Chaos Group releases V-Ray 2.0 for Rhino
Chaos Group has released V-Ray 2.0 for Rhino, bringing the feature set of the Rhino edition of the renderer further into line with its counterparts for other software packages.
New features from both 1.5 and 2.0
The update is free to V-Ray 1.5 for Rhino customers, so perhaps as a result, the official feature list includes a key feature introduced in 1.5 itself: the V-Ray RT real-time preview renderer.
Updated 11 December: We’ve been in touch with Chaos Group, who tell us that while V-Ray RT was included in V-Ray for Rhino 1.5, version 2.0 adds support for GPU processing as well as CPU processing.
There is also a new early termination feature that enables users to render animations by setting a maximum per frame render time or sample level.
The other new features specific to the 2.0 update itself are materials. V-Ray Material is a “brand-new compact and optimized material for V-Ray that includes parameters to adjust diffuse, reflection, and refraction”.
The V-Ray Wrapper Material (shown in the video above) can be used to specify extra material properties, including the option to “create true matte materials which show the background as opposed to the base material”.
Extensions to the core software
Other additions include V-Ray Express, a separate download through which users can access “more than 200 materials and lighting setups to create realistic studio scenes and illuminate models faster than ever”.
We assume it’s an extension of the old V-Ray for Rhino Express toolbar, but we’ll update when we confirm that. Updated 11 December: Chaos Group tells us that it’s a completely new tool.
V-Ray for Rhino also becomes the latest app to get a live link to HDR Light Studio, Lightmap’s real-time relighting tool. It works with either version 4.3 of the standalone edition of the software, or the new dedicated edition, HDR Light Studio 4 for V-Ray for Rhino, which you can read about in more detail on the Lightmap website.
V-Ray 2.0 for Rhino is now available for Rhino 4 and 5, price $960. You’ll need a valid hardware key to license it.
Read more about the feature set of V-Ray 2.0 for Rhino on the Chaos Group website
Read the full V-Ray 2.0 for Rhino product documentation
See video demos of the new features in V-Ray 2.0 for Rhino on YouTube