Maxon adds real-time renderer Redshift Live to Redshift 2026.4
NVIDIA’s Attic USD scene being rendered inside Houdini’s Solaris viewport using Redshift Live. The real-time render engine, also available in other editions of Redshift, replaces Redshift RT.
Maxon has released Redshift 2026.4, the latest version of the GPU renderer for VFX, motion graphics and visualization work.
It’s a major update, introducing Redshift Live, a new real-time render engine for “look development and architectural visualization”, that replaces the existing Redshift RT.
In related news, Maxon has released Redshift for Vectorworks, the “next major milestone” in the firm’s expansion into the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) market.
Users of the Cinema 4D edition of Redshift also get a new procedural night sky system.
Redshift Live replaces Redshift RT as Redshift’s real-time render engine
The biggest change in Redshift 2026.4 is also the most unexpected: new real-time render engine Redshift Live.
It replaces the existing Redshift RT, which provided a near-real-time preview of a Redshift scene for look dev and scene layout work, using a mixture of rasterization and ray tracing.
Maxon describes Redshift Live as an “entirely new real-time engine using a lot of similar technologies” to Redshift RT.
In the initial release, it has a pretty long list of limitations, set out in the online documentation – longer, in fact, than Redshift RT.
Features not currently supported include SSS, hair, texture displacement, point clouds, volumes, motion blur, depth of field, light linking, and AOVs.
The main benefit for existing Redshift RT users seems to be improved stability, and greater flexibility to mix and match render upscaling and denoising technologies – Redshift Live integrates Apple’s MetalFX, Intel’s Open Image Denoise and NVIDIA’s DLSS.
Developed to support the new Vectorworks edition of Redshift
Redshift Live was developed in parallel with Redshift for Vectorworks – about which, more later – and features that support Vectorworks workflows “were given priority during development”.
However, according to Maxon, it is also still intended for look development in VFX and animation work, as well as for architectural rendering.
Redshift Live will now be developed in parallel with Redshift Production – which seems to be the new official name for Redshift’s final-quality render engine.
Maxon Director of Product Rick Barett commented: “Our ultimate goal is for both to be feature compatible so you can easily switch between render modes.”
Create new lighting effects by assigning shaders to the Dome Light
Other new features in Redshift 2026.4 include the option to use shaders – including ramps, noises and OSL shaders – with the Dome Light, rather than just HDRIs.
The change makes it possible to create a range of interesting, more stylized, lighting effects, as shown in the video above.
Cinema 4D only: new procedural night sky system
Cinema 4D users also get new night sky controls within the Redshift Sun & Sky.
They make it possible to generate night time as well as day time skies as a backdrop and environmental light source for 3D scenes, complete with the moon, stars and Milky Way.
As in the real world, the sun’s altitude controls whether it is day or night; and the sun also lights the moon, determining its appearance, and its contribution to scene lighting.
The moon and stars also have their own separate parametric controls, making it possible to tune the look of the sky.
Other features exclusive to the Cinema 4D edition include a new Redshift Standard Material to OpenPBR material converter.
Released alongside Redshift for Vectorworks
Maxon has also launched a new edition of the software: Redshift for Vectorworks.
It’s a step outside Redshift’s traditional user base – VFX, animation and motion graphics – and more than that, one that targets non-graphics specialists.
Although 3ds Max is currently the DCC application most widely used for architectural visualization, according to the most recent CGarchitect rendering survey, Redshift itself places outside the ten most popular renderers.
The new edition targets Redshift at architects themselves, rather than just dedicated visualization professionals, with Maxon describing it as “the next major milestone” in its expansion into the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) market.
Part of an increased development focus outside the entertainment market
Redshift for Vectorworks is the first of a series of new “native plugins for leading CAD/BIM platforms”.
As well as Vectorworks – which is owned by Nemetschek Group, Maxon’s parent company – a new edition of Redshift for Autodesk’s Revit is now in open beta.
An edition for Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD will be released in beta later in 2026.
We’ve contacted Maxon to ask whether VFX and animation is still its primary focus for Redshift development, or whether users can expect to see features targeted at AEC workflows in future, and will update if we hear back.
Price and system requirements
Redshift 2026.4 is compatible with Windows 10+, glibc 2.28+ Linux and macOS 14.0+.
Redshift Live is compatible with Windows 11 and NVIDIA RTX GPUs, or macOS 26.3 and M3 Pro, M4 Pro processors or better.
The integration plugins are compatible with 3ds Max 2018+, Cinema 4D 2023+, Houdini 19.0+, Katana 5.0+ and Maya 2018+ (Maya 2022+ on Linux) and now Vectorworks 2026.4+.
The software is rental-only. Subscriptions cost $49/month or $289/year.
Read a full list of changes in Redshift 2026.4 on the Redshift forum
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Read more about Redshift for Vectorworks on Maxon’s blog
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