Chaos releases V-Ray 7.2 for SketchUp with new AI Upscaler
Chaos has released V-Ray 7 Update 2 for SketchUp (V-Ray 7.2 for SketchUp), the latest version of the edition of the renderer for the architectural sketching software.
It’s a wide-ranging update, adding a set of new AI tools, a new procedural night sky system, and updates to Chaos Scatter, 3D Gaussian Splats and V-Ray GPU.
New AI-based tools for enhancing and upscaling renders
As with the recent updates to other editions of V-Ray, V-Ray 7.2 for SketchUp adds a number of new AI-based tools, currently all in beta.
As well as the AI Material Generator added in V-Ray 7.1.2 for SketchUp, there is now an AI Enhancer and AI Upscaler.
The AI Enhancer, which adds AI-generated details to renders, is already available in the 3ds Max edition of the software, so you can read about it in this story.
The AI Upscaler is completely new, and makes it possible to upres renders to a maximum resolution of 16K.
New procedural night sky
V-Ray Sky, V-Ray’s physical sun and sky system, gets a new procedural night sky, including the moon, individual stars, and the Milky Way.
The sky can be generated automatically to match a specific real-world location, date and time; or users can adjust the position and brightness of the moon and stars manually.
New Eyedropper Tools, Water Surface texture and Strand Sampler texture
Other new features include a new Eyedropper Tool in the V-Ray Color Picker, for sampling colors from anywhere on screen, and a similar tool in the Gradient texture.
There is also a new Water Surface texture, for generating ocean surfaces, and a Strand Sampler texture for more controllable shading of hair, fur and grass.
Updates to Chaos Scatter, 3DGS, V-Ray GPU and VFB
In addition, several key existing toolsets have been updated.
There are a lot of new options in object scattering system Chaos Scatter, including support for clustering and altitude limitation.
The 3D Gaussian Splatting toolset introduced in V-Ray 7.0 for SketchUp gets an improved viewport display and support for clipping masks, as shown above.
V-Ray GPU, V-Ray’s GPU-capable render engine, now supports Gaussian Splats, along with V-Ray Luminaires and caustics dispersion.
For post-processing renders, the VFB (V-Ray Frame Buffer) gets a new Exposure layer with Whites, Blacks, Highlight and Shadows settings for finer control over image grading.
Updates to Chaos Cloud and Chaos Cosmos
Outside the core software, cloud rendering platform Chaos Cloud gets support for 3D streaming in its Chaos Cloud Collaboration toolset.
Users can upload a V-Ray scene to the cloud and share a URL through which clients or colleagues can navigate the scene interactively, even on low-powered devices like phones.
Material library Chaos Cosmos gets new Generic Presets for quickly setting up common materials, and the option to multi-import assets.
Pricing and system requirements
V-Ray 7.2 for SketchUp is compatible with SketchUp 2021+, running on Windows 10+ and macOS 11.0+. It is available rental-only.
V-Ray Solo subscriptions now cost $89.15/month or $540/year. V-Ray Premium subscriptions cost $119.90/month or $718.80/year.
Read an overview of the new features in V-Ray 7 Update 2 for SketchUp on Chaos’s blog
Read a full list of new features in V-Ray 7.2 for SketchUp in the online release notes
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