V-Ray Next for Maya Update 2 now available

[yolov]

V-Ray Next for Maya Update 2 now is now available for download from our website.
This update is free for all V-Ray Next users.

Highlights:

(*) V-Ray GPU RTX Support (Recommended driver version is 441.28 or newer for Windows and 440.36 or newer for Linux)
(*) Hashmap-based Light Cache with improved performance for animations
(*) Procedural Dust and Scratches for simulating real-world Lens Effects
(*) Distance Texture Support on V-Ray GPU
(*) Bercon Noise Texture - the popular procedural noise texture is now available in V-Ray for Maya
(*) Creases for V-Ray Subdivision - fast and memory efficient edge and vertex creases

You can read more on V-Ray GPU with RTX support in our blog post.


The full change log is below.

New features:
(*) V-Ray GPU: Added support for RT cores of NVIDIA RTX cards;
(*) V-Ray, V-Ray GPU: Hash map based light cache;
(*) V-Ray: Added support for creases in V-Ray subdivision;
(*) V-Ray: Support for Bercon Noise texture;
(*) VFB: Improved Lens Effects with procedural dust and scratches;
(*) V-Ray GPU/VRayDistanceTex: V-Ray Distance texture support on V-Ray GPU;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Introduced light tree for improved sampling on scenes with thousands of lights;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Support for Deep EXR output;
(*) VRayFastSSS2, VRayAlSurface: Added an option to consider all objects for SSS;


Modified features:
(*) VRayRectLight: Improved sampling of directional lights;
(*) V-Ray: Improved alembic import times;
(*) V-Ray: Improved VRayScene importing times;
(*) VRayALSurfaceMtl: Implemented bump shadowing;
(*) Cryptomatte: Disabled cryptomatte in IPR;
(*) VRayLightDome: Dome lights are now adaptive by default;
(*) V-Ray: Set the default dynamic memory limit to 0;
(*) Cryptomatte: Set the default Cryptomatte mode to "Node name with hierarchy";
(*) VRayMtl: Enabled affect shadows by default;
(*) V-Ray IPR: AI denoiser will be used for IPR by default;
(*) V-Ray: Changed the default values of the Progressive Sampler;
(*) V-Ray: Removed the "Use legacy materials" option;
(*) VRayStereoscopic: Removed the Shade Map for Stereoscopy options;
(*) V-Ray: Added an option to save color corrections to raw .exr and .vrimg files;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Added the RTX value for the -rtEngine flag for V-Ray Standalone;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Added support for efficiently instancing hair on GPU;
(*) V-Ray GPU: The Gaussian AA filter now available when GPU is the renderer;
(*) V-Ray: Added "vray gpuDeviceSelect" command;
(*) V-Ray GPU: "DR Bucket" render element for V-Ray GPU;
(*) VRayExtraTex: Added an option to disable lossy DWAA/DWAB compression for a render element;
(*) VRaySamplerInfo: The render element should always be saved with lossless compression;
(*) V-Ray: Added an API for custom c++ translators controlled by desc.txt;
(*) VFB: Moved the VFB test resolution functionality to the fly-out button instead of the right-click menu;
(*) V-Ray: The Hypershade Material Viewer will now use V-Ray GPU when GPU is the renderer;
(*) Chaos Cloud: Added support for smarter cloud client updates;
(*) Chaos Cloud: Added Cloud client application to V-Ray for Maya installation;
(*) V-Ray: Now checking the version of the installed Chaos License Server during installation;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Addeded support for explicit texture coordinates for the Texture sampler;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Do not load caches while the timeline changes during sequence vrscene export or render in Maya;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Added warning when importing VDB particle caches in Maya versions older than 2018;
(*) V-Ray: Multi-threaded execution of OpenEXR compression and decompression to improve performance;
(*) V-Ray: Updated Embree to v3.2.0;
(*) V-Ray: Updated OpenEXR to v2.3.0;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Improved user-defined shaders (GLSL, MDL etc.) compilation;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Optimized mesh transfers to multiple devices;
(*) V-Ray: Optimized rendering of Multi/Sub-Object material;
(*) VRayProxy: Improved errors logging;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Speed up loading of VDB caches by reading their min-max channel ranges from metadata instead of calculating them;
(*) VFB: Added "Save in image" option to OCIO color corrections, to save the corrected image;
(*) VFB: Added sliders for Lens effects' "Intensity" and "Threshold" parameters;
(*) VFB: Read the saved window position only for the initial render and use the last valid position afterwards;
(*) VFB: UI improvements for the VFB Lens Effects panel;
(*) V-Ray: Set AlSurface SSS weight max value in the UI at 1;
(*) V-Ray: Transfer color VFB corrections for Chaos Cloud;

[yolov]

Bug fixes:
(*) V-Ray: Fixed compositing results don't match with matte reflections if "Consistent lighting elements" is enabled;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed Matte reflections not rendering with consistent render elements;
(*) VRayHairNextMtl: Fixed artifacts in raw render elements with Consistent lighting elements;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed zDepth render element infinity color;
(*) VRayProxy: Very slow loading of VRayMesh visibility lists;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed deleting instances in IPR crashes Maya in some cases;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed Negatively scaled objects exported to proxy with flipped normals;
(*) VRayALSurfaceMtl: Fixed SSS not being computed for materials seen through glossy refraction;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Fixed stochastic flakes not visible through glossy refraction;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed wrong gamma of the colorCorrect lookdev kit node;
(*) Python: Fixed Python post translate not working for certain lists;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed Standalone VFB not auto resizing depending on resolution;
(*) V-Ray: V-Ray should not append "_tmp" to the filename when exporting for the cloud;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed V-Ray Standalone Error [createPathImpl] Empty string argument with -imgfile=<filename>;
(*) V-Ray IPR: Fixed Isolate selecting a texture in IPR not respecting the placement;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed RawReflection RE for AlSurface rendering black if the Reflection RE is not present;
(*) VRayProxy: Fixed wrong UV interpolations in imported .abc hair/fur (via VRayProxy) when Tessellate hair is active;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed random crash after rendering a sequence with V-Ray GPU in Maya;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed different motion blur between proxy and referenced scene;
(*) VRayScene: Fixed preview for instanced vrscenes;
(*) VRayProxy: Fixed slow proxy export in Batch mode with specific scenes;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed Maya fluid texture rendering non-deterministically with GI;
(*) VRayProxy: Fixed Proxy visibility lists not loading in specific scenes;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed Test resolution disabling resumable rendering in batch mode;
(*) VRayCarPaintMtl: Fixed car paint material rendering non-deterministically;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed Material nodes defined in desc.txt wrongly exported as volume shaders;
(*) VRayScene: Fixed crash when importing scene with many particles;
(*) Python: Fixed fatal error with post translate print node settings;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed overscan for rendered deep EXR images not exported corectly;
(*) VRayToonMtl: Fixed incorrect toon mtl contribution in light cache;
(*) V-Ray IPR: Fixed disconnecting image planes not detected in IPR;
(*) V-Ray: Deleting displaced geometries crashes maya;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed EXR metadata camera name is <unknown>;
(*) VRayProxy: Fixed Proxy with -noMaterial option not rendered;
(*) Material importer: Fixed BRDFVRayMtl not imported from file as VRayMtl;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed float list in TexRemap '_value' parameters preventing GeomDisplacedMesh from functioning properly;
(*) V-Ray IPR: Fixed adding renderable curves to a spline does not refreshing while IPR is running;
(*) Material importer: Fixed SamplerInfo Extra V-Ray attributes not importing by the material importer;
(*) Material importer: Material importer now remembers the correct path to open when browsing;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed missing metadata from multichannel EXR when rendering in batch mode;
(*) VRayEnvironmentFog: Fixed Environment Fog not respecting sets in "Add to shape lights" light mode;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed IPR on multi GPU stoping with CUDA_ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE;
(*) V-Ray GPU/VRayAlSurface: Fixed VRayAlSurface with rounded edges rendering wrong on the GPU;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed brighter rendering during adaptive light v2 gathering phase;
(*) VRayDomeLight: Fixed artifacts when using Adaptive dome light and VRayFur with VRayMtl on it;
(*) VRayDomeLight: Fixed artifacts with Adaptive dome and VRayToon;
(*) VRayDomeLight: Fixed artifacts with Adaptive dome light with "affect reflections" disabled;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed matte objects not present in the alpha channel when rendered through refractive objects;
(*) VRayDomeLight: Fixed using camera clipping planes makes the dome light invisible;
(*) V-Ray IPR: Fixed debug Shading's Isolate Selected mode not working correctly for objects with opacity;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed artifacts when using Metalness with Glossy Fresnel;
(*) V-Ray GPU/VRayDomeLight: Fixed artifacts with Adaptive dome when objects are excluded from shadow casting in the light;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed artifacts with VRayALSurface and Adaptive lights v2;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed bounding box artifacts when rendering a VRayVolumeGrid;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed crash with hidden faces on subdivided geometry;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed crash during render with volumetrics;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed crash on stop during Light cache phase;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed crash when cancelling the render for scene with lights include/exclude lists;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed crash when using VRayClipper on an object with material containing VRayCurvature;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed defocusAmount denoise element not generated with standard cameras;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed Gaussian image filter not matching the CPU one;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed hidden edges of VRayEdgesTex always on with VRayProxy;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed hidden faces being rendered during Light cache preview, creating wrong lighting;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed Light cache not working with DOF and perspective camera;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed nested refractive volumes rendering wrong;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Optimized distance texture for geometry heavy scenes;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed random crash with tiled bitmaps;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed unhandled exception when baking texture of a mesh with degenerate UVs;
(*) V-Ray GPU: Fixed VRayVolumeGrid are not rendering correctly in normals render element;
(*) VRayHairNextMtl: Diffuse component should go in it's respective render elements;
(*) VRayLightRect: Fixed different specular reflections when rendering directional disc light;
(*) VRayOSL: Crash in microfacet("ggx") when roughness is greater than 0.0;
(*) VRayOverrideMtl: Fixed vignetting along concave edges with Light cache and many lights;
(*) ZDepthRE: Refractive objects are white regardless of the Affect channels value with V-Ray GPU;
(*) VFB: Fixed certain integer render elements are not displayed when loading EXR files;
(*) VFB: Fixed the scrollbar in the Color Corrections window hiding some of the text;
(*) VFB: Fixed UI not responsive with ICC color correction during IPR with V-Ray GPU;

[Karol.Osinski]

Thank you so much Chaos Group!! Bercon Noise is huge for me! I also really hope that all the artifacts which AdaptiveDomeLight produces from time to time will dissapear for good. I am curious about the GaussianFilter - is it only available for the gpu engine?

[yolov]

The Gaussian filter is available for all engines (CPU and GPU). What is new is that it is now an available option for the GPU, while it has been around for the CPU for many years.

[flat]

I read the following article:
https://gizmodo.com/apple-and-nvidia...ver-1840015246

V-Ray Next Maya doesn't support CUDA / RTX on Mac OS, right?

[yolov]

Yes, just like with Next and Next Update 1, Mac support for CUDA is disabled and only available when using an e variable and the CPU as a CUDA device. Distributed rendering from Mac to windows/Linux where CUDA runs is still an option. Here is more information: https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...wareandDrivers

[Karol.Osinski]

The Gaussian filter is available for all engines (CPU and GPU). What is new is that it is now an available option for the GPU, while it has been around for the CPU for many years.

Ahhh silly me, I just barely use it and totally forget about its existence in the cpu engine. Thanks!