Is this effect possible with VRay?

V-Ray V-Ray for Maya General
1

Been delving into Arnold of late and there is some cool effects with poly mesh and volumes.
https://support.solidangle.com/display/A5AFMUG/Polymesh+to+Volume?preview=/55710920/55710919/head-mesh-volume.jpg

Is this possible to achieve within VRay?

2

You will have to convert the mesh to an OpenVDB file and then use the V-Ray volume grid to render it.

Another approach is to use a gizmo cutter for the volume grid; the Phoenix FD shader supports it, but I’m not sure about the volume grid itself.

Best regards,
Vlado

3

What are the tools for converting mesh to vdv in max?

4

There’s some really hidden function with mcg to deal with vdb but last time we checked it was just a mess, crashing all the time.

I’d suggest go for houdini. You can read and output vdb even with the apprentice (though i’m not sure you could use it for commercial stuff).

5

You can render a mesh as volumetric by adding a VrayDistanceTex with a short distance value to the density of some vrayfog (or a filled up volume grid), then adding your geo to the vraydist. If you use the filled up volume/phoenix grid method, you can add displacement. I’m not 100% on the exact steps, but that’s how we’ve made clouds before.