V-Ray 6 for SketchUp is now available!

[konstantin_chaos]

V-Ray 6 for SketchUp is now available!

It can be downloaded here:
download.chaos.com

After installation, you will find more detailed info about the changes in the 'VRayForSketchUpReleaseNotes' file:
Windows: %PROGRAMFILES%\Chaos Group\V-Ray\V-Ray for SketchUp\extension\
macOS: /Applications/ChaosGroup/V-Ray/V-Ray\ for\ SketchUp/extension/

Regards,
Konstantin

[konstantin_chaos]

Enscape Compatibility

• Enscape compatibility. Scenes set up using Enscape will now render in V-Ray. Materials, lights and even the Enscape assets will be automatically handled by V-Ray providing a great starting point when transitioning from the Enscape design stage to the high-end visualization in V-Ray
• A global Enscape Compatibility toggle is implemented. It disables the special handling for Enscape materials, assets and lights
• * Note that Enscape assets provided by 3D PEOPLE are currently not supported

Rendering

• Resumable Rendering implemented. Incomplete renders can now be resumed where they left off from the previous session. Ensure that an output image path is specified to take advantage of the feature
• The interactive rendering workflow is updated. The Interactive UI toggle is removed and the production render settings remain visible at all times. Interactive rendering is enabled by using the Render Interactive button on the toolbar, the one in the asset editor or in the VFB
• Interactive Parameters rollout added to the Advanced Settings/Render Parameters section. A few parameters specific to interactive rendering can be changed there. One example is the Interactivity slider, another the toggle for Interactive Light Cache
• Interactive Light cache implemented. Toggle the 'Advanced Settings/Interactive Parameters/Allow Interactive LC' option and ensure that Light Cache is selected as a secondary GI engine to use it. When enabled the Automatic Exposure, Automatic White Balance and Adaptive Lights features will work in interactive sessions
• All rendering-related icons on the toolbar and in the Asset Editor are updated

Unified Login

• Chaos Unified Login implemented. This is a system that ensures a single Chaos login enables all Chaos products, services and product features that require authentication

Cloud Collaboration

• Chaos Cloud Collaboration implemented. This is an image-sharing platform available for free for all V-Ray users. Use the shortcuts in the VFB for a quick image upload. Note that the platform is still in beta

Cosmos

• Cosmos is updated to its latest version
• Cosmos is the new central and only remote assets provider. The legacy remote contents downloader is deprecated and is no longer part of V-Ray
• Material Library in Cosmos. The built-in V-Ray material library is no longer available in the Asset Editor. Use Cosmos to browse and import preset materials in your project. Note that the vrmat library panel will remain as part of the Asset Editor mainly for managing custom asset libraries
• A shortcut that opens the V-Ray Material Library in Cosmos is now available in the left fly off pane of the Asset Editor. Select the default Materials entry to see it in the contents pane
• The logic used for importing Cosmos materials is improved in numerous ways to accommodate the new library workflow
• Light Gen environments from Cosmos. Light Gen no longer uses a proprietary system for downloading its HDR environments and instead gets the images from Cosmos. Note that saving and loading .lightset files is temporarily disabled
• Cosmos assets are now automatically selected after import
• The Cosmos browser is automatically reopened after an asset is placed in the project and the SketchUp tool is changed

Procedural Clouds

• Procedural clouds can now be enabled in the V-Ray Sky. Select the Sun Light in the project to change the clouds parameters
• Dynamic Clouds implemented. Enable the option in the sunlight parameters and the clouds will automatically move when the time of day changes. Use the Wind Speed, Direction as well as the Phase Velocity parameters to control the movement

Enmesh

• V-Ray Enmesh Implemented. Apply the Enmesh modifier to an object and then pick an item to cover the object’s surface forming a 3D pattern. Note that the base object's UV texture coordinates determine the items positioning

Asset Tagging

• A new Tags system used for grouping the scene assets in the Asset Editor is implemented. Use the tags to organize and work more efficiently in complex projects
• Tag entry added to the assets context menu in the Outliner. Use it to create new tags, change the asset’s tag assignment or add multiple assets to a tag all at once
• Tag assignment via a drag and drop of an asset is implemented. Note that only a single asset can be added to a tag this way

Camera Clipping

• Camera Clipping options added to the Advanced Camera Parameters rollout. Use the feature to clip nearby objects in tight spaces

Material and Texture Improvements

• Distance Texture implemented. The texture outputs color values based on object proximity and can be utilized for restricting Fur generation or even be used as a displacement map
• Dirt texture Exclude and Affected By options implemented. Exclude objects from the dirt effect or make sure they are ignored when calculating the proximity
• GTR energy compensation is enabled for all V-Ray Materials. The option ensures more accurate reflection values for most blurry reflective materials using the Microfacet GTR (GGX) BRDF model
• Thin Film parameters added to the V-Ray Material. Toggle the advanced parameters to see the Thin Film rollout
• Car Paint 2 material implemented. It replaces the legacy Car Paint in the UI and comes with an improved flakes and coating layers
• The rendered appearance as well as the UI of V-Ray Materials using the SSS Translucency are improved
• The Bitmap texture’s parameter previously known as Color Space is now correctly renamed to Transfer Function. It determines the gamma correction curve applied to the bitmap
• Automatic Transfer Function mode added to the Bitmap texture. It automatically determines the color transfer function. If a bitmap file name contains the suffix ‘_srgb’ the transfer function is sRGB. If a bitmap file name contains the suffixes‘_lin_srgb’ or ‘raw’, no correction is applied. For bitmap files with 8 bits per color component and 3 or 4 color components (like png, jpg and other), the transfer function is set to sRGB. In all other cases, no correction is applied
• Mix Amount parameter is added to the Mix (Operator) texture. It specifies the degree to which the two input textures are blended
• The slider precision for the Reflection Glossiness ,Metalness and refraction Glossiness parameters of the VRay Mtl is increased
• Local Space Bump mode is added to all materials that support bump mapping. Enable it to measure bump amount in local texture space instead of in world units. This mode was previously called Bump Texture Channel and should be selected when an Edges texture is applied for a Round Edges effect
• Special handling for rotated normal maps is implemented. Normal maps rotated manually or by the UVW Placement randomization feature no longer render inverted
• The upper limit of the Intensity parameter of Emissive materials is removed

[konstantin_chaos]

Color Management

• ACEScg color space management implemented. Select the ACEScg RGB Primaries in the color management settings to ensure that V-Ray is rendering in the new color space. Most standard RGB bitmap textures should use the sRGB Primaries option in this workflow
• ACEScg color space support is added to the Color Picker

Finite Dome Light

• Finite Dome parameters added to the Dome light source. It limits the size of the Dome shape and introduces a ground projection that can be adjusted using the Projection Height and Ground Blend parameters

Assets Preview Swatch

• Live preview for Decals implemented
• Sphere swatch preview scene added for material assets. The preview is similar to the one used in Cosmos
• The automatic texture resize is disabled for the GPU asset preview. The material swatch no longer lacks details and appears blurry
• The Environment textures’ preview no longer appears incorrect when the GPU mode is enabled
• The V-Ray typography of the Generic material preview is updated to match the current company branding

VFB

• Panorama viewer implemented. Use the Panorama View toggle in the View menu to enable the new mode. Looking around in this view is done by holding the middle mouse button and moving the mouse. The field of view can be altered by scrolling
• Proportion Guides layer implemented to help you with the frame composition
• Batch image processing implemented. Use it to apply corrections to a set of pre-rendered images
• Flip buttons implemented. Use the quick flip feature to have a fresh eye on the image composition and verify it works in all settings
• Dither colors option implemented in the VFB settings / Render View rollout. Make sure it is enabled to avoid banding with low-contrast gradients
• The VFB configuration including the History state and folder location is preserved between installations
• The Exposure (display only) slider part of the Display Correction’s layer parameters no longer affects images saved from the VFB

V-Ray GPU

• Improved performance and reliability
• Added support for the Lighting Analysis render element
• Improved trace depth limit handling
• Improved round edges rendering quality
• The global trace depth logic used by the GPU engine now matches the one used in Production CPU rendering. Enabling the Render Parameters/Optimizations/Max Trace Depth checkbox ensures that the value specified overrides all corresponding max depth settings in the materials
• The standalone GPU Device Selection tool is updated. The new user interface allows specific devices to be selected for Denoising (should be considered when NVIDIA AI denoising is used). This can help boost rendering performance on systems with more than one GPU
• An issue preventing spotlights from being scatter by the Environment Fog is resolved

Integration

• Materials created in SketchUp are by default no longer treated as full-featured V-Ray materials. They are listed as Host Materials in the asset editor and can be promoted to V-Ray shaders at any point. This is done to help with scene organization and navigation as well as with the new Enscape compatibility
• Optimized animation export. Exporting SketchUp animations for rendering is now more than 10 times faster. In order to achieve this we re-implemented the frame interpolation logic that SU uses when evaluating camera or sun animations, on the V-Ray side
• The V-Ray scene importer is updated and can now import any V-Ray shader. ‘Unsupported’ shading nodes use an auto-generated UI allowing them to remain editable. Note that this feature is still in an experimental stage
• Multiple geometry modifiers can now be applied to the same scene object. Fur and Scatter, for example, can now be combined
• The VFB configuration is now kept between installations. The history folder location now persists between installations. The Reset action (V-Ray/Preferences/Reset Frame Buffer) can be performed manually when required
• An issue causing the VFB window to sink below SketchUp in specific situations is resolved
• Changing the selection of GPU devices used for rendering or denoising via the GPU Device Selection tool no longer causes various issues and crashes
• An issue causing a crash when starting a render after a scene wipe is resolved
• SketchUp no longer crashes after picking focus point and then opening the Asset Editor for the first time
• SketchUp materials with textured transparency are now rendered correctly even before converted to V-Ray materials
• A number of issues related to the VPR region are resolved
• The GPU Device Selection, V-Ray Denoiser and VRMesh Viewer standalone tools can now be started from the V-Ray menu. They are located in the V-Ray/Tools/External submenu
• The ‘Always face camera’ SketchUp components optionis now supported during animations
• The V-Ray menu is reorganized, some of the submenu and item labels are updated
• A warning regarding the fact that the bitmap aperture texture is black no longer appears when GPU rendering is initiated in projects where Depth of Field is used
• The minimum SketchUp version requirement is bumped to SketchUp 2019. SketchUp 2017 and SketchUp 2018 are no longer supported

[konstantin_chaos]

Vision

• A new system for evaluating V-Ray textures is implemented. Most of V-Ray’s procedural textures and texture corrections are now supported in Vision. This is achieved through ‘baking’ which leaves raytraced or camera-based procedural maps still unsupported (Dirt, Falloff, Distance, Edges, etc.)
• Measurement tool implemented. Use the toolbar button or the Z key to enable the tool, then select the two points to measure the distance between them
• Depth of field support added. Change the DOF settings in V-Ray to see an effect in Vision. Note that the defocus amount is limited in Vision
• The Orbit navigation mode hotkeys now match the ones in the host application
• A new handling for materials opacity is implemented. Visual artifacts no longer appear when multiple transparent objects overlap in the frame
• The V-Ray Infinite Plane is now supported in Vision. Note that in Vision the plane still has a finite size but will automatically resize based on the scene bounding box
• The overall stability and reliability of Vision is improved
• The parameters in the Settings panel are now organized in rollouts
• Hours can now be displayed in the timeline end label
• An issue preventing Vision from working on macOS is resolved
• The default range of the Ambient Light Intensity slider is increased to 200
• The active camera FOV (Field of View) is taken into consideration when calculating the mouse sensitivity. This improves the Vision navigation in specific situations
• Vision settings are now organized in rolluts that can be collapsed or expanded depending on the situation
• Tri-Planar textures using a plane color instead of a texture now work correctly in Vision
• Added support for the Self-illumination parameters of the VRay Mtl
• Parallax Displacement mapping implemented. Make sure that a displacement is set up in V-Ray to see the effect
• The V-Ray Decal is now supported in Vision
• Navigation shortcut keymaps implemented. The one matching the host application (SketchUp or Rhino) is automatically selected
• Bitmap texture’s Automatic Transfer Function support added. The transfer function selection in Vision matches the one in V-Ray
• Flipping face normals in the host application no longer leads to incorrect texture placement in Vision
• An issues caused by materials with similar names (same name but a different number suffix) is resolved
• The Output image File path can now be typed manually
• Deleting a Mesh Light no longer requires a live link restart to take effect
• Creating a Group or Component in SketchUp during a live session no longer misplaces the object in Vision
• Vision no longer hangs when a Cosmos asset is merged during a live session
• Grass strands (V-Ray Fur with ‘grass’ in its name) no longer get misplaced during a live session
• There is no longer a dark or bright circle artifact under the camera when the high quality shadows are enabled
• The Ctrl + O shortcut can once again be used for opening .vrscene files
• A number of issues affecting the fly navigation mode are resolved
• UI mouse and key interactions no longer affect the view
• A fly speed exceeding 200 can now be set
• The A and D fly navigation keys no longer unintentionally change UI slider values
• CarPaint2 material support added
• Cosmos asset no longer disappears if a merged version of the same asset exists
• The trunk material of the American Beech 002 Cosmos asset is no longer rendered black
• Support for Dome lights using a plain color instead of a texture is added
• A number of issues with textures instanced in multiple materials are resolved

Other Improvements & Bug Fixes

• A number of issues related to the duplication of materials and textures in the Asset Editor are resolved
• the Refraction fog color Depth value can now be reset
• The warning that indicates that the Cryptomatte render element does not work in all rendering modes is removed since this limitation no longer exists
• A number of parameter labels and tooltips are updated to better indicate what the parameter does
• Applying Light Mix IES light edits to the scene now correctly enables the intensity override checkbox and sets the target intensity value
• The global Environment Texture no longer reappears after being deleted and the project reopened
• The VFB history images no longer appear twice when the 'Use project path' option is enabled
• A number of issues related to the .vrscene to .skp importer are resolved. The open File mode now works as expected
• An issue causing Proxy Meshes to take a long time to load and render unless the global displacement switch is disabled, is resolved
• Importing a .vropt settings file using the Ruby API no longer causes SketchUp to temporarily lose responsiveness nor does it create a duplicate Sun
• Using identical material names, that differ only in letter capitalization, no longer causes a synchronization issue between V-Ray and SketchUp
• A number of issues causing SketchUp to hangs on startup, on scene activation or when a first render is initiated are resolved
• macOS: The Cap CPU Utilization toggle is no longer missing
• macOS: An issue with the viewport render regions is resolved
• macOS: An issue causing a bug splat after closing Vision and then SketchUp is resolved
• macOS: Rendering a scene with an OSL plugins present on a M1 machine no longer leads to a crash