Chaos Group releases V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D
Originally posted on 28 September 2020. Scroll down for news of the final release.
Chaos Group has released V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D, the next major version of the renderer for Maxon’s 3D modelling and animation software, as a free public beta.
The update gives Cinema 4D users access to key features from V-Ray 5 and its predecessor, V-Ray Next, including RTX-accelerated rendering, AI denoising, and built in compositing and relighting in the frame buffer.
Chaos Group’s first major update to V-Ray for Cinema 4D
The first major update to V-Ray for Cinema 4D since Chaos Group acquired the software from original developer LAUBlab in 2018, V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D is a long-awaited release.
Chaos Group first began posting sneak peeks last year, at which point, the current edition of the renderer was V-Ray Next (V-Ray 4), but it has now decided to skip a generation, and update directly to V-Ray 5.
A ‘ground-up rewrite’, adding features from V-Ray Next and V-Ray 5
As a result, V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D includes both features from V-Ray Next and from V-Ray 5.
From V-Ray Next, key changes include the new ‘smart rendering’ features, intended to reduce scene set-up time, like automatic exposure and white balance.
The Cinema 4D edition also now features V-Ray GPU, Chaos Group’s CUDA-based render engine, intended both for interactive previews and final-quality rendering.
Despite the name, output is identical when rendering on GPU or GPU.
V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D also gets features added later in the V-Ray Next update cycle, including support for out-of-core rendering, and for hardware-accelerated ray tracing on Nvidia’s current-gen RTX GPUs.
In addition, Chaos Group has implemented Nvidia’s GPU-accelerated, AI-based OptiX denoiser.
From V-Ray 5: new Corona-style LightMix system, and support for LPEs
To that, V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D adds the key features of V-Ray 5 itself.
They include built-in compositing within the V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB), a Corona-Renderer-style LightMix system for relighting images without having to re-render them, and support for Light Path Expressions (LPEs).
The release also features updated car paint and dirt materials; a new sheen layer and improvements to the coat layer for layered materials; and a new physical sun and sky model.
We covered the features when V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max was released, so check out this story for details.
Tighter workflow integration between V-Ray and Cinema 4D
The update also improves integration between V-Ray and Cinema 4D itself, with Chaos Group claiming that the new render, material and camera settings can “cut set up time in half”.
The Cinema 4D edition also now features a “significantly improved user interface” for lighting scenes.
Updated 4 November 2020: Chaos Group has released V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D Beta 2.
The update adds work-in-progress support for V-Ray’s Volume Grid, used to render volumetrics, including files imported in OpenVDB or Field3D format, or generated in Chaos Group’s Phoenix FD.
In addition, scenes using Cinema 4D’s noise shader can now be rendered without having to bake the noise effects first. The feature is currently supported only during CPU rendering.
Updated 11 December 2020: V-Ray for Cinema 4D is now officially shipping.
New features added since the beta releases include the VRayMultiSubTex material, used to combine multiple textures into a single material, and support for scans from Chaos Group’s VRscans library.
Pricing and system requirements
V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D is available for Cinema 4D R20+, running on 64-bit Windows 8.1+ and macOS 10.14+. The software is rental-only, and costs $80/month or $470/year.
Read an overview of the new features in V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D on Chaos Group’s website
Read a full list of new features in V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D in the online release notes