This course is available in-class at eight centres or live online.

Accredited ART training

Armada is an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre (ATC), accredited to provide training in the ART renderer.

ART training is hosted by Autodesk Certified Instructors, with vast professional experience of a range of different renderers. See Expert trainers.

How will I learn?

ART training is hands-on and practical.

Our trainers teach the necessary theory then demonstrate techniques step-by-step. You then practice the techniques taught on a computer running ART.

There is plenty of time to ask questions, and you can take away all the files you create.

Training guide and certificate

Course delegates receive:

• A comprehensive training guide for ART, to refer to throughout the course, and to use as a refresher afterwards.
• An e-certificate confirming successful completion of an accredited ART training course. Click here to see an example of the certificate you receive.

After course support

Following ART training, delegates are entitled to 30 days’ email support from their ART trainer to help with any post-course issues. For further details, see Support.

Prerequisites

Delegates should have a good working knowledge of 3ds Max, i.e. be familiar with the techniques taught in our 3ds Max Essentials course. No prior ART knowledge is required.

ART version

Training can be based on any recent version of ART to suit you.

General information

Course times

Standard course times are 9.30am–4.30pm.

As we’d be hosting this as a ‘closed course’ for you/your group, there’s usually flexibility to change these times to suit you, e.g. start or end 30 minutes earlier or later.

Payment

Payment for ART training can be made by:

• Bank transfer. Please call 01527 834783 for our bank details.
• Card. All major credit and debit cards accepted. Payment can be made securely online or over the phone. Card payments are processed by Stripe. Armada doesn’t record or store your card details.

Purchase orders

We accept purchase orders from UK-registered companies and public sector organisations.

Accommodation

See Accommodation local to our training centres.

Cancellations and postponements

If an on-request 3ds Max – Rendering with ART course booking is cancelled giving less than 20 working days’ notice, a cancellation fee is payable. View cancellation terms.

If an on-request 3ds Max – Rendering with ART course booking is postponed giving less than 20 working days’ notice, a postponement fee is payable. View postponement terms.

Terms and conditions

Expert trainers

3ds Max – Rendering with ART training courses are hosted by:

• Rod Cleasby
• Andy Roe
• Stewart Cobb

Rod Cleasby

Rod has over 25 years’ experience working as a designer, visualisation expert and artist. His specialist areas include architecture, interior design and the production of photorealistic 3d virtual environments. 

AutoCAD, 3ds Max and SketchUp have been the mainstay of Rod’s professional work for 20 years. He is also an expert in various related tools and technologies, including Photoshop, and he has expert knowledge of a wide range of renderers, including V-Ray, ART, Arnold and LightUp.

Rod has extensive experience training experience. He has worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster on their Computer Visualisation course, and he is a long-established Autodesk Certified Instructor.

Away from his professional work, Rod is an accomplished artist and musician, and a prolific writer of novels, novella, poetry and prose.

Andy Roe

Andy has worked in CAD for over 30 years in roles including Draughtsman, CAD System Manager, Project Manager and Design Engineer.

In recent years, Andy has focused on developing and delivering training courses. He is a long-established Autodesk Certified Instructor (ACI), and he focuses primarily on Autodesk applications including AutoCAD, Inventor, Fusion 360, 3ds Max and Sketchbook, as well as Dassault Systemes SolidWorks.

Andy continues to undertake project work to keep up-to-date with the latest technologies and practices. He specialises in modelling complex 3D designs from prototype to production, including the development of visuals and animations for a range of engineering projects.

Industries in which Andy has significant experience include aerospace, defence and automotive.

Stewart Cobb

Stewart began his working life as a junior draughtsman, and progressed through to Design Director leading a studio of designers working on both 2D and 3D projects.

He then worked for himself for over 25 years, completing around 100 design projects per year for a myriad of clients, including household names such as Vauxhall and McDonalds.

More recently, Stewart’s focus has been on training. He has been an Autodesk Certified Instructor since 2010, hosting courses in AutoCAD, Revit, 3ds Max, AutoCAD Plant 3D, Civil 3D, AVT and Advance Steel. He’s also an expert user of Trimble SketchUp.

In between courses, Stewart uses these applications professionally when carrying out project work for clients. Using the applications regularly helps him to keep up-to-date with the latest technologies and practices. He also specialises in the production of photorealistic rendered images and visualisations using renderers including V-Ray.

Outside of work, Stewart enjoys music (he runs the sound desk for a number of local bands), reading and playing with any new piece of technology he can lay his hands on!

Course content

Rendering controls

ART renderer setup

Using the 3ds Max Scene Converter

Working with lights

Creating depth of field

Configuring motion blur

Biased vs. unbiased rendering

Optimising for speed and quality

Understanding physical materials

Live online training

Online training lets you participate in a live ART course from your place of work or home.

We do everything possible to make your online training experience as close as possible to actually being in the classroom. You can:

• See and hear our trainer, and the other delegates participating in the course…
  
• Watch our trainer demonstrate techniques in ART.
• Interact by speaking, or using chat.
• Share your screen with our trainer, and allow them to take control to explain something.

Like our in-class courses, online 3ds Max – Rendering with ART courses…

• Are presented by Autodesk Certified Instructors.
• Give you plenty of opportunity to carry out assisted, practical exercises using ART.
• Offer 30 days’ email support from your trainer.

All you need is an Internet-connected computer with…

• ART installed. If you don’t have a current subscription to ART, you’re entitled to a 30-day trial that’s ideal for participating in training. We’ll send you a link to this. If you’ve already used your trial, we can lend you a license for the duration of your course.
• A webcam and audio capability. If your computer running ART doesn’t have these, you can use a second device, such as another computer or tablet. See Hardware recommendations for live online training for further details.

If there’s anything you’re not sure about we’ll do our best to help you. We won’t be able to assist with your ART installation, but we can provide details for Autodesk support who’ll be able to help you with this.

We provide everything else…

• Links to download the files, resources, etc. you’ll use in your course.
• A training guide. For most courses, you can choose from a printed copy that we post to you, or a PDF.

In the week before your course, we’ll send you an email containing everything you need to prepare for and participate in the training. Then, a couple of days before your course, we’ll give you a courtesy call to make sure you have everything in place and answer any questions you may have.

Please note that we are not able to record scheduled online courses for privacy reasons.

When you attend live online training, you’re participating in a real course, hosted by a real trainer, in real time