V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp Open Beta Announced

[chaosmarketing]

Today, we are announcing the biggest expansion to SketchUp’s rendering capabilities – the V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp Beta Program is now open!

This massive upgrade to V-Ray for SketchUp includes a series of new feature introductions that enhance visualization workflow and render quality (V-Ray RT®, V-Ray Dome Light) and streamline scene complexity (V-Ray Proxy).

You can view the full feature list here.

The Beta program will run for approximately 3 months. The official release is expected in early August.

Learn more and apply at V-Ray for SketchUp Beta page.

[davidlouis]

This is great news! Thank you. I had almost given hope that this would be given attention after the versions for maya, rhino and max seemed to be getting more attention post acquisition of asgvis.

My question is about the new version and upgrading my existing license. Will this upgrade be offered free of charge to existing full license holders? This is the way it was sold to me under the previous banner of asgvis when we enjoyed numerous version upgrades...

An answer to this would be much appreciated.
Regards
David

[OzBoz]

Good question David. Same here.

I was also beta testing the 1.4x.xx version in the past and had my concerns about releasing 1.49.01 to the public since it has some pretty serious bugs. And I got this reaction back then..

-name- forwarded me your email, voicing your concern with releasing the current beta build to the public. While I do agree that the current beta isn't perfect, it does have significant benefits when compared to 1.48.89. -cut-

DR was broken in 1.48.89, and it still is, but we don't have much control over DR, it's sort of a magical black box that the Chaos Group develops. There are some things we can do that affect it's ability to effectively contribute to a render, but for the most part, it's all in their hands. There have been a few issues mentioned recently (materials losing all layer information) which actually are bugs that have been there for a very very long time. Some have been around since 1.48.66, and nobody noticed until recently.

All in all, we believe that the current beta is a slight upgrade from the current release, and so we're pushing it out to the public. This is in no way a "final" version of our product, we plan on pushing out updates at least every couple of months. With any luck we'll be able to do it on a regular basis with some sort of pattern to it, but I suppose that's in the hands of the programming gods.

And that's a email from January 2011. It's great the chaosgroup finally released a new beta and I'm very curious. But like David says, I'm actually still waiting for a final version since 1.49.01 ain't a final version. It's not that I don't want to pay for software but it's not exactly a $50 piece of software.

From another email from ASGVis

We're excited about joining the Chaos Group team. I'm sure great things will happen in the development of V-Ray for Rhino and V-Ray for SketchUp now that there's an entire team programming, rather than just two people. I can't wait to see what happens!!

Like you know, things weren't really going fast after ASGVis dissapeared.

For all I know, people who purchased it after April the 15th 2013 get a free upgrade. But I hope you guys know that looking at some history the old users that made it popular as render tool for SU won't be pleased to pay $320 for something final.

Just my 2 eurocents.

[dkendig]

I wrote that response I believe. We've tried to keep everyone up to date on changes as they happened. A lot changed when we were bought by Chaos Group, I could list them but I doubt that will really contribute to this conversation much. So to sum it up, there were many changes. Our original plan, as was outlined time and time again, was to get VfS and VfR to be on the same level, and begin simultaneous development on both products from that point forward, pushing out updates for both whenever we made any progress. Unfortunately, the company restructure happened in the middle of VfR development (I know VfS users don't want to hear a story about VfR, so I'll keep it short), we had to modify how we did... a lot of stuff... There were 2 developers, VfS was unable to have VfR modifications ported to it as originally planned due to the severity of the modifications, and we had to get VfS caught up with VfR again. Now it's caught up, and now both products are in fact being developed simultaneously as we had originally planned. We also have an additional developer now that is 100% dedicated to VfR development, which frees me up to be 100% dedicated to VfS. Unfortunately, a number of the new features and changes that were added during VfR development, warranted an upgrade fee (RT for example).

From the consumer standpoint, I understand the frustration, but that email was sent from an ASGvis employee, not from a Chaos Group employee. At the time, it was unknown that we were going to join forces, that our rough development roadmap was going to be modified, staffing would change, etc. I apologize for disappointing you, there were changes that happened that were beyond my imagination at the time. I agree this will upset some users, which is why we have been pushing to add more features during this development cycle, and not just match what VfR has. If you're going to pay for an upgrade, it better be worth it. We believe that this version is worth it, and we invite you to try it and give us your feedback so that we can ensure that we do achieve that goal.

[40th]

For starters I want to thank you for the amazing job that you've done. I always appreciated the transparency of asgvis team.
I have one question though. Is there any change on the 1.6 VfS regarding the ability to mobilizing the skp file with all the maps (bumps, displacement etc.) ? Like an option to indicate VfS to look for all maps in a user defined path/location.
I hope my question is clear. thanks

[kaizerco]

It says the beta testing forum is closed for me... how am I supposed to report to it then?

[formikodesign]

This is great news! I am looking forward to trying the new version.

I am considering applying for the Beta program. Will I be able to install the beta version such that it will coexist with the current one (1.49.01)? If not then: is the beta version stable enough to try it for commercial work? And does the beta license allow to use it for commercial work?

[dkendig]

kaizerco - don't submit bug reports to the forum, that's not where we look for them. Info on how to submit a bug report can be found here: http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbu...t-a-bug-report

[OzBoz]

From the consumer standpoint, I understand the frustration, but that email was sent from an ASGvis employee, not from a Chaos Group employee. At the time, it was unknown that we were going to join forces, that our rough development roadmap was going to be modified, staffing would change, etc. I apologize for disappointing you, there were changes that happened that were beyond my imagination at the time. I agree this will upset some users, which is why we have been pushing to add more features during this development cycle, and not just match what VfR has. If you're going to pay for an upgrade, it better be worth it. We believe that this version is worth it, and we invite you to try it and give us your feedback so that we can ensure that we do achieve that goal.

Hi Devin,

Indeed, one of the quotes was written by you and I also understand all the changes that have been going on. And I'm not at all blaming you. Sometimes things do change and nobody can look into the future.

So don't feel sorry for me. You were great at ASGvis and I loved the way the communication was between ASGVis and the clients, people who tested the 1.4x betas etc. But that feeling of being attached with a product and company is less now. And I'm just speaking for myself and it doesn't have anything to do with you.

I applied for the beta, I can download the beta (since I paid for the normal version). But I don't have access to the beta-forum. So I can waste my energy and time writing down bugs which might be already known. I won't. Just wrote an email about that and thought about looking at the forum again. That's why I saw your reaction a bit late but thank you very much for taking the time, I really appreciate it. And I would be happy to supply bug reports using email like I did before but my hours are also expensive so if I know a bug is already reported I can be less detailed in writing down my own report.

It's not that I don't want to pay if an upgrade is worth the dollars. And I'm happy you understand the frustration some of the 'oldskool' customers might have.

[dkendig]

I just fixed your account, so you now have access to the public beta forums (if anyone that is in our beta program can not access the forums in that link, please contact support@chaosgroup.com so we can fix that for you). Sorry that a hiccup happened that prevented you from having access. I'm not sure where the disconnect is, but it has happened to a few users here and there. I'm still floating around on these forums as well as SketchUcation as much as I can. The release of 1.49.01 marked the end of VfS development until we could get VfR up to date, so communication from the developers about that product died down as a result until the 1.6 beta started up for VfS. Now we are doing simultaneous development, so that communication gap should cease to exist.

FYI there is a bug reporting tool which may work... it works for some people. If it does work for you, then it could save you some hassle when reporting bugs. It's found in the Plugins->V-Ray->Debugging->Report Bug menu. If it fails the first time though... don't bother with it again until we put out a build with some fixes for the bug reporting tool. Ultimately, this tool would be the shortcut that those with little time to test, have been looking for.