Chaos releases Vantage 3.4
Chaos has released Vantage 3.4, the latest version of its real-time ray tracing renderer, intended for exploring large production scenes for architectural visualization and visual effects projects.
The update introduces support for OpenPBR materials, extends support for V-Ray’s materials and lighting features, and updates Vantage’s new real-time smoke and fire simulation toolset.
Other recent updates have introduced support for 3D Gaussian Splatting, making it possible to import, create and relight 3DGS data within the software.
A GPU-accelerated ray tracer for exploring large production scenes in real time
First released in 2020, Vantage is a GPU ray tracing renderer intended for exploring large production scenes – initially, V-Ray scenes exported in .vrscene format – in near-real time.
It was originally targeted at visualization, but in 2023 Chaos added support for rendering deforming meshes, like animated characters, and began pitching Vantage at VFX work.
Vantage 3.0, released in 2025, added initial support for importing and rendering scenes in USD format, opening up the possibility of using the software in non-V-Ray-based pipelines.
Now supports OpenPBR materials
Vantage 3.4 introduces support for OpenPBR, the new open material standard supported in a growing range of DCC applications.
In Vantage, it is implemented as a switchable mode within the standard V-Ray Material (VRayMtl): you can see a comparison between OpenPBR mode and the standard V-Ray mode in the online documentation.
The update also introduces support for materials from Chaos Scans, the library of scanned real-world materials available with higher V-Ray subscription tiers.
Updates to smoke and fire simulation
The release also updates the real-time fluid simulator introduced in Vantage 3.1, which has now been renamed, more descriptively, the Fire & Smoke simulator.
Aside from the name change, the toolset gets new presets to speed up the setup of common simulation types.
Better support for V-Ray materials and lights
Vantage 3.4 also adds support for more of V-Ray’s materials and lighting features.
The renderer now supports the anisotropy, thin film, sheen and dispersion parameters of VRayMtl, the V-Ray Curvature and TriPlanar textures, and partially supports the Distance texture.
Workflow improvements include include/exclude objects lists for global Ambient Occlusion and Wet effects.
The integrated version of DLSS, NVIDIA’s GPU-based render upscaling and frame generation technology, has been upgraded to DLSS 4.5.
Also now relights and renders 3D Gaussian Splats
Since we last wrote about Vantage, Chaos has also extended support for 3D Gaussian Splatting within the renderer.
Vantage 3.2 made it possible to create and import Splats, while Vantage 3.3 made it possible to relight Splats within the software.
Now only available as part of Chaos’s Collection subscriptions
Another change since we last wrote about the software is that it no longer seems to be possible to buy it individually.
Whereas Chaos used to offer standalone Vantage subscriptions, its online store now only lists it as part of the V-Ray Collection or Corona Collection product bundles.
We’ve contacted Chaos to confirm that, and will update if we hear back.
Price and system requirements
Chaos Vantage 3.4 is compatible with Windows 10+ and DXR-compatible AMD, Intel or NVIDIA GPUs. The software is rental-only, as part of Chaos’s V-Ray or Corona Collections.
Vantage is compatible with V-Ray Next and later (V-Ray 4+), Corona 12+, and Enscape 4.2+. There is a separate Hydra delegate for using Vantage with Houdini.
Read a full list of new features in Vantage 3.4 in the online documentation
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