Chaos Group

Chaos Software, Sofia - Today Chaos Software announced the feature list of the upcoming sequence player - pdplayer:

Full feature list is available here:http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/pdplayer.html

Major features include:
- ability to run file sequences per layer
- full alpha support per layer, various layer modes (add, multiply,etc)
- per-layer caching
- numerous file formats support
- exports to After Effects and Nuke
- built-in HTTP server

2008, April 19th, Sofia - Chaos Software announced today the immediate availability of the next version of V-Ray - 1.50.SP2 (1.50 service pack 2)


The V-Ray 1.5 Service Pack 2 is compatible with Autodesk® 3ds Max 2009® and Autodesk® 3ds Max Design 2009®.

The update also includes several new features, for example VRayIES photometric light; VRaySimbiontMtl material for direct rendering of DarkTree materials; VRayShadowMap shadow generator for standard light for reduction of flickering of VRayFur; the VRay_ExtraTex render element for generating ambient occlusion passes, UVW channel passes etc. There are many modifications and improvements of existing features. The complete list with all details can be found in the changelog file, part of the installation and customers can be also referred to the information provided in the V-Ray help index.

Build 1.50.SP2 (11 April 2008)
(cumulative changelog since build 1.50.SP1)
===================

New features:
(*) Compatibility with 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009;
(*) Support for animated deforming meshes to .vrmesh files and the VRayProxy object;
(*) Support for Lighting Analysis Overlay render effect in 3ds Max 2009;
(*) VRayIES light;
(*) VRaySimbiontMtl material (allows rendering of DarkTree materials directly by V-Ray);
(*) Rectangle VRayLights can be mapped with a texture map, similar to dome lights;
(*) VRayShadowMap shadow generator for standard lights (useful for reducing flickering of VRayFur in animations; works with all V-Ray geometry objects like proxies, fur etc.);
(*) VRay_Illuminance render element;
(*) VRay_SelfIlluminationMap texture baking element;
(*) VRay_BumpNormals render element and VRayBumpNormalsMap bake render element to extract bump-mapped normals;
(*) VRay_ExtraTex render element to store the result from the calculation of any extra texture map on shaded surfaces without the need to actually apply the map in their materials (can be used with VRayDirt for AO pass, or with Vertex Color map for UVW channels pass, or with Falloff map for custom z-depth pass or top/bottom etc);
(*) VRay_SampleRate render element to show the image sampling rate into a separate element;
(*) The installation includes MAX.vray Defaults profile for 3ds Max;

Modified features:
(*) Added "Preserve tweaks on load" option for VRaySimbiontMtl;
(*) DTE components now included with the installation;
(*) Support for "Show map in viewports" of VRayMtl can be disabled by setting the environment variable VRAY_SHOW_MTL_MAPS to 0;
(*) Added hidden parameter "option_clampTextures" to VRayMtl, which is true by default for newly created materials (old scenes render as before);
(*) Faster and multithreaded preparation of texture-mapped VRayLights;
(*) Improved sampling of texture-mapped VRayLights;
(*) Added more white balance presets to the VRayPhyscal camera (D50, D55, D65 and D75 corresponding to the CIE standard illuminants);
(*) The default white balance preset for the VRayPhsycal camera is now the D65 illuminant;
(*) More reliable memory handling for the V-Ray VFB for large images;
(*) Mapped rectangle lights now use the alpha of the texture map for transparency;
(*) The information in .vrmesh files is now compressed by default (makes newly created proxies incompatible with older versions);
(*) Reduced memory requirements in certain situations;
(*) In RTT (render to texture) mode, V-Ray now always creates floating-point frame buffers for the bake elements;
(*) vrimg2exr tool flushes the standard output more regularly;
(*) Added "Soften" parameter to the BRDF parameters of VRayMtl;
(*) vrimg2exr tool has an option for gamma correction;
(*) vrimg2exr tool can convert non-RGB channels (velocity, zdepth etc) when used with the '-channel' option;
(*) Added a hidden parameter lightcache_minPathsPerSample to control usage of light cache samples during the light cache calculation phase (reduces bias in the light cache when a small number of subdivs are used);
(*) VRaySun target line is now dimmed in the viewports when the sun light is off;
(*) VRayProxy objects have a new "point" display mode;

Bug fixes:
(*) Fixed crash when loading scene in 3ds Max 2009;
(*) VRayFur did not generate velocity channel information;
(*) Fixed misaligned buckets on render slaves with DR;
(*) DR with "Don't render final image" caused render slaves to drop after the first frame;
(*) VRaySun did not display correctly with viewport shading model set to "Best";
(*) Fixed crash when cancelling a DR rendering before the actual render has started;
(*) The Tweaks rollout of VRaySimbiontMtl turned blank if other rollouts were opened/closed;
(*) Material editor now updates faster if no license is found;
(*) All parameters of VRayHDRI appeared named as "Spin" in TrackView;
(*) The multipliers of VRayHDRI were not animatable;
(*) Fixed memory leak in the V-Ray license server when the status of the server is requested.
(*) Fixed memory leak in the new sampler for texture-mapped VRayLight's;
(*) Browsing for a non-animated irradiance map ending with a number caused that number to be truncated;
(*) Problem with VRayIES light with soft shadows in the lighting render elements;
(*) Fixed wrong bounding box of VRayProxy objects;
(*) Issues with SpeedTree texture filtering;
(*) Fixed bright spots on matte objects with irradiance map with low settings;
(*) Fixed problems in VRayMtl with Falloff map and bump map at grazing angles;
(*) Crash when exporting more than 100 objects to one .vrmesh file;
(*) VRayShadowMap did not consider light exclude lists and object "Cast shadows" properties;
(*) Fixed artifacts when rendering dynamic geometry with motion blur;
(*) Different rendering results between Intel/AMD machines with 64-bit V-Ray;
(*) Groups within groups did not work with the V-Ray Override mtl exclusion list, as well as with light exclusion lists;
(*) Exclusion lists for V-Ray lights not imported properly when merging the lights from another file;
(*) Fixed wrong velocity channel for proxies with Scale parameter different than 1.0;
(*) ply2vrmesh failed for .ply files with error "wrong format";
(*) Fixed problem with transparent VRayLightMtl materials and GI;
(*) Fixed problems in alpha channel when mixing V-Ray and standard 3ds Max materials (e.g. VRayMtl inside a 3ds Max Blend material etc);
(*) Fixed problems with filtering of some procedural textures (e.g. Gradient Ramp);
(*) Fixed problems with Falloff map at grazing angles;
(*) Fixed potential divide-by-zero problems with glossy hilights because of the "Soften" BRDF parameter;
(*) Fixed precision loss when using the V-Ray VFB render region override options;
(*) Fixed problem with Particle Flow freezing in certain cases on object preparation during rendering;
(*) The y-coordinate (green component) of VRayVelocity render element was flipped compared to the 3ds Max one;
(*) The result from the adaptive DMC image sampler could be different with the "Don't affect colors" option on;
(*) The vrayspawner.exe application will automatically look for a 3dsviz.exe file, if no 3dsmax.exe can be found;
(*) The internal V-Ray replacement material for the 3ds Max multi/subobject material now matches the 3ds Max one when an ID is greater than specified in the material;
(*) MaxScript error using the V-Ray scene converter in 3ds Max 2008;
(*) Fixed crashes with VRayMtl and DirectX with the "Show map in viewport" option on;
(*) Objects with visibility<1.0 rendered brighter with GI than they should be;
(*) Bug with dome lights (from build 1.50.14 only);
(*) Background seen through matte objects not sampled properly for AA (from 1.50.SP1 only);
(*) No reflections on VRayMtl if Fresnel reflections are enabled, the Fresnel IOR is locked to the refractive one, and the material has opacity map;
(*) Dynamic raycaster limit did not work properly for values above 4095;
(*) Issues with VRayDirt when baking very dense meshes;
(*) Incorrect rendering progress bar display in DR mode;
(*) The mesh export to .vrscene file ignored mesh normals;

Come and visit us at Siggraph 2007 Chaos Group is pleased to announce that the first release candidate for version 1.5 of the V-Ray rendering engine for Autodesk® 3dsmax® is now available for download. Below is a summary of the changes since the last official version.Chaos Group is pleased to announce that the first release candidate for version 1.5 of the V-Ray rendering engine for Autodesk® 3dsmax® is now available for download. Below is a summary of the changes since the last official version.

Chaos Group is pleased to announce that the first release candidate for version 1.5 of the V-Ray rendering engine for Autodesk® 3dsmax® is now available for download. Below is a summary of the changes since the last official version.

New features

Renderer

• Support for motion blur on Particle Flow systems with both translational and rotational motion blur.
• True instance rendering for motion blur with Dynamic default geometry for drastic reduction of memory requirements when 3d motion blur is used.
• New Reinhard color mapping mode.
• Sub-pixel and per-pixel color mapping modes.
• More inteligent ray sampling to reduce noise when combining multiple blurry effects (e.g. area light illumination seen in glossy reflections etc).
• Full floating-point output support in 3dsmax 8 and higher.
• Support for unlimited number of render channels.
• "Overbright" or invalid colors produced by shaders are much less likely to affect render quality.
• Fully compatible with Autodesk® VIZ®.

Global illumination

• Detail enhancement for the irradiance map. This works similar to an integrated ambient occlusion pass, but is more physically correct, rather than just producing a "dirty" effect, since it calculates correct light bouncing.
• Adaptive path tracing mode for the light cache can concentrate samples in important areas to reduce noise in difficult situations (e.g. GI caustics) .

Render elements

• The 3dsmax Render Elements interface is now supported by V-Ray. The old G-Buffer settings have been removed. V-Ray supports nearly 30 render elements including z-depth, render ID, material ID, velocity, reflections, specular, diffuse etc.
• VRayMtlSelect render element allows the user to extract a given material to a separate render element. This can be either a top-level V-Ray material, or a sub-material of VRayBlendMtl.
• VRayWireColor render element allows the user to create masks with specified colors.
• Color mapping per render element. Color mapping can be turned on or off on a per-element basis.
• Render elements are fully supported in distributed rendering mode.

Materials

• VRayBlendMtl material allows the layering of several different V-Ray materials. This is a lot faster than the regular 3dsmax Blend/Shellac/Composite materials and generates correct V-Ray render elements. The different layers of a VRayBlendMtl can be extracted to different render elements through the VRayMtlSelect render element.
• VRay2SidedMtl material allows the simulation of thin translucent surfaces like paper, cloth etc.
• VRayFastSSS material for simulating the sub-surface scattering in materials like human skin. Works best if layered with a regular diffuse/specular VRayMtl through VRayMtlBlend.
• VRayOverrideMtl material allows the user to specify different materials for reflections/refractions/GI.

Textures

• VRayDirt texture for simulating dirt or ambient occlusion.
• VRaySky environment texture works either with VRaySun or regular direct lights to simulate the natural sky illumination of the Sun. For best results, use with the V-Ray physical camera.
• VRayCompTex texture for combining textures in additional ways not available in 3dsmax (e.g. difference, division etc).
• VRayColor texture for specifying precise floating-point RGB color values.

Lights

• VRaySky light for simulating the natural illumination of the Sun. Works in conjunction with the VRaySky texture. For best results, use with the V-Ray physical camera.

Cameras

• VRayPhysicalCamera simulates an actual photographic camera with real-world settings.
• VRayDomeCamera can be used to render images to be projected on hemispheric dome screens.

Render to texture

• V-Ray has its own texture baking elements, which must be used instead of the standard 3dsmax ones.
• Color mapping can be applied on a per-element basis.

V-Ray frame buffer (VFB)

• Enhanced stability, user interface improvements.
• sRGB option for display in 2.2 gamma space.
• Support for pixel aspect ratio different than 1.0.

MaxScript

• Direct export of V-Ray proxy meshes from MaxScript without a GUI dialog.

V-Ray SDK

• Allows the implementation of V-Ray specific materials, lights, atmospheric effects, geometric primitives, cameras etc.
• Allows the replacement of nearly every aspect of the render engine (raycast acceleration, GI solutions, image samplers etc).
• The V-Ray SDK is supported on the following platforms: Microsoft® Windows® NT4/2000/XP/Vista 32-bit and 64-bit, Linux, OSX 10.

64-bit ready

• V-Ray is already running natively under 64-bit operating systems.
• A 64-bit version for Autodesk® 3dsmax® will be available together with or shortly after the official release of 3dsmax® 9.

Modified features

VRayLight

• Support for IBL (image-based lighting) - VRayLight in "dome" mode can be mapped with a HDR image with optimized importance sampling for both diffuse and specular lighting.
• The dome light can be made spherical or hemi-spherical.
• Accurate light emission units (lumens, watts etc). For best results, use this feature with the V-Ray physical camera.
• Separate "affect diffuse" and "affect specular" options.

VRayFur

• Added mapping for many parameters - fur direction, density etc.
• Optimized performance.

VRayToon

• Support for including/excluding objects from the toon effect.

VRayDisplacementMod

• Better displacement for meshes with large triangles.

Distributed rendering

• Improved stability.
• Render elements and G-Buffer channels are now supported in DR mode.
• Animation is supported in DR mode.
• Support for X-Ref'd scenes.

Licensing system

• Based on a hardware lock for convenient transportation of the V-Ray licenses.
• Floating license system for distributing the available licenses in the local area network.

About Chaos Group
Chaos Group is a leading software solutions provider for the visual effects industry and computer generated imagery. It is famous for its award-winning rendering solutions used in many high-end projects around the world as well as fluid-based simulation products.

V-Ray and the V-Ray logo are registered trademarks of Chaos Software Ltd. in Bulgaria and/or other countries.

Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Autodesk, 3D Studio, 3D Studio MAX, 3D Studio VIZ, 3ds Max and Discreet are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc./Autodesk Canada Inc. in the USA and/or other countries.

Caligari Corporation, award-winning producer of 3D modeling and animation software, today extended its leadership by announcing the availability of trueSpace7, the first 3D software application to feature real-time collaborative authoring technology.
Read the full story here.

Today Chaos Group published an interview with Eric Barba - visual effects supervisor at Digital Domain regarding their use of V-Ray on the Nine Inch Nail Only video. Read the full story here.

Yes! The V-Ray® for Maya® beta-testing is a fact!

21 Nov, 2005,Sofia,ChaosGroup - After its tremendous success on the commercial market on the 3ds Max® platform, we have managed to extend our state of the art rendering solution to the Maya® community. Read the full story here!

Chaos Group released the next public build of chaosAURA - the fluid dynamics simulation engine for fire and smoke.
http://www.chaosgroup.com/AURA

AURA version 0.60.01

We are proud to announce the beginning of the public-testing programme of chaosAURA - our new fluid dynamics simulation engine. Anyone can download, authorize and test it and can use it for any purpose.

Starting a little slow on support, responses and documentation, we promise to catch up pretty quickly.

chaosAURA is currently available for 3dsmax(tm). It will soon be available for other 3D platforms as well.

You can download the installation package here:
http://www.spot3d.com/AURA/publicbeta/chaosAura_0.55.50.msi

Some samples of chaosAURA''s features can be seen here:
http://www.chaosgroup.com/AURA

September, 1st - Today Chaos Group announced the start date for the public beta testing phase of its fluid-based fire and smoke simulation plugin code-named Aura. Finally, after several months of closed beta-testing and additional development, Aura is going public!

From Wednesday, the 8th of September, 2004, a public beta version of the 3dsmax® plugin will be available for download from the Chaos Group website. You can expect more details, as well as some updates to the gallery, next week.