Chaos has introduced the first beta of V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max, bringing several significant enhancements to its widely-used rendering engine. Building on the strengths of previous versions, V-Ray 7 focuses on improving material creation, lighting, and rendering performance, alongside new tools for creating procedural skies.
If you want to use Vray in Blender – the signup for the Beta-Version has started! Go to www.chaos.com/vray/blender to take part!
A key feature of this release is the Procedural Clouds system, which allows artists to generate dynamic, realistic clouds that are fully adjustable. This addition makes it easier to create varied, lifelike skies for outdoor scenes, avoiding the need for external image maps or additional compositing. The system integrates seamlessly with the V-Ray Sun and Sky model, offering fine control over cloud types, density, and lighting response.
Another important addition is the Custom Material Layer System. This new tool gives artists greater flexibility when building complex materials, making it simpler to manage shaders with layered controls. This approach streamlines the shader creation process, especially for users working with complex surface properties, reducing the time spent fine-tuning material setups.
V-Ray Decal gets an upgrade in version 7, now allowing decals to use displacement. This improvement means that details like cracks, stickers, or surface imperfections can be added without extra modeling, using displacement for added depth and realism. This feature is particularly useful for adding details to hard surfaces or enhancing textures without altering base geometry.
For lighting, Light Cache 2.0 continues to improve global illumination calculations, offering faster pre-pass calculations and better memory management. This results in quicker render times and improved lighting precision in complex scenes. Artists benefit from faster feedback during look development, particularly when working with large environments or high-detail scenes.
V-Ray Compositor remains an integral part of the toolset, enabling users to adjust lighting and effects directly within the rendering engine. The beta version enhances this feature, allowing for a more streamlined post-production process by reducing the need for external compositing software.
Chaos also introduces Extended Material Override functionality, offering more refined control over which elements of a scene are affected by material overrides. This gives users the ability to exclude certain materials from being overridden, providing more nuanced adjustments during look development.
For those interested in testing these new features, Chaos provides access to full documentation here and encourages artists to submit feedback during the beta phase. The Chaos website offers details on how to download the beta and get started.
The V-Ray 7 beta is available at no additional cost to licensed users of V-Ray 6 for 3ds Max, as well as those subscribed to the V-Ray Collection. For new users, a trial version is also offered. Pricing for V-Ray starts at $690 for a single node-locked license, with subscription options available. Discounts apply for multi-seat purchases, and a pay-as-you-go option is provided for studios needing flexibility.
As always, it is advised that artists test new beta features in non-critical environments to ensure stability and compatibility with current projects.
Conclusion:
The V-Ray 7 beta for 3ds Max brings several powerful new features, including procedural clouds, enhanced decals, and faster GPU rendering. While the improvements promise significant workflow benefits, artists should carefully evaluate the software in their pipelines before full deployment.
