Chaos Group acquires V-RayforC4D from LAUBlab
Chaos Group has acquired V-RayforC4D, the Cinema 4D version of its V-Ray renderer, from LAUBlab. LAUBlab will continue as an independent company, and remains a Chaos Group sales partner.
Existing users can stick with V-RayforC4D 3.6, LAUBlab’s final release, or transition to V-Ray for Cinema 4D 3.7, Chaos Group’s first version of the software, via a free but time-limited licence.
Chaos Group’s own releases of V-Ray for Cinema 4D will be rental-only. Additional render nodes will be available as paid add-ons, as with the firm’s other editions of V-Ray.
Change of ownership hoped to accelerate migration to V-Ray Next architecture
First released 12 years ago, V-RayforC4D began as a port of V-Ray to Cinema 4D created “by C4D users, for C4D users”.
“At that time, nobody had the time or resources to do this, so we … started the V-RayforC4D project ourselves,” LAUBlab CEO Stefan Laub wrote in a forum post announcing the acquisition.
Although a major update in 2016 brought the Cinema 4D edition onto the V-Ray 3.x core, with a small team behind it, development historically lagged behind Chaos Group’s own editions of the renderer.
Laub says that the buyout now comes at the “perfect time” for the Cinema 4D edition to be updated to the new V-Ray Next architecture, first rolled out earlier this year in V-Ray for 3ds Max.
“They [Chaos Group] are obviously the perfect team to bring V-RayforC4D to the ‘Next’ level,” he wrote.
That sentiment was echoed by leading Cinema 4D tools provider Greyscalegorilla, which didn’t previously recommend V-Ray as a renderer for C4D, citing its limited documentation and slow pace of development.
In a blog post assessing the buyout, Greyscalegorilla creative director Chad Ashley described the news as a “fantastic move on Chaos Group’s part”.
Free migration for existing users, but now rental-only, and no unlimited Team Render nodes
Chaos Group has now released V-Ray for Cinema 4D 3.7, its own first version of the software.
The update doesn’t add any new features, but it does make the renderer compatible with Cinema 4D R20 on macOS – LAUBlab’s own V-RayforC4D 3.6 only supported R20 on Windows.
The new release also moves V-Ray for Cinema 4D to a new, rental-only pricing model, making it the first of Chaos Group’s products for which no permanent licence is available.
In addition, it ditches LAUBlab’s old policy of offering unlimited Cinema 4D Team Render nodes, Chaos Group having stopped offering free render licences for its own editions back in 2014.
Existing users of V-RayforC4D can claim a free licence of version 3.7, with Chaos Group also providing a free render licence for each existing DR (Distributed Render) licence. LAUBlab previously bundled five DR nodes free with each workstation licence of V-RayforC4D, with more available as paid add-ons.
The new Chaos Group licences are time-limited, and will expire on January 15, 2020.
Old licences of V-RayforC4D 3.6 will remain valid, although Chaos Group says that it will only provide usage support for 3.6, not bugfixes or replacement licence keys.
Pricing and availability
Chaos Group’s V-Ray for Cinema 4D 3.7 is available for Cinema 4D R18-20 on a rental-only basis.
New workstation licences – which include one GUI and one render licence – cost $80/month or $470/year. Extra render nodes, which also work with other editions of V-Ray, cost $70/month or $170/year.
Read Chaos Group’s FAQs on its acquisition of V-RayforC4D and its licence migration policy