VRay for 3ds Max Manual

Unsupported 3ds Max features

	General
	Maps
	Materials
	Lights
	Shadow types
	Shaders
	Antialiasing filters
	Standard render elements
	Exposure control
	Texture baking

Search Keywords: unsupport, raytrace map, reflect/refract, flat mirror, raytrace, advanced lighting, matte/shadow, raytraced shadow, translucent

General

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As a rendering plugin for 3ds Max, V-Ray supports most of the standard 3ds Max features and many of the 3rd party plugins. However, some feautres of 3ds Max are not supported or work only partially. The most common of these are listed below.

Note that the list is not complete; there may be other 3ds Max features which do not work or work only partially with V-Ray.

In many cases, V-Ray provides replacements for unsupported standard features; those are noted wherever applicable.

Note that features specific to renderers other than the default scanline renderer are in general not supported, but are not listed below.

Maps

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Raytrace map

This map is not fully supported by V-Ray; using it with V-Ray is not recommended as it can lead to artifacts in the image. Use the specific VRayMap instead.

Reflect/refract map

This map is not supported by V-Ray; using it with V-Ray is not recommended. V-Ray does not provide equivalent functionality, but you can use the specific VRayMap instead.

Flat mirror map

This map is not supported by V-Ray; using it with V-Ray is not recommended. V-Ray does not provide equivalent functionality, but you can use the specific VRayMap instead.

Materials

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Raytrace material

This material is not fully supported by V-Ray; using it with V-Ray is not recommended as it can lead to artifacts in the image. Use the specific VRayMtl instead.

Advanced lighting override

This material is not supported by V-Ray. Some of its functionality is available in the VRayMtlWrapper material.

Matte/shadow

V-Ray only partially supports this material. Specifically, the Opaque Alpha parameter is not supported. The standard Matte/shadow material will also not pick up GI shadows. Instead, extended matte/shadow capabilities for V-Ray are available in the VRayMtlWrapper material or in the V-Ray Object Settings.

Lights

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Skylight

The standard 3ds Max skylight is not supported by V-Ray and V-Ray will print a warning about this if you attempt to render it. Instead, use the Dome mode of VRayLight, or the GI Environment override option in V-Ray's Environment rollout.

Shadow types

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Raytraced shadows

This shadow type does not work with V-Ray; using it is not recommended as it can lead to artifacts in the image. Use the specific VRayShadows instead.

Shaders

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Translucent Shader

This shader is not supported by V-Ray; using it is not recommended. Use the translucency options in the VRayMtl material instead.

Antialiasing filters

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Plate match/MAX R2

This filter is not supported by V-Ray. Using it will produce an entirely black image.

Standard render elements

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V-Ray does not support the standard 3ds Max render elements, but instead supplies its own, both for normal rendering and for texture baking. See the Render elements section for more information.

Exposure control

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V-Ray supports exposure control only partially. Exposure plugins that require presampling of the image (Automatic Exposure, Linear Exposure) or separate render elements (Pseudo Color Exposure) will not work properly with V-Ray. Of the standard 3ds Max exposure control plugins, only Logarithmic Exposure control is fully supported. You can also use V-Ray's own Color mapping mechanism. See the Color mapping section for more details.

Texture baking

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You must use the V-Ray texture baking elements (e.g. VRayCompleteMap instead of CompleteMap etc). See the section on Texture baking for more information.