V-Ray 7 for Rhino is now available!

[konstantin_chaos]

V-Ray 7 for Rhino is now available!

It can be download here:
download.chaos.com

After installation, you will find more detailed info about the changes in the 'VRayForRhinoReleaseNotes' file:
%PROGRAMFILES%\Chaos\V-Ray\V-Ray for Rhinoceros\VRayForRhinoReleaseNotes.html

Regards,
Konstantin

[konstantin_chaos]

Gaussian splats

• Gaussian splats rendering - Seamlessly integrate the new 3D Gaussian Splats technology for photorealistic scene backgrounds (import .ply via the Proxy Import button and menu)

Material override improvements

• Partial material override options - Preserve bump, refraction and other key properties of the original material while overriding
• Override presets - Pick a stylized rendering preset for fast iterations over schematic render styles
• Split refractive option - Override refractive materials independently

VFB / Image post-processing

• Polygon render region - Select one or multiple custom-shaped regions for re-rendering
• Color correction presets / Filters - Select from the new color correction filters library included in V-Ray 7 to quickly boost the visual appearance of your render
• Saving layer directories - Layer directories can now be saved in a proprietary file format and applied to any existing composition
• Vignetting layer - Easily add highly customizable vignette VFB layer
• Stop Rendering button - Use the new Stop button to interrupt the rendering process while preserving post effects, such as the denoised result
• Updated curves - Easily add curve points and toggle between the Composition and Color grading themes of the curve layer editor

Scatter

• Edge trimming - Enabling this feature ensures that parts of the scattered instances which naturally spill outside of the boundaries of the base/host surface are clipped away procedurally
• Camera clipping - Limit the scattered instances to the view of the camera. This option should be avoided when the clipping becomes visible in reflections or thanks to refraction

Shading improvements

• Layered texture - Composite multiple textures with a powerful new layering system, similar to the one in Photoshop
• Falloff built-in mix curve - Apply a custom remap curve to the falloff transition without the need of creating complex shaders
• Texture-based remapping of a gradient - Procedurally colorize a grayscale texture based on gradient map values
• Textured gradient - Input textures can now be connected to the Gradient points / positions

Cosmos assets

• Non-destructive material override - Override individual Cosmos asset materials while keeping the asset’s connection to Cosmos
• Cosmos asset variations - Select between a number of predefined asset variants, which are now available for specific Cosmos assets.
• Luminaires - Render complex light fixtures in an optimal way

V-Ray GPU

• Optimized time to first pixel - A number of internal optimizations ensure that the scene preparation process executed before the first pixels are rendered is faster than ever
• GPU Caustics - V-Ray 7 comes with a new Caustics implementation based on photon mapping, written from scratch to fit the GPU hardware, and to be as fast as possible
• Recommended CUDA engine - CUDA is now the default and recommended GPU engine. The GPU engine can still be changed in the advanced settings
• The On-demand Mipmapping Textures Mode is removed from the UI. Projects using it are migrated to the Full-size Textures option

New sky model

• New PRG Sky model - Create more realistic lighting scenarios with the improved PRG sky model. The new model can render the sky with sun positions slightly below the horizon, creating beautiful sunsets. You can now also render the sky at different observer altitudes up to several kilometers

Rendering

• Automatic denoising - Denoising is now enabled by default in new projects. There is an automatic switch between the denoising engine used during interactive rendering and the one used for production
• Firefly removal - An optimization feature that takes care of a common rendering artifact known as fireflies

Distributed rendering

• Swarm 2 - An updated distributed rendering management system

Cloud / Collaboration:

• Interactive virtual tours - Automatic hotspots generation is now possible when using images uploaded from the VFB

Render elements

• Emissive materials light mixing - Light mix can be utilized for all emissive scene materials. Enable the new Separate Emissive Materials option in the Light Mix element to take advantage of this new workflow
• Multiple Cryptomattes - Add multiple Crypromatte render elements to the project, each one with its unique configuration
• Group Instances is the new default Light Mix render element mode

[konstantin_chaos]

Integration

• The performance of the vrscene importer is improved
• The V-Ray Object Modifiers user interface in Rhino’s properties panel is updated
• Support for Archvision and Laubwerk meshes is added
• All files and references to the legacy built-in Material Library are now removed
• The Single File Output option now works as expected when animations are rendered
• Current and named view modifications are now correctly updated during a Vantage live link session
• The handling of the native Rhino decals is improved. The decal projection is now visible on both native and special objects like Proxy Mesh, Fur, Clipper,etc.
• An issue causing the Render Region to be mispositioned after changing render output resolution is resolved
• Support for the native Physically Based material's Alpha transparency option is added
• Orphaned materials and textures from vrscene files imported via the V-Ray Scene Importer are now skipped
• Unique option is resolved
• An issue preventing the V-Ray Scene Import of Proxy Meshes is resolved
• An issue causing Cosmos to become unusable after dragging and dropping Cosmos assets into the Rhino viewport is resolved
• An issue with the vrayRenderWindow command is fixed
• The Proxy Meshes preview generation on scene load is optimized leading to projects opening faster
• An issue causing a crash when performing Make Unique for a large number of V-Ray asset instances is resolved
• Added support for Rhino 8 layers’ Model On option
• The Intel Open Image Denoiser is updated to version 2.0
• Changing the Render Quality preset using a script is now possible
• An issue with the Reset VFB State function is resolved
• The Render Engine can now be specified via script
• The minimum required Rhino 8 version is now 8.4
• Rhino 6 is no longer supported
• V-Ray Vision is labeled as deprecated
• An issue causing a black screen for a few minutes after loading a scene with Scatter when the scatter preview is enabled, is resolved
• An issue causing VFB Undo and Redo to not work properly when using a Background layer is resolved
• An issue preventing saving output images from Batch render when the Named view name contains a dot is resolved
• An issue causing Scatter to not render if another Scatter is selected as a guest is resolved
• An issue causing an incorrect Scatter preview when assigning Scatter via the Rhino properties panel is resolved
• An issue preventing the hiding of Cosmos asset lights when the asset is hidden is resolved
• An issue causing Cosmos assets' lights to be missing from Scatter is resolved
• An issue causing bitmaps connected to a Falloff texture in a Cosmos material to be missing after importing is resolved
• An issue causing Vision to start with a wrong view or wrong perspective projection is resolved
• An issue with snapshots batch rendering is resolved
• An issue with batch rendering of animated vrscene files is resolved
• An issue preventing the creation of more than 10 separate V-Ray assets when using the Make
• An issue with the Scatter preview when assigning Scatter from the Rhino properties panel is resolved
• An issue preventing Proxy Meshes from being imported correctly by the V-Ray Scene Importer is resolved
• An issue with the vrayRenderWindow command is fixed
• Opening a new file now closes and resets the VFB window
• An issue preventing the installer's Remote licensing fields from accepting the ‘x’ and ‘2’ characters is resolved
• An issue preventing Scatter from working when the host object is in a Block is resolved
• An issue causing a crash when performing Make Unique for a large number of V-Ray object instances is resolved

Grasshopper

• Edge Trimming option added to the Surface Scattering component
• An issue causing V-Ray Live Link component in Grasshopper to stop working after changing V-Ray Settings is resolved
• Grasshopper IES lights are now placed with the help of a Base Plane instead of Position and Target
• Added support for the native Grasshopper Material components
• The Interactive Rendering workflow in Grasshopper is updated. Interactive rendering can now be started from the context menu
• V-Ray Swarm component implemented. To use distributed rendering connect the Swarm component's output to the Swarm input of a V-Ray Render component
• An issue with the V-Ray Live Link component in Grasshopper is resolved
• An issue with the Camera component’s ‘Look Through Camera’ function is resolved

[konstantin_chaos]

Other Improvements & Bug Fixes

• The Simple Mix, Mix (Value), Mix (Operator) and Mix (Map) textures can no longer be created via the menu. Use the new Layered Texture instead. Note that mix maps in existing projects remain fully functional
• The Irradiance Map GI engine is marked as deprecated
• The Allow Interactive LC option is no longer visible in the UI and is always enabled
• The Blue Noise Sampling option is no longer visible in the UI and is always enabled
• Auto Denoiser mode, which switches the Denoiser engine depending on the render mode is implemented. Navigate to the advanced Denoising settings to change the default engine selection
• The RTX option is removed from the main engine selector and replaced with a legacy checkbox
• Personalized Telemetry toggle added to the Telemetry configuration options
• The button that applies automatic exposure and white balance values to the project is now correctly disabled when no applicable values are available
• The file name is now automatically used as an asset name when creating Proxy Mesh, Proxy Scene, and Gaussian Splat assets from the Asset Editor
• Remove from Selection is added to the context menu of all object modifiers like Fur, Scatter, Displacement, Clipper, Mesh Light and Enmesh improving selection workflows
• The Subpixel Clamp option is removed from the Color Management settings since it no longer has any effect
• A new Separate Emissive Materials option is added to the Light Mix render element. When enabled, emissive materials appear in the VFB LightMix controls alongside scene lights for greater lighting flexibility
• An issue causing the Asset Editor to become blank when quickly switching between assets or opening new projects is resolved
• Context menus in the Asset Editor no longer remains open after switching focus to the host app viewport
• A loader is now displayed while the GPU material swatch preview is preparing to start avoiding confusion
• An issue causing curve editing to accidentally collapse or expand UI rollouts is resolved
• An issue causing incorrect texture preview after setting the Texture Placement Type to Environment is resolved
• An issue causing the Cosmos cookie consent window to appear repeatedly when clicking the Reload or Home buttons is fixed
• An issue causing an error when closing a project during interactive rendering is resolved
• An issue preventing the Chaos Cosmos window from opening on systems with specific displays is resolved
• An error message no longer appears when changing the Chaos Cosmos Browser proxy settings
• A warning message is added to notify users that Swarm is unavailable when it is not installed
• An issue causing discrepancy when automatic exposure values are applied is resolved
• The Asset Editor no longer hangs when importing specific Cosmos materials
• An issue causing Cosmos to become unusable when attempting to drag and drop Cosmos assets into the host application's viewport is resolved
• An error no longer occurs when quickly changing the rendering engine for the Preview Swatch followed by a quick change of a material property
• An error no longer appears in specific situations when canceling and resubmitting Cloud jobs
• A new Texture Placement type called Texture Remapping is implemented
• Scatter's Random Translation input value limits are updated

[konstantin_chaos]

Known issues and limitations

• Manually changing the "Max Subdivs" quality value while the GPU engine is selected causes a doubling of the value.
• V-Ray GPU: The bump amount of a material is ignored if an additional "Round Edges" effect is applied to the same shader.
• Swarm rendering requires an Origin node to be manually selected by running an executable script that configures the set machine.

We’re aware of these limitations and are actively working to address them.
Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated as we continue to improve.