Maya 2016 Support and Advanced VR Rendering in Latest Free Update

SOFIA, BULGARIA – July 28, 2015 – Today,  Chaos Group announces the immediate availability of  V-Ray 3.1 for Maya. V-Ray 3.1 for Maya contains over 100 new and modified features, including Maya 2016 compatibility, numerous V-Ray RT GPU enhancements and two VR cameras. The free update also offers more efficient handling of proxy objects, an improved global illumination algorithm, and faster rendering performance.

“V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a big release,” said Vladimir Koylazov, Chaos Group Co-founder and Lead Developer of V-Ray. “Our team has been hard at work making sure that the speed, memory and workflow optimizations our community has requested are ready for professional use.”

For VR projects, V-Ray 3.1 for Maya adds new stereoscopic camera types that will render 6x1 cube maps and spherical images. The introduction of the Shade Map optimizes stereoscopic rendering.

“When I started building out the new VR and VFX division for Legend3D, I knew V-Ray for Maya had to be a part of it,” said Justin Denton, VFX and VR Supervisor at  Legend3D. “Working with Chaos Group led to the features we need for our advanced virtual reality projects. V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a huge update.”

V-Ray RT GPU now supports:

• Hair & fur
• Subsurface scattering
• Displacement & subdivision surfaces
• Light Cache GI
• Anisotropic highlights
• UDIM textures
• Texture baking
• QMC sampling on NVIDIA CUDA devices

Proxy Object improvements:

• Identical proxy objects are now automatically instanced
• Improved viewport previews with mesh simplification options
• Import multiple proxy objects at once
• Support for hair and particle instances
• Support for instancing Ogawa Alembic files
• Mesh viewer utility – to view proxy objects and Alembic files, including subdivision surfaces, particles, and hair

Additional New Features in V-Ray 3.1:

Maya 2016 support

• Full support for new Hypershade Node Editor, Material Viewer, and Lookdev view
• Enhanced Bifrost support – including rendering liquids as isosurfaces without meshing

Workflow & User Interface

• Quick settings
• Light Lister
• Tooltips
• Updated default render settings

Geometry

• Faster rendering of dynamic meshes, proxy objects, and instances
• Faster rendering of hair and fur
• Intel Embree acceleration for hair and fur
• VRayClipper – for cutaways and sections

Lights

• Light meter – new helper object for lighting analysis

Global Illumination

• Updated Light Cache algorithm removes light leaks and improves animation

Volume rendering

• Probabilistic shading for faster volume rendering

Availability
V-Ray 3.1 for Maya is a free update for all V-Ray 3.0 for Maya customers. Download now at  chaosgroup.com. For more information and a complete change log, visit V-Ray.com.

About Chaos Group
Chaos Group creates physically-based rendering and simulation software for artists and designers. Founded in 1997, Chaos Group has devoted the last 18 years to helping artists advance the speed and quality of one of their most important tools. Today, Chaos Group’s photorealistic rendering software, V-Ray®, has become the rendering engine of choice for many high-profile companies and innovators in the design and visual effects industries.