Full V-Ray 3.x Feature Set Now Available in Free Update; NUKE 10 Compatibility On The Way

SOFIA, Bulgaria – April 21, 2016 – Today, Chaos Group, a worldwide leader in computer graphics, releases the most powerful renderer currently available for NUKE, NUKEX, and NUKE STUDIO. V-Ray 3.3 for NUKE brings the first node-based VR system, GPU rendering speeds, and 200+ 3.x updates also available in V-Ray for 3ds Max and Maya, to artists around the world.

Already being used in production on franchises like James Bond, V-Ray for NUKE allows compositors to alter any 3D asset. Before, a lighting issue meant going backwards in the pipeline. Now, compositors have all the lighting, shading and rendering elements they need to do the job themselves.

"V-Ray for NUKE has opened up a new horizon in creative possibilities,” said William Bartlett, Executive Creative Director, Integrated Advertising at Framestore. “Whether you are generating detailed renders for pitches and treatments, or combining 2D and 3D in interesting new ways like we did on the Spectre titles, these tools stand out. We couldn't be more excited and pleased with the implementation.”

NUKE’s first VR system arrives via two new cameras, covering spherical and stereo cube maps. With VR exploding into the mainstream, studios finally have an easy way to access this lucrative market.

V-Ray Standalone brings real-time, GPU-accelerated rendering to film and broadcast projects, including full access to the entire V-Ray line-up (bucket, progressive and V-Ray RT). The addition of a V-Ray VRscene node will help teams transmit full render-ready assets from V-Ray for 3ds Max and Maya to NUKE artists (or vice versa) with perfect parity. Users can preview, instance, transform and control V-Ray scene files with 100% consistency, no matter where they are in the pipeline.

“When people think of NUKE, they usually don’t think of rendering,” said Vlado Koylazov, CTO of Chaos Group. “Now artists can create a 3D scene using the same nodal workflow used throughout NUKE.”

For a full feature list, please visit: http://www.v-ray.com/nuke/features/sp3/.

Pricing and Availability

V-Ray for NUKE is available now through select resellers for $1,040. For a limited time, artists can also purchase V-Ray 3.3 for NUKE and a copy of either V-Ray 3.3 for 3ds Max or Maya for $1,500. To take advantage of this promotion, please contact: sales@chaosgroup.com.

About Chaos Group

Chaos Group is a worldwide leader in computer graphics technology that helps artists and designers create photoreal imagery and animation for design, television, and feature films. Chaos Group’s physically based lighting and rendering software V-Ray is used daily by top design studios, architectural firms, advertising agencies, and visual effects companies around the globe. Today, the company's research and development in cloud rendering, material scanning, and virtual reality is shaping the future of creative storytelling and digital design. Founded in 1997, Chaos Group is privately owned with offices in Sofia, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Seoul, and Tokyo. For more information, visit: chaosgroup.com.

Sub-Millimeter Reproduction of Fabrics, Leathers, Metals, Paints, Woods, Textiles, etc. Helps Design and Manufacturing Companies Create Photoreal Digital Prototypes

SOFIA, Bulgaria – February 23, 2016 – Today, Chaos Group announces a new scanning technology that can produce an exact digital replica of a physical material with sub-mm precision. Design and manufacturing firms can instantly take advantage of this patented technology through VRscans, Chaos Group’s new full-service material scanning business.

“We’ve dedicated the last 19 years to advancing rendering technology, so designers can trust what they see on their screen. Now they can match the material sample in their hand with the one in their 3D model,” said Peter Mitev, CEO at Chaos Group. 

While using digital graphics to prototype projects has been the standard for design firms and Fortune 500 companies for years, the ability to present products with 100% accuracy has not. In the past, approximations were used, forcing artists to spend countless hours getting 90% of the way there. With VRscans, companies can now send in their material samples, trusting that what comes back will be the most accurate representation of a digital material yet. Once processed, the materials are returned with a .vrscan file that arrives ready to render in V-Ray – Chaos Group’s widely-used photorealistic lighting and rendering software.

VRscans combines precise optical hardware with proprietary software; the result of several years of research and prototyping. VRscans captures each material’s full appearance, including surface texture, reflectivity, dimensionality, and its unique response to light. This complex data is read by the new VRscans plugin, creating a physically accurate material that can be rendered from any angle and in any lighting condition. 

"Several pilot projects are already underway with top automotive, aerospace, and furniture companies,” said Dinko Dimitrov, VRscans Product Manager. “Digital prototypes are the best way to design quickly. Now designers can do it with confidence.”

Pricing and Availability

VRscans is available now and is compatible with the latest versions of V-Ray for 3ds Max and Maya. Support for additional applications is in development.

For information and pricing, email vrscans@chaosgroup.com or visit www.vrscans.com.

Elite Team of Presenters Offer Major Film Walkthroughs, V-Ray Lighting and Shading Workshop, and Dedicated Day for Students

FMX 2013, Stuttgart, Germany – April 23, 2013 – At FMX 2013, Chaos Group will demonstrate how V-Ray encourages artistry across every stage of a user’s career through a series of presentations that target the needs of VFX professionals and students.

The premier presentation features Jeroen Schulte, Image Pipeline Lead at Industrial Light & Magic, who will give attendees an exclusive look at how the world-famous studio rendered shots on some of 2012’s biggest blockbusters with the help of V-Ray’s advanced ray tracing capabilities.

The presentations continue with a talk by Niklas Jacobson -- VFX supervisor and co-founder of Important Looking Pirates (ILP) -- which will pinpoint the specific V-Ray tools ILP used to create the CG creatures and environments found in the Oscar-nominated, “Kon-Tiki.” Animation fans can also expect a first-hand look at the new trailer for “Portals” - an animated short created by Studio Sokerov and Bulgarian artist, Viktor Mazhelkov.

In an effort to give artists of all levels a helping hand, Chaos Group will provide a free V-Ray master class entitled, “Setting up a V-Ray Lighting and Shading Pipeline.” In addition, April 24 has been dubbed “Student Day,” and will see the team hosting a day of presentations and tutorials that focus entirely on 3D artists in training.

Complete Presentation and Activity Schedule

• “Setting up a V-Ray Lighting and Shading Pipeline,” by Konstantin Gaytandzhiev of Chaos Group –April 23, 2013, 10:00-11:00 a.m. at Raum Karlsruhe
• “Rendering Superpower: V-Ray in Production at ILM,” by Jeroen Schulte of Industrial Light & Magic. Featured films include: “The Avengers,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” and more. – April 23, 2013, 12:00-1:00 p.m. at Raum Karlsruhe
• “Kon-Tiki: Real-Life Graphics for Real-Life Heroes,” by Niklas Jacobson of Important Looking Pirates –April 25, 2013, 3:00-4:00 p.m. at Raum Mannheim
• “Student Day” series of 30-minute tutorials on topics like lighting, shading basics, render elements with V-Ray, etc. – April 24, 2013, all day at the Chaos Group FMX Marketplace booth
• “Portals” trailer unveiling – every day at the Chaos Group FMX Marketplace booth

For more information on what Chaos Group will be doing at FMX, please visit http://fmx2013.chaosgroup.com and watch for updates on Twitter (@ChaosGroup). If you are interested in a meeting with Chaos Group at FMX, please contact Angelina Penkova: pr@chaosgroup.com.

About Chaos Group

Chaos Group is a leading provider of innovative rendering solutions for the media, entertainment, and design industries. For over a decade our flagship rendering software, V-Ray®, has set the standard for speed, quality, reliability and ease of use, and it has become the rendering engine of choice for renowned international studios. We work closely with our customers from around the world to ensure we’re creating the best tools for their workflow. Inspired by their imaginative creations, we passionately pursue advances in rendering technology and continue to improve the software needed to communicate their vision.

We proudly support the 3D community with our advanced software solutions: V-Ray® for Autodesk® 3ds Max®, V-Ray® for Autodesk® Maya®, V-Ray® for Autodesk® Softimage®, V-Ray® for Rhino®, V-Ray® for SketchUp®, Phoenix FD and Pdplayer.

Introduction of Variance-Based Adaptive Sampling Makes Renders Easier to Predict and Control

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – December 17, 2015 – Today, Chaos Group releases a free upgrade to V-Ray for 3ds Max. This update features 20-50% faster rendering for most scenes and introduces a new variance-based adaptive sampler (VBAS) for more uniform noise distribution, faster setup, and improved imagery for VR, VFX, and arch-viz workflows. 

Variance-Based Adaptive Sampling provides: 

• Better sampling of dark areas and faster sampling of overbright areas 

• More consistent noise detection 

• Final image quality is less dependent on materials and lights settings 

• Improved alpha channel sampling – especially in scenes with depth of field and motion blur 

• Works in bucket and progressive rendering modes 

In addition, V-Ray 3.3 for 3ds Max includes over 25 new features and updates. 

New Features 

New Global Defaults  

• Variance-based adaptive sampler enabled by default 

• Automatic sampling of lights and materials – removing the need to set subdivisions manually 

Ray Traced Rounded Corners 

• Perfectly smooth edges at render time with no additional modeling – based on licensed technology from NVIDIA 

• Advanced edge detection with support for concave and convex surfaces simultaneously 

• Works with separate objects, VRayProxy objects, displaced objects, etc. 

New Sky Model and Aerial Perspective 

• Hosek sky model to simulate more natural looking skies 

• Ground color option for VRaySun and VRaySky 

• Aerial perspective for efficient and realistic atmospheric depth 

Triplanar Mapping 

• Fast, seamless textures without UVs 

• Control over edge blending and texture parameters, including randomization 

• Works on procedural geometry 

Improved V-Ray Clipper with Render-Time Booleans 

• Supports cutaways using any arbitrary mesh 

Stochastic Flakes  

• Ultra-realistic materials with sparkle effects like snow, sand, and car paints 

Updated Features 

Global Illumination 

• More robust handling of reflective GI caustics, better light propagation, and more natural illumination of interior scenes 

• Distributed light cache for faster calculations with distributed rendering 

GPU Rendering 

• More texture nodes – MultiTexture, VRayMultiSubTex, ColorCorrection, etc. 

• Proxy objects with hair and particles 

• VRayFur and VRayPlane objects 

• Light include/exclude lists 

Progressive Sampler 

• Dynamic noise threshold leads to more uniform noise distribution 

• Improved sub-pixel filtering 

• Improved CPU utilization 

Volume Rendering 

• Faster volume rendering with probabilistic sampling 

Geometry 

• Faster rendering of proxy objects and instances

Availability

V-Ray 3.3 for 3ds Max is a free update for all V-Ray 3.0 customers. Login at chaosgroup.com to download.

About Chaos Group

Chaos Group creates physically based rendering and simulation software for artists and designers. Founded in 1997, Chaos Group has devoted the last 18 years to helping artists advance the speed and quality of one of their most important tools. Today, Chaos Group’s photorealistic rendering software, V-Ray®, has become the rendering engine of choice for many high-profile companies and innovators in the design and visual effects industries.

Best Practices for Creating Production VR Projects Outlined With Help of Contributors from Legend3D and The World Building Institute

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – December 9, 2015 – Today, Chaos Group Labs releases a free virtual reality (VR) guide that teaches artists how to create successful VR projects with pre-rendered content and V-Ray. Common pitfalls associated with VR are addressed through scientific research and production insights, culminating in step-by-step instructions that explain how to make VR stills and video.

 The paper was written by a trio of artists with vast experience in professional visual effects and architectural visualization. Contributors include: Christopher Nichols, Director of Chaos Group Labs; Justin Denton, a VFX Supervisor who leads Legend3D’s VR Division; and Kim Baumann Larsen, a former architect and current Creative Director for The World Building Institute.

 Seeing that virtual reality was exploding and one of the most exciting opportunities to hit the production landscape in over a decade, the team wanted to provide a snapshot of current best practices for the medium that could be used by new and experienced users alike.

 Sample Subjects Include:

• What are the differences between the current headsets?
• Where should I place my camera to create the best experience?
• How do I make sure people don’t get motion sickness?
• Is there a correct height or scale that people will respond to best?

 “When you use this guide, you’ll have all the known information on angles, measurements, scientific studies about eye distance and more at your disposal,” said Christopher Nichols. “And since what we know about VR will continue to change, we’ll continue to update the guide as big developments occur, so it can remain a resource for the community.”

 Two sample projects have also been provided, giving viewers an incredible look at how pre-existing content can be transformed into a VR experience. The samples feature the architectural visualization work of Aldo Garcia, who depicted Tadao Ando’s “Church on the Water” and Bernard Benoit, who reconstructed the famous Salle Labrouste reading room in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

 The VR Guide can be downloaded now at the Chaos Group Labs website.

About Chaos Group

Chaos Group creates physically based rendering and simulation software for artists and designers. Founded in 1997, Chaos Group has devoted the last 18 years to helping artists advance the speed and quality of one of their most important tools. Today, Chaos Group’s photorealistic rendering software, V-Ray®, has become the rendering engine of choice for many high-profile companies and innovators in the design and visual effects industries.

High-performance rendering now integrated into architecture’s leading design platform; Free download available now.

BALTIMORE, MD – December 1, 2015 – Today, Chaos Group announces the V-Ray for Revit Public Beta. Intelligently integrated into Autodesk Revit, V-Ray’s core rendering technology has been tailored to meet the needs of architects at all stages of the design process – from concepting to VR.

After extensive feedback from firms across the world, V-Ray for Revit has been designed to fit seamlessly into production, providing powerful rendering with streamlined controls. A familiar interface and easy-to-use presets help new users start taking advantage of V-Ray’s proven capabilities quickly; while advanced post-processing and a stereoscopic VR camera set them up for creative success down the line.

"At last, V-Ray for Revit can complement our current digital design toolset!” said Jorge Barrero, Senior Associate at Gensler. “It’s already fast and dependable, and since it supports all V-Ray packages, it’s going to be the connective tissue that ties many of our digital design tools together.”

V-Ray for Revit establishes a unified visualization pipeline, linking together V-Ray for SketchUp, Rhino and 3ds Max, which will make projects more efficient, and designs more reliable as they move across multiple platforms. Revit cameras, lighting and materials are all supported as well, ensuring a simple adoption process. 

“V-Ray for Revit fills a major gap in design development,” said Brian Russell, V-Ray for Revit project manager. “Now anyone can get exciting, predictable results at any stage of the project.”

Availability

V-Ray for Revit public beta is available as a free download. After creating an account on chaosgroup.com, users can follow the link at the V-Ray for Revit product page to register. 

V-Ray for Revit supports:

• Revit Architecture 2015, 2016
• Revit MEP 2015, 2016
• Revit Structure 2015, 2016
• Revit “Onebox” (Building Design Suite) 2015, 2016

Sofia, Bulgaria – July 28, 2015 – Today, Chaos Group announces the immediate availability of V-Ray 3.1 for Maya. V-Ray 3.1 for Maya contains over 100 new and modified features, including Maya 2016 compatibility, numerous V-Ray RT GPU enhancements and two VR cameras. The free update also offers more efficient handling of proxy objects, an improved global illumination algorithm, and faster rendering performance.

“V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a big release,” said Vladimir Koylazov, Chaos Group Co-founder and Lead Developer of V-Ray. “Our team has been hard at work making sure that the speed, memory and workflow optimizations our community has requested are ready for professional use.” 

For VR projects, V-Ray 3.1 for Maya adds new stereoscopic camera types that will render 6x1 cube maps and spherical images. The introduction of the Shade Map optimizes stereoscopic rendering.

“When I started building out the new VR and VFX division for Legend3D, I knew V-Ray for Maya had to be a part of it,” said Justin Denton, VFX and VR Supervisor at Legend3D. “Working with Chaos Group led to the features we need for our advanced virtual reality projects. V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a huge update.”

V-Ray RT GPU now supports:

• Hair & fur
• Subsurface scattering
• Displacement & subdivision surfaces
• Light Cache GI
• Anisotropic highlights
• UDIM textures
• Texture baking
• QMC sampling on NVIDIA CUDA devices

Proxy Object improvements:

• Identical proxy objects are now automatically instanced 
• Improved viewport previews with mesh simplification options
• Import multiple proxy objects at once
• Support for hair and particle instances
• Support for instancing Ogawa Alembic files
• Mesh viewer utility – to view proxy objects and Alembic files, including subdivision surfaces, particles, and hair

Additional New Features in V-Ray 3.1:

Maya 2016 support

• Full support for new Hypershade Node Editor, Material Viewer, and Lookdev view
• Enhanced Bifrost support – including rendering liquids as isosurfaces without meshing

Workflow & User Interface

• Quick settings
• Light Lister
• Tooltips
• Updated default render settings

Geometry

• Faster rendering of dynamic meshes, proxy objects, and instances
• Faster rendering of hair and fur
• Intel Embree acceleration for hair and fur
• VRayClipper – for cutaways and sections

Lights

• Light meter – new helper object for lighting analysis

Global Illumination

• Updated Light Cache algorithm removes light leaks and improves animation

Volume rendering

• Probabilistic shading for faster volume rendering

Availability

V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a free update for all V-Ray 3.0 for Maya customers. Download now at chaosgroup.com. For more information and a complete change log, visit V-Ray.com. 

Fully Integrated Ray Traced Rendering Now Available for The Foundry's Industry-Standard Compositing Tool

SOFIA, Bulgaria – August 11, 2015 – Today, Chaos Group launches V-Ray for NUKE, a new approach to lighting and compositing that integrates production-quality ray traced rendering into NUKE and NUKEX. Compositors can now take advantage of V-Ray's lighting, shading and rendering tools inside NUKE's node-based workflow.

V-Ray for NUKE brings the same technology used on Game of Thrones, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and hundreds of other film, commercial and television projects to professional compositors. Built on the same adaptive rendering core as V-Ray’s industry-standard plugins for Autodesk 3ds Max and Maya, V-Ray for NUKE is ready for all production pipelines. 

"V-Ray for NUKE gives me the creative freedom I've always wanted as a compositor; it’s addictive,” said Shahin Toosi, lighting and senior compositor at Lipsync VFX. “I can work on lighting and comp at the same time and see the results right away. There’s no more waiting for a test render to come back from other departments. It's definitely a faster workflow.”  

V-Ray for NUKE gives compositors the ability to adjust lighting, materials and render elements all the way up until final shot delivery. Full control of 3D scenes in NUKE lets compositors match 2D footage and 3D renders simultaneously. For environments and set extension work, this cuts out the traditional back and forth that costs studios valuable time.  

“The introduction of V-Ray for NUKE adds a powerful component to a comprehensive pipeline,” said Sean Brice, product manager for NUKE, The Foundry. “By bringing increased creative capabilities and efficiencies to the pipeline, artists can focus more on the creative process, achieving better results in less time.”  

Rendering 

• Multithreaded CPU rendering 
• Highly optimized, adaptive ray tracing 
• Precise path traced global illumination 

Geometry 

• NUKE ReadGeo – Alembic, FBX, & OBJ 
• V-Ray proxy objects – Alembic & vrmesh 
• V-Ray scene files – vrscene 

Lights 

• HDR image-based environment lights 
• Rectangular & spherical area lights 
• Mesh lights 
• Photometric IES lights 
• Ambient light 
• NUKE lights – Direct, Point, Spot

Cameras 

• NUKE projection cameras – Project3D node 
• Depth of field 
• 3D motion blur 
• Spherical, cylindrical, cube & fish eye camera types 

Materials 

• Physically-based materials 
• Multi-layered materials 
• Subsurface scattering & skin material 
• Car paint material 
• Material overrides 
• NUKE shaders – Diffuse, Emission, Displacement, UVTILE 

Textures 

• Memory efficient tiled EXR and TX files 
• Displacement & subdivision 
• Dirt & occlusion 
• Fresnel 
• Ptex 
• Utility & override textures 

Render elements 

• 36 beauty, matte, and utility render elements 

Pricing & Availability 

V-Ray for NUKE is available now through select resellers. A V-Ray for NUKE Workstation license can be purchased for €750. This includes one floating user license and one floating render node. V-Ray for NUKE can render on existing V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max and Maya render node licenses.

For more information visit v-ray.com/NUKE. 

Today, Chaos Group announces the immediate availability of V-Ray 3.1 for Maya. 

Sofia, Bulgaria – July 28, 2015 – Today, Chaos Group announces the immediate availability of V-Ray 3.1 for Maya. V-Ray 3.1 for Maya contains over 100 new and modified features, including Maya 2016 compatibility, numerous V-Ray RT GPU enhancements and two VR cameras. The free update also offers more efficient handling of proxy objects, an improved global illumination algorithm, and faster rendering performance.

“V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a big release,” said Vladimir Koylazov, Chaos Group Co-founder and Lead Developer of V-Ray. “Our team has been hard at work making sure that the speed, memory and workflow optimizations our community has requested are ready for professional use.” 

For VR projects, V-Ray 3.1 for Maya adds new stereoscopic camera types that will render 6x1 cube maps and spherical images. The introduction of the Shade Map optimizes stereoscopic rendering.

“When I started building out the new VR and VFX division for Legend3D, I knew V-Ray for Maya had to be a part of it,” said Justin Denton, VFX and VR Supervisor at Legend3D. “Working with Chaos Group led to the features we need for our advanced virtual reality projects. V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a huge update.”

V-Ray RT GPU now supports:

• Hair & fur
• Subsurface scattering
• Displacement & subdivision surfaces
• Light Cache GI
• Anisotropic highlights
• UDIM textures
• Texture baking
• QMC sampling on NVIDIA CUDA devices

Proxy Object improvements:

• Identical proxy objects are now automatically instanced 
• Improved viewport previews with mesh simplification options
• Import multiple proxy objects at once
• Support for hair and particle instances
• Support for instancing Ogawa Alembic files
• Mesh viewer utility – to view proxy objects and Alembic files, including subdivision surfaces, particles, and hair

Additional New Features in V-Ray 3.1:

Maya 2016 support

• Full support for new Hypershade Node Editor, Material Viewer, and Lookdev view
• Enhanced Bifrost support – including rendering liquids as isosurfaces without meshing

Workflow & User Interface

• Quick settings
• Light Lister
• Tooltips
• Updated default render settings

Geometry

• Faster rendering of dynamic meshes, proxy objects, and instances
• Faster rendering of hair and fur
• Intel Embree acceleration for hair and fur
• VRayClipper – for cutaways and sections

Lights

• Light meter – new helper object for lighting analysis

Global Illumination

• Updated Light Cache algorithm removes light leaks and improves animation

Volume rendering

• Probabilistic shading for faster volume rendering

Availability

V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a free update for all V-Ray 3.0 for Maya customers. Download now at chaosgroup.com. For more information and a complete change log, visit V-Ray.com. 

VR Installations Include Legend3D’s Project for “Crimson Peak”; V-Ray Days’ Return Features Method Studios, Atomic Fiction, and Ruairi Robinson

Los Angeles, Calif. – July 23, 2015 – At SIGGRAPH 2015, Chaos Group will explore new applications for V-Ray’s advanced VR tools. Booth #807’s VR Bar will feature installations from Steelblue, Nurulize, and Legend3D, giving attendees a chance to immerse themselves in architectural and film projects crafted for the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard.

The popular “V-Ray Days” series returns August 11th and 12th with special presentations from Method Studios ("Guardians of the Galaxy"), Legend3D (Crimson Peak VR) and independent filmmakers Ruairi Robinson ("The Leviathan") and Kevin Margo ("CONSTRUCT").

Both “V-Ray Days” will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center (Room #510) starting at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday (8/11) and 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday (8/12). Additional presentations from Atomic Fiction’s work on “The Walk” and “The Ningyo”’s Miguel Ortega are also expected. This event will be open to all SIGGRAPH attendees (see full program).

In the Chaos Group booth, guest speakers from Google Cloud Platform and Autodesk will present their V-Ray workflows. First looks at upcoming products like V-Ray for NUKE, V-Ray for MODO, as well as recent additions to V-Ray for 3ds Max and Maya will also be on hand, and shown each morning starting at 9:30 a.m. Chaos Group will also be guest speaking at NVIDIA's booth (#500) to showcase advances in GPU rendering.

To see the full booth schedule, including times for The V-Ray Theater, please visit the Chaos Group’s SIGGRAPH website.

To schedule a meeting with Chaos Group or to view a demonstration during SIGGRAPH 2015, please contact: David Tracy, david.tracy@chaosgroup.com

Advanced VR Rendering and 3ds Max 2016 Compatibility in Latest Free Update

Sofia, Bulgaria – June 9, 2015 – Today, Chaos Group announces V-Ray 3.2 for 3ds Max. Now compatible with 3ds Max 2016, V-Ray 3.2 adds VR rendering capabilities and multiple V-Ray RT GPU enhancements. This free update also includes improved volume rendering, distributed rendering, and global illumination.

“VR is one of the most exciting things to happen to CG in the last decade,” said Vladimir Koylazov, Chaos Group Co-founder and Lead Developer of V-Ray. “Now V-Ray artists can easily view their designs in VR.”

VR Cameras – V-Ray 3.2 for 3ds Max adds two new VR camera types to render stereo cube maps and spherical stereo images for VR headsets such as Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR.

"Our clients are constantly expecting more sophisticated and immersive experiences to differentiate their projects," said Erik Altman, Managing Director at Steelblue. "The next evolution is and will continue to be VR experiences, so it's incredibly exciting that Chaos Group is supporting this progression at such a high level."

V-Ray RT GPU Improvements –

• Displacement
• Anisotropic highlights 
• Composite map 
• Output curves
• Texture baking
• UDIM support (MARI)
• QMC sampling on NVIDIA CUDA

“Customers are going to love V-Ray RT with QMC, the first commercial licensee of our Quasi-Monte Carlo sampling technology,” said Phillip Miller, Senior Director of Advanced Rendering Products at NVIDIA. “We worked closely with Chaos Group to help bring our mutual customers a new level of rendering speed and interactive quality when running on NVIDIA GPUs.”

Other New Features in V-Ray 3.2:

Volume rendering

• New V-Ray Volume Grid adds support for OpenVDB, Field3D, and Phoenix FD volume grid formats. This allows users to import and render data from popular effects applications like Houdini and FumeFX.

Distributed rendering

• Add or remove distributed rendering nodes on the fly

Global Illumination

• Updated Light Cache algorithm removes light leaks and improves animation

Geometry

• New preview types for proxy objects – includes mesh simplification for optimized proxy display
• Faster rendering of hair and fur
• Intel Embree support for 3ds Max Hair & Fur and V-Ray Fur

3ds Max 2016

• Full support for new Physical Camera – co-developed with 3ds Max team
• Support for new Physical Camera Exposure Control
• V-Ray Lens Analysis Utility adds support for the 3ds Max Physical Camera

Availability

V-Ray 3.2 for 3ds Max is a free update for all V-Ray 3.0 customers. For users that downloaded V-Ray 3.20.01 last week, a new build coincides with this release – V-Ray 3.20.02. Login at chaosgroup.com to download.