V-Ray Next for SketchUp 2019

Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 8, 2019. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.

After Chaos Group – alongside a new Unreal Engine and Houdini (Beta) version – has now released V-Ray Next for Maya and 3ds Max, it is now SketchUp‘s turn: The CAD software recently jumped to the 2019 version and can now also be used in combination with V-Ray Next. An overview of the most important new features:

Adaptive Dome Lights

An option for “Adaptive Dome Lights” has been added and is enabled by default. As in other DCC software, this can speed up rendering by up to seven times in scenes illuminated by a Dome Light. When working with interior scenes, lighting interiors with an HDRI is intended to make adding portal lights to windows and openings unnecessary.

AI Denoiser 

The NVIDIA AI OptiX Denoiser has now also arrived in SketchUp 2019. In V-Ray Next, it is suitable for instant noise removal during a fast live preview. For maximum speed, the “Update Frequency” parameter should be set to 100% to obtain feedback that is as interactive as possible  The second option, the V-Ray Denoiser, can now be applied separately to individual AOVs such as GI Reflection or Specular.

Exposure & White Balance

With the new option, V-Ray now uses adaptive methods for automatic exposure & white balance to avoid incorrectly exposed results that are too warm or cold. To do this, V-Ray adjusts the ISO value without changing the aperture or shutter speed. This means depth of field and motion blur can still be adjusted manually. You can find out more HERE.

More features for SketchUp 2019

• New rendering architecture with up to twice the GPU rendering speed
• Asset management with a new library, Asset Outliner, texture instancing and more
• Better integration with a new V-Ray Scene Importer, new toolbar and a cloud batch rendering function

Price & Availability

V-Ray Next for SketchUp 2016/17/18 and 2019 is’ currently available on Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (64 bit) and Max OS X 10.9+. With the new version, the renderer for SketchUp 2019 has also switched to the new licence model. V-Ray Next is currently priced at €40 monthly or €250 annually.

For Further Information: To the ChaosGroup Website