V-Ray Next stable nightly build available - 20200206

[konstantin_chaos]

Hi guys,

There is a new Stable nightly build of V-Ray Next for SketchUp available.
The nightlies download page can now be accessed by anyone with chaosgroup.com account.

Here's a link to the latest build:
V-Ray Next for SketchUp, stable 20200206

Note that it's not recommended to use the nightly builds in production.
They are for test purposes only.
Scenes setup with the nightly build might not behave the same way when loaded in the final official build.

Regards,
Konstantin

[konstantin_chaos]

Installation & Licensing

• V-Ray AppSDK updated to version 4.3
• V-Ray for SketchUp, the Chaos License Server, V-Ray Swarm and the Chaos Cloud client app are now installed in a single step. Configuring each sub-installer individually is still an option
• Chaos License Server updated to version 5.4.0

Workflow Improvements

• RTX support implemented. The engine selector now presents three options - CPU, CUDA and RTX. The image results produced by the new engine are identical to the ones rendered in CUDA mode (previously called GPU). No scene adjustments are required. Going back and forth between the two engines will only modify what devices are used, so there’s minimal effort to compare the two to see which works best for your scene. The new engine takes advantage of the RT Cores (dedicated to ray-tracing calculations) of the new NVIDIA RTX cards which leads to an an average speedup of 40%
• The support of native material color corrections in SketchUp is improved. Make sure that the ‘Extensions / V-Ray / Tools / Colorize Textures’ option is enabled for the color corrections to be rendered. The option is no longer considered ‘Experimental’
• Partial Proxy Scene export implemented. Export only the selected objects as a vrscene file containing geometry and the applied materials. Lights and V-Ray objects, such as Fur, can also be included
• A set of material slots is automatically generated as part of every Proxy Mesh asset. Use the slots to assign materials to the Proxy without having to rely on using a Multi Material
• Proxy Mesh assets using the new built-in material system (described in the previous point) now automatically store the materials when saved to the library (or exported as vrmat files)
• Automatically calculated exposure and white balance values can now be applied to the scene camera. Use the Auto Values controls to get the most recent results and apply them to the camera.
• The Advanced Camera / Bokeh parameters have been updated and made more user friendly. The additional parameters are no longer grayed out when the Blades option is disabled
• SpotLight's Cone and Penumbra angle sliders’ min and max values are now correct
• The UI of the Configuration settings section is improved
• Right-clicking on any color or number input field now provides the option reset them to their default value
• A new option allowing control of the color space of all color sliders is available in the Asset Editor’s Configuration settings roll-out
• Implemented material attribute icons for easier recognition
• Modifications done to the SketchUp model hierarchy are now handled in a better way by the V-Ray Fur, Clipper and Mesh Light components
• Tri-Planar Projection texture placement mode added to the VRScan material. It works similarly to the Triplanar texture and removes the need for UV mapping of the shaded objects
• VFB window no longer appears upon vrscene export

Theme

• A new Bright color theme can now change the appearance of the Asset Editor, File Path Editor, Color Picker and the Progress Log windows. The UI Color Theme selector is located in the Configuration settings roll-out. The theme selection persists between sessions. Note that it does not affect the V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB)

Color Assistant

• Color Assistant extension added to the V-Ray Color Picker. It presents hue, saturation and value variations of the current color to help you pick the exact color you’re after. Adjust the range values for more subtle or more pronounced variation

Materials

• Some common material settings have been redesigned as Attributes. Attributes are sets of options that can now be created or removed for each material. An ‘Add Attribute’ button is added next to the ‘Add Layer’ one below the material preview. The list of attributes includes - Translucency (Two Sided), Bump, Displacement, Raytrace Properties, Override and Material ID. New materials are created lean with the option for other attributes to be added later. This way the scene shaders are optimal for both management and rendering
• The new Translucency attribute can be used instead of the Two Sided material keeping the shader structure simple. This also simplifies material/textures size management when dealing with translucency
• The Generic material layer names are improved. The V-Ray BRDF is renamed to VRay Mtl, Metallic - VRay PBR, Diffuse - Diffuse Coat, Reflection - Reflective Coat, etc. The Refraction layer is removed. Use the VRay Mtl instead.
• There is a unique icon for each material layer. This is useful visual indication for the layer type in case the layer name is changed
• Scene materials with a single layer now use optimized underlying structure. This can improve rendering performance even in existing scenes

Other Changes & Bug Fixes

• Instance face deletion no longer requires multiple Undo commands to get undone
• The ‘Camera Vertical Tilt’ option is renamed to ‘Vertical Lens Tilt’
• Uninstalling V-Ray no longer leaves some files behind
• Initiating a render multiple times in quick succession no longer makes the V-Ray UI unresponsive
• A number of issue related to Proxy Meshes are resolved
• Importing or creating V-Ray specific geometries now updates correctly during interactive rendering
• Enabling the global Lights switch now correctly provokes an interactive rendering update
• Toggling Safe Frame on and off during Viewport rendering (VPR) no longer stretches the output image
• Batch renderer now behaves correctly even when the Scene Transition time is set to 0
• A number of texture colorization issues are resolved. Using the option (Colorize Textures) on Mac OS in GPU mode no longer leads to a crash
• The ‘Export’ button of the Export Proxy window is no longer disabled if the window is brought up for the first time during the session
• Exploding Components containing a Section Plane no longer generates a phantom asset
• Creating multiple materials in rapid succession no longer causes issues
• Toggling Safe Frame during interactive rendering after an aspect ratio change no longer distorts the image
• Activating V-Ray in a project for the first time no longer prevents undoing prior actions
• Trying to rename material layers using illegal characters now correctly cancels the operation, keeping the original layer name
• A number of issues related to 2D Texture Placement are resolved. Uneven U and V Repeat values combined with texture Rotation no longer skewes the texture
• Embree is now used for hair and motion blur rendering