Announcement

**konstantin_chaos** · 05-12-2024, 07:52 AM

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

Metal Support

V-Ray GPU Metal support - Double rendering performance when using both the GPU and CPU sides of Apple ARM processors, such as the M2 and M3

**konstantin_chaos** · 05-12-2024, 07:52 AM

Integration

Viewport rendering optimization - The way in which VPR is implemented in SketchUp 2024 is completely reworked which makes it a lot more performant
Simplified material binding - The material viewport preview configuration is streamlined and made more intuitive. The rollout in the UI is renamed to Viewport Display. The Auto and Bake modes are merged into one. Simple bitmaps are directly connected to the SketchUp material counterpart and can be colorized in the SketchUp material panel. Procedural texture networks are always baked. The Texture Helper mode is removed. Use the Custom mode without a texture for the same effect. Procedural textures in the Custom slot are now also automatically baked
V-Ray Vision is labeled as deprecated
The alpha channel of the Viewport Helper Texture is removed, resolving issues when using Enscape in the same project
A menu option enabling simplified animation export is added under Extensions / V-Ray / Preferences / Object Animations Export. It can be enabled in projects with only camera and sun animations to optimize performance
Proxy Scenes nested in a .vrscene file can now be properly imported via the V-Ray Scene Importer
Changing the path to a proxy mesh file no longer breaks its material assignments, even if the new path initially points to a non-existing vrmesh before being set correctly
An issue causing VFB Undo and Redo to not work properly when using a Background layer is resolved
An issue with the selection of newly imported Cosmos assets is resolved
An issue preventing SketchUp from closing properly in specific situations is resolved
A batch rendering error occurring with specific scenes 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 stay active after SketchUp is closed is resolved
An issue preventing the VFB window from closing when the X button is pressed in specific situations is resolved
An issue causing SketchUp to freeze when performing transferring Light Mix changes to the scene is resolved
All files and references to the legacy built-in Material Library are now removed
The Intel Open Image Denoiser is updated to version 2.0
Japanese translation is implemented. This new translated version of the V-Ray UI is automatically selected when the Japanese version of SketchUp is used. Alternatively, the language can be manually changed in the following menu - Extensions / V-Ray / Language
Installer localization is implemented. Change the language using the icon in the lower right corner
The V-Ray Scene importer is improved in a number of ways. Object names stored in the vrscene are now used on import and complex shading networks are handled more reliably
The Single File Output option now works as expected when animations are rendered
The performance of zooming in the viewport when there is an active Scatter preview is improved
An issue, preventing batch rendering of projects with a special characters in their names, is resolved
A message box now pops up when an output image file is going to be overwritten
The Camera Focus Tool now uses a custom cursor
Images uploaded to the Chaos Cloud Collaboration from the VFB are no longer missing their Layer stack adjustments
An issue with the Chaos Vantage live link is resolved
SketchUp 2019 and SketchUp 2020 are now deprecated
V-Ray 2 data serialized to the model is no longer loaded in V-Ray 7
An issue, preventing SketchUp from closing properly is resolved
A number of issues related to batch rendering are resolved
An issue causing the viewport rendering process to freeze when started after releasing the V-Ray License is resolved
A number of issues related to viewport rendering are resolved
Exporting a vrscene no longer requires an active license
The animations export process is optimized
An issue causing artifacts when rendering scattered lights is resolved
An issue preventing the installer's Remote licensing fields from accepting the ‘x’ and ‘2’ characters is resolved
An issue causing an incorrect Scatter preview in specific situations is resolved
An issue causing incorrect Scatter guest positioning is resolved
An issue preventing the correct rendering of Section Planes in specific projects is resolved
An issue causing incorrect Sun orientation when switching between scenes / views during Interactive rendering is resolved
An issue causing Cosmos Asset to be removed from the Scatter's guest list on merge is resolved
An issue causing an incorrect Scatter guests distribution in a specific situation is resolved
An issue preventing the scattering of instances on the last line segment is resolved
Тhe .skp model name is now set by default when submitting a single Cloud job
An issue preventing the Bump property of Generic materials from legacy scenes to properly render before scene activation is resolved
A specific Enscape asset called ‘Backpack 003’ now renders correctly
An issue causing the Near color in a Distance texture to disappear during interactive rendering is resolved
Changing the viewport preview of Proxy Scenes is no longer affecting the rendered image
An issue causing V-Ray lights, geometry assets, Enscape assets and Enscape lights to be visible during interactive rendering when the Animation toggle in enabled but their visibility is disabled is resolved
Mesh Lights are now correctly clipped only when the Clip Light Geometry option of the Clipper is enabled
The Enscape material properties are no longer taken into account when an Enscape material is converted to a V-Ray one while the Enscape compatibility (V-Ray / Preferences / Enscape Compatibility) is disabled
A number of issues with the uninstaller are resolved
An issue preventing Laubwerk materials from rendering correctly is resolved
An issue preventing multiple scene changes to be performed within a short time interval during Interactive rendering is resolved
An issue leading to incorrect Material ID Color render element to be generated in specific situations is resolved
File paths from imported .skp files are now automatically resolved
An issue causing artifacts around a Decal’s mask when the Fog color of the object's material is different than 1 is resolved
An issue causing a crash when importing a specific scene containing V-Ray data is resolved
An issue leading to a crash when using the Rebuild All Viewport Widgets option while editing a widget is resolved
An issue causing a crash after undoing Scatter creation during interactive rendering is resolved
An issue causing a crash after undoing Enmesh creation during interactive rendering is resolved
An issue related to importing .vrscenes containing Enscape assets is resolved
macOS: Disabling and then enabling enabling the V-Ray Viewport Render overlay no longer stops the rendering process
macOS: An issue preventing the VFB File button from working correctly in specific situations is resolved
macOS: An issue causing the Image Info window to pop up when clicking on the VFB history panel is resolved
macOS: The VFB window no longer sinks behind SketchUp when it is on a second monitor upon initiating a renderer
macOS: An issue preventing the VFB from being closed in specific situations is resolved
macOS: An issue with the VRImage to EXR converter tool UI is resolved
macOS: An issue causing an error when installing V-Ray via command line is resolved
macOS: A crash when clicking on the VFB's Lens Effect Properties dropdown in SketchUp 2024 is fixed

**konstantin_chaos** · 05-12-2024, 07:52 AM

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** · 05-12-2024, 08:06 AM

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.
macOS: Cosmos Enmesh objects cause issues on import in specific situations.

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.

Announcement

V-Ray 7 for SketchUp is now available!

V-Ray 7 for SketchUp is now available!

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