Chaos Connects V-Ray 6 for SketchUp and Rhino to Enscape

This month Chaos announced V-Ray 6 for SketchUp and V-Ray 6 for Rhino/Grasshopper. A key new component in both is new Enscape compatibility. Architects can now finally deliver complete design intent that the visualization team can immediately build upon with no “do-over” work required.

Enscape to V-Ray

V-Ray is where the leading edge in architectural visualization has existed for quite some time. Still, simultaneously, architects have flocked to a new range of easy-to-use visualization tools such as Germany’s Enscape arch-viz platform. With their corporate mergers (Enscape and Chaos) well in the review-view mirror, it was inevitable that a connection between Enscape and the V-Ray technology pipelines would and should occur.

“When applications don’t talk to each other, design intent can quickly get lost as a project moves from schematic to marketing,” said Konstantin Gaytandzhiev, V-Ray for Rhino and SketchUp product manager at Chaos. “With this new bridge, an architect’s design can continue to be iterated on with every nuance intact, removing the open questions that slow teams down.”

Real-Time to Photoreal

Enscape projects can now be rendered and edited in V-Ray 6 when they need to be pushed to the highest levels of photorealism.

With support for Enscape materials, environments, lights, and compatible 3D assets, V-Ray 6 ensures that all design decisions are kept throughout the project development stages, creating an unbroken chain between designers and V-Ray specialists.

Procedural Clouds and V-Ray Enmesh

V-Ray users can now use Enscape technology as part of the new Procedural Cloud system. Designers and visualization professionals can save time browsing through HDRI libraries and now simply simulate the cloud types and weather conditions they are looking for.

This new system is not just faster, it is memory efficient and capable of creating dynamic timelapse presentations and streaming streaks of sunlight.

Likewise, the new V-Ray Enmesh tool enables complex geometric patterns to be created quickly over object surfaces and is ideal for fences, panels, and use with fabrics.

Other key features include:

Lighting

• Finite Dome Light – Fine-tune the size and scale of your 3D environments when using image-based lighting.

Materials

• New Iridescent Materials – Easily create iridescent materials such as soap bubbles, oil spills and more using the V-Ray Material’s new Thin Film option.

• Better Translucent Materials – Render frosted glass and marble faster with the V-Ray Material’s improved subsurface scattering mode.

• More Accurate Reflections – Metals and rough reflective materials now render more accurately thanks to a new energy preservation technique.

• New Distance Texture – Designers can now place textures based on their distance from selected objects. This can be used to create a well-trodden path through a procedural lawn or form dark spots under downspouts.

• Enhanced Dirt Texture – Ensure your dirt is in the right place with positioning tools that can easily add or exclude objects.

• SketchUp/Enscape Materials Support – Native materials can be kept as is or promoted to V-Ray materials as desired.

Workflow

• Asset Tags – Assets can now be grouped using a new tags system, improving scene organization for complex projects.

• Central Library – V-Ray’s built-in material library is now part of Chaos Cosmos, so designers can conveniently find and manage all of their assets in one place. The HDRI environments used by Light Gen are also now included in Cosmos.

Rendering

• Resumable Rendering – Renders can now be paused/resumed at any time with losing progress.
• Smarter Light Calculation – Light Cache global illumination is now supported in interactive rendering mode.

• Optimized Animation Export – SketchUp animations can now be exported up to 10x faster for local or cloud rendering.

V-Ray Frame Buffer and Post-Production

• Chaos Cloud Collaboration – Share your work and collaborate with internal/external stakeholders in the cloud. With Chaos Cloud Collaboration, you can upload your images and image panoramas straight from the V-Ray Frame Buffer, speeding up the approval process for everyone involved.

• Composition Guides – A new proportions layer makes it easy to pick the right camera angle with the help of visual guides like the rule of thirds and the golden ratio.

• Panorama Viewer – Panoramas can now be explored and edited without the need for third-party tools.

• ACEScg Color Management – Gain a wider color palette for your render output with the industry-standard ACEScg color-encoding system.

To see all the new features, explore the “What’s New” pages for V-Ray 6 for SketchUp and V-Ray 6 for Rhino/Grasshopper today.

Pricing and Availability

V-Ray 6 for SketchUp is available now for Windows and MacOS, while V-Ray 6 for Rhino/Grasshopper is available for Windows. All V-Ray subscription plans work for all supported host applications, including SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Maya, Houdini, Nuke and Unreal. Pricing can be found on the Chaos website.