VRay for 3ds Max Manual

V-Ray for 3ds Max Features

The V-Ray rendering system has many advanced features; here only some of them are listed. For a full list of all V-Ray modules and options, please see the help index. Note that all features are subject to change without special notice.

Core architecture

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• Multi-platform object-oriented API
• Fully multithreaded core
• Unified sampling system based on Schlick sampling
• Distributed rendering
• Efficient shading system specifically optimized for ray-tracing
• Modular architecture - many components of the system can be replaced with custom ones

Geometry

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• Efficient geometry handling
• True instance rendering
• On-demand dynamic geometry creation
• On-demand geometry loading from disk files
• Displacement mapping
• Catmull-Clark and Loop subdivision surfaces
• Extensible with custom geometric primitives through the V-Ray SDK

Image sampling

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• Three different image sampling methods
• Full-scene antialiasing
• Progressive path tracing
• Support for additional render elements (diffuse, reflection, GI etc)
• Advanced color (tone) mapping controls
• Extensible with custom image samplers through the V-Ray SDK

Illumination

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• Physically accurate full global illumination solutions
• Different GI algorithms: path tracing, irradiance cache, photon maps, light cache
• Reusable GI solutions for accelerated rendering of walk-through animations and animations with dynamic objects
• Physically accurate area lights
• Efficient illumination from HDR environments
• Procedural sun & sky models
• Extensible with custom lights through the V-Ray SDK

Shaders

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• Physically plausible materials
• Blurry reflections/refractions
• Accurate hilights
• Sub-surface scattering
• Support for efficient material layering
• Extensible with custom shaders through the V-Ray SDK

Camera effects

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• Depth-of-field with bokeh effects
• Accurate motion blur
• Physical camera model
• Extensible with custom cameras through the V-Ray SDK

Extras

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• Toon effect
• Fur generator/raytracer
• Extended matte/shadow capabilities
• Support for Render-to-Texture mode of 3ds Max
• VRaySphereFade to isolate only specific portions of the scene for compositing

Frame buffer

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• V-Ray specific frame buffer with integrated color corrections and display of multiple rendering elements
• Direct rendering to disk for extremely large images, either as OpenEXR files or as .vrimg files