Hello,
I would like to suggest an improvement regarding viewport smooth preview and Arnold rendering consistency.
When using Smooth Preview (pressing 3) in Maya, the viewport displays a smoothed version of the mesh. However, Arnold render does not always match this exact viewport result unless additional subdivision settings are manually configured in the Arnold attributes.
It would greatly improve workflow if Arnold could automatically respect and render exactly what is shown in the viewport smooth preview.
Proposed improvement:
When Smooth Preview (3) is enabled, Arnold should render the same smoothed geometry without requiring separate subdivision setup.
The render result should visually match the viewport preview by default.
Benefits:
Faster workflow.
Fewer manual subdivision adjustments.
More predictable render results.
Better modeling and look-development experience.