V-Ray 6: Breaking Boundaries in 3D!
As 3D Artists, one of our primary goals is to break boundaries in achieving realism. With a newly released version for 3ds Max, V-Ray 6 looks to be one of those big breaks we've been searching for!
Click here to get V-Ray 6 now!
Intro
Chaos released its new V-Ray 6 for 3ds Max around July 2022, and so far, it has proven to be a super resource for 3D works around the globe. Artists can now quickly distribute 3D objects, generate detailed 3D surfaces, add procedural clouds and create beautiful custom skies with powerful new world-building and workflow tools.
I'll highlight some of the new features that individually excite me, like the new Chaos Scatter, V-Ray Enmesh, V-Ray Decal with Displacement, Procedural Clouds, Thin-Film Materials, and an Upgraded Frame Buffer, to name a few!
Everything else can be found in the official V-Ray 6 release post, which is available here.
So, let's begin with the highlights of the new V-Ray 6. Here is a video of the new features.
V-Ray Decal
Now you can add displacement to any surface with V-Ray decals for more realistic cracked walls, rocks, embossed text, car body decals (my favorite), and lots more! You can easily add these and more details that are sure to add immense realism to your projects!
Procedural Clouds
A new Procedural Cloud based on Enscape technology has been added to the V-Ray Sun and Sky system, allowing artists to create custom skies. Artists can now easily simulate different types of clouds and weather conditions, from partly cloudy to overcast. When ray-tracing these clouds with V-Ray, they react accurately to light, shadows, and volumetric effects, making them as realistic as possible. You can also animate procedural clouds to create dynamic time-lapse skies and streaming sun rays.
Chaos Scatter
For the first time, V-Ray 6 will include Chaos Scatter, the new, improved scattering tool introduced recently to the new Chaos Corona 8. Chaos Scatter allows artists to quickly fill scenes with millions of 3D objects to create natural landscapes and environments without manually adjusting objects. Objects like grass, trees, flowers, and rocks can now be scattered, distributed, and randomized in a system designed to save memory. Further memory savings can be achieved when used with V-Ray Proxy objects that are only loaded at render times. As if that isn't enough, you can access free 3D models and scatter presets available in the Chaos Cosmos content library to help you get started!
A couple of new options have been added to give you even more control over your desired results.
· Slope Limiter: this helps control the number of trees scattered on areas with slopes - like cliffs and mountains, for example.
· Spline exclude/includes: helps to carve a path through your trees and scatter rocks along it, or limit flowers to flower beds with closed splines, etc.
· Camera clipping: limits scattering to only be inside the camera's field of view. This improves scene analysis and reduces the amount of memory required.
· Chaos Scatter Surface Color Texmap: is a long name for something that lets you color the scatters based on the texmap of the object they are scattered on. Perfect for creating patterned rugs or variations in color on a lawn, etc.
· Preserve model Scale and Rotation: you can adjust or even animate the scale and rotation of the source object you intend to scatter.
· 3ds Max only (for now) – Edit individual instances after scattering: you can now move, scale, rotate, or even delete individual scattered objects in the scene.
· With the new Max Polygons view-port display option, you can limit the displayed scatters by polygon count for Full preview.
· Added map slots for affecting translation and rotation of instances in the scene.
· Added Follow spline amount controlling how instances get oriented along splines during 1D spline scattering.
· Objects lists in Scatter now show the full name of each object in a tooltip if the name is too long to fit into the list
· Objects lists in Scatter were reworked: objects now show their wire color. Right-clicking lets you select the object in the scene or replace it with another, and parameter columns have been added, e.g., to see the Frequency for each instanced object
V-ray Enmesh
The V-Ray Enmesh modifier 'coats' an object's surface with a repeating pattern of a rendered geometry that follows the UVW space of that geometry. This means we can now tile 3D geometric patterns across objects to create intricate, detailed surfaces for stunning close-ups. Enmesh is ideal for creating complex panels, fences, fabrics, etc., and it uses much less memory than manually moving or copying objects in your scene!
Thin Film Layer
Easily create iridescent materials such as soap bubbles, oil spills, and more with the new Thin Film option available in the V-Ray Material. Here's an example below
V-Ray Proxy Object Hierarchy
Easily toggle the visibility of individual objects or override their materials with the new V-Ray Proxy hierarchy view. Set custom orders by name to streamline geometry exchange and custom library workflows.
Chaos Cloud Collaboration
Chaos thinks teamwork! Get fast, consolidated feedback on the progress of your work. Upload your renders directly from V-Ray's frame buffer to Chaos Cloud Collaboration and share your creations with clients, team members, and other stakeholders for easy review, tagging, and commenting at any time. Amazing!
Other new features Include:
· Improved V-Ray Frame Buffer - The improved V-Ray Frame Buffer now includes a 360° panorama viewer, a flip composition button, a handy composition guide, and the option to share renders via Chaos Cloud.
· Improved Dome Light - New finite mode allows users to set the height and radius of the dome light. Dome light ground projection is also enhanced with complete control over mix settings.
· More Accurate Reflective Materials - A new energy correction method renders metals and rough reflective surfaces more accurately.
· Thin Film Materials - New thin film layers in V-Ray materials allow users to create iridescent materials such as soap bubbles and oil stains.
· Improved Subsurface Scattering - Subsurface scattering in V-Ray materials now renders faster, and low poly translucent objects render more smoothly.
· Batch Load Multi-Sub Textures - You can now add multiple textures to the V-Ray Multi-Sub Tex map simultaneously.
· Improved User Interface - The materials and textures interface is now faster for a smoother experience.
· V-Ray GPU Enhancements - Supports nearly all new V-Ray 6 features and assigns tasks to processors with faster write cache and new device selection.
Conclusion
With a truckload of exciting new features, V-Ray 6 looks to be a true boundary breaker in all aspects of 3D visualization. I can't wait to see what they put out with future releases!
About Ikechukwu Ihegwuagu
Ikechukwu Ihegwuagu is an eclectic designer passionate about 3D Arch viz. He works part-time with an Architectural firm in Nigeria and also carries out freelance jobs. When he's not working on projects, he loves to practice his skills, write 3D-related content, as well as share what he knows about Arch viz on his YouTube Channel