Chaos V-Ray for SketchUp

About this release

V-Ray turns a modeller into a rendering platform without asking anyone to learn a second application. It installs as a toolbar and a set of panels inside SketchUp, and from that point the model, the materials, the lights and the cameras all live in the same file. Nothing exports, nothing round trips, and a change to the geometry is in the next render immediately.

The engine has two halves that share one set of settings. The interactive renderer updates a viewport continuously while you move a light or adjust a material, so the look develops in front of you instead of in a series of guesses. The production renderer then takes the same scene to final quality with adaptive sampling, denoising and full light transport, on the processor, on the graphics card or on both together.

Materials are where most of the time goes and the library is deep enough that most of that time is saving rather than building. Hundreds of ready physical materials cover metal, glass, timber, stone, fabric, concrete and vegetation, all physically based, all editable, and all with the layered coat, sheen and translucency controls that make a surface read as real rather than as a texture on a box.

Lighting covers the range from a sun and sky system driven by geographic position and time of day through to photometric fixtures with real intensity values and imported light data. Cameras carry exposure, aperture, shutter and lens effects, so an image is set up the way a photographer would set it up. Output includes render elements for post work and an animation path for walkthroughs.

What it does

Renders inside the modeller

Materials, lights and cameras live in the model file with no export step.

Interactive viewport

The image updates continuously while you adjust a light or a surface.

Processor and graphics rendering

Final quality output on the processor, the graphics card or both at once.

Physical material library

Hundreds of ready surfaces with layered coat, sheen and translucency controls.

Sun, sky and photometric lights

Daylight driven by position and time of day alongside real fixture intensities.

Render elements

Separate passes for reflection, lighting and masks that go straight into post work.

Changed in this version

• Faster denoising with better retention of fine detail.
• New material presets added to the library.
• Interactive viewport handles very large scenes more smoothly.
• Improved sun and sky model for overcast conditions.
• Animation output gains better handling of long walkthrough sequences.

System requirements

Install order

1. Install the host modeller first and open it once before continuing.
2. Unpack the archive and close the modeller completely.
3. Run the installer, which places the toolbar, panels and material library.
4. Reopen the modeller and confirm the toolbar appears before starting a scene.

Worth knowing before you start

File details