V-Ray 6 for SketchUp, update 1 is now available!

[konstantin_chaos]

V-Ray 6 for SketchUp, update 1 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 (Chaos bridge)

• Added support for the new adjustable assets introduced in Enscape 3.5
• Some of Enscape’s visual settings can now be transferred to V-Ray. This helps with matching Enscape’s environment and illumination - Sunlight, Sky, and Camera exposure. The synchronization is done by manually performing the ‘Apply Enscape Settings’ action from the V-Ray / Tools menu
• Improved performance when loading and rendering Enscape assets in V-Ray
• An issue leading to incorrect transfer function of normal map textures in specific Enscape materials is resolved. This fixes many visual artifacts when rendering both Enscape materials and assets
• The conversion and rendering of emissive Enscape materials is improved
• An issue causing incorrect transparency of some Enscape assets is resolved
• Added support for Enscape’s Linked Models (.skp references)

Decal

• Decal ‘Auto Resize’ button is implemented. Clicking on the button shows a menu with three possible actions - Fit to Mask, Fit to Material and Fit to Bitmap. All three ensure that the Decal aspect ratio matches the one of the corresponding image file. Fit to Mask only works when there is a texture in the mask slot. Fit to Material finds the first eligible bitmap in the Decal’s material shader while Fit to Bitmap can set the aspect ratio based on any file from disk
• Decal Length lock toggle is implemented. It allows the aspect ratio between Width and Length to be preserved while resizing. The ratio lock is automatically disabled when the Width or Length value is set to 0
• Decal Displacement is implemented. For fine control over the displacement appearance and quality a Displacement modifier has to be added to the base geometry
• Decal Bump control is implemented. Disable the ‘Decal Bump Only’ option to use the base surface bump. Use the Amount slider to blend between the base and decal bump effects
• Decal Bend implemented. Materials can now be projected onto curved surfaces with the help of the new Bend parameter. This for example allows for stickers to be added to cylindrical objects like bottles
• Decal's default Normal Angle value is updated to 90 degrees
• Decal ‘Projection Offset’ parameter is implemented. It offsets the projection away or towards its target
• Decal’s mask can now be disabled by toggling the checkbox on the right of the map slot
• Decal's Height parameter is renamed to Depth. In addition the parameter’s tooltip is improved

Procedural clouds

• Contrails added to the procedural clouds. Select the Sun Light in the project to change the appearance of the contrails
• The procedural clouds are now, by default, visually similar to the ones in Enscape (when configured the same way). Legacy projects can be migrated by enabling the ‘Enscape Compatibility’ checkbox in the Clouds parameter section of the Sun. Note that once enabled the checkbox will disappear

Cosmos (Enmesh patterns)

• Enmesh patterns can now be browsed and imported from Cosmos. If a scene object is selected the pattern is automatically applied on import

VFB (V-Ray frame buffer)

• Masking for Lens Effects and Denoiser layers in the VFB is implemented. Use the standard masking workflow to utilize the feature
• A new Color transformation configuration is added to the Background layer in the VFB. Use it to apply a separate display correction to the Background layer
• Viewing stereo panorama images in the VFB using the Panorama View mode is now possible. Note that even though only the left-eye image is displayed in this mode, the stereo properties are preserved

V-Ray GPU

• Mesh Clipper support is added. Create complex section cuts fully renderable with both CUDA and the RTX (OptiX) engines
• Compressed Textures mode is implemented. When active all textures are loaded with compression to decrease their memory footprint without degrading their quality
• An issue leading to a crash when rendering specific Cosmos assets is resolved
• An issue causing a crash when rendering scenes with normal displacement and using CPU as a CUDA device is resolved

Installation

• The Chaos Cloud Client application is now always installed with V-Ray
• macOS: Minimum required macOS version bumped from Mojave (10.14) to Catalina (10.15)

Integration

• V-Ray Viewport Render overlay is implemented in SketchUp 2023. The legacy viewport rendering feature is no longer available in the main V-Ray toolbar and menu (only applies to SketchUp 2023). Start interactive rendering and activate the ‘V-Ray Viewport Render’ overlay to initiate viewport rendering. Note that the VFB can be closed at any point which does not interfere with the VPR. Note that the opacity of the overlay is dynamic and depends on the progressive quality of the rendered image. Use the new V-Ray / Preferences / Viewport Render Opacity configuration to change the maximum overlay opacity
• The notification that a Batch Rendering process is initiated without an output image path is restored
• An issue causing specific SketchUp library materials to be rendered incorrectly in the Asset Preview Swatch and during interactive rendering is fixed
• An issue causing material assignment problems related to a naming conflict to occur during interactive rendering is resolved
• An issue leading to incorrect view on the last frame of an animation is resolved
• An issue leading to a crash when merging a Cosmos Asset while the asset's geometry is selected is resolved
• macOS: Pasting a text in the VFB’s history notes using keyboard shortcuts no longer leads to a crash

SketchUp animations

• SketchUp section plane transitions are now supported when rendering animations. Currently only available on Windows
• The rotation of Always face camera components containing regular SketchUp objects is now supported when rendering animations
• Animation support for object and tag visibility states is added. Dynamically hide camera obstructions, such as roofs, floors or surrounding buildings during your flythrough animations

Other Improvements & Bug Fixes

• Self-illumination parameters are added to the V-Ray Material. The use of the Emissive material layer is no longer required when shading light emitting surfaces
• The term Contours is replaced with Outlines in all its UI occurrences. This applies to both the global effect as well as the material override
• The Interactivity slider is now correctly disabled when Interactive Light Cache is enabled
• Interactive Light Cache is now active by default
• The Trace Depth option is removed from the Interactive Parameters in the V-Ray Asset Editor's Settings
• Changes of the Brute Force GI Depth now affect both interactive and production rendering
• NVIDIA AI Denoiser Upscaling option is implemented. When enabled the image is rendered at half size to speed up its calculation while the image displayed in the VFB is at full resolution. Note that render elements without the 'Denoise' option enabled are upscaled using standard interpolation
• Denoise option is added to the Extra Texture render element
• Single File Output option is implemented. Set a file path in the Asset Editor / Render Output / Save Image / File Path field and enable the Single File Output to autosave only the main image channel (RGB color or effectResult)
• The UI theme configuration in the Asset Editor now automatically changes the initial UI theme of the Cosmos Browser
• Right-click action behavior in the Outliner is updated. A right-click on an item now automatically selects it. Any consecutive context menu actions are applied to the active selection only. Note that to apply an action to multiple items at once, they have to be selected and the right-click should be performed on top of any selection member
• Distance texture’s Distance value is now correctly respected when a distance texture map is also used
• The Sky texture now uses the Sun Light preview swatch scene which fixes the overexposed sky preview
• Right-clicking on a color variation in the Color Assistant now correctly sets it as a current color
• An issue with reapplying an already selected Light Gen scenario is resolved
• An issue causing multiple Asset Editor, Chaos Cosmos or Light Gen windows to appear on macOS is resolved
• Rectangle light's U Size parameter label is now correctly displayed in Chinese
• An issue preventing a Light Gen regeneration after a scenario has been applied is resolved