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Chaos Group Launches V-Ray Next for 3ds Max

Photorealistic ray tracer enters next stage with the help of scene intelligence, AI and double speed GPU rendering.

Chaos Group’s V-Ray Next for 3ds Max improves overall rendering performance by 25 percent.

LOS ANGELES -- Chaos Group released V-Ray Next for 3ds Max, aligning the world’s most popular renderer with the benefits of smart tech. With automatic scene analysis, artists and designers can produce faster, cleaner renders with little to no input, removing unnecessary set-up time from the creative equation.

“Our latest R&D has helped boost overall rendering performance by up to 25 percent, giving users a much faster baseline,” said Vlado Koylazov, CTO of Chaos Group. “The speed gains from scene intelligence and a new GPU architecture make it even faster.”

In the same way that machine learning makes choices based on what is learned about a specific problem, V-Ray has been adopting learning techniques for analyzing a scene as it is rendering. V-Ray Next builds on previous smart features with two new breakthroughs.

The new Adaptive Dome Light automatically produces cleaner, more accurate image-based environment lighting that’s up to seven times faster. The ADL also removes the need to set up skylight portals at windows and openings, making it especially helpful for architectural interiors.

Scene intelligence also comes to the V-Ray Physical Camera, via point-and-shoot-style timesavers like Automatic Exposure, Automatic White Balance and a simplified UI.

V-Ray Next marks the debut of Chaos Group’s fast new V-Ray GPU rendering architecture, which effectively doubles the speed of production rendering. Through a redesign of its kernel structure, V-Ray GPU offers a dual blend of high-performance speed and accuracy across interactive and production renders. The redesign also has prepared V-Ray for new improvements in GPU hardware, which will allow developers to incorporate new features without affecting performance. For instance, V-Ray GPU already tops previous generations of NVIDIA’s Quadro cards, running 47 percent faster on the new Quadro GV100.

Production artists will also enjoy GPU-accelerated support for:

The new Physical Hair Material produces more realistic-looking hair with accurate highlights. Building off a paper produced by Disney Research, Chaos Group has reduced look development down to a few sliders, giving artists full control over glossiness, softness, randomness and more. Easy-to-use melanin controls can quickly dial in any color from blonde to redhead. Hair dye sliders have also been added, so characters can rock a green mohawk, when the brief allows.

Other new features in V-Ray Next include:

  • NVIDIA AI Denoiser -- Fast, real-time denoising based on NVIDIA OptiX AI-accelerated technology.
  • Denoise Render Elements -- Artists can now denoise any render element used on a still or animation project, ensuring more control for compositors.
  • Lighting Analysis -- Accurately analyze and measure the light levels in a scene with the help of heat maps and data overlays.
  • Layered Alembic Workflows -- Supports Alembic 1.7 with layering, for faster, more efficient handling and updating of Alembic data.
  • V-Ray Switch Material -- Easily switch between the multiple materials applied to an object for faster look dev and variation decisions.
  • V-Ray Plugin and Texture -- Load any texture or material from any version of V-Ray into 3ds Max, including procedural textures and PBR materials for Unity and Unreal.

For a full feature tour, please visit the V-Ray Next for 3ds Max product page.

V-Ray Next will be available soon for Windows. Every purchase of V-Ray 3.x made from today until launch will result in an automatic upgrade. A full Workstation license is priced at $1,180, with upgrades priced at $580. Annual rentals can be purchased for $470; monthly options are available as well. For full pricing information, including additional render nodes, please visit the product page.

Source: Chaos Group

Thomas J. McLean's picture

Tom McLean has been writing for years about animation from a secret base in Los Angeles.