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Vray is not the solution to get a good render.
Vray is a tool you need to learn to get a nice render.

Learning how to light a scene is independent to the render engine you use and is definitely what you should aim for.

Classic but solid one is the book from Jeremy Birn : Digital Lighting and rendering (a guy from Pixar)

If you read this carefully, you'll learn the different type of lights needed to light a set, then how to use them in a 3d package. This book is not related to any specific software. If you understand how lighting works, you can have good result whatever the render engine is.
If you only rely on the automated GI, caustics and whatever fancy effects to light a scene, you'll never have good results.


A good online resource would be itchy's tutorial, that covers similar things as the book above, probably less in detail but cheaper.

This requires to read a lot, to test a lot but is worth the time invested.

Good luck

If you’d like to get on top of Vray take a look at Mastering CGI’s course
https://masteringcgi.com.au/course/mastering-vray/
The first 4 lessons are free so if you like it, you can pay for the rest afterwards.
I also liked this book for opening my eyes to the ‘goings on’ of Max “How to Cheat in 3ds Max”:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Cheat-3ds-Max-2015/dp/1138022292

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ZBrush-Character-Creation-Advanced-Sculpting/dp/0470572574/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335458472&sr=8-1-fkmr1

Followed by:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ZBrush-Character-Sculpting-Volume-1/dp/0955153085/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335458472&sr=8-1


This is how I learned :)

Dynamesh is really simple. Create an object, click in Dynamesh button in geometry, reduce blur slider to 0 and whenever you want to even out the geometry just ctrl drag outside of the model like you would remove masking.

Tpopology you can change by appending a zbrush object as a subtool, selecting it, go to topology in tool menu and click topology, start building your polygons vertex by vertex and when you finished go to unify skin and aply, it will create new subtool with you topology, then you can subdivide it and project your old model on it or just use it as a base to bake your detailed model on.

Light for Visual Artists by Richard Yot. I like it more than Digital lighting and rendering, although that is great for learning the software side. "Light" Is more about light from an artistic stand point and less about the software implementation.

The earlier parts of the book are on his website http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm
The book can be found here http://www.amazon.com/Light-Visual-Artists-Understanding-Design/dp/185669660X.

I did come across that, but downloading an asset from an external site wasn't mentioned in the assignment page.


The book we're using mentions on page 48: "Open the Tooth.max file from the Chap 02 directory in the downloaded content set."


The only other thing I can think of is the set of files that our instructor included on Canvas; but a tooth asset isn't among them unless he just forgot to include one.

This looks helpful too Haven't used it but thought it looked cool when I was browsing through the site for max related

thats a big budget. 2000$ can get you an asus with 2070gpu.

https://www.amazon.com/Gaming-GeForce-i7-9750H-Windows-G531GW-DB76/dp/B07QRGSFS7/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=razer+laptop&qid=1572439379&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUE5RVQzQ0VYN0tROU0mZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA2MDE0NDExVjAzMlJVSE01NENKJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4OTE3MDgzME5QSFJWSTFPQVRWJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

if you want a more professional looking laptop you can get a razer blade, its more expensive with a maxq gpu.

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Blade-Gaming-Laptop-Thunderbolt/dp/B07MNGBM5Z/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=razer+laptop&qid=1572439379&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&sr=8-5

From several years of experience, I'd go with books, they are extensive and in depth. Look for books covering lighting concepts and techniques, and also render engine specifics.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Realistic-Architectural-Visualization-Entertainment-Techniques/dp/0240812298/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1370415746&sr=8-3&keywords=mental+ray

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rendering-mental-ray-3ds-Max/dp/0240808932/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1370415746&sr=8-10&keywords=mental+ray