USD support: finally opening the door

The headline addition in Vantage 3.0 beta is initial support for USD. Artists can now load .usd, .usda, .usdc, and .usdz files directly into Vantage, making it possible to preview both static and animated assets without going through V-Ray export first. Geometry types already supported include static meshes, animated transforms, and even fully deforming animated meshes. Particle systems can also be imported via USD.

Materials and attributes are carried across as well. USD Preview Surface materials are recognised alongside V-Ray materials and textures, meaning both native USD shading definitions and V-Ray-specific lookdev data can be rendered. V-Ray displacement, shader animation, and light parameter animation are all supported. Even user-defined attributes, such as those accessed via VRayUserScalar or VRayUserColor textures, are included. Importantly, material overrides assigned in USD also function in Vantage.

USD support extends to MaterialX as well, which ties directly into another first-time feature in this release. According to the Chaos Vantage 3.0 documentation, USD versions 0.10.0 and later are supported.

MaterialX and a new in-app material editor

Alongside USD, Vantage 3.0 introduces initial support for MaterialX materials. This gives artists a pathway to render and exchange open-standard shader graphs, not only proprietary V-Ray materials. For the first time, Vantage also includes a built-in material editor. Users can now create and edit materials directly within the application. However, only materials authored inside Vantage can be edited this way—imported materials remain locked. This ensures that Vantage can function not only as a passive viewer but as a limited authoring environment for shader experimentation. MaterialX support, combined with USD, establishes Vantage as a renderer that can sit earlier in asset pipelines and does not require full dependence on Chaos’ proprietary shading ecosystem.

Gaussian Splats: point clouds meet ray tracing

The second core addition is support for Gaussian Splatting. Gaussian Splats can now be rendered from .vrscene files and through Live Link connections. This allows scanned environments or point-based geometry representations to be displayed in real-time alongside traditional geometry.

The Gaussian Splats are ray traced inside Vantage, not rasterised. This ensures correct behaviour in lighting, shadows, reflections, and refractions, unlike typical point-cloud preview tools. There is no support for directly importing splat datasets in formats such as .ply or .xyz at this time; they must be embedded in .vrscene assets or streamed through Live Link. The Chaos documentation notes this is a first implementation, which may expand in future versions. For now, it already offers a practical path to bring photogrammetry or neural scene representations into GPU-accelerated previews.

Volume rendering: smoke and fire enter Vantage

Chaos has added initial support for volumetric rendering. Users can now load caches from Chaos Phoenix in .aur format as well as V-Ray volumetric grids in .vdb. Vantage provides a new toolbar option, Create Volume Grid, to insert and manage volumes within the viewport. Shading options remain limited in this beta stage, but the feature allows real-time preview of effects such as smoke, fire, or clouds directly in the renderer. This update expands Vantage’s potential role for lookdev on FX shots, where volumes often play a key visual role.

Scatter now supports clustering

Scatter has been expanded with support for object clustering. Users can now group scatter instances together, improving control and natural distribution patterns in instanced geometry setups. However, instance layer painting and colour map controls are still not supported. The clustering update improves scatter’s usability for layout, but without the full range of painting and map-driven workflows, it remains less advanced than DCC-based scatter systems.

Texturing improvements across engines

Textures receive several technical updates. The MultiSubTex map now honours probability parameters, enabling more precise randomisation. V-Ray’s VRay2SidedTex is supported, allowing two-sided shading definitions to display correctly. Projection mapping support has expanded too: Maya projection textures are now usable, and Cinema 4D projection types such as screen and frontal mapping are supported. These additions allow Vantage to correctly preview a broader variety of materials originating from common DCCs.

Camera tracking for virtual production

A significant addition for on-set workflows is support for external camera tracking protocols. Vantage 3.0 beta can now receive tracking data from LONET 2, EZtrack TCD, FreeD, and stYpe HF. This enables synchronised camera motion between real-world tracked cameras and Vantage’s viewport. In virtual production contexts, this allows Vantage to serve as a real-time renderer connected directly to camera hardware, expanding its role beyond pre-rendered lookdev.

New view mode for selection

Vantage 3.0 beta adds a Selection Mask view mode. When enabled, selected objects render in white while everything else renders black. This assists in identifying, isolating, or troubleshooting geometry within heavy production scenes.

User interface: palette and workflow refinements

The application interface has been updated with a new colour palette and overall redesign. The home screen has been reworked, and side panels are now resizable for better layout flexibility. Camera objects can be edited directly inside the Details panel under the Object tab. However, changes are not reflected in the viewport until the camera is re-selected from the Camera Lister. This quirk is noted in the official documentation. The old “Render setup” has been replaced by a Render mode, located at the top-right of the toolbar, simplifying access to key rendering controls.

Render elements: name remapping

Vantage 3.0 introduces an environment variable for remapping render element names. The variable VRDX_REMAP_ELEMENT_NAMES allows artists to redefine names on output, ensuring downstream compositing or pipeline systems can process them with consistent labels. This function provides a simple but effective layer of flexibility for facilities that rely on strict naming conventions.

Fixes across file handling, textures, displacement and lights

Several targeted bug fixes are included in the beta. File handling has been stabilised: crashes caused by .vantage files referencing deleted animated cameras in linked .vrscene assets are resolved. In textures, rendering errors with large HDRI maps on Blackwell GPUs have been corrected. Problems with animated textures when DLSS denoising was enabled are fixed. Blender scenes with multiple UV channels now map correctly.

Displacement issues are addressed too. Per-triangle tessellation displacement no longer causes crashes when applied to .vrmesh assets containing multiple geometry objects. Lighting fixes include corrected rendering for light meshes built from multi-geometry objects, and better handling of prototype flags in light instances. Procedural objects such as Chaos Scatter now properly respect light linking, and previously observed black artifacts on directly visible area lights have been eliminated.

Final Notes on This Beta Release

The Chaos Vantage 3.0 beta brings long-requested interoperability with USD and MaterialX, the experimental addition of Gaussian Splats, first-pass volume rendering, expanded scatter tools, and multiple workflow refinements. For real-time lookdev and layout tasks, it is a substantial update.

However, much of the support is explicitly marked as initial. Both USD and MaterialX import are functional but not comprehensive. Gaussian Splats require .vrscene or Live Link sources rather than standalone datasets. Scatter lacks painting and colour map controls. Volumes remain limited in shading controls.

As with any beta, these features should be tested in controlled pipeline environments before being relied upon for production. That is the point of a Beta Version!

Apply HERE if you want to take part.

The post Chaos Vantage 3.0 beta lands with USD, MaterialX and Gaussian Splats first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.