Chaos Group's V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp Now in Open Beta
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Significant Enhancements to Rendering Speed, Workflow, Visualization and Lighting Features; Ready for Use in Professional Design and Engineering Projects
Sofia, Bulgaria – Artists, architects and designers always want their software to do more. More detail, more speed, more quality. Today, with the announcement of Chaos Group’s V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp open beta, these users now have the biggest expansion to SketchUp’s rendering capabilities right at their finger tips. More is here.
This massive upgrade to V-Ray for SketchUp includes a series of new feature introductions that enhance visualization workflow and render quality (V-Ray RT®, V-Ray Dome Light) and streamline scene complexity (V-Ray Proxy).
“With 16 new features designed and accounted for, V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp has become the most robust, and artist-friendly render application SketchUp users have ever seen,” said Corey Rubadue, Chaos Group product manager, V-Ray for SketchUp. “And it’s only going to get better in the future.”
As part of this update, V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp will offer architects and designers access to proven V-Ray technologies that accelerate the creative process. For example, with V-Ray Proxies users can now achieve exceptionally high levels of detail and modeling complexity while efficiently rendering massive amounts of geometry in the blink of an eye. Proxies can also be shared between V-Ray versions giving architects the ability to share models between 3ds Max, Maya, Softimage and Rhino.
“V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp should be part of every designer’s digital toolset; it’s fast, simple, and seamlessly integrated, which allows you to explore ideas without leaving the application,” said Jorge Barrero, senior associate at Gensler. “The recent addition of V-Ray RT gives me instant feedback on my lighting, while V-Ray Dome Lights lets me push the quality of my renders to a whole new level. As a long time user, it’s pretty exciting.”
Key Features for V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp
Rendering Engine Upgrades:
• V-Ray RT – This CPU-supported rendering engine streamlines scene setup and provides instant visual feedback directly in SketchUp for quicker design, material, and lighting decisions.
Lights:
• Dome Light – Creates simple, artifact-free image-based lighting using importance sampling of HDR images. This technique greatly optimizes light tracing and GI precision.
• Lights as Components – V-Ray lights can now be part of a SketchUp component, making the process of changing the design and settings of multiple lights at once much easier.
• Sphere Light – Creates spherically shaped area lights.
Geometry:
• V-Ray Proxy – Manages scene memory and efficiently renders large amounts of geometry to increase detail and complexity in scenes. V-Ray Proxy objects are dynamically loaded and unloaded at render time, which saves vital RAM resources.
For the full list of features, click here.
Chaos Group is also releasing a set of materials that will help their users experience the benefits of V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp even faster. Those materials include: help documentation, a dedicated beta forum, tutorials, and videos explaining the new features.
“V-Ray for SketchUp is phenomenal, and the ability to control lights by layers is genius!” said Ramy Hanna, partner and 3D artist at Tiltpixel. “Now I can produce different lighting scenarios based on scene tabs. It’s like Chaos Group looked at SketchUp’s strengths and decided to build my favorite V-Ray features on top of them.”
Pricing and Availability
The free open beta of V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp is available for SketchUp 8 on both the Windows and OS X platforms - 32bit only. It can be downloaded right now by applying for the public beta program on Chaos Group’s website.
Pricing for V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp will remain unchanged ($800). The upgrade price from V-Ray 1.49 for SketchUp or lower is $320. Users who purchased V-Ray for SketchUp between April 15, 2013 and the official release date will be eligible for a free upgrade.
About Chaos Group
Chaos Group is a leading provider of innovative rendering solutions for the media, entertainment, and design industries. For over a decade our flagship rendering software, V-Ray®, has set the standard for speed, quality, reliability and ease of use, and it has become the rendering engine of choice for renowned international studios. We work closely with our customers from around the world to ensure we’re creating the best tools for their workflow. Inspired by their imaginative creations, we passionately pursue advances in rendering technology and continue to improve the software needed to communicate their vision.
We proudly support the 3D community with our advanced software solutions: V-Ray® for Autodesk® 3ds Max®, V-Ray® for Autodesk® Maya®, V-Ray® for Autodesk® Softimage®, V-Ray® for Rhino®, V-Ray® for SketchUp®, Phoenix FD and Pdplayer.
