Tuesday, September 15th, 2020 Posted by Jim Thacker

Sneak peek: V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D


Originally posted on 20 August 2019. Scroll down for news of the public beta.

Chaos Group has released a video preview of some of the new features coming up in V-Ray for Cinema 4D, the edition of its production renderer for Maxon’s 3D modelling and animation software.

They include key features from V-Ray Next, including bucket rendering within the V-Ray GPU engine, and the new adaptive dome light; plus improvements to look development workflow and the Render Settings dialog.

A ‘ground-up rewrite’ of the plugin
Chaos Group hasn’t said which version of V-Ray for Cinema 4D the features will appear in – or indeed, if they will all come in the same release.

Updated 6 July 2020: According to Chaos Group’s latest preview, the release will be V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D.

However, the next update looks set to be the biggest since Chaos Group acquired the plugin from original developer LAUBlab last year, with the firm describing it as a “ground up” rewrite.

While Chaos Group has put out several updates to V-Ray for Cinema 4D since the acquisition, they were largely to port the plugin to its own licensing system, and add support for Chaos Cloud rendering.

More V-Ray GPU and smart rendering features from V-Ray Next due in Cinema 4D
The video shows features added to other editions of the renderer in V-Ray Next: effectively version 4.0 of the software.

They include V-Ray GPU, Chaos Group’s GPU render engine, used here primarily for interactive rendering: something covered in more detail in a previous sneak peek.

For final-quality output, V-Ray for Cinema 4D will also support bucket rendering with V-Ray GPU.

The update will also introduce some of the ‘smart’ features from other editions of V-Ray Next, such as the adaptive dome light.

Improved look development workflow and a simplified Render Settings UI
Other than that, the new video focuses primarily on look development workflows using interactive rendering, with “improved materials, textures and UV mapping”.

The release will also simplify V-Ray for Cinema 4D’s Render Settings: the version shown at 02:40 in the video is “still a work in progress”, but Chaos Group says that it promises “fewer settings and more ease of use”.



Updated 22 April 2019: Chaos Group has released a new preview video of V-Ray for Cinema 4D.

New features shown this time include the integration of the V-Ray Frame Buffer into the Cinema 4D interface – although not viewport rendering – and support for render elements in both the VPR and Picture Viewer.

According to Chaos Group, V-Ray Lights are now separate objects in scenes, and the V-Ray Rectangle, Sphere and IES lights have been added, although there’s still no news on the release date.



Updated 6 July 2020: Chaos Group has released another preview video, the title of which confirms that V-Ray for Cinema 4D will skip over V-Ray Next and go directly to V-Ray 5.

The latest version of the core architecture is available in V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max, which shipped last month, and in V-Ray 5 for Maya, currently available in public beta.

V-Ray 5 features due in the Cinema 4D edition include the new sun and sky model, which promises more accurate results when the sun is near to the horizon.

Other new features include the automatic exposure and white balance system and support for render denoising via Nvidia’s AI-based OptiX denoiser, both introduced in V-Ray Next.

The Cinema 4D edition will also get support for a much older V-Ray feature, the VRay2SidedMtl material, intended for rendering thin, translucent objects like leaves or curtains.



Updated 15 September: Chaos Group has begun registration for the beta of V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D. You can find more details of the public beta in this story.

Pricing and system requirements
Chaos Group hasn’t announced a release date or pricing for V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D.

The current release, V-Ray 3.70.05, is available for Cinema 4D R18+, running on 64-bit Windows 7+ and Mac OS X 10.11+. The software is rental-only, and costs $80/month or $470/year.

Read more about the next update to V-Ray for Cinema 4D on Chaos Group’s website

Register for the public beta of V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D
(Requires a free Chaos Group user account)