Chaos has just announced that its V-Ray 6 for Revit connects with Enscape. So architects can now share 3D visualizations between the two applications seamlessly, thus removing one of the biggest graphics bottlenecks in the industry.
Enscape Connected to V-Ray 6
In its announcement dated 7 December 2022, Karlsruhe-based Chaos describes how this development effectively connects two of architecture’s most trusted products into a single pipeline. With this new link to Enscape, architects and other specialists can finally collaborate on photorealistic visualizations at any stage of their project. Moreover, they can do so without losing design intent.
Chaos V-Ray 6 for Revit in action.
When paired with its new tools for procedural clouds and remote collaboration, some of the world’s finest visuals are only a few clicks away.
Ana Lyubenova, Chaos’s V-Ray 6 for Revit product manager, explains:
“When we announced the Chaos Bridge, the first thing we heard was, ‘When can we get this for Revit?’ Now, design decisions remain intact from conception to completion, so teams can iterate faster and not waste precious hours re-doing something that’s already been done.”
Real-Time to Photorealistic
A project that starts its life in Enscape can now be rendered and edited in V-Ray 6 for Revit at any stage. This is particularly useful when a project requires a high level of photorealism. This unbroken chain comes complete with support for Enscape environments, materials, and compatible 3D assets. This means the visualization team receives is a 1:1 version of what the architect designed. Even custom skies created in Enscape can be transferred to V-Ray 6.
Procedural Clouds
Since clouds and skies can have a big impact on the look of an outdoor scene, V-Ray 6 for Revit introduces a new procedural cloud system built upon Enscape technology. (see: Architosh, “Product Review: Enscape for Mac SketchUp,” 30 Nov 2022). Users no longer need to spend hours browsing through HDRI libraries or adding skies later in Photoshop. Now they can simulate a variety of cloud types and weather conditions ranging from partly cloudy to overcast. This new system is not only memory efficient, but it is also a powerful method to create dynamic time-lapse presentations and streaming streaks of sunlight.
Fast Decals
The new V-Ray Decal capability in V-Ray 6 for Revit quickly projects textures onto multiple surfaces and materials, all while working as a native Revit family. Users can not only adjust its position, size, and angles but project displacement through it, bringing more realism to cracked walls, stains, road marks, and more.
Cloud-Based Collaboration
It’s now easier to share work and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders via the cloud. With Chaos Cloud Collaboration, users can share images and image panoramas straight from the V-Ray Frame Buffer. They can also receive feedback from reviewers. This makes the approval process faster for everyone concerned.
Other new features and improvements in V-Ray 6 for Revit include:
Lighting
The new finite dome light allows you to set the physical size and scale of your 3D environments when using image-based lighting.
Materials
- Better Translucent materials. You can render materials such as frosted glass and marble faster with the V-Ray 6 for Revit Material’s improved subsurface scattering mode.
- Enhanced Dirt Texture. This ensures that dirt and weathering are in the right places with positioning tools that can easily add or exclude objects.
- Improved Revit Material Conversions. Native Revit generic materials now render more accurately. They can also be edited in V-Ray and saved as .vrmat files.
- Material Preview Swatch. The new Sphere swatch preview offers the same intuitive material view that users enjoy in Chaos Cosmos.
- More Accurate Reflections. Metals and rough reflective materials now render even more realistically thanks to a new energy preservation technique.
- New iridescent materials. Artists easily create iridescent materials such as coated glass, metals, and ceramics using the V-Ray Material’s new Thin Film option.
Workflow
- Asset Tags. Assets can now be grouped using a new tagging system. This greatly improves 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.
- Composition Guides. This new proportions layer in V-Ray 6 for Revit makes it easy to compose the correct camera angle. With this layer, you have access to useful visual guides such as the rule-of-thirds and the golden ratio.
- Panorama Viewer. The spherical panoramas V-Ray pioneered can now be explored and edited without the need of specialist third-party tools.
Availability and pricing
V-Ray 6 for Revit is available now. All V-Ray subscription plans work for all supported host applications, including 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Maya, Nuke, Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, and Unreal. Pricing for V-Ray 6 for Revit can be found on the Chaos Plans and Pricing page.
To see all the new features included in V-Ray 6 for Revit, please visit its What’s New page.
About Chaos
Chaos develops visualization technologies that enable artists and designers to create photorealistic imagery and animation across all creative industries. The firm’s physically based renderer, V-Ray, has been honored with both an Academy Award and an Engineering Emmy for its role in the widespread adoption of ray-traced rendering in motion pictures and television.
In 2022, Chaos merged with Enscape, a leading developer of real-time rendering and design workflow technology for the AEC industry. Enscape offers innovative solutions that connect directly to modeling software, integrating design and visualization workflows seamlessly into one. Chaos now has the largest global 3D visualization team with more than 700 employees.
For more information, please visit the Chaos and Enscape websites.
