Chaos Group launches V-Ray Next for 3ds Max
Dabarti’s showreel for V-Ray GPU, V-Ray Next for 3ds Max’s new GPU rendering architecture. The long-awaited update to Chaos Group’s production renderer officially launched today, and should ship next week.
Originally posted on 18 May 2018. Now shipping: scroll down to see the official release video
Chaos Group has officially launched V-Ray Next for 3ds Max, the long-awaited major update to its production renderer, following five months in public beta.
The release was announced earlier this morning at the company’s Total Chaos user event, with the software actually expected to become available to users next week.
New ‘Scene Intelligence’ features, new V-Ray GPU rendering architecture, overall speed boosts
A major overhaul of V-Ray’s two-decades-old code base, V-Ray Next promises a boost in overall rendering performance of “up to 25 percent”, according to Chaos Group CTO Vlado Koylazov.
The speed gains are augmented by two of V-Ray Next’s key changes: new ‘Scene Intelligence’ features designed to simplify the set-up of complex scenes, and V-Ray GPU, its new GPU rendering architecture.
Other key features include Nvidia’s AI-based OptiX render denoiser, a new physiologically plausible hair shader, a new V-Ray Switch material for look dev work, and a scene lighting analysis system.
Pipeline improvements include support for layered Alembic files, and the V-Ray Plugin material and texture, which enable users to load any material or texture from the standalone edition of the renderer.
Over the next few days, we’ll be posting a detailed run-down of V-Ray Next’s key features, along with an interview with Chaos Group about its design strategy and development plans, so check back for updates.
For the minute, you can find more detail on major changes in our stories on the beta releases, including the new smart features, the AI denoiser and hair shader, and the V-Ray GPU rendering architecture.
Updated 22 May 2018: V-Ray Next for 3ds Max is now available.
Chaos Group has posted a video officially announcing the release, which you can watch above.
Pricing and system requirements
V-Ray Next for 3ds Max is available for 64-bit 3ds Max 2013 and above, running on Windows 7 and above.
The release marks a change of pricing, with a workstation licence and one render node now costing $1,180: up $140 from version 3.x. Rental pricing now starts at $470/year, down $50/year on 3.x.
Read an overview of the new features in V-Ray Next for 3ds Max on Chaos Group’s product page
Read a full list of new features in V-Ray Next for 3ds Max in the online release notes
Read our interview with Chaos Group’s Lon Grohs on V-Ray Next and the future V-Ray product roadmap