Chaos V–Ray 6, Update 2 (6.20.00) for Autodesk 3ds Max Win x64

What's new in this release
Native support for MaterialX and better support for OpenUSD
For entertainment artists, a key change in Update 2 is native support for MaterialX, the open standard for look dev and material data now being adopted in visual effects software. Users can import materials in .mtlx format via the VRayVRmatMtl material. The update also expands support for another industry standard, Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD), with support for USD for 3ds Max 0.6, the latest version of 3ds Max's USD plugin.
Import geometry, cameras and (most) lights from Enscape
Architectural visualization professionals get a bridge to V-Ray's sibling application Enscape: something already available in the SketchUp edition of the renderer. The Enscape .vrscene importer lets users import .vrscene files exported from Enscape. The feature is currently still in beta, and supports "environments, materials and nearly all Enscape assets": in the initial release, lights are only partially supported. Exporting .vrscene files from V-Ray itself is "up to 20x" faster, with "far smaller" file sizes for scenes with "immense" scattering data.
New control options in Chaos Scatter
The release also updates V-Ray's scattering tools, with Chaos Scatter - the new scattering tool introduced in V-Ray 6 for 3ds Max - now updated to Chaos Scatter 4. New features include new options to organize scatter objects into hierarchies, to control distribution according to terrain height, and to rotate scatter objects towards a selected object.
Speed boosts and support for V-Ray Enmesh in V-Ray GPU
Updates to existing features include support for V-Ray Enmesh, V-Ray's system for generating repeating surface geometry, in V-Ray GPU, the software's GPU/CPU render engine. V-Ray GPU also now caches bitmaps between frames, speeding up rendering of animations and image sequences by "up to 4x". In addition, V-Ray GPU now supports the 3ds Max Standard light projection map, and the MultiMatte and VRayCryptomatte render elements on the V-Ray GPU grid volume shader.
New unified light lister and updates to the V-Ray Frame Buffer
The old V-Ray Lights Lister and V-Ray Camera Lister have been merged into a single unified light lister, making it possible to manage lights and cameras from a single location in the UI. Updates to the V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB) include support for chromatic aberration, and the option to use a solid color as the background layer. Other changes include support for denoising when rendering to texture, support for upscaling in the standalone Denoiser Tool, and support for color management in OSL.
Updates to Chaos Cosmos and Chaos Cloud
Outside the core application, new IES light models have been added to Chaos Cosmos, the online asset library included with all V-Ray subscriptions. Users can also now submit render jobs to cloud rendering platform Chaos Cloud, available as a paid service, "in a [single] click".

New Features
V-Ray
- Enscape .vrscene importer (Beta)
- One-click submit to Chaos Cloud
- Integrate Chaos Scatter 4 in the V-Ray installer
- Render to texture support for denoising
- USD - Support for latest MaxUSD
- USD - Implement a workflow for material override
- Implement Shadow Select Render Elements
- Import IES-type lights from Cosmos
- Introduce adaptivity clamp in order to avoid high sampling in overexposed regions of the image
VRayLight, V-Ray Toolbar
- New V-Ray lister
V-Ray, VRayVRmatMtl
- Native rendering of MaterialX Material types from MaxUSD
V-Ray, MultiMatteElement, VRayScene
- Multimatte Include/Exclude list support for USDStage
V-Ray, VRayEnvironmentFog
- Add "phase function" functionality to VRayEnvironmentFog
VRayLight
- Add Directional strength parameter for blending diffuse and directional distribution for VRayLight
V-Ray GPU
- VRayEnmesh GPU support
- V-Ray GPU bitmaps caching when rendering animations
- Multiply by opacity for VRayLightMtl in V-Ray GPU
- Support for 3Ds Max Standard light projection map on GPU
- Add support for MultiMatte Render Element on V-Ray GPU grid volume shader
- Add support for VRayCryptomatte Render Element on V-Ray GPU grid volume shader
VFB
- Post chromatic aberration in the VFB
- Add Color to the "Background" layer in VFB
VRayOSL
- Color management support in OSL
VRaySamplerInfoTex
- Additional info options in VRaySamplerInfoTex
V-Ray, V-Ray GPU
- Add support for "Color From Particle Channel"/"Color From RGB Channel" from Phoenix Particle Shader on V-Ray GPU
VRayVolumeGrid
- Add a right-click popup menu with a "Clear" action that would unlink connected objects from Node selector buttons in 3ds Max
- Optimize the rendering of many instanced V-Ray Volume Grids with V-Ray Standalone CPU
- Option to expose the streamline preview as native 3ds Max splines
vdenoise.exe
- Add the upscale option to the standalone denoiser tool
Modified Features
V-Ray
- Improve ForestPack export for a lot of instances?
- Optimize ForestPack edge trimming export
- Improve .vrscene export of hidden geometry
- Improve geometry compiling for subdivision surface objects on high core count machines
- Download the missing asset revision used in the project (Cosmos)
- USD - 3ds Max should export assets paths with a forward slash
- Rendering deep images in progressive mode should save a non-deep image regardless
- Improvements for the V-Ray menu Set default MAX V-Ray UI setting
- Change the Render Setup's UI modes labels from "Default" to "Basic"
- Reveal all the options for the camera types in the Camera rollout
- Move VRayProxy's Object hierarchy to a separate dialog
- Add a label when there are no cameras in the scene and using the flyout render button in the VFB
- Scripting access to Override Material Settings
- V-Ray for 3ds Max Japanese localization
V-Ray, V-Ray GPU
- Add separate control for IPR Ray Bundle Size in GPU UI
- Implement edge trimming into the core for V-Ray Standalone and V-Ray GPU
- Export Color Correction settings from Forest Pro Material rollout
- Abort on missing OCIO display corrections
- VRayUVWRandomizer Flip UVs option
- Support for rendering Particle colors based on different channels
V-Ray GPU
- Improved bump mapping for small objects
- Volumetric scattering with anisotropic phase function
VFB
- Allow creation of folders in the main layer stack in VFB
- Add the ability to select and move multiple layers into a folder in VFB
- Add a link in the VFB History panel for enabling it when off
- Copy the current state to the clipboard when a mask' preview is visible as well in VFB
- Remove the ability to change the visibility of a layer by clicking the middle mouse, right-click in VFB
- Remove the middle mouse and right click as an option to select or deselect objects from a mask in VFB
- Option for adding the image alpha when copying to clipboard
VRayClipper
- Pick mesh button in VRayClipper should be disabled while creating the clipper
VRayDecal
- Width takes values greater than the ones that Bend could handle in VRayDecal
- Divide the UI of VRayDecal in groups, and add a lock aspect ratio button.
VRayIES
- Rearrange VRayIES UI
- Align VRayIES light's default shadow bias value to other V-Ray Lights
VRayLight
- Grey out Target distance when Mesh mode is chosen in VRayLight
- Grey out Targeted parameter when Spherical light is chosen inside VRayLight
- Draw a viewport preview for Finite Dome light's radius value
- Flip the direction of the VRayLight when Alt key is pressed
- Make "Texmap preview" in VRayLight active and able to preview a texture in the viewport
- Add a viewport indicator for VRayLights
VRayMtl
- Gray out IOR controls for metals
VRayMultiSubTex
- VRayMultiSubTex to support randomizing by Tile (BerconTile)
VRayMultiSubTex, VRaySamplerInfoTex
- Add a new mode in VRayMultiSubTex for ID generator textures
VRayPhysicalCamera
- Add Type label in VRayPhysicalCamera settings
VRayPluginNode
- New UI on VRayNoiseTex
VRayVolumeGrid
- In 3ds max, all generated splines from the streamlines preview should have their viewport visibility and render visibility enabled
- Control for automatically setting the Cache Origin and Timeline Origin to the beginning of the loaded sequence
- Move all the on/off switches for the different preview types to the top of the Preview rollout
vdenoise.exe, filter_generator.exe, lens_analyzer.exe, ply2vrmesh.exe, vrimg2exr.exe, imapviewer.exe, img2tiledexr.exe, vrmesh_viewer.exe
- New icons for the tools shipped with V-Ray
Bug Fixes
V-Ray
- Exception in V-Ray GPU when rendering VRayLight with texture and Spot Light with Projector map
- IPR crashes with standard material nested in override material for USDStage
- Wrong VRayLight intensity when exported to USD and then rendered
- xRef with VRayProxy viewport preview does not load correctly when switching xRef files in stable and nightly builds
- Wrong export of transform list params in plain text
- USD - Crash when rendering USD file containing VRayLight when imported in a scene with a matte object
- Animated mesh normals are not used and instead computed and rendered as smooth normals
- Converting .vrimgs to multipart .exrs via the vrimg2exr tool makes some denoiser elements unrecognizable by vdenoiser.exe
- A scene with VRayDecal, Switch material and user-defined properties takes too much time to unload after a render is stopped
- USD Material Interface handling in V-Ray for 3ds Max
- Slowdown when rendering VRayHairNextMtl with opacity in comparison to V-Ray 5.1
- USD - Changes in UsdStage session layer are not rendered
- Incorrect minimum value for geometry samples in QT UI Render setup Camera rollup
- Some LPE presets for render elements are incomplete
- Add support for animated crop parameters of Bitmap/VRayBitmap when exporting to a vrscene file
- Incorrect rendered output of RE due to conflict between NVIDIA AI Denoiser with enabled Upscale and change in resolution during submission to the cloud
- V-Ray / V-Ray GPU result discrepancies when exporting animated objects and motion blur enabled
- Assets of type "material" import with multiple VRayUVWRandomizer nodes
- VRayNormal nodes are always imported with "Flip green" turned on
- Crash when editing VRayBitmap filename with frameNum tag
- V-Ray GPU crashes with Render Mask with empty Include list
- Black viewport display of large textures with VRayBitmap
- 3ds Max crash with X-ref scene and LiveLink
- Crash in V-Ray Standalone when rendering Forest Color using empty VRayBitmap as default map
- Motion blur geometry samples override per object is not exported when the animated mesh remains on the same position
- VFB Real Zoom doesn't update correctly in GPU IPR with V-Ray Cameras with enabled Resolution override
- Crash when rendering TyCache (TyFlow) with Edit mesh modifier only in animation
- Mis-loading of frame-numbered ABC sequences
- 3ds Max crashes with imported USD file and running IPR
- Overrides are not working when enabling Use alembic offset in VRayProxy with Include visibility lists
- Visibility override is not working for VRayProxy with visibility lists after making it unique
- Chaos Scatter's Edge trimming does not render correctly in V-Ray GPU when we have multiple Multi/Sub-Object materials applied to the instanced objects
- Chaos Scatter's Edge trimming renders incorrectly in V-Ray GPU on instanced objects with Multi/Sub-Object when Override mtl is used
- The top level materials imported along with geometry assets get non-unique names
- Scatter-instanced models' materials might get exported incorrectly on duplicated names
- Discrepancies with Standalone when using a material with VRayBitmap with no tiling, Alpha source set to None and a custom UVW map
- Error with the V-Ray Proxy exporter when object name contains slash symbol
- Inconsistent rendering of Scatter during GPU IPR session with delete/undo
- Rare crash while obtaining a license
- Wrong symbols in VFB compare settings when Chinese UI is used
- Viewport GPU IPR renders black when started from a camera viewport with enabled Resolution Override
- Typo in Submit to Chaos Cloud rendering window UI
- Crash when switching between VRayPointCloudColor maps in Compact ME
- Huge slowdown with alembic with complex hierarchy loaded in VRayProxy
- Override mtl include option is not transferred when switching between V-Ray/V-Ray GPU
- Deep output: certain channels should be always 32-bit
- Some of the settings in Translucency are not grayed out when Volumetric is used in combination with Thin-walled in VRayMtl
- Cloud Preview resolution is not respected when VRayPhysicalCamera's Resolution override is used
- USD - Crash when exporting to USD as animation range VRayProxy with nondefault Scale value
- Explicit normals are changed to Unspecified for modified Proxy nodes
- Motion Blur does not affect VRayTriplanarTex when applied to VRayProxy
- Camera creation for ortho views needs a default target distance value
- Command panel gets resized when VRayProxy object is selected
- V-Ray GPU crash when rendering TyFlow cache with motion blur with a specific scene
- Endless compiling geometry step to displaced alembic in V-Ray Standalone
- Vraylog overwhelmed with: Object () may require 2-sided lighting: material () is potentially translucent
- Wrong mapping at UV seam with Normal maps in 3ds Max
- Animated rotation of HDRI rendered with Backburner/Deadline and V-Ray GPU differs on each machine
- VRayUVWRandomizer's Coordinates Rollout UI not responding to animated parameters
- Isolate Locked Selected does not lock onto nodes in the Material Editor
- V-Ray Ambient light is not illuminating when exported
- Material color swatch is not rendered outside of VRayHDRI placement when the map Opacity is set to None
- No extension on vrmesh files if deleted when choosing a file name
- Slow progress printing due to unconditional console code page changes
- BitmapBuffer reported black as an invalid color
- Saving a TIFF file with the SaveTIFFile() function in pimglib swaps the red and blue components
- Slowdowns in Embree when multiple dynamic objects are expanded at the same time
- LPE light tags support
- VRayProxy with assigned Multi/Sub-Object material in V-Ray GPU has incorrect shading with material override
- Access violation during closure code generation with LLVM 12
- LC samples should not be increased when rendering minuscule regions
- Changing any settings or changing the timeline frame of Simulators or Particle Shaders in Volumetric Mode does not update in V-Ray CPU IPR in Maya
MultiMatteElement
- VRayObjectSelect deep output issues
V-Ray GPU
- VRayEnmesh "Use mesh UVW mapping" does not consider source object's mapping channel different than 1 on V-Ray GPU
- Crash on starting IPR with GPU, DR on and VRayCryptomatte RE with ID type set as Node Material Name or Node User Property
- Aborting rendering while Uploading Bitmaps is not responsive
- Garbage data read when there is displacement in a scene
- Crash when scenes containing Image sequences and V-Ray Sky are rendered with CUDA and then RTX engine
- Assert and NaNs in the result when reading diffuse light select values from light cache
- Fix reading uninitialized memory on the first iteration of LC/K3
- Select object and Pick object material functionality in VFB is broken with V-Ray GPU IPR
- Render freeze when rendering animated object with RTX, motion blur and V-Ray Denoiser
- GPU Light cache freeze when rendering animation with a specific scene on a machine with multiple gpu devices
- Phoenix Particle Shader in Point mode randomly disappears on a test scene with OptiX
- Print a warning for CUDA 12 min driver version
- Emissive material does not appear in VRaySelfIllumination behind refractive object
- VRaySphere is not rendered with RTX
- Rendering stucks when using the Bucket image sampler and Textured render mask
- MultiMatte does not consider material IDs nested in VRayBlendMtl with blend amount
- Regression of spot/direct lights intensity
- evalSamplerTex might return uninitilized .w in some modes
- Instanced objects render black when "Cast shadows" is unchecked and Edge trimming in Chaos Scatter is active
- Parsing version 470.161.03 failed
- VRayClipper does not have correct material IDs when rendering with V-Ray GPU
- Cryptomatte render element doesn't work for objects behind glass
- Bump mapping doesn't work correctly on a plane
- MultiMatte does not work with material IDs within VRayBlendMtl
- MultiMatteID is not propagated through nested materials
- VRayVolumeGrid and Smoke renders artefacts with GPU
V-Ray Toolbar
- Submit to Chaos Cloud window is opened from V-Ray Toolbar even when the current renderer is max native one
V-Ray/V-Ray Bitmap to VRayBitmap converter/V-Ray scene converter
- V-Ray Scene Converter incorrectly converts displacement amount from CoronaLegacyMtl
- V-Ray scene incorrectly converts Corona material "Onyx" from Corona Material Library
VFB
- It takes several times to exclude an object from a mask with the Minus button
- Pixel info in VFB is not available when loading EXR which does not contain alpha channel
- Missing visible indication for Override Mtl with no picked material error
- VFB 2 doesn't read the VRAY_VFB_SRGB env variable
- Crash when hovering over specific VFB layer presets while rendering and having VRayDenoiser added
- All VFB layers are disabled in specific scene
- Lens effects flicker with VFB Batch image processing
VFB, V-Ray
- VFB OCIO settings lost when opening a scene with a broken config path
VRayDenoiser/vdenoise.exe, V-Ray GPU
- rhel8: V-Ray denoiser OpenCL sporadic initialization failure
VRayGLSL
- VRayOSLTex Quick Shader widget does not update
- Crash with VRayGLSLTex in Environment
VRayInstancer
- V-Ray IPR crash with scatter in if the last model from the UI instanced group is deleted from the scene
- V-Ray crashes with newer scatter release suited for Corona
VRayLight
- Modifying width value of sphere lights through MAXScript affects intensity rays
- Typo in VRayLight script parameter name
- Adaptive Dome light support for Light Cache 'From File' mode
- The simulation keeps interacting with objects hidden using Hide by Category in 3ds Max
VRayLight, V-Ray Toolbar
- Preserve the position of the mesh on which VRayClipper is applied if the gizmo was moved previously
- Preserve the position of the light when Mesh light is applied on an object with a repositioned gizmo
VRayMDL
- MDL materials lost between renders
- User-defined MDL include paths not exported
- MDL module path not sent from client and module not resolved correctly on the server during DR
- Modified material parameters are ignored on the GPU
- Importing MDL modules from within an MDL module does not work with DR
- MDL materials with enum parameters fail to load
VRayMDL, V-Ray
- MDL crashes when MDL nodes are imported via VRayScene
VRayMDL, VRayGLSL
- Remove "Reset" and "Reload" options from VRayMDLMtl context menu
VRayMultiSubTex
- The Seed parameter of VRayMultiSubTex is placed over the texture mode drop-down list with Chinese UI
- VRayMultiSubTex color swatches are not locked in Qt UI with disabling the Blend color and texture checkbox
VRayOSL
- OSL closure registration fails with multiple renderer instances
- Empty shader string parameters on OSL Map cause vassert failure with GPU rendering
VRayOSL, VRayMDL, VRayGLSL
- VRayOSLTex produces Compiler errors when trying to modify code via Quick Shader's rollout
VRayGLSL
- Embedded GLSL bitcode lacks a terminating zero
VRayPhysicalCamera
- VRayPhysicalCamera zoom control doesn't update viewports in realtime
- Zoom factor does not work with FOV in V-Ray Physical camera
- Zoom Extents All Selected ("Z" shortcut) considers the VRayCamera's far clipping plane
VRaySun/VRaySky/VRayAerialPerspective
- VRaySky should generate a temporary file for viewport preview only if needed
VRaySun/VRaySky/VRayAerialPerspective, V-Ray GPU
- Environment Background multiplier does not affect the Sky Clouds in Rhino and SketchUp
VRayVolumeGrid
- Crash during tyFlow particle simulation when reading Phoenix simulation data using Time Step below 1 frame with Phoenix for V-Ray 5
- 3ds Max crashes when loading a Phoenix Render Preset in a V-Ray Volume Grid
- The Preview's Detail Reduction value is not updated in an expanded Preview rollout if the Volume Grid is not selected in 3ds Max
- Changing any option in the floating rollout does not affect the options in the regular rollout in 3ds Max until you reselect the Volume Grid
- Hide automatically the Phoenix viewport icons when using V-Ray Viewport IPR in 3ds Max
- The cache is flipping back when changing any of the Smoothing options while Flip Up Axis is enabled in 3ds Max
- Freeze when moving the timeline during rendering Volumetrics with V-Ray 5 IPR in 3ds Max
- Changing the render Mode of the V-Ray VolumeGrid sometimes erroneously sets it to Volumetric or Volumetric Geometry
- Crash when basing the Smoke Color on the Speed channel of VDBs whose bounding box does not start at 0,0,0
- Wrong Grid-based Volumetric Motion Blur with VDBs whose bounding box does not start at 0,0,0
- The streamlines viewport preview is transformed in an incorrect way in certain cases
- The streamlines viewport preview in 3ds Max updates with a delay, after a change in the preview settings
- Hidden or non-renderable Phoenix Simulator does not work as Simulator Render Cutter or Particle Shader Render Cutter in 3ds Max
- In 3ds Max 2019 and 2020, opening a saved scene with Simulator QT combo boxes whose default is not the 1st element but is set to the 1st element, shows a wrong element
- Crash when changing the frame during V-Ray IPR CPU rendering with Motion Blur enabled in 3ds Max
- Mesh for native streamlines object is not generated properly in 3ds Max
- Streamlines preview is not updated correctly until the current frame is changed
- Volume Grid's lights are always created on the active render layer even if the Volume Grid is placed in another layer when the Hidden lights option is off in 3ds Max
- Saved images from the 3ds Max, Maya and Standalone Previewer GPU preview with frames outside the timeline have cache indexes clamped to the nearest timeline frame
- Simulator disabled from rendering and with no Velocity channel exported triggers a warning when rendering with Motion Blur enabled
- Changing the frame during V-Ray IPR CPU doesn't update the cache file correctly with Motion Blur enabled in 3ds Max
- When Smoke's Scattering option is disabled, the External Scatter Multiplier still affects the GPU Preview
ply2vrmesh.exe
- Animated V-Ray Proxy with high poly count is causing long scene open times
V-Ray for 3ds Maxis a production-proven rendering software. Known for its versatility and ability to handle any type of project - from massive, dynamic scenes having thousands of lights to a sublime still life - it is the go-to solution for artists and designers across 3D industries.
V-Ray 6 for 3ds Max - How to scatter objects
Find out how to use Chaos Scatter to quickly add rich detail to an exterior. You'll learn how to select and add objects such as plants, rocks and trees, adjust how many are added and how they vary in size, and control exactly where they appear.
Chaosdevelops visualization technologies that empower 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 provider of real-time rendering and design workflow technology for the AEC industry. Enscape offers innovative solutions that connect directly into modeling software, integrating design and visualization workflows seamlessly into one. Together, the newly combined company is creating an end-to-end ecosystem of 3D visualization tools accessible to everyone.