Thursday, March 2nd, 2017 Posted by Jim Thacker

Chaos Group releases V-Ray 3.5 for Nuke


Chaos Group has released V-Ray 3.5 for Nuke, the latest update to the Nuke edition of its production renderer, adding support for volumetric rendering and the V-Ray Denoiser.

Originally released in 2015, V-Ray for Nuke enables artists to use V-Ray’s lighting, shading and rendering tools inside The Foundry’s industry-standard compositing software.

Introduces more features from the Max and Maya editions of the renderer
Although V-Ray for Nuke is only the second edition of V-Ray to get a 3.5 release, most of the new features aren’t actually those from V-Ray 3.5 for 3ds Max, which shipped last month.

(The one exception is the new Adaptive Lights system, which optimises sampling in scenes with large numbers of lights, significantly reducing render times.)

Instead, the update continues the process of catch-up with the longer-established 3ds Max and Maya versions of the renderer, adding features introduced earlier in the 3.x release cycle.

Those include the VRayVolumeGrid node, enabling users to render volumetrics imported in OpenVDB or Field3D format, or from Phoenix FD, Chaos Group’s fluid simulation software.

The update also introduces the V-Ray Denoiser, the interactive render denoising system that made its debut in V-Ray 3.4 for 3ds Max, and improves deep rendering workflow.

According to Chaos Group’s news release, other new features include:

  • Light Cache GI
    Speed up renders with V-Ray’s unique global illumination method. Enable the new Adaptive Lights algorithm to make it even faster.
  • Improved Render Elements
    Render elements generated in V-Ray for Nuke or rendered in V-Ray Standalone can now be used interchangeably. In addition, all render elements can be cached with a single render.
  • Triplanar texture
    Apply seamless textures to complex objects without UVs.
  • V-Ray Falloff texture
    Control an object’s shading effects in relation to the camera. Use Nuke Curves for even more control.
  • V-Ray Clipper
    Create quick sections and cutaways at render time using a clipping plane or mesh object.
  • V-Ray Spot Light
    Create spotlights with textured projections, barn door controls and soft shadows.

Pricing and availability

V-Ray 3.5 for Nuke is available now for Nuke 7 and above on 64-bit Windows and Linux. The update is free to registered users of V-Ray 3.3 for Nuke.

A new workstation licence, which includes one floating user licence and one floating render node, costs $1,040. The software can render using existing V-Ray 3.x for 3ds Max and Maya render node licenses.


Read a full list of new features in V-Ray 3.5 for Nuke in the online release notes

Visit the V-Ray for Nuke product website