LAUBLab releases V-RayforC4D 3.4
LAUBlab has released V-RayforC4D 3.4, a major update to its port of Chaos Group’s industry-standard renderer to Cinema 4D, updating it to the same core technology as the 3ds Max and Maya versions.
The release adds over 60 new features, and improves performance and integration with Cinema 4D.
Playing catch-up with the 3ds Max and Maya editions
The release is a big step forward for V-RayforC4D, the last update to which was in 2014, at which point, it was still using the core from version 2.x of the Chaos Group’s own releases.
Accordingly, many of the new features – there is a list of over 60 on LAUBLab’s website – are simply playing catch-up with old versions of the 3ds Max and Maya editions.
One notable example is V-Ray RT, V-Ray’s CPU and GPU-based interactive preview renderer, which has now been implemented in the Cinema 4D edition, with support for both CUDA and, on Windows, OpenCL.
However, the update also adds features from Chaos Group’s own most recent releases, including the render denoising system from V-Ray 3.4 and the variance-based adaptive sampler from V-Ray 3.3.
Improved performance and integration with Cinema 4D
Overall performance has also been improved: LAUBLab doesn’t put any figures on the speed boost, but notes that complex scenes, and those using hair, fur or displacement, should benefit significantly.
The update also improves integration with Cinema 4D, particularly for distributed rendering, which now supports C4D’s native bitmaps, vertex maps and MoGraph shader.
V-RayforC4D also now supports the Team Render system introduced in Cinema 4D R15, as an alternative to V-Ray’s native distributed rendering system.
Still to come: OpenVDB support, VR output, and features due in V-Ray 3.5 for 3ds Max
LAUBLab has also posted a list of the features from Chaos Group’s releases still missing from the Cinema 4D edition that it plans to implement in service packs to V-RayforC4D 3.4.
These include support for volumetrics in OpenVDB and Field3D format, deep image export, and direct output to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift VR headsets from V-Ray RT.
The list also includes things that haven’t yet been implemented in the 3ds Max and Maya editions, like the ability to pause and resume renders, and support for Nvidia’s MDL material format, scheduled for V-Ray 3.5.
LAUBLab also plans to introduce support for distributed rendering on Linux, and Google cloud support via the Zync Render online render service, which introduced support for Cinema 4D last month.
It also plans to make V-RayforC4D compatible with Chaos Group’s format for scanned real-world materials, making it possible for Cinema 4D users to use materials from its VRscans service and online library.
Pricing and availability
V-RayforC4D 3.4 is available for Cinema 4D R16 and above, running on 64-bit Windows 7+ or Mac OS X 10.9.5+. Prices start at €790 (around $825) for a workstation licence and five render nodes.
Read a full list of new features in V-RayforC4D 3.4 on LAUBLab’s website