Arnold 6+ focuses heavily on GPU rendering, which introduces VRAM limitations and driver dependencies. Arnold 440 is CPU-only, meaning it runs predictably on any render farm, even old Xeon workstations.
To set realistic expectations, Arnold 440 lacks features from later versions (4.5+): arnold render 440 for cinema 4d r21 r22 r23 r updated
If you need these, you must upgrade to C4D R25 or higher. But if your pipeline is frozen on R21-R23, Arnold 440 is the ceiling. Arnold 6+ focuses heavily on GPU rendering, which
Convert high-poly trees to Arnold Procedural or Alembic references. The standard C4D Object Manager in R21 can’t handle 10M+ polygons with Arnold 440. If you need these, you must upgrade to C4D R25 or higher
Arnold 440 on R22 has a bug with TX textures exceeding 16K. Resize your maps to 8K max or convert to .tx via maketx utility.
For render farm users, Arnold 440 ships with improved kick (Arnold’s command-line renderer) compatibility with R22 and R23 projects. No more "missing DLL" errors when sending to Deadline or RenderStreet.