Maxon releases Redshift 2027.0
Maxon has released Redshift 2027.0, the latest version of the GPU-accelerated renderer for VFX, motion graphics and visualization work.
The release introduces a new native fur procedural, support for ACES 2 color management, and improves memory management, reducing render times by up to 15%.
Real-time render engine Redshift Live gets support for ray traced depth of field and light spread.
There are also updates to the integrations for individual DCC applications, including native support for tyFlow volumetric simulations in the 3ds Max edition.
Redshift Core: new fur procedural, ACES 2 support and performance improvements
Changes to the core renderer include the Fur Object, a new fur procedural.
It’s a fast-rendering render-time solution for hair, fur and grass, with standard control parameters like Density, Gravity, Curl and Taper, plus the option to randomize hair properties.
The Fur Object is currently available for 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini and Maya users.
In addition, Redshift now supports ACES 2, the current version of the movie industry color management standard.
The ACES 2 OCIO config is now used by default in Cinema 4D, and can be configured manually in applications like Houdini and Maya.
Under the hood, Redshift’s memory-management system has been reworked, reducing time to first pixel in renders: for the architectural scene shown in the release notes, render times are reduced by 15%.
Redshift also becomes the latest DCC application to support the RTX Spark, NVIDIA’s new ‘superchip’ for laptops and mobile workstations, joining DaVinci Resolve and OctaneRender.
Redshift Live: ray traced depth of field and support for light spread
The release also updates Redshift Live, the new real-time render engine that replaced Redshift RT in Redshift 2026.4.
Redshift Live now supports true ray traced depth of field, ray-bending refraction for transmission – although not dispersion – through transparent materials, and for light spread.
The changes move closer towards feature parity with the final-quality render engine, although there are still some key remaining limitations: notably, volumetrics, hair and point clouds.
Updates to the 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini and Maya integrations
Changes unique to individual host apps include native support for tyflow Inferno simulations in 3ds Max.
The popular particle and multiphysics add-on gained support for volumetric simulations for fire and smoke in tyFlow 2.0 earlier this year.
Cinema 4D users get a new Depth of Field setting, Auto Focus Distance, which automatically sets to focal distance to the object in the center of the frame.
The shader balls have been overhauled to improve the visual quality of material previews, and the Material Tag now includes options for hex tiling and triplanar tiling.
Houdini users get a new shelf icon to run the Redshift Object Lister.
The Maya integration now users the same optical camera and backplate system as the other host applications, and Maya users also get support for the native Maya Light Lister.
Now also available for ArchiCAD
In addition, ArchiCAD becomes the latest CAD application to get official Redshift support, following the integrations for Vectorworks and Revit rolled out earlier this year.
Price and system requirements
Redshift 2027.0 is compatible with Windows 10+, glibc 2.28+ Linux and macOS 15.0+. The release notes also refer to it as Redshift 2026.10.
The plugins are compatible with 3ds Max 2018+, Cinema 4D 2023+, Houdini 19.0+, Katana 5.0+, Maya 2018+ (Maya 2022+ on Linux), Revit 2024+, Vectorworks 2026.4+ and ZBrush 2023+.
The software is rental-only. Subscriptions cost $49/month or $289/year.
Read a full list of changes in Redshift 2027.0 on the Redshift forum
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