Vray USD Support?

[The3DStig]

I guess this isn't a Houdini specific request... but will Vray be supporting USD anytime soon?
Solaris is a game changer and it'd be awesome to have Vray integrated!

[vlado]

We actually have an experimental version of V-Ray integrated with Solaris, so yes, we are working on that.

Just so you know the terms though, and to avoid confusion, Solaris uses the Hydra API to communicate with the renderer. The Hydra API is not specifically related to USD, and the renderer does not specifically need to be aware of USD for this to work.

We do have a separate effort planned to support USD in V-Ray directly, but this has no effect on whether or not V-Ray works with Solaris.

Best regards,
Vlado

[The3DStig]

Gotcha, appreciate the clarification.

I'm more interested in sharing assets between programs and artists in my studio that might be using something other than Vray (*gasp* I know)
Solaris is great, but it's the USD side of things that I'm more interested in!

[racoonart]

So, to get this right, hydra consumes USD but could theoretically consume any input - it's just the "hub" where the renderer(s) get their data and callbacks from, correct? So would it hypothetically be possible to implement hydra in something like max to unify the whole renderer/viewport interface without it relying on USD?

[vlado]

So, to get this right, hydra consumes USD but could theoretically consume any input - it's just the "hub" where the renderer(s) get their data and callbacks from, correct?

Hydra itself doesn't use USD at all; it is just an API that allows an application like Solaris, Houdini, Maya, Katana to send data to a renderer - meshes, lights etc, and push changes to the scene for interactive rendering. The renderer itself could be a viewport renderer based on OpenGL, or a production renderer like V-Ray running in IPR mode.

So would it hypothetically be possible to implement hydra in something like max to unify the whole renderer/viewport interface without it relying on USD?

This is correct, yes.

Best regadrs,
Vlado

[racoonart]

Allright, thanks for the clarification

[jasonhuang1115]

Thanks for the clarifications, Vlado.

So a renderer can talk to a DCC's native scene description or USD through the Hydra API. But if the input is USD, you do need Hydra to communicate between USD and the renderer (viewport, Vray, etc.).

Why nobody in the past has done an API like Hydra to unify the communication from a renderer to each DCC? (Or maybe Chaos has something similar to Hydra internally already.)

Although Hydra API doesn't necessarily consume USD, is there benefits if the input is USD instead of the DCC's native scene descriptions? Feels to me that Hydra is created mostly because of the advent of USD.

[vlado]

So a renderer can talk to a DCC's native scene description or USD through the Hydra API. But if the input is USD, you do need Hydra to communicate between USD and the renderer (viewport, Vray, etc.).

No, not really. We can implement USD support directly in V-Ray without using Hydra. Max or Maya can implement USD support and just pass regular Max or Maya meshes to the renderer, like they do for Alembic without the need for Hydra.

Why nobody in the past has done an API like Hydra to unify the communication from a renderer to each DCC? (Or maybe Chaos has something similar to Hydra internally already.)

We have the V-Ray AppSDK internally for that; the 3Delight guys also tried to do something similar (I think it is called NSI and it is even open source afair). Ultimately it depends on which companies are behind such a development. It is also a curious trend that whatever Houdini and/or Nuke implement, tends to become standard.

Although Hydra API doesn't necessarily consume USD, is there benefits if the input is USD instead of the DCC's native scene descriptions?

Not that I’m aware of, but I’m not an expert yet

Feels to me that Hydra is created mostly because of the advent of USD.

I’m not quite sure. The two go together but are not dependent on each other that much.

Best regards,
Vlado

[jasonhuang1115]

Thanks again for the clarifications, Vlado. Really appreciate it.

No, not really. We can implement USD support directly in V-Ray without using Hydra. Max or Maya can implement USD support and just pass regular Max or Maya meshes to the renderer, like they do for Alembic without the need for Hydra.

So if you were to choose, would you rather have V-Ray talk to USD through the Hydra API or directly? And in either way, is it because it's easier to do it that way or there are other complications/dependencies?

[stehrani3d]

I wanted to bump this topic and see if there has been progress on this front.
Our studio is currently using Maya and V-Ray. We will be taking a closer look at USD soon, whether it's Maya's implementation or potentially Houdini/Solaris. Is there a rough timeline for when we might expect to see USD/Hydra support for V-Ray or is that still a ways out?

Thanks

[Jim Meston]

Using USD with Houdini, would love to see vray support in the near future. Happy to test....

[Tyros]

I think V-Ray is so good that could creates its own USD setup in several applications.

[fredsnyder]

+1 on USD. The vrscene workflow is good. But I'm really curious about what a combination with LOPS would look like.

[Dubbie99]

Wondering if there has been any update on the USD front.
It would be amazing to be able to render USD directly with VRay.

[david.anastacio]

Wondering if there has been any update on the USD front.
It would be amazing to be able to render USD directly with VRay.

Hi Dubbie99,

Great strides have been made with the USD support in V-Ray. It's available in V-Ray 5 already. The dev team is constantly updating the USD/LOPS every week, but as it stands the latest release (5.1) "adds Beta support for Houdini's Solaris".

https://forums.chaosgroup.com/forum/...-now-available

Best,
David.