Vray For Sketchup 2.0 Manual - Chaos Group

V-Ray 2.0 FOR SKETCHUP HELP / docs.chaosgroup.
com
License Agreement for V-Ray for SketchUp
§ Article 1. SCOPE
§ Article 2. Rights and obligations of THE COMPANY
§ Article 3. Rights and obligations of THE LICENSEE
§ Article 4. Product authorization
§ Article 5. Duration and termination
§ Article 6. Other provisions
END USER SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
V-Ray 1.5 for SketchUp

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:
Chaos Software Ltd. ("THE COMPANY"), acting on its own behalf or on behalf of an authorized by THE
COMPANY reseller, licenses the rendering system V-Ray 1.5 for SketchUp (hereinafter referred to as "THE
PRODUCT") to you (either you personally if you have acquired THE PRODUCT for yourself, or another legal
entity which has acquired THE PRODUCT on your behalf; hereinafter referred to as "THE LICENSEE") only upon
the condition that you accept all of the terms contained in this END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT ("THE
AGREEMENT").
By installing, accessing, or otherwise copying or using all or any portion of THE PRODUCT, THE LICENSEE agrees
to be legally bound by THE AGREEMENT. If THE LICENSEE does not agree to any or all of the terms in THE
AGREEMENT, THE LICENSEE must not install, access, or otherwise copy or use THE PRODUCT and may, within
thirty (30) days from the date of acquisition, return THE PRODUCT and any accompanying documentation and
materials to THE COMPANY or its authorized reseller from which THE PRODUCT was acquired for a refund.
Article 1. SCOPE
1.1. THE COMPANY transfers and THE LICENSEE accepts the following nonsublicensable, nonexclusive,
nontransferable rights over THE PRODUCT, subject to the restrictions in section 1.4:
a) to load THE PRODUCT, to view it on a computer screen, to execute it, to transmit it to a distance, to
keep it on a computer storage device;
b) to create a back-up copy of THE PRODUCT, if that is needed for the specific use that the program has
been acquired for.
c) to benefit commercially from using THE PRODUCT in the authorized manner considering the
restrictions in Article 3.1. below, excluding the sale or transfer of purchased licensed copies to third
parties.
1.2. By this AGREEMENT, THE COMPANY transfers to THE LICENSEE the rights referred to in paragraph 1.1 for 1
(one) licensed copy of THE PRODUCT.
1.3. A licensed copy constitutes of all computer files provided to THE LICENSEE by THE COMPANY (including
but not limited to installation files, binary executable files, library files, configuration files and documentation
files).
1.4. THE LICENSEE is entitled to use the graphical user interface of THE PRODUCT only on one computer or
another technical device, respectively, at any one time. THE LICENSEE is entitled to use up to 10 (ten) running
copies of THE PRODUCT for distributed network rendering at any one time, and unlimited number of running
copies of THE PRODUCT for network frame-by-frame rendering.
1.5. By this AGREEMENT no rights over the trademarks of THE COMPANY, or other rights not specified herein,
respectively, are being transferred to THE LICENSEE.
Article 2. Rights and obligations of THE COMPANY
2.1. THE COMPANY shall have to furnish THE LICENSEE via electronic way with the amount, specified herein, of
licensed copies of the PRODUCT whose rights to use, as defined in Article 1.1., are being transferred by THE
AGREEMENT.
1
V-Ray 2.0 FOR SKETCHUP HELP / docs.chaosgroup.com
2.2. THE COMPANY shall have to keep confidential any of THE LICENSEE's trade secrets, as well as any other
information or data THE COMPANY may become aware of during or in relation with the execution of THE
AGREEMENT, except in cases where such information or data is required by applicable law.
2.3. THE COMPANY shall keep the right to make any changes, improvements and corrections it deems
necessary of the PRODUCT hereunder, as long as such change, improvement or correction does not affect the
PRODUCT's main function (rendering of 3d models) and does not qualify as a new product.
2.4. All purchased licenses will be authorized via a License Server. The rights and obligations of THE COMPANY
with respect to the License Server shall be arranged in a separate agreement.
2.5. THE COMPANY shall not be responsible for any problems that may appear during or because of the use of
the PRODUCT. THE COMPANY shall not be liable in case THE LICENSEE is not able to use any or all of the
PRODUCT's features due to a force majeure (including, but not limited to short-circuits, power outages,
internet network malfunctions, administrative limitations and others such as a war, strike, riot, crime, or an
event described by the legal term "act of God" e.g., floodings, earthquakes, etc.).
2.6. THE COMPANY's entire liability shall be limited to damages of an amount equal to the amount of the initial
purchase price originally paid by THE LICENSEE for THE PRODUCT. The entire liability of THE COMPANY and
THE LICENSEE's exclusive remedy will be to attempt to correct or work around errors, to replace THE PRODUCT
or to refund the purchase price and terminate THE AGREEMENT.
Article 3. Rights and obligations of THE LICENSEE
3.1. THE LICENSEE shall not:

a) Reproduce THE PRODUCT, except for back-up copies made only for their personal usage and which
cannot be provided to any third parties;
b) Use THE PRODUCT to develop a new software product with the same main function (rendering of 3d
models);
c) Give THE PRODUCT away in any way (lease, rent, charge, donate, exchange or other) to any third
parties. THE LICENSEE is not allowed to sell, transfer, assign or grant access to his/her purchased
licensed copy to a third party.
d) THE PRODUCT cannot be used for commercial render-farm services that provide third parties with
contracted/on demand rendering services. Render-farm service providers will need a separate
agreement with THE COMPANY.
e) Make any translation, adaptation, arrangement and any other alteration of THE PRODUCT or make
any reproduction, distribution, communication, display or performance to the public of the results of
such acts;
f) Adapt or reverse compile or reverse engineer the whole or any part of THE PRODUCT;
g) Remove or alter any copyright or other proprietary notice from THE PRODUCT;
h) Not by itself or with others participate in any illegal, deceptive, misleading or unethical practices and
activities, which may be detrimental to THE COMPANY or THE PRODUCT;
3.2. THE LICENSEE shall notify THE COMPANY immediately if THE LICENSEE becomes aware of any
unauthorized use of the whole or any part of THE PRODUCT by any third party.
3.3. THE LICENSEE shall be entitled only to the rights specified in Article 1.1 of THE AGREEMENT.
3.4. THE LICENSEE shall be obligated to provide THE COMPANY with any information needed for the accurate
completion of THE AGREEMENT's objective.
2
3.5. THE LICENSEE shall be obligated to keep confidential any of THE COMPANYï¿½s trade secrets, as well as
any other information he/she may become aware of during or in relation with the execution of THE
AGREEMENT, except in cases where such information is required by applicable law.
Article 4. Product authorization
4.1. THE PRODUCT may include protection schemes to prevent usage of unlicensed copies of THE PRODUCT.
4.2. THE PRODUCT will be authorized by a License Server, which terms and conditions are arranged in an
additional agreement as described in Article 2.4.
Article 5. Duration and termination
5.1. THE AGREEMENT is effective until terminated.
5.2. THE LICENSEE may terminate THE AGREEMENT at any time by destroying THE PRODUCT, related
documentation and all copies thereof. Upon the termination of THE AGREEMENT, THE LICENSEE shall cease all
use of THE PRODUCT and destroy all copies, full or partial, of THE PRODUCT.
5.3. THE AGREEMENT will terminate immediately without notice from THE COMPANY if THE LICENSEE fails to
comply with any provision of THE AGREEMENT.
Article 6. Other provisions
6.1. Any dispute about the existence and the validity of THE AGREEMENT, or in relation with THE AGREEMENT
or with a breach of it, including any dispute and discrepancy about the effect, interpretation, termination,
performance or failure to execute it, shall be settled by negotiations. In the event no solution is achieved, the
dispute shall be taken to the Arbitration Court of Zurich. The arbitration language shall be English, and the
applicable legislation shall be the Bulgarian legislation.
6.2. In the event any of the terms of THE AGREEMENT is declared void because it conflicts with the applicable
law, the rest of the terms and the AGREEMENT as a whole shall remain in full effect. Such invalid term shall be
superseded by the legal provisions.
6.3.The parties hereto shall be obligated not to disclose to any third party any part of the information
exchanged in the negotiations held between them during or in relation with the execution of THE
AGREEMENT, except where such information is required by applicable law.
6.4. Any amendment or modification of THE AGREEMENT shall only be made by an additional agreement made
in writing between the parties (annex) and signed by both of them.
V-Ray and the V-Ray logo are registered trademarks of Chaos Software Ltd. SketchUpceros is a registered
trademark of Robert McNeel and Associates. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to
their respective holders.
3
License Agreement for the V-Ray License Server
§ LICENSE SERVER AGREEMENT

§ Article 1. SCOPE
§ Article 2. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE COMPANY
§ Article 3. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE LICENSEE
§ Article 4. PRODUCT AUTHORIZATION AND DONGLE
§ Article 5. DURATION AND TERMINATION
§ Article 6. OTHER PROVISIONS
LICENSE SERVER AGREEMENT
IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Chaos Software Ltd. (“THE COMPANY”) acting on its behalf or on behalf of an authorized by THE COMPANY
reseller licenses the License Server (“THE LICENSE SERVER”) to you (either you personally if you have acquired
THE LICENSE SERVER for yourself, or another legal entity which has acquired THE LICENSE SERVER on your
behalf; hereinafter referred to as “THE LICENSEE”) only upon the condition that you accept all of the terms
contained in this LICENSE SERVER AGREEMENT (“THE AGREEMENT”).
THE LICENSE SERVER is used by other of THE COMPANY's software to prevent usage of unlicensed versions of
said software. For the purpose of this Agreement “software” or “software product” shall mean any software
program over which THE COMPANY has intellectual property rights.
THE LICENSE SERVER requires a Hardware Lock (“THE DONGLE”), provided by THE COMPANY directly or via its
authorized reseller in order to work properly.
By installing, accessing, or otherwise copying or using all or any portion of THE LICENSE SERVER you agree to
be legally bound by THE AGREEMENT. If THE LICENSEE does not agree to any or all of the terms in THE
AGREEMENT, THE LICENSEE must not install, access, or otherwise copy or use THE LICENSE SERVER or THE
DONGLE and may, within thirty (30) days from the date of acquisition, return THE LICENSE SERVER, THE
DONGLE and any accompanying documentation and materials to THE COMPANY or its authorized reseller from
which THE LICENSE SERVER and THE DONGLE were acquired for a refund.
Article 1. SCOPE
1.1. THE COMPANY licenses and THE LICENSEE accepts the following nonsublicensable, nonexclusive,
nontransferable rights over the above mentioned LICENSE SERVER:
a) to load THE LICENSE SERVER, to view it on a computer screen, to execute it, to transmit it to a
distance, to keep it on a computer storage device;
b) to create a back-up copy of THE LICENSE SERVER, if that is needed for the specific use that THE
LICENSE SERVER has been acquired for;
c) to benefit commercially from using THE LICENSE SERVER in the authorized manner considering the
restrictions in Article 3.1. below, excluding the sale or transfer of purchased licensed copies to third
parties.
1.3. THE COMPANY licenses to THE LICENSEE the rights referred to in Article 1.1 for 1 (one) copy of THE
LICENSE SERVER.
1.4. A copy of THE LICENSE SERVER constitutes of all computer files provided to THE LICENSEE by THE
COMPANY (including but not limited to installation files, binary executable files, library files, configuration files
and documentation files).
1.5. By this AGREEMENT no rights over the trademarks of THE COMPANY, or other rights not specified herein,
respectively, are being transferred or licensed to THE LICENSEE.
1.6. THE LICENSE SERVER is not sold; rather, copies of THE LICENSE SERVER are licensed all the way through the
distribution channel to the end user.
Article 2. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE COMPANY
4
2.1. THE COMPANY shall have to furnish THE LICENSEE via electronic way with the amount, specified herein, of
the copies of THE LICENSE SERVER whose rights for use, as defined in Article 1.1., are being licensed by THE
AGREEMENT.
2.2. THE COMPANY shall have to keep confidential any of THE LICENSEE’s trade secrets, as well as any other
information or data THE COMPANY may become aware of during or in relation with the execution of THE
AGREEMENT, except where such information or data is required by applicable law.
2.3. THE COMPANY shall keep the right to make any changes, improvements and corrections it deems
necessary to THE LICENSE SERVER, as long as such change, improvement or correction does not affect the
product’s licensing function and does not qualify as a new product.
2.4. THE COMPANY shall not be responsible for any problems that may appear during or because of the use of
THE LICENSE SERVER. THE COMPANY shall not be liable in case THE LICENSEE is not able to use any or all of
THE LICENSE SERVER’s features due to a force majeure (including, but not limited to short-circuits, power
outages, internet network malfunctions, administrative limitations and others such as a war, strike, riot, crime,
or an event described by the legal term "act of God" e.g., floodings, earthquakes, etc.).
2.5. THE COMPANY's entire liability shall be limited to damages of an amount equal to the amount of the initial
purchase price originally paid by THE LICENSEE for THE DONGLE. The entire liability of THE COMPANY and THE
LICENSEE's exclusive remedy will be to attempt to correct or work around errors, to replace THE LICENSE
SERVER and THE DONGLE or to refund the purchase price and terminate THE AGREEMENT.
Article 3. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE LICENSEE
3.1. THE LICENSEE shall not:

a) make copies of THE LICENSE SERVER except for back-up copies made only for their personal usage and
which cannot be provided to any third parties;
b) duplicate THE DONGLE;
c) use THE LICENSE SERVER and THE DONGLE to develop a new software product with the same or
similar functions;
d) lease, rent, lend, donate, exchange or redistribute THE LICENSE SERVER and/or THE DONGLE to any
third parties. The LICENSEE is not allowed to sell, transfer, assign or grant access to his/her purchased
LICENSE SERVER and THE DONGLE to a third party;
e) THE LICENSE SERVER and THE DONGLE cannot be used for commercial render-farm services that
provide third parties with contracted/on demand rendering services. Render-farm service providers will
need a separate agreement with THE COMPANY;
f) make any translation, adaptation, arrangement and any other alteration of THE LICENSE SERVER or
make any reproduction, distribution, communication, display or performance to the public of the results
of such acts;
g) adapt or reverse compile or reverse engineer the whole or any part of THE LICENSE SERVER;
h) adapt or reverse engineer or otherwise tamper with THE DONGLE;
i) remove or alter any copyright or other proprietary notice from THE LICENSE SERVER;
j) not by itself or with others participate in any illegal, deceptive, misleading, unethical practices and
activities which may be detrimental to THE COMPANY.
3.2. THE LICENSEE shall notify THE COMPANY immediately if THE LICENSEE becomes aware of any
unauthorized use of the whole or any part of THE LICENSE SERVER and/or THE DONGLE by any third party.
5
3.3. THE LICENSEE shall be entitled only to the rights specified in Article 1.1 of this AGREEMENT.
3.4. THE LICENSEE shall be obligated to provide THE COMPANY with any information needed for the accurate
completion of the AGREEMENT’s objective.
3.5. THE LICENSEE shall be obligated to keep confidential any of THE COMPANY’s trade secrets, as well as any
other information he/she may become aware of during or in relation with the execution of this AGREEMENT
except where such information is required by applicable law.
Article 4. PRODUCT AUTHORIZATION AND DONGLE
4.1. THE LICENSE SERVER may include protection schemes to prevent usage of unlicensed copies of the
software.
4.2. If THE DONGLE proves to be defective within 24 months from the date of purchase by the LICENSEE and
the defect is not a result of physical damage, improper handling or any other improper use as specified by the
manufacturer of THE DONGLE, THE COMPANY shall replace it after receiving the defective one. All shipping
costs and any other taxes are to be covered by the LICENSEE.
4.4. If the defect has arisen from improper handling, physical damage or any other way of improper use THE
COMPANY has no obligations to replace the defective DONGLE free of charge and the replacement must be
paid according to the prices set out by THE COMPANY or its authorized reseller.
4.5. If any defect has arisen later than 24 months of the date of purchase by THE LICENSEE, THE COMPANY has
no obligations to replace the defective DONGLE free of charge. In this case the replacement must be paid
according to the prices set out by THE COMPANY or its authorized reseller.
4.6. THE DONGLE may contain one or more licenses for different software products licensed by THE COMPANY
to THE LICENSEE. The total number of licenses to be put on THE DONGLE must not exceed the number of
licenses for said software products purchased by THE LICENSEE. If THE LICENSEE already has another DONGLE
provided by THE COMPANY, THE LICENSEE is not obliged to buy a separate DONGLE for each new license that
THE LICENSEE purchases.
4.7. Back-up DONGLES with no licenses can be purchased at the discretion of THE LICENSEE. All shipping and
any other taxes are to be covered by THE LICENSEE. THE COMPANY keeps its right to refuse to provide a spare
DONGLE to THE LICENSEE at its own discretion.
4.8. In case THE DONGLE is lost or stolen, THE LICENSEE is allowed to purchase a new DONGLE according to the
prices set out by THE COMPANY or its authorized reseller. THE LICENSEE will be charged additionally for the
shipping costs and any other taxes. THE COMPANY keeps its right to refuse to replace a DONGLE at its own
discretion.
4.9. Under the provisions defined in Article 4, if a DONGLE needs to be replaced, the COMPANY keeps its right
to provide THE LICENSEE with a suitable replacement which may differ from the original.
Article 5. DURATION AND TERMINATION
5.1. This AGREEMENT is effective until terminated.
5.2. THE LICENSEE may terminate this AGREEMENT at any time by destroying THE LICENSE SERVER, destroying
or returning THE DONGLE to THE COMPANY, destroying related documentation and all copies thereof. Upon
the termination of THE AGREEMENT, THE LICENSEE shall cease all use of THE LICENSE SERVER and destroy or
return to the COMPANY all DONGLES.
5.3. This AGREEMENT will terminate immediately without notice from THE COMPANY if THE LICENSEE fails to
comply with any provision of this AGREEMENT.
Article 6. OTHER PROVISIONS
6
6.1. Any dispute about the existence and the validity of THE AGREEMENT, or in relation with the AGREEMENT
or with a breach of it, including any dispute and discrepancy about the effect, interpretation, termination,
performance or failure to execute it, shall be settled by negotiations. In the event no solution is achieved, the
dispute shall be taken to the Arbitration Court of Zurich. The arbitration language shall be English, and the
applicable legislation shall be the Bulgarian legislation.
6.2. In the event any of the terms of THE AGREEMENT is declared void because it conflicts with the applicable
law, the rest of the terms and the AGREEMENT as a whole shall remain in full effect. Such invalid term shall be
superseded by the legal provisions.
6.3.The parties hereto shall be obligated not to disclose to any third party any part of the information
exchanged in the negotiations held between them during or in relation with the execution of THE
AGREEMENT, except where such information is required by applicable law.
6.4. Any amendment or modification of THE AGREEMENT shall only be made by an additional agreement made
in writing between the parties (annex) and signed by both of them.
V-Ray and the V-Ray logo are registered trademarks of Chaos Software Ltd. All other brand names, product
names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
7
Credits and 3rd Party Copyright Notices
§ V-Ray for SketchUp Copyright Notice

§ OpenEXR Copyright Notice
§ zlib Library Copyright Notice
§ libpng Library Copyright Notice
§ jpeg Support
§ libtiff Library Copyright Notice
§ Python Software Foundation License
§ QT Copyright Notice
§ PyQt Copyright Notice
V-Ray for SketchUp Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2000-2011, Chaos Group Ltd. Portions contributed and copyright held by others as indicated. All
rights reserved.
V-Ray official site: http://www.chaosgroup.com/
OpenEXR Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2004, Industrial Light & Magic, a division of Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. Portions
contributed and copyright held by others as indicated. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that
the following conditions are met:
• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
disclaimer.
• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
• Neither the name of Industrial Light & Magic nor the names of any other contributors to this software may be
used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR
OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
OF SUCH DAMAGE.
OpenEXR official site: http://www.openexr.com/

zlib Library Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 1995-2002 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler
This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held
liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.
zlib official site: http://www.zlib.org
libpng Library Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 1998-2002 Glenn Randers-Pehrson

(Version 0.96 Copyright (c) 1996, 1997 Andreas Dilger)
(Version 0.88 Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Guy Eric Schalnat, Group 42, Inc.)
The PNG Reference Library is supplied "AS IS". The Contributing Authors and Group 42, Inc. disclaim all
warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness
for any purpose. The Contributing Authors and Group 42, Inc. assume no liability for direct, indirect, incidental,
8
special, exemplary, or consequential damages, which may result from the use of the PNG Reference Library,
even if advised of the possibility of such damage.
libpng official site: http://www.libpng.org
jpeg Support
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
Official site: http://www.ijg.org/
libtiff Library Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 1988-1997 Sam Leffler
Copyright (c) 1991-1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is
hereby granted without fee, provided that (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in
all copies of the software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics
may not be used in any advertising or publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written
permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.
Official site: http://www.libtiff.org/
Python Software Foundation License
Python is licensed under the Python Software Foundation license. For the full license text please
visit http://www.python.org/psf/license/
QT Copyright Notice
Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiaries. Nokia, Qt and their respective logos are trademarks of Nokia
Corporation in Finland and/or other countries worldwide. The usage of Qt in VRay for SketchUpceros is under
the conditions of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1. To read this license please
visit http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html.
PyQt Copyright Notice

PyQt is developed by Riverbank Computing, LTD. CHAOS GROUP holds a commercial license to create software
using this technology. http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk
9
Features
§ Core Architecture
§ Geometry
§ Image Sampling
§ Illumination
§ Shaders
§ Camera Effects
§ Extras
§ Frame Buffer
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
• 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
• Efficient geometry handling
• True instance rendering
• On-demand dynamic geometry creation
• On-demand geometry loading from disk files
• Displacement mapping
Image Sampling
• 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
Illumination
• 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
Shaders
• Physically plausible materials
• Blurry reflections/refractions
• Accurate highlights
• Sub-surface scattering
• Support for efficient material layering
Camera Effects
• Depth-of-field with bokeh effects
• Accurate motion blur
• Physical camera model
Extras
• Toon effect
• Lens effect
Frame Buffer
• 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
10
Installation
• Glossary
• System Requirements
• Installation of V-Ray for SketchUp
• Setting up your Licenses
• Troubleshooting
• Uninstall V-Ray
• V-Ray Configuration
You can download the installation guides in PDF format from the links below:
V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp Windows Installation Guide
V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp Mac Installation Guide
Installing Distributed Rendering

You don't need to set up the render client, since it automatically takes part in the DR. You don't need to have
SketchUp installed on the render servers. For the render servers, follow the steps below. For more detailed
instructions and trouble-shooting, please check the Windows Installation PDF guide and the OSX Installation
PDF guide.
1. Install the V-Ray distributed rendering spawner and the command line render spawner tool on all the render
servers that you want to use for DR.
2. While render servers do not require a separate license in order to render, you must tell V-Ray where to look
for the V-Ray license server. You can do this with the small external program setvrlserviceXX.exe, which can be
accessed from the Start menu (Start menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp > Licensing >
Administration > Change V-Ray client license settings). See the licensing section for more information on how
to set up the license for render servers.
3. On each render server, start the file vrayspawnerXX.exe (where XX is 60 ). The V-Ray installer creates a
shortcut to this file in the Start menu (Start menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp >
Distributed rendering > Launch the Distributed Rendering spawner.
That concludes the installation of V-Ray DR on the render servers. You don't need to start the
vrayspawnerXX.exe file on the client machine, since it automatically takes part in the distributed rendering.
See the Distributed Rendering section for more information.
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Glossary
Dongle – encrypted physical hardware lock, very similar to a USB flash drive which contains the product
licenses.
WIBU-KEY drivers – drivers for the dongle.
Render Node – machine that is doing the actual rendering.
Distributed Rendering – dividing frames to buckets and rendering them on different render nodes by using V-
Ray DR spawner, V-Ray Standalone or a V-Ray RT render server.
Network Rendering – rendering whole frames on each render node, for example by submitting jobs to job
managers like Backburner.
V-Ray DR spawner – a V-Ray tool used to start V-Ray stand-alone in server mode for Distributed Rendering.
V-Ray SDK – a V-Ray Software Development Kit used for creation of custom materials and geometry.
12
System Requirements
§ Windows
§ Mac OS X
Windows
Please make sure that your system fulfills these requirements before installing V-Ray. Note that V-Ray is only
supported for 64 bit operating systems and 64 bit versions of Maya.
® ®
Processor Intel Pentium IV or compatible processor with SSE3 support.
RAM 4 GB RAM and 4 GB swap minimum – recommended 8 GB or more RAM, 8 GB or more

swap file
USB Port Required for hardware lock, preferably USB 2.0
TCP/IP Only IPv4 is supported. IPv6 is currently not supported
Operating Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, 32 bit or 64 bit versions

System
SketchUP version 8, 2013 or later
Mac OS X
Please make sure that your system fulfills these requirements before installing V-Ray.
® ®
Processor Intel Pentium IV or compatible processor with SSE3 support.
RAM 4 GB RAM and 4 GB swap minimum – recommended 8 GB or more RAM, 8 GB or more

swap file
USB Port Required for hardware lock, preferably USB 2.0
TCP/IP Only IPv4 is supported. IPv6 is currently not supported

® ®
Operating Apple Mac OS X 10.6 or higher
System
SketchUP version 8, 2013 or later

*V-Ray RT/GPU is not supported under Mac OS®.
13
Installation of V-Ray for SketchUp
• Overview
• Windows
• Mac OS X
Overview
This guide is to serve as a reference for installation of V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp. Please refer to
the “Glossary” section for specific terms used in this document.
You can download the latest official version of V-Ray 2.0 from http://www.chaosgroup.com with the account
supplied to you by Chaos Group or your reseller.
If you experience any problems, please check the “Troubleshooting” section. If you are still having problems
please contact our support team:
http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/support.html
A complete installation of V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUpconsists of:
• V-Ray
• V-Ray RT
• V-Ray Standalone
• V-Ray license server
• V-Ray tools
• V-Ray SDK
• Documentation
• WIBU-KEY drivers
• Dongle (hardware lock)
All components are included in the installation pack
Windows
To install V-Ray make sure your Windows account has administrative privileges and double-click the
installation file.
1. First you will see the Welcome screen. Click Next to continue
2. You will be presented with the license agreement. Please take a moment to review it, Click "I accept
the license agreement" and click Next to continue
3. Next you can specify which V-Ray components you want to have installed. The available options are:
14
• WIBU Key Runtime - these are the WIBU-KEY drivers necessary for our licensing sytem
• Microsoft C++ Redistributable - these are C++ dependencies that are necessary to run V-Ray for SketchUp
• V-Ray for SketchUp - this is the actual plug-in for SketchUp
• The command line render spawner tool - this is the V-Ray Standalone application that can be used to render
.vrscene files.
• The distributed rendering spawner - this is the spawner used for Distributed Rendering
• Utilities for dongle licensing - these are the V-Ray license server and the utilities used for the licensing of V-Ray
• V-Ray Tools - these are some additional V-Ray tools like Irradiance Map Viewer etc.
Select the components you want to have installed and click Next
4. Next you can specify the root installation folder. The installer should detect it automatically. Please
make sure that the destination is correct and click Next
5. Once the installation is set-up you will see the Ready to Install screen. Click next to continue and wait
for the installation to complete
6. If you chose to install WIBU Key Runtime you will see the Welcome Screen for the installation of the
WIBY-KEY drivers. Click Next to continue
Note
The 32-bit installation of V-Ray includes only the 32-bit WIBU-KEY drivers. If you are installing the 32-bit
version of V-Ray on a 64-bit operating system, you must download and install the dongle drivers separately
15
from the WIBU-KEY website at http://wibu.com/download_user.php Scroll down to the WibuKey Runtime
section and find the appropriate drivers.
7. Make sure that the dongle is NOT plugged-in
8. Follow the instructions of the installer. You do not need to install the WIBU-KEY network server and
monitor
9. Click Finish to complete the installation
Mac OS X
To install V-Ray make sure the dongle is NOT plugged in. Double click on the installation package to mount the
.dmg file and then double click on the .app file to run the installation. You may be asked to provide
administrative privileges - do that so that the installation can commence.
1. First you will see the Welcome screen. Click Next to continue
2. You will be presented with the license agreement. Please take a moment to review it, Click "I accept
the license agreement" and click Next to continue
3. Next you can specify which V-Ray components you want to have installed. The available options are:
• WIBU Key Runtime - these are the WIBU-KEY drivers necessary for our licensing sytem
• Microsoft C++ Redistributable - these are C++ dependencies that are necessary to run V-Ray for SketchUp
16
• V-Ray for SketchUp - this is the actual plug-in for SketchUp

• The command line render spawner tool - this is the V-Ray Standalone application that can be used to render
.vrscene files.
• The distributed rendering spawner - this is the spawner used for Distributed Rendering
• Utilities for dongle licensing - these are the V-Ray license server and the utilities used for the licensing of V-Ray
• V-Ray Tools - these are some additional V-Ray tools like Irradiance Map Viewer etc.
• Select the components you want to have installed and click Next
4. Next you can specify the root installation folder. The installer should detect it automatically. Please
make sure that the destination is correct and click Next
5. Once the installation is set-up you will see the Ready to Install screen. Click next to continue and wait
for the installation to complete.
6. Click Finish to complete the installation
7. The V-Ray License Server installation window will appear next. You will be presented with the V-Ray
licensing agreement. Please take a moment to review the agreement. Click the “I agree” button to
proceed:
8. Next you will see the default installation settings. To manually set-up the installation click Customize
17
7. Here you can specify the installation folder for V-Ray License Server. You are also given the option to
Register the V-Ray license service – check this option if you want to register the V-Ray license server as a
service and automatically start upon boot. In this case V-Ray license server will run in the background as
a service and there will be no need to run it manually. You should also add a firewall exception so that
the license server can run uninterrupted.
8. Click Install Now and wait for the installation to complete. Then click Finish.
9. Along with the last window of the V-Ray for SketchUp 2.0 installer you will see a second window
asking to install the WibuKey software and drivers.
Note
The 32-bit installation of V-Ray includes only the 32-bit WIBU-KEY drivers. If you are installing the 32-bit
version of V-Ray on a 64-bit operating system, you must download and install the dongle drivers separately
from the WIBU-KEY website at http://wibu.com/download_user.php Scroll down to the WibuKey Runtime
section and find the appropriate drivers.
10. Double-click on the WkInstall.mpkg icon to install the WIBU-KEY Drivers for Mac OS X.
11. In the next step click Continue
18
12. Take a moment to read the Read Me section and click Continue when ready
13. Next you will see the screen below. Click on Change Install Location button if you want the drivers to
be installed at a specific location. Otherwise click Install to install the drivers at their default location.
19
14. You will be asked for your password. Enter it and click Install Software
15. The installer will proceed with the driver installation
16. Once the installation is complete you will see the screen below. Click Close
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Setting up your Licenses
§ V-Ray Licensing System

§ Starting and Stopping the V-Ray License Server
§ Windows
§ Mac OS X
§ V-Ray License Server Status
§ Dongle Reprogramming
§ Creating a .wbc File
§ Updating the Contents of the Dongle
§ Windows
§ Mac OS X
§ V-Ray License Settings Change
§ Windows
§ Mac OS X
V-Ray Licensing System

V-Ray uses a floating licensing system and it can obtain licenses from the V-Ray license server, running on any
machine, which can be accessed through your network, or even over Internet. The access to the license server
is done over TCP/IP protocol on port 30304. Make sure that your anti-virus or firewall software is not blocking
the communication to the license server.
The V-Ray license server requires one or more dongles (hardware lock containing your licenses, similar to a
USB flash drive) installed on the same machine to operate. You should receive your dongle(s) and information
whether it is already reprogrammed with the necessary licenses from your reseller.
After the installation, please make sure that you have the necessary licenses as described in “V-Ray license
server status” below.
If your dongle doesn't contain the necessary licenses, please go to “Dongle reprogramming”.
Dongles are not node locked, they can be transferred without any restrictions between V-Ray license
servers. This allows you to quickly set up a new license server after a computer failure or to move a dongle to
different locations when necessary.
Starting and Stopping the V-Ray License Server

This section shows how to start and stop the V-Ray license server under the different operating systems. You
need to have a machine with a V-Ray license server running and a dongle with licenses plugged in in order to
run V-Ray.
Windows
If you have opted to register the V-Ray license server as a Windows service, it will start automatically on the
next Windows boot and this icon will not be visible. If there is no dongle attached to the machine, it will still
start as a service but you will not be able to access the web status page or use any licenses until you plug-in
your dongle.
You can start a V-Ray license server from Windows Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp
adv > Licensing > Launch V-Ray license server
21
If Windows Firewall is enabled, you may get the message below. Select the Unblock option to allow
connections to the V-Ray license server.
If the V-Ray license server starts successfully, you will get the V-Ray license server icon in the Windows System
Tray:
To stop V-Ray license service double click on it's icon in the Windows System Tray and then click Terminate V-
Ray license service.
Mac OS X
If you registered the license server to run as a service during the installation, it will be registered as a start-up
item by the installer. In that case, you can use the /sbin/SystemStarter command to start/stop the license
server with the following commands in a Terminal window:
$ sudo /sbin/SystemStarter start vrlservice

$ sudo /sbin/SystemStarter stop vrlservice
22
If the license server is not registered as a service, then you can run it directly from its install location which by
default is:/Applications/ChaosGroup/VRLService/snow_leopard_x86/bin. Make sure that the dongle is
plugged in. Double-click the vrlservice application in Finder to run the license server. To stop the license
server, right-click on its icon and choose Quit.
The V-Ray license server can be registered to automatically run at login. To do that start it manually, then right
click on its icon and from the Options menu select Open at Login
V-Ray License Server Status
The V-Ray license server has a web interface that allows you to check its status and available licenses. The
license server must be running to view the status web page. Please open the
link http://<IP_address>:30304/getstatus in a web browser, where <IP_address> is the IP address of the
license server. For example:
http://10.0.0.100:30304/getstatus
Finding your IP address

Please note that the IP address above is just an example for a computer which has an IP address of 10.0.0.100.
You need to use your particular IP address in order for the process to work. You can see how to find your IP
address from the link below:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/find-computers-ip-address#1TC=windows-7
The status page shows information about the total number of licenses available to the license server; how
many of them are engaged and from which IP address they are engaged.
You have to make sure that you have V-Ray for SketchUp licenses.
In the “Licenses usage summary” section you can see information about the licenses on the license server. In
the Total column you can see all the available licenses on the dongle; in the Engaged column you can see how
many of the licenses are currently being used, and in the Free column you can see the number of the licenses
that are currently free.
The “Stored licenses details” is useful when more than one dongle is plugged in the license server. Here you
can see a summary of all available licenses and the serial number of the dongle on which they are placed. If the
license has an expiration date this is also displayed. In the example below, you can see that we only have one
dongle connected, the serial number of the dongle is 10552214 and it has one V-Ray for SketchUp 2.0 license
which is non expiring.
The “Active sessions” list shows the IP addresses of all computers currently connected to the license server
and the types of licenses they are using.
The “Global dongle expiration dates” shows a list of all dongles plugged in the license server and their
expiration dates (different from license expiration dates explained above). In the example below there is one
dongle with serial number 10552214 and it does not have an expiration date.
23
If you do not see V-Ray 3.0 licenses, your dongle has to be reprogrammed as described
in “Dongle reprogramming” section below.
If you can't access the V-Ray license server web page, please refer to the “Troubleshooting” section.
Dongle Reprogramming
If you do not have the necessary V-Ray licenses on your dongle, it will have to be reprogrammed.
Reprogramming a dongle is a two-part process:
• Creating a .wbc file – you will need to create and send to Chaos Group a remote programming context file,
which contains information identifying your specific dongle.
• Updating the contents of the dongle – Chaos Group will send you file called “.rtu” file which can be used to
update the licenses on your dongle.
Creating a .wbc File

Here we describe how to create a remote programing context file (“.wbc”) file, which identifies your specific
dongle. If there are more dongles attached on the machine, the steps below will create one “.wbc” file
containing information for all dongles. You need to have JavaScript enabled on your web browser.
1. Please open the link http://<IP_address>:30304/upgrade in a web browser, where <IP_address> is the IP
address of the license server. For example:
http://10.0.0.100:30304/upgrade
2. A web-based wizard will appear. Click on the link shown on the screenshot:
3. Wait until the remote context file is created.
4. When the Success! page appears, save the remote context file by right-clicking on the link and using Save Link
As.../Save Target As...
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5. Email this file to support@chaosgroup.com along with company and order information.
Updating the Contents of the Dongle
The support team at Chaos Group will use your “.wbc” file to generate one or more “.rtu” files and send them
back to you. Each “.rtu” file is named with the serial number of the dongle that it is intended for. You can find
the dongle serial number on its sticker.
Windows
1. When you receive the “.rtu” file, save it on the machine where the dongle with the same serial number is
plugged-in.
2. If the V-Ray license server is running, stop it by double clicking its icon in the Task Bar and selecting Terminate
V-Ray license service. If it is registered as a service you have to stop the V-Ray license server
from Windows Control panel > Administrative tools > Services applet.
3. Double-click the saved “.rtu” file. You will be asked to confirm the transfer on the dongle. Click Yes to update
your dongle. If there is a problem, please refer to “Updating dongles when .rtu files are not associated
properly” in the “Troubleshooting” section.
4. Start the V-Ray license server from Windows Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp adv >
Licensing > Launch V-Ray license server or from the Services applet.
Mac OS X
1. When you receive the “.rtu” file, save it on the machine where the dongle with the same serial number is
plugged-in..
2. If the V-Ray license server is running, stop it by right-clicking its icon selecting Quit. If it is registered as a
service you have to stop the V-Ray license server from the Terminal with the following command:

3. In Finder, navigate to the /Applications/WIBUKEY folder and start the WkConfig application. Select the Update
tab and click on the Execute Update... button to browse for the .rtu file and update the dongle.
4. Start the V-Ray license server.
25
V-Ray License Settings Change

If you are running the V-Ray license server on a different machine, you need to tell V-Ray for SketchUp where
to look for it. This section describes how to do that on each operating system.
Windows
Run the V-Ray license client configuration utility from Windows Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray
for SketchUp adv > Licensing >Administration> > Change license settings.
This will show you the window below, where you can specify the IP address of the machine that is running the
V-Ray License Server. Please do not change the connection port that is set by default to 30304.
For example, if the license server machine has IP address of 10.0.0.100, you have to put that address in the
“License server” field, under the tab “Primary license server”.
Mac OS X
Run the setvrlservice program from the /Applications/ASGVIS/Dongle Utilities/ directory, e.g:
This setting is per user; if there are many users running V-Ray for SketchUp on the machine, you will need to
set the license server location for each of them.
26
Troubleshooting
§ Windows
§ Cannot Install V-Ray
§ V-Ray Could Not Obtain License
§ V-Ray License Server Can't Start
§ Dongle Disconnects Periodically
§ Missing V-Ray License Server Icon
§ Updating Dongles when the .rtu Files are not Associated Properly
§ V-Ray RT GPU is Crashing
§ V-Ray RT GPU is not Rendering
§ WIBU-KEY Drivers Issues
§ Mac OS X
§ V-Ray Could not Obtain License
§ V-Ray License Server Can't Start
§ General Issues during Rendering
§ My System Locks Up and Freezes While Rendering
§ Excessive Memory Usage While Rendering
§ I get Splotches in my Rendering when Using the Irradiance Map
Windows
In this section you can find some common issues that may arise when working with V-Ray for SketchUP. If you
encounter a problem that is not listed here or cannot be solved with the suggested solutions, please
email vraysketchup@chaosgroup.com
Cannot Install V-Ray
Symptoms:
The installation file crashes when you attempt to run it.
Cause:
The installation file is not downloaded properly.
Solution:
Please re-download the installation file from our web site.
V-Ray Could Not Obtain License
Here you can find the list of symptoms and their likely cause when V-Ray could not obtain the license.
Please check the resolution part at the end of this section.
Symptoms:
When attempting to render, the V-Ray Progress Window shows the message "error: Could not obtain a license
(10061)" or "error: Could not obtain a license (111)" or "error: Could not obtain a license (61)"
Cause:
V-Ray could not connect to a working license server.
Symptoms:
(-98)".
Cause:
V-Ray connected to a working license server but there are no licenses
Symptoms:
When you start the V-Ray RT render server, there are no error messages in the V-Ray Progress Window, but
when a job is sent to the V-Ray RT render server there is an error in the V-Ray Progress Window "Could not
obtain a license (10061)."
27
Cause:
No access to the V-Ray license server.
Symptoms:
when a job is sent to the V-Ray RT render server, the error in the V-Ray Progress Window is "Could not obtain
a license (-98)."
Cause:
No available license on the V-Ray license server.
Symptoms:
When you try to render with V-Ray Standalone, an error message appears in the console: “Could not obtain a
license (10061).”
Cause:
Symptoms:
license (-98).”
Cause:
Resolution:
Please go through the check-list below:
1. Checking the V-Ray license server:

Please restart the machine with the V-Ray license server and dongle installed. Unplug the dongle and plug it
again in a different USB port, preferably USB 2.0. Make sure that Windows properly recognizes the dongle and
doesn't show error message. If you receive an error message, please refer to “V-
Ray license server can't start” in this section.
Start the V-Ray license server from Windows Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp adv >
Licensing > Launch V-Ray license server
You may receive a message warning that the V-Ray license server is already running.
Open the link http://localhost:30304 in a web browser on the same machine.
This will open the V-Ray license server status web page. If it looks like the screenshot below, the license server
is working.
28
2. Checking the available licenses on the license server:

After you ensuring the V-Ray license server is working, you need to check the available licenses. On the same
machine, where the V-Ray license server is running, open the link http://localhost:30304/getstatus
Please refer to “V-Ray license server status” in the “Setting up your licenses” section for more information on
the type of licenses you need to look for.
If you do not see the V-Ray for SketchUP 2.0 licenses, this means that your dongle has to be reprogrammed as
described in “Dongle reprogramming”in the “Setting up your licenses” section.If you don't see free licenses
this means that all available licenses are in use and you can't have more concurrent users.
3. Checking the connection to the license server:

If V-Ray is on the same machine as the V-Ray license server, you can skip this step.
To make sure that nothing is blocking the connection to the license server on the machine where you want to
run V-Ray, open the link http://<IP_address>:30304 in a web browser, where <IP_address> is the IP address of
the machine with the V-Ray license server. If you get a webpage like the one below, V-Ray can access the V-
Ray license server from this machine. In the example screenshot below the IP address of the machine with the
license server is 10.0.0.160
If you get an error message that the web page can't be accessed then there is a network problem that
prevents the connection to the V-Ray license server. If you have any firewall or antivirus software running on
your machines make sure they are not blocking applications' access to the network or blocking the
communication on TCP/IP port 30304. Please contact your system administrator for more information.
4. Checking the V-Ray license settings:

On the machine where you want to use V-Ray, run the V-Ray license client configuration utility
from Windows Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp adv > Licensing
>Administration> > Change license settings. In the dialog that appears, make sure that the IP address in
theLicense server field at the Primary license server tab is entered correctly and that the connection port
is 30304. If you modify any of these settings,you will need to restart SketchUp.
29
Note: If the V-Ray license server is running on the same machine as V-Ray you can use localhost or 127.0.0.1 in
the License server field.
V-Ray License Server Can't Start
Symptoms:
When you start the V-Ray license server it pops a dialog box like the one shown below:
Cause:
This error message appears when the V-Ray license server cannot find a dongle attached to the machine.
Resolution:
Before you start, make sure the dongle is NOT plugged-in.
1. Uninstall the WIBU-KEY driver from Windows Control Panel.
2. Update your USB drivers to the latest version.
3. Restart your machine.
4. Download and install the latest WIBU-KEY drivers from http://wibu.com/download_user.php.
5. Attach the dongle to a different USB port, preferably to USB 2.0. Make sure that Windows recognizes the
dongle and doesn't show error messages. To verify that dongle is properly installed please go to
the Windows Control Panel > System applet. Choose the Hardware tab and then click on theDevice
manager button. Expand the Universal serial bus controllers list and check for a WIBU-BOX/RU entry there:
30
Dongle Disconnects Periodically

Symptoms:
The dongle is working for extended periods of time but periodically disappears for no apparent reason and is
no longer detected by Windows as a USB device. This could cause the V-Ray license server to fail or V-Ray
licenses to be refused.
Cause:
There can be a number of reasons related to the hardware configuration and Windows settings like the Power
options.
Resolution:
Please check your Windows Power Options, make sure that your USB devices are not powered off.
Try to plug the dongle into a different USB port on the same machine, preferably USB 2.0, and restart the V-
Ray license server. If you still experience problems, try to install it on a different machine.
Missing V-Ray License Server Icon
Symptoms:
The V-Ray licensing server is running but there is no icon in the Windows System Tray.
Cause:
The icon is hidden by the Auto-hide unused icons option of the Windows System Tray or the V-Ray license
server is registered as a Windows service.
Resolution:
1. If you have the Auto-hide unused icons option of the Windows System Tray, click on the double-arrow icon to
expand the full list of icons.
2. If you still do not see the V-Ray licensing service icon, that means that the V-Ray licensing service is started as a
Windows service and in that case itcannot show any graphical user interface. There is currently no resolution
for this; you need to manage the V-Ray license service from the WindowsControl Panel > Administrative
tools > Services applet.
Updating Dongles when the .rtu Files are not Associated Properly
Symptoms:
WIBU-KEY drivers are properly installed, but double-click on the “.rtu” file doesn't update the dongle.
Cause:
The “.rtu” file is not associated properly with the WIBU-KEY drivers.
Resolution:
Please, first try the steps from “The license service does not start because no dongle is found” in this section.
If this doesn't help proceed with the steps below:
1. Make sure that the dongle is plugged-in.
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2. In the Windows Control Panel locate the WibuKey management tool and run it:
3. Now you need to start the Advanced Mode from the system menu by right-clicking onto the title bar. Go to
the “WibuBox Update” tab.
4. Click Browse, specify the “.rtu” file, and press Apply.
V-Ray RT GPU is Crashing

Symptoms:
When rendering with V-Ray RT on CUDA/OpenCL, it crashes without showing a specific error message.
Cause:
The scene you are trying to render is too large and the Graphics card memory is insufficient.
Resolution:
You can try to reduce the scene size by reducing the polygon count or by using lower resolution textures. V-
Ray RT has an option called “Resize textures for GPU” that you can use to automatically resize textures during
rendering on the GPU.
Alternately you can upgrade your graphics device with one containing more memory.
V-Ray RT GPU is not Rendering
Symptoms:
When rendering with V-Ray RT running in OpenCL mode, it takes too long for the render to begin and the
“vray.exe” process is taking much memory.
Cause:
Your GPU drivers are unable to compile the OpenCL code needed to render the scene with your video card.
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Resolution:
The best solution is to switch V-Ray RT to use CUDA.
Alternately you can try and find drivers for your graphics device that are capable of compiling
the OpenCL code needed to run V-Ray RT on GPU. However the latest drivers are not always appropriate. This
means that it may require some experimentation until you find the correct drivers.
WIBU-KEY Drivers Issues
Symptoms:
When installing the WIBU-KEY drivers you get the following error:
Symptoms:
When uninstalling the WIBU-KEY drivers you get the following error:
Symptoms:
When you plug-in the dongle or when you try to run V-Ray License Server you get one of the following errors:
33
or
Cause:
These errors are caused by the recently added Microsoft Update KB3004394 (added on December 2014 for
Windows Root Certificate Program). Affected operating systems are Windows 7 and higher. This update
breaks the WIBU-KEY driver.
There is a workaround given by WIBU here: http://www.wibu.com/nc/faq-wibukey/question/single/on-

installing-wibukey-the-error-211-is-returned-what-can-i-do-229.html
After you complete the steps given by WIBU follow the instructions below in order to repair your WIBU-KEY
driver
1. Unplug all WIBU-KEY dongles from the PC
2. Go to Start > Control Panel > "Programs and Features" and uninstall the WIBU-KEY drivers by double
clicking on WibuKey Setup (WibuKey Remove)
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3. Follow the instructions of the Uninstaller
4. Open an Windows Explorer and in the address bar enter "%systemroot%\inf"
5. Find the file wibukeyPCMCIA.inf and delete it.
6. Search for a file named oem*.inf that contains the term "WIBU". To do that enter "WIBU" in the
search bar and when the search is complete click on the "File Contents" button:
35
7. The search may take a while but in the end it should find a file named oem*.inf. Delete that file and
the file with the same name but an extension PNF (eg. if you found a file named oem123.inf delete
oem123.pnf)
8. In Windows Explorer in the address bar enter "%systemroot%\system32\drivers"
9. Find and delete all WibuKey*.sys files.
10. Click Windows Start and in the Search field type "regedit"
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11. This will open the Registry Editor. Find and delete the following keys":
in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services” if any of the folders "WIBUKEY",
"WibuKey2" and "WibuKey2_64" exist, find them and delete them.
in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\" find and delete the folder "WIBU-SYSTEMS"
12. Restart the computer
13. After reboot please download the latest driver form the official WIBU Systems site, under "WibuKey
for Users" section herehttp://www.wibu.com/downloads-user-software.html. Ensure that you have
administrative rights.
14. Make sure that the dongle is NOT plugged in. Double click on the installation file and follow the
instructions of the installer.
15. After the installation has finished plug in the dongle.
16. The "New Hardware found" dialog will appear and install the new hardware automatically.
Mac OS X
In this section you can find some common issues that may arise when working with V-Ray for SketchUP. If you
encounter a problem that is not listed here or cannot be solved with the suggested solutions, please
email vraysketchup@chaosgroup.com
V-Ray Could not Obtain License

Here you can find the list of symptoms and their likely cause when V-Ray could not obtain the license.
Please check the resolution part at the end of this section.
Symptoms:
(10061)" or "error: Could not obtain a license (111)" or "error: Could not obtain a license (61)"
Cause:
V-Ray could not connect to a working license server.
Symptoms:
(-98)".
Cause:
V-Ray connected to a working license server but there are no licenses.
Symptoms:
when a job is sent to the V-Ray RT render server there is an error in the V-Ray Progress Window "Could not
obtain a license (10061)."
Cause:
Symptoms:
when a job is sent to the V-Ray RT render server, the error in the V-Ray Progress Window is "Could not obtain
a license (-98)."
Cause:
Symptoms:
When you try to render with V-Ray Standalone, an error message appears in the V-Ray Progress Window:
“Could not obtain a license (10061).”
37
Cause:
Symptoms:
license (-98).”
Cause:
Resolution:
Please go through the check-list below:
1. Checking the V-Ray license server:

Please restart the machine with the V-Ray license server and dongle installed. Unplug the dongle and plug it
again in a different USB port, preferably USB 2.0. Make sure that the operating system properly recognizes the
dongle.Make sure that the V-Ray license service is running, if you have issues refer to “V-
Ray license server can't start” in this section.
Start the V-Ray license server

Open the link http://127.0.0.1:30304 in a web browser on the same machine.
This will open the V-Ray license server status web page. If it looks like the screenshot below, the license server
is working.
2. Checking the available licenses on the license server:

After you ensuring the V-Ray license server is working, you need to check the available licenses. On the same
machine, where the V-Ray license server is running, open the link
http://127.0.0.1:30304/getstatus
Please refer to “V-Ray license server status” in the “Setting up your licenses” section for more information on
the type of licenses you need to look for. If you do not see the V-Ray 3.0 licenses, this means that your dongle
has to be reprogrammed as described in “Dongle reprogramming”inthe “Setting up your licenses” section. If
you don't see free licenses this means that all available licenses are in use and you can't have more concurrent
users.
3. Checking the connection to the license server:

If V-Ray is on the same machine as the V-Ray license server, you can skip this step. To make sure that nothing
is blocking the connection to the license server on the machine where you want to run V-Ray, open the
link http://<IP_address>:30304 in a web browser, where <IP_address> is the IP address of the machine with
the V-Ray license server. If you get a web page like the one below, V-Ray can access the V-Ray license server
from this machine. In the example screenshot below the IP address of the machine with the license server
is 10.0.0.160
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If you get an error message that the web page can't be accessed then there is a network problem that
prevents the connection to the V-Ray license server. If you have any firewall or antivirus software running on
your machines make sure they are not blocking applications' access to the network or blocking the
communication on TCP/IP port 30304. Please contact your system administrator for more information.
4. Checking that the license server settings are correct. In the Terminal run
/Applications/ASGVIS/Dongle Utilities/setvrlservice -dump
This will show you the IP address or the name of the computer that V-Ray is trying to connect to; If it's
incorrect refer to V-Ray license settings change in V-Ray configuration section.
V-Ray License Server Can't Start

Symptoms:
When you start the V-Ray license server it pops up and closes
Cause:
This error message appears when the V-Ray license server cannot find a dongle attached to the machine.
Resolution:
Before you start, make sure that the dongle is plugged-in directly in the machine and try again. If it is still not
working
1. Make sure the dongle is NOT plugged-in.
2. Uninstall the WIBU-KEY driver
3. Restart your machine.
4. Download and install the WIBU-KEY drivers corresponding to your OS

from http://wibu.com/download_user.php.
5. Attach the dongle to a USB port DIRECTLY on your machine, preferably a USB 2.0. Make sure that the
operating system recognizes the dongle and doesn't show error messages. To verify that dongle is properly
installed please go to the /Applications/WIBUKEY/WkConfig.app
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General Issues during Rendering
My System Locks Up and Freezes While Rendering
This is most likely a hardware problem. V-Ray cannot cause system freeze by itself. The worst that V-Ray can
do is crash SketchUp. Check your memory chips and/or your CPU temperature. If the crashes are limited to
SketchUp only and not the OS or computer please see "Excessive memory usage while rendering" below.
Excessive Memory Usage While Rendering
Like every other program, V-Ray needs a certain amount of RAM to render the image. Depending on the scene
complexity and the render settings, V-Ray will use varying amounts of RAM. Sometimes, the available system
RAM may be less than the amount needed for rendering. In this case, you will most likely get an unhandled
exception. You can check the memory usage from the Windows Task Manager.
On 32-bit machines, the Windows® operating system allows by default up to 1.5 GB for any single process
(application). That means that even though you may have more physical RAM (for example 2GB), the operating
system will not allow an application to use all of that memory.
However, on the Windows® XP operating system, you can change this by using the famous /3GB switch in your
boot.ini file. This will enable the OS to allocate up to 3 GB of RAM for any given application. Using that switch
may allow you to render your scene without using any of the methods below for reducing memory usage.
On 64-bit platforms, the 64-bit version of the Windows® operating system allows the usage of all available
physical memory without limitations.
If you cannot use any of these methods to allow more RAM for rendering, the only choice is to reduce the
amount that is needed by changing your scene and your V-Ray settings.The scene elements that take up most
of the RAM while rendering can be divided into the following groups:
• Geometry - scenes with lots of objects and/or triangle counts require more memory to render. There are
several ways to reduce this amount:
• Adjust the raycaster parameters in the System rollout (reduce Max. levels, increase Min. leaf size,
increase Face/level coefficient, or adjust the Dynamic memory limit.
• If all else fails, use VRayProxy objects.
• Bitmaps - these tend to take up large amounts of RAM, especially if the maps are large.
• Image buffer - large output resolutions require a significant amount of RAM to store the final image.
Additional G-Buffer channels increase that amount. There are several ways to reduce this amount:
• Use the Render to V-Ray raw image file option and then use the V-Ray raw image file viewer to convert the
resulting file to a different format.
• Render the image in several different passes and stitch the pieces in a compositing program.
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• Image samplers (AA) - the image sampling algorithms of V-Ray require some amount of RAM to hold all the
data for the sampled image. This amount can be quite large, depending on the chosen bucket size and
sampling rate. To reduce that amount:
• Reduce the bucket size.
• Switch to a different image sampler - for example, the Adaptive DMC sampler uses less RAM than the Adaptive
subdivision sampler.
• Global illumination caches - irradiance maps, photon maps and light maps all require additional memory to
store them. Each of these has different methods for controlling its memory usage:SketchUp scene - SketchUp
itself stores a lot of information about the scene. V-Ray has no control over that memory, but you can adjust
the quality of render meshes to reduce it.
• For the irradiance map - the memory depends on the number of samples in the map; you can reduce this
number by using lower Min/Max rate, and more loose threshold values (higher Color threshold, higher Normal
threshold, lower Distance threshold).
• For the photon map - the memory depends on the number of photons stored. You can reduce this number by
reducing the Diffuse subdivs for the lights, or by increasing the Max. density.
• For the light map - increase the Sample size.
• Enable DR - If you have access to multiple computers you can take advantage of V-Ray's Distributed Rendering
feature or DR to borrow power from other computers on the LAN to assist with rendering. DR is enabled in the
options menu under the System rollout.I get Splotches in my Rendering when Using the Irradiance Map
There may be several reasons for splotches when rendering with the irradiance map:
• Regular noisy splotches - these are usually a result of insufficient Hemispheric subdivisions for the irradiance
map. Usually they appear in difficult lighting situations when the default setting is too low. Examples of
difficult lighting conditions are small bright sources of indirect light, hdri environments etc. You can avoid
these splotches in several ways:
• If you are using Deterministic Monte Carlo GI for secondary GI bounces, try using another method - the light
map or the photon map.
• Increase the Hemispheric subdivisions for the irradiance map. Note that the effect of the increased
subdivisions depends also on the settings of the DMC Sampler.
• Decrease the Noise threshold of the DMC Sampler.
• Isolated bright splotches - there may be different causes for these:
• GI caustics - if you have reflective or refractive surfaces in your scene, especially if they are glossy, V-Ray may
try to compute the GI caustics for these surfaces. Since caustics usually require a lot of sampling to get right,
there may be splotches.
• Incorrect or missing UVW coordinates - if some objects in your scene lack UVW coordinates, or the UVW
coordinates fall outside the texture map, this can produce splotches or weird colors in the irradiance map. The
solution would be to apply correct UVW coordinates to those objects.
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Uninstall V-Ray
§ Windows
§ Mac OS X
§ Uninstalling the plug-In
§ Uninstalling the License Server
Windows
V-Ray installer will automatically uninstall any previous versions.
If you need to manually uninstall V-Ray, make sure that SketchUp or V-Ray components are not being used. Go
to Windows Start > Control Panel >Programs and Features or Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for
SketchUp adv > Uninstall V-Ray for SketchUp adv
This will start the V-Ray uninstaller. Follow the on-screen instructions to remove V-Ray from your system and
restore any files overwritten by the installation.
After the uninstallation is complete you may want to manually delete the C:\ProgramData\ASGvis\ folder
Mac OS X
Uninstalling the plug-In
V-Ray installer will automatically uninstall any previous versions.

If you need to manually uninstall V-Ray, make sure that SketchUp or V-Ray components are not being used.
Double-click theUninstaller_VRayForSketchUp.app program, which is normally located
in /Applications/ASGVIS/
This will start the V-Ray uninstaller. Follow the on-screen instructions to remove V-Ray from your system and
restore any files overwritten by the installation.
After the un-installation is complete you may want to manually delete the /ASGVIS folder from your
Applications folder.
Uninstalling the License Server
To uninstall the V-Ray license server, open the uninstaller directory in Finder, which by default
is/Applications/ChaosGroup/VRLService/snow_leopard_x86/uninstall and double-click
the uninstaller_chaos application. Choose the V-Ray License Serverprogram from the list of programs to
uninstall and click the Uninstall button to remove it.
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The uninstaller will not remove the V-Ray license configuration files or any other files that you have
modified manually after the installation.
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V-Ray Configuration
§ Windows
§ Register V-Ray license service
§ V-Ray license settings change
§ Select OpenCL devices for V-Ray RT GPU
§ Mac OS X
§ Starting and Stopping V-Ray License Server
§ V-Ray License Settings Change
Windows
Register V-Ray license service

The V-Ray license server can be registered as a Windows service in order to automatically run on the Windows
boot. To do that go to Windows Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp adv > Licensing >
Administration. Right click on Register V-Ray License Service and choose Run as Administrator option..
To remove the V-Ray license server from the list of Windows services go to Windows Start > All Programs >
Chaos Group > V-Ray for 3SketchUp adv > Licensing > Administration > Remove V-Ray License Service.
V-Ray license settings change
You can change the license settings of V-Ray which specify the location of the license server. To do that run the
V-Ray license client configuration utility from Windows Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for
SketchUp adv > Licensing > Administration > Change V-Ray client license settings.
For example, if the license server machine has an IP address of 10.0.0.100, you have to put that address in the
Select OpenCL devices for V-Ray RT GPU
V-Ray RT can run on one or more OpenCL/CUDA enabled graphics cards. To specify which cards are to be used,
go to Windows Start > All Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp adv > Tools > GPU device select and
pick
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Mac OS X
Starting and Stopping V-Ray License Server
If you registered the license server to run as a service during the installation, it will be registered as a start-up
item by the installer. In that case, you can use the /sbin/SystemStarter command to start/stop the license
server with the following commands in a Terminal window:
$ sudo /sbin/SystemStarter start vrlservice
If the license server is not registered as a service, then you can run it directly from its install location which by
default is:/Applications/ChaosGroup/VRLService/snow_leopard_x86/bin. Make sure that the dongle is
plugged in. Double-click the vrlservice application in Finder to run the license server. To stop the license
server, right-click on its icon and choose Quit .
The V-Ray license server can be registered to automatically run at login. To do that start it manually, then right
click on its icon and from the Options menu select Open at Login
V-Ray License Settings Change
If you are running the V-Ray license server on a different machine, you need to tell V-Ray for SketchUp where
to look for it. To do this, run the setvrlserviceprogram from
the /Applications/Autodesk/maya 20xx /vray/bin directory. In the terminal write
Run the setvrlservice program from the /Applications/ASGVIS/Dongle Utilities / directory, e.g:
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This setting is per user; if there are many users running V-Ray for SketchUp on the machine, you will need to
set the license server location for each of them.
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V-Ray Licensing System
§ V-Ray Licensing System Overview

§ Installation
§ Installing the V-Ray License Server
§ Securing the V-Ray License Server
§ Configuring the V-Ray Renderer on a Workstation
§ Configuring the V-Ray Renderer on Render Servers for Distributed Rendering
§ Examples
§ Typical Single-Computer Licensing
§ Sharing a License Across your Network of Computers
§ Using the V-Ray License Server
§ Troubleshooting
V-Ray Licensing System Overview

The V-Ray licensing system is an independent licensing routine (the V-Ray floating license server, tied to a
hardware locking device) and the V-Ray renderer itself. The communication between the two is based on the
HTTP protocol, even if the license server and the V-Ray renderer are on the same computer. This means that in
order for the licensing to work, the computer must have TCP/IP installed properly. Please note, however, that
currently IPv6 is not supported.
In order to run, the V-Ray license server requires that a USB hardware lock (dongle) is attached to the
computer where it is running. The dongle contains information about the number of available licenses for V-
Ray. You can attach more than one dongle to the same machine to increase the number of available licenses.
Before using the dongle, you must install a driver for accessing it.
Installation
For more detailed installation and trouble-shooting instructions, please check the Windows Installation PDF
guide and the OSX Installation PDF guide.
Installing the V-Ray License Server
The V-Ray floating license server consists of a single executable file that has to be run prior to launching the V-
Ray renderer. The V-Ray installer creates a shortcut to the license server in the Start menu. The installer can
also optionally register the V-Ray license server as a Windows service that is started automatically by
Windows. Note that the license server requires that a dongle is attached to the machine in order to run, as
well as installed WIBU-key dongle driver. By default, the V-Ray installer automatically installs the required
WIBU-key drivers.
Securing the V-Ray License Server
Please keep in mind that it is up to you and/or your system administrator to keep the machine running the V-
Ray license server secure from unauthorized access and usage of your V-Ray licenses, especially if the V-Ray
license server is running on a machine that can be accessed from the Internet.
Configuring the V-Ray Renderer on a Workstation
After you install V-Ray on the workstation, you must tell it where to look for the V-Ray license server. If you are
running the V-Ray license server on your workstation most of this setup is done for you and you can begin
working once your dongle is plugged in the vrlservice is running. If you are accessing a dedicated license server
or you need to reset your license server you can use a small external program which is accessible from the
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start menu (Start menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp > Licensing > Administration > Change
V-Ray client license settings).
Configuring the V-Ray Renderer on Render Servers for Distributed Rendering
When using distributed rendering V-Ray does require access to the V-Ray license server. After you install V-Ray
on the render server, you must tell it where to look for the V-Ray license server. You can use a small external
program which is accessible from the start menu (Start menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp
> Licensing > Administration > Change V-Ray client license settings).
Examples
Typical Single-Computer Licensing
After installing V-Ray, plug your V-Ray dongle into a free USB port on your computer, if you have not done so.
Start the V-Ray license server (Start Menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp > Licensing >
Launch V-Ray license server). It may take a few seconds for the license server to start completely. Afterwards
run SketchUp and render a simple scene. V-Ray should be running fine, provided that no other V-Ray copy is
connected to your computer. If you wish to start the license server automatically, use the shortcut from the
start menu to register the V-Ray license service (Start Menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for 3dsmax >
Licensing > Administration > Register V-Ray license service).
Sharing a License Across your Network of Computers
Install the V-Ray license server and the WIBU-key driver on a suitable machine in your network (typically this
would be a server machine). Plug the dongle into a free USB port on that machine and start the V-Ray license
server. Now, you can use a small external program which is accessible from the start menu (Start menu >
Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp > Licensing > Administration > Change V-Ray client license
settings). Enter the IP address or the name of the computer where you have the license server installed. Save
and close the license settings dialog and open SketchUp. Now V-Ray should be running fine, provided that the
total number of running V-Ray copies does not exceed the number of granted licenses for the licensing server.
Using the V-Ray License Server
When the V-Ray license server starts, it appears as an icon in the tray area of the Windows taskbar. Double-
click that icon to bring up a window that allows you to close the V-Ray license server (simply close the window
if you do not wish to terminate the license server):
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V-ray license server icon in the Windows taskbar
Clicking the icon opens a window to terminate the license server
Additionally, you can monitor the work of the V-Ray license server (number of available licenses, currently
connected machines etc) via a Web-based interface. For this purpose, you access the V-Ray license server via
the HTTP protocol on the port that you have specified for it (the default is 30304). For example, if you are
running the V-Ray license server on your local machine, open your web browser and in the Address field
enter http://localhost:30304
Clicking on the first link opens a page with the V-Ray license server information:
Troubleshooting
Please check the Windows Installation PDF guide and the OSX Installation PDF guide for more detailed
information and trouble-shooting instructions. Send us an email to vray@chaosgroup.com if you need
assistance.
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Getting Started Videos
Quick Start
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKeS5OxmzDs
V-Ray Express
Link: https://youtu.be/7T1p8n_MQog
V-Ray Dome Light
Link: https://youtu.be/IOINU47TWx8
V-Ray Proxy
Link: https://youtu.be/vRlludNZYac
V-Ray RT CPU and GPU
Link: https://youtu.be/5bjMoySeQGE
En español:
V-Ray Dome Light - Spanish
Link: https://youtu.be/qUhil_lxPdY
V-Ray Proxy - Spanish
Link: https://youtu.be/7la5kVt79QI
V-Ray RT - Spanish
Link: https://youtu.be/BhpCVvPySrw
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Distributed Rendering
§ Distributed Rendering Overview

§ Organization
§ Render Clients
§ Render Servers
§ Installation Notes
§ How to test
§ V-Ray Distributed Rendering Settings
§ Enabling 64-bit Rendering
§ Local Machine Only
§ Rendering Servers Only
§ Notes
Distributed Rendering Overview
Distributed rendering is a technique for distributing a single render job within a single frame across many
computers in a network. There are different approaches of doing this but the main concept is to reduce the
render times by dividing different parts of the rendering pipeline and giving each participant different parts of
the job. The most common way to do this is to divide the frame to be rendered into small regions(buckets) and
give each machine to render a number of them. Then get the results and combine them into the final image.
Organization
V-Ray supports DR. It divides the frame into regions and spreads them across the participants in the
distributed rendering. This is done completely through TCP/IP protocol which is the standard protocol of the
Internet and thus the most common protocol that is supported by the hardware. V-Ray itself does not need
additional file or directory sharing (note that you may actually need some file/directory sharing for the
bitmaps or other additional files used during rendering). The distribution management is divided into Render
Clients and Render Servers.
Render Clients
The render client is the computer that the user is currently using and from which the rendering is started. It
divides the frame into rendering regions and spreads it across the Render Servers. It distributes data to the
render servers for processing and collects the results.
Render Servers
A render server is a computer that is part of the so-called render farm - it requests render data from the
render client, processes it and sends the result back.
Installation Notes
See the Distributed Rendering section in the install instructions.
How to test
First start with the testing of the render server:
• Start the vrayspawnerXX.exe program from the Start menu (Start menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for
SketchUp > Distributed rendering > Launch the distributed rendering spawner). It will automatically open a
command prompt window.
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Now test the render client:
• Open SketchUp as you normally would.

• Open a scene you would like to render (preferably a simple one for this test).
• Choose V-Ray as your current renderer and make sure you have checked Distributed Rendering ON in the V-
Ray System section.
• Press the Hosts button in the Distributed Rendering section.
• Add the machines used for rendering - either with their IP address or their network name and close the dialog.
• Render the scene as you normally would. You should see the buckets rendered by the different servers.
V-Ray Distributed Rendering Settings
The Distributed rendering settings dialog is accessible from the System rollout of the renderer settings.
Add server - this button allows you to manually add a server by entering its IP address or network name.
Remove server - this button deletes the currently selected server(s) from the list.
Resolve servers - this button resolves the IP addresses of all servers.
Enabling 64-bit Rendering
Local Machine Only
1. Enable Distributed Rendering by making sure "On" is enabled from the System rollout.
2. Enable "Don't use local machine". One limitation with this feature is that Light Cache calculations
are NOTvisible in the the V-Ray frame buffer.
3. Open the Distributed Rendering Settings and choose add server and input the IP address of 127.0.0.1 and
chose OK.
4. Render the scene as you normally would. You should now see the rendering buckets labeled with the name
of your local machine. In the task manager your will see that XMLDRSpawner CPU usage is high, at around
90%, and the SketchUp process should be using very little CPU.
To render using distributed rendering the XMLDRSpawner must be running. By default on your local machine
V-Ray will try to identify if your machine is running a 64-bit opertating system and it will automatically start the
64-bit version of the XMLDRSpawner. However, you can start or restart the 64-bit render server manually as
follows:
• Start the XMLDRSpawner.exe program from the Start menu (Start menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for
SketchUp > Distributed rendering 64-bit > Launch the distributed rendering spawner). It will automatically
open a command prompt window.
Rendering Servers Only
1. Start the 64-bit render server on your rendering servers manually as follows:
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• Start the XMLDRSpawner.exe program from the Start menu (Start menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for
SketchUp > Distributed rendering 64-bit > Launch the distributed rendering spawner). It will automatically
open a command prompt window.
2. Enable Distributed Rendering on your local machine by making sure "On" is enabled from
the System rollout.
3. Enable "Don't use local machine".
4. Open the Distributed Rendering Settings and choose add server and input the IP address of each of your
rendering servers.
5. Render the scene as you normally would. You should see the buckets rendered by the Server Name.
In the task manager of your local machine your will see that XMLDRSpawner has no CPU usage and the
SketchUp process should be using very little CPU.
Notes
• Every render server must have all texture maps in their proper directories loaded so that the scene you are
sending will not cause them to abort. For example if you have mapped your object with a file named
JUNGLEMAP.JPG and you do not have the path to the directory mapped to the render server you will get
bucket rendered at that machine as if the map was turned off.
• When you cancel a DR rendering, it may take some time for the render servers to finish working and they may
not be immediately available for another render.
Plugins
Plugins
While V-Ray works with most of the standard SketchUp lights, materials and maps, it also includes
several additional plugins which offer functionality not found in SketchUp itself. They are specially
optimized for work with V-Ray and using them instead of the standard ones can increase rendering
speed significantly.
The V-Ray rendering system includes the following plugins for SketchUp:
Plugin Name Description
V-Ray renderer The V-Ray renderer plugin
VRay2SidedMtl A utility material that allows to create thin translucent surfaces like paper, cloth
etc.
VRayLight An area light plugin
VRaySun A V-Ray sun light with accurate intensity and color based on its position over the
horizon.
VRaySky A procedural HDR environmap map that works with the VRaySun light to create
realistic daylight environments.
VRayShadow A raytraced shadow plugin (sharp and area shadows)
VRayDirt A procedural texture that can be used for dirt-like effects or for simulating ambient
occlusion.
VRayColor A utility texture that always returns a specified color.
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VRayMap A map for adding (glossy) V-Ray reflections/refractions to non-V-Ray materials
VRayHDRI A map for loading HDR images (.hdr file extension) and mapping them as
environments
VRayDisplacementMod A modifier that enables the V-Ray displacement for an object
VRayProxy A plugin that allows you to specify render-time geometry that will be loaded from
an external file
VRayPlane A geometry plugin that implements an infinite plane primitive.
VRayToon An atmospheric plugin that produces simple cartoon-style effect.
VRayBmpFilter A plugin for loading texture maps without filtering.
VRayPhysicalCamera A new camera type that allows to simulate the workings of a real-world camera.
VRayAngleBlendMtl A utility material for efficient layering of several different materials.
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Renderer Parameters
V-Ray is a renderer plugin for SketchUp. In order to use V-Ray, you must first select it as your current renderer.
You can do that by clicking on the Windows menu, choosing Preferences. In the System Preferences window
choose Extensions and make sure that V-Ray for SketchUp is selected from the menu:
The V-Ray parameters are divided into several tabs in the render scene dialog; additionally each tab is divided
into several rollouts:
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Global Switches
§ Global Switches Overview

§ Geometry
§ Lighting
§ Indirect Illumination
§ Misc.
§ Raytracing
§ Example: Secondary Rays Bias
§ Materials
Global Switches Overview
The global switches allow you to control various aspects of the renderer globally.
Geometry
Displacement - enables (default) or disables V-Ray's own displacement mapping. Note that we also support the
SketchUp's displacement feature.
Force back face culling - enables or disables (default) back face culling for camera and shadow rays. When this
option is on, the surfaces of objects which are turned away from the camera (or the light source, when tracing
shadows) will appear fully transparent. This allows to look inside closed objects when the camera is outside.
Lighting
Lights - enables or disables lights globally. Note that if you uncheck this, V-Ray will only use GI to light the
scene.
Default lights - allows you to control the default lights in the scene.
• Off - the default lights in the scene will be always switched off
• On - the default lights are always switched on when there are no lights in the scene or when you have disabled
lighting globally (see Light parameter).
Hidden lights - enables or disables the usage of hidden lights. When this is checked, lights are rendered
regardless of whether they are hidden or not. When this option is off, any lights that are hidden for any reason
(either explicitly or by type) will not be included in the rendering.
Shadows - enables or disables shadows globally.
Show GI only - when this option is on, direct lighting will not be included in the final rendering. Note that lights
will still be considered for GI calculations, however in the end only the indirect lighting will be shown.
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Indirect Illumination
Don't render final image - when this option is on, V-Ray will only calculate the relevant global illumination
maps (photon maps, light maps, irradiance maps). This is a useful option if you are calculating maps for a fly-
through animation.
Misc.
Low thread priority - turning this on will cause V-Ray to use threads of lower priority when rendering.
Batch Render - when this enabled it allows users to render a sequence of images one after another. This is
useful when rendering animations or using third party batch rendering plugins for SketchUp.
Progress Window - when this is turned on, V-Ray will show the messages window at the start of every render.
Raytracing
Secondary rays bias - a small positive offset that will be applied to all secondary rays; this can be used if you
have overlapping faces in the scene to avoid the black splotches that may appear. See the examples below for
a demonstration of the effect of this parameter.
Example: Secondary Rays Bias
This example shows the effect of the Secondary rays bias parameter. The scene below has a box object with a
height of 0.0, which makes the two sides of the box to occupy exactly the same region in space. Due to this, V-
Ray cannot resolve unambiguously intersections of rays with these surfaces.
The first image shows what happens when you try to render the scene with 0 on the Secondary ray bias
settings. You can see the splotches in the GI solution, caused by the fact that rays randomly intersect one or
the other surface:
In the second image above, the Secondary rays bias is set to 0.001, which offsets the start of each ray a little
bit along its direction. In effect, this makes V-Ray skip the problematic surface overlaps and render the scene
correctly:
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Note that the Secondary rays bias affects only things like GI, reflections etc. In order to render the scene
properly, the material assigned to the box has its 2-sided option checked. This is so that the object looks in the
same way regardless of whether the camera rays hit the top or the bottom of the box. If the material did not
have this option checked, it would appear "noisy" even though the Secondary rays bias is greater than 0.0:
Materials
Reflection/refraction - enables or disables the calculation of reflections and refractions in V-Ray maps and
materials.
Max depth - enables the user to limit globally the reflection/refraction depth. When this is unchecked, the
depth is controlled locally by the materials/maps. When this option is checked, all materials and maps use the
depth specified here.
Maps - enables or disables texture maps.
Filter maps - enables or disables texture map filtering. When enabled, the depth is controlled locally by the
settings of the texture maps. When disabled, no filtering is performed.
Filter maps for GI - enable or disable texture filtering during GI calculations and glossy reflections/refractions.
When off (the default), texture maps are not filtered for GI and glossy reflections/refractions in order to speed
up the calculations. If this option is on, textures will be filtered in these cases.
Max. transp levels - this controls to what depth transparent objects will be traced.
Transp. cutoff - this controls when tracing of transparent objects will be stopped. If the accumulated
transparency of a ray is below this threshold, no further tracing will be performed.
Override materials - this option allows the user to override the scene materials when rendering. All objects will
be rendered with the chosen Override color.
Glossy effects - this option allows the user to replace all glossy reflections in the scene with non-glossy ones;
useful for test renderings.
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System
§ System Overview
§ Raycaster Parameters
§ Render Region Division
§ Distributed Rendering
System Overview
In this section you can adjust a variety of V-Ray parameters related to the overall operation of the renderer.
Raycaster Parameters
Here you can control various parameters of V-Ray's Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) tree.
One of the basic operations that V-Ray must perform is raycasting - determining if a given ray intersects any
geometry in the scene, and if so - identifying that geometry. The simplest way to implement this would be to
test the ray against every single render primitive (triangle) in the scene. Obviously, in scenes with thousands or
millions of triangles this is going to be very slow. To speed this process, V-Ray organizes the scene geometry
into a special data structure, called a binary space partitioning (BSP) tree.
The BSP tree is a hierarchical data structure, built by subdividing the scene in two parts, then looking at each of
those two parts and subdividing them in turn, if necessary and so on. Those "parts" are called nodes of the
tree. At the top of the hierarchy is the root node - which represents the bounding box of the whole scene; at
the bottom of the hierarchy are the leaf nodes - they contain references to actual triangles from the scene.
Max tree depth - the maximum depth of the tree. Larger values will cause V-Ray to take more memory, but the
rendering will be faster - up to some critical point. Values beyond that critical point (which is different for
every scene) will start to slow things down. Smaller values for this parameter will cause the BSP tree to take
less memory, but rendering will be slower.
Min leaf size - the minimum size of a leaf node. Normally this is set to 0.0, which means that V-Ray will
subdivide the scene geometry regardless of the scene size. By setting this to a different value, you can make V-
Ray to quit subdividing, if the size of a node is below a given value.
Face/level coef - controls the maximum amount of triangles in a leaf node. If this value is lower, rendering will
be faster, but the BSP tree will take more memory - up to some critical point (which is different for every
scene). Values below that critical point will make the rendering slower.
Dynamic memory limit - the total RAM limit for the dynamic raycasters which store dynamic geometry like
displacement and VRayProxy objects. Note that the memory pool is shared between the different rendering
threads. Therefore, if geometry needs to be unloaded and loaded too often, the threads must wait for each
other and the rendering performance will suffer. In V-Ray 2.0 and later, you can set this to 0 to remove any
limit in that case, V-Ray will take as much memory as needed.
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Render Region Division
Here you can control various parameters of V-Ray's rendering regions (buckets). The bucket is an essential part
of the distributed rendering system of V-Ray. A bucket is a rectangular part of the currently rendered frame
that is rendered independently from other buckets. Buckets can be sent to idle LAN machines for processing
and/or can be distributed between several CPUs. Because a bucket can be processed only by a single processor
the division of the frame in too small a number of buckets can prevent the optimal utilization of computational
resources (some CPUs stay idle all the time). However the division of the frame in too many buckets can slow
down the rendering because there is a some time overhead related with each bucket (bucket setup, LAN
transfer, etc).
X - determines the maximum region width in pixels (Region W/H is selected) or the number of regions in the
horizontal direction (when Region Count is selected)
Y - determines the maximum region height in pixels (Region W/H is selected) or the number of regions in the
vertical direction (when Region Count is selected)
Region sequence - determines the order in which the regions are rendered. Note that the
default Triangulation sequence is best if you use a lot of dynamic geometry (displacement-mapped
objects, and VRayProxy objects), since it walks through the image in a very consistent manner so that
geometry that was generated for previous buckets can be used for the next buckets. The other sequences tend
to jump from one end of the image to another which is not good with dynamic geometry.
Reverse sequence - reverses the region sequence order.
Distributed Rendering
Distributed rendering is the process of computing a single image over several different machines. Note that
this is different from distributing the frame over several CPU's in a single machine, which is
called multithreading. V-Ray supports multithreading, as well as distributed rendering.
Before you can use the distributed rendering option, you must determine the machines that will take part in
the computations. V-Ray will need to be properly installed on those machines, although they don't need to be
authorized. You must make sure that the V-Ray spawner application is running on those machines - either as a
service, or as a stand-alone application. Refer to the Installation section for more details on configuring and
running the V-Ray spawner.
For additional information on distributed rendering, please refer to the dedicated Distributed
rendering section.
Distributed rendering - this checkbox specifies whether V-Ray will use distributed rendering.
Host... - this button opens the V-Ray distributed rendering settings dialog. See the Distributed
Rendering section for more information.
Don't use local machine - this checkbox specifies if V-Ray will render on the local machine V-Ray distributed
rendering settings dialog. See the Distributed rendering section for more information.
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Camera
§ Camera Overview
§ Camera Type
§ Example: Camera Types
§ Example: Camera Types Explained
§ Physical Camera
§ Example: White Balance
§ Example: Exposure Control - f-number (f-stop)
§ Example: Exposure Control: Film Speed (ISO)
§ Example: Distortion
§ Example: Zoom Factor
§ Example: Vignetting
§ Example: Exposure control - Shutter Speed
§ Depth of Field
§ Basic Parameters
§ Example: Depth of Field (DOF)
§ Bokeh Effects
§ Motion Blur
§ Example: Vertical Shift (Camera Correction)
Camera Overview
The camera rollout controls the way the scene geometry is projected onto the image.
Camera Type
The cameras in V-Ray generally define the rays that are cast into the scene, which essentially is how the scene
is projected onto the screen. V-Ray supports several camera types: Standard, Spherical, Cylindrical
(point), Cylindrical (ortho), Box andFish eye. Orthographic views are supported too.
Type - from this list you can select the type of the camera. See the examples below for a more detailed
discussion on camera types.
• Default - this is a standard pinhole camera.

• Spherical - this is a spherical camera which means that the camera lenses has spherical form.
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• Cylindrical (point) - with this type of camera all rays have a common origin - they are cast from the center of
the cylinder. In the vertical direction the camera acts as a pinhole camera and in the horizontal direction it acts
as a spherical camera.
• Cylindrical (ortho) - in vertical direction the camera acts as an orthographic view and in the horizontal
direction it acts as a spherical camera.
• Box - the box camera is simply 6 standard cameras placed on the sides of a box. This type of camera is
excellent for generation of environment maps for cube mapping. It may be very useful for GI too - you can
calculate the irradiance map with a Box camera, save it to file and you can reuse it with a Standard camera
that can be pointed at any direction.
• Fish eye - this special type of camera captures the scene as if it is normal pinhole camera pointed at an
absolutely reflective sphere which reflects the scene into the camera's shutter. You can use
the Dist/FOV settings to control what part of the sphere will be captured by the camera. The red arc in the
diagram corresponds to the FOV angle. Note that the sphere has always a radius of 1.0.
• Warped spherical - another spherical camera with slightly different mapping formula.
Example: Camera Types
The images below show the difference between the different camera types:
Standard camera
Spherical camera
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Cylindrical camera
Orthographic cylinder
Box camera
Fish-eye camera
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Example: Camera Types Explained
This example shows how the rays for different camera types are generated. The red arcs in the diagrams
correspond to the FOV angles.
Standard
Spherical
Cylindrical (point)
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Cylindrical (ortho)
Box
Fish-eye
Override FOV - with this setting you can override SketchUp's FOV angle. This is because some V-Ray camera
types can take FOV ranges from 0 to 360 degrees.
Auto-fit - this setting controls the auto-fit option of the Fish-eye camera. When Auto-fit is enabled V-Ray will
calculate the Dist value automatically so that the rendered image fits horizontally with the image's
dimensions.
Height - here you can specify the height of the Cylindrical (ortho) camera. This setting is available only when
the Type is set to Cylindrical (ortho).
Dist - this setting applies only to the Fish-eye camera. The Fish-eye camera is simulated as a Standard camera
pointed to an absolutely reflective sphere (with a radius of 1.0) that reflects the scene into the camera's
shutter. The Dist value contorts how far is the camera from the sphere's center (which is how much of the
sphere will be captured by the camera). Note: this setting has no effect when the Auto-fit option is enabled.
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Curve - this setting applies only to the Fish-eye camera. This setting contorts the way the rendered image is
warped. A value of 1.0 corresponds to a real world Fish-eye camera. As the value approaches 0.0 the warping
is increased. As the value approaches 2.0 the warping is reduced. Note: in fact this value controls the angle at
which rays are reflected by the virtual sphere of the camera.
Physical Camera
On - enables the VRay physical camera.

Override Focal length - when enabled we can set the field of view directly.
Specify Film width - specifies the horizontal size of the film gate.
Type - determines the type of the camera. This mostly has an effect on the motion blur effect produced by the
camera:
• Still camera - simulates a still photo camera with a regular shutter.

• Cinematic camera - simulates a motion-picture camera with a circular shutter.
• Video camera - simulates a shutter-less video camera with a CCD matrix.
Shutter speed - the shutter speed, in inverse seconds, for the still photographic camera. For example, shutter
speed of 1/30 s corresponds to a value of 30 for this parameter.
Shutter angle - shutter angle (in degrees) for the cinematic camera.
Shutter offset - shutter offset (in degrees) for the cinematic camera.
Latency - CCD matrix latency, in seconds, for the video camera.

White balance - allows additional modification of the image output. Objects in the scene that have the
specified color will appear white in the image. Note that only the color hue is taken into consideration; the
brightness of the color is ignored. There are several presets that can be used, most notably the Daylight preset
for exterior scenes.
Example: White Balance
Using the white balance color allows additional modification of the image output. Objects in the scene that
have the specified color will appear white in the image. E.g. for daylight scenes this should be peach color to
compensate for the color of the sun light etc.
Exposure is on, f-number is 8.0, Shutter speed is 200.0, ISO is 200.0, Vignetting is on.
White balance is white (255, 255, 255).
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White balance is blueish (145, 65, 255).
White balance is peach (20, 55, 245).
F-number - determines the width of the camera aperture and, indirectly, exposure. If the Exposure option is
checked, changing the f-number will affect the image brightness.
Example: Exposure Control - f-number (f-stop)
Note: All the images from the following examples are rendered using the VRaySun and VRaySky set with their
default parameters.
This parameter controls the aperture size of the virtual camera. Lowering the f-number value increases the
aperture size and so makes the image brighter, since more light enters the camera. In reverse, increasing the f-
number makes the image darker, as the aperture is closed. This parameter also determines the amount of the
DOF effect, see Example .
Exposure is on, Shutter speed is 60.0, ISO is 200, Vignetting is on, White balance is white.
f-number is 8.0
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f-number is 6.0
f-number is 4.0
Film speed (ISO) - determines the film power (i.e. sensitivity). Smaller values make the image darker, while
larger values make it brighter
Example: Exposure Control: Film Speed (ISO)
This parameter determines the sensitivity of the film and so the brightness of the image. If the film speed (ISO)
is high (film is more sensitive to the light), the image is brighter. Lower ISO values mean that the film is less
sensitive and produces a darker image.
Exposure is on, Shutter Speed is 60.0, f-number is 8.0, Vignetting is on, White balance is white.
ISO is 400.
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ISO is 800.
ISO is 1600.
Distortion - specifies the distortion coefficient for the camera lens. A value of 0.0 means no distortion; positive
values produce "barrel" distortion, while negative values produce "pillow" distortion.
Example: Distortion
The difference between the two types of distortion is slightly visible. The Cubic type should be used in some
camera tracking programs like SynthEyes , Boujou, etc.
Distortion is 1.0, Distortion type is Quadratic.
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Distortion is -1.0, Distortion type is Quadratic.
Distortion is 1.0, Distortion type is Cubic.
Distortion is -1.0, Distortion type is Cubic.
Zoom factor - specifies a zoom factor. Values greater than 1.0 zoom into the image; values smaller
than 1.0 zoom out. This is similar to a blow-up rendering of the image
Example: Zoom Factor
This parameter determines the zooming (In and Out) of the final image. It doesn't move the camera forward
nor backwards.
Exposure is on, f-number is 8.0, Shutter speed is 60.0, ISO is 200.0, Vignetting is on, White
balance is white.
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Zoom factor is 1.0
Zoom factor is 2.0
Zoom factor is 0.5
Lens shift - allows the simulation of shift lenses for 2-point perspective.
Specify focus - this allows you to specify a focus distance different from the camera target distance.
Vignetting - when this option is on, the optical vignetting effect of real-world cameras is simulated. You can
also specify the amount of the vignetting effect, where 0.0 is no vignetting and 1.0 is normal vignetting.
Example: Vignetting
This parameter controls the simulating the optical vignetting effect of real-world cameras.
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Vignetting is 0.0 (vignetting is disabled).
Vignetting is 1.0.
Exposure - when this option is on, the f-number, Shutter speed and ISO settings will affect the image
brightness.
Example: Exposure control - Shutter Speed
This parameter determines the exposure time for the virtual camera. The longer this time is (small Shutter
speed value), the brighter the image would be. In reverse - if the exposure time is shorter (high Shutter speed
value), the image would get darker. This parameter also affects the motion blur effect, see White balance.
Exposure is on, f-number is 8.0, ISO is 200, Vignetting is on, White balance is white.
Shutter speed is 60.0
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Depth of Field
These parameters control the depth of field effect when rendering.

On - turns the depth-of-field effect on.
Basic Parameters
Aperture - this is the size of the virtual camera aperture, in world units. Small aperture sizes reduce the DOF
effect, larger sizes produce more blur.
Override focal dist - determines the distance from the camera at which objects will be in perfect focus. Objects
closer or farther than that distance will be blurred.
Subdivs - controls the quality of the DOF effect. Lower values are computed faster, but produce more noise in
the image. Higher values smooth out the noise, but take more time to render. Note that the quality of
sampling also depends on the settings of the DMC Sampler as well as on the chosen Image sampler.
Example: Depth of Field (DOF)
To enable the DOF effect you need to turn on the Depth-of-field option in the Sampling rollout of the physical
camera. The effect is most strongly seen when the camera is close to some object, like when doing a "macro"
photo. For a strong DOF effect, the camera aperture must be open wide (i.e. small f-number value). That may
lead to a very burnt and bright image, so to preserve the same illuminosity over the whole image, the shutter
speed must shortened. And at last but not at least the focus distance determines which part of the scene will
be actually on focus. To get the focus near, you would need a small value and reverse - higher value for far
focus.
Exposure is on, f-number is 1.0, Shutter speed is 4000.0, ISO is 200.0, Vignetting is on.
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DOF is off.
DOF is on, Focus Distance 400.
DOF is on, Focus Distance is 4000.

Bokeh Effects
Blades on - when enabled this option allows you to simulate the polygonal shape of the aperture of real-world
cameras. When this option is off , the shape is assumed to be perfectly circular.
Center bias - this determines the uniformity of the DOF effect. A value of 0.0 means that light passes
uniformly through the aperture. Positive values mean that light is concentrated towards the rim of the
aperture, while negative values concentrate light at the center.
Rotation - specifies the orientation of the aperture shape.
Anisotropy - this option allows the stretching of the bokeh effect horizontally or vertically. Positive values
stretch the effect in the vertical direction. Negative values stretch it in the horizontal direction.
Motion Blur
On - turns motion blur on.

Duration - specifies the duration, in frames, during which the camera shutter is open.
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Interval center - specifies the middle of the motion blur interval with respect to the 3ds Max frame. A value
of 0.5 means that the middle of the motion blur interval is halfway between the frames. A value of 0.0 means
that the middle of the interval is at the exact frame position.
Bias - this controls the bias of the motion blur effect. A value of 0.0 means that the light passes uniformly
during the whole motion blur interval. Positive values mean that light is concentrated towards the end of the
interval, while negative values concentrate light towards the beginning.
General Motion Blur Parameters
These parameters are used whether you are rendering from a standard camera or from a VRayPhysicalCamera
with motion blur enabled.
Prepass samples - this controls how many samples in time will be computed during irradiance map
calculations.
Blur particles as mesh - this option controls the blurring of particle systems. When this is on, particles will be
blurred like normal meshes. However, many particle systems change the number of particles between frames.
You can turn off this option to compute the motion blur from the velocity of the particles instead.
Geometry samples - this determines the number of geometry segments used to approximate motion blur.
Objects are assumed to move linearly between geometry samples. For fast rotating objects, you need to
increase this to get correct motion blur. Note that more geometry samples increase the memory consumption,
since more geometry copies are kept in memory. You can also control the number of geometry samples on a
per-object basis from the Object settings dialog.
Subdivs - determines the quality of the motion blur. Lower values are computed faster, but produce more
noise in the image. Higher values smooth out the noise, but take more time to render. Note that the quality of
sampling also depends on the settings of the DMC Sampler as well as on the chosen Image sampler.
Example: Vertical Shift (Camera Correction)
Using this parameter, you can archive the so-called "2 point perspective". To have that done automatically, use
the Guess vertical shift button.
Vertical shift: Guess (2 point)
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Vertical shift: -0.5
Vertical shift: 0.5
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Environment
§ Environment Overview
§ GI (Skylight)
§ Reflection/Refraction
§ Refraction
Environment Overview
The Environment section in V-Ray render parameters is where you can specify a color and a texture map to be
used during GI and reflection/refraction calculations. If you don't specify a color/map then the background
color and map specified in the SketchUp Environment dialog will be used by default.
GI (Skylight)
This group allows you to apply various environment settings for indirect illumination calculations. The effect of
changing the GI environment is similar to skylight.
On - turns on and off the GI environment override.
Color - lets you specify the environment (skylight) color. Note that this is ignored if there is an environment
texture specified.
Multiplier - a multiplier for the color value. Note that the multiplier does not affect the environment texture (if
present). Use an Output map to control the brightness of the environment map if the map itself does not have
brightness controls.
Texture - lets you choose a GI environment texture. Note that if present, the texture overrides the
specified Color.
Reflection/Refraction
This group allows you to override the SketchUp Environment settings when reflections and refractions are
calculated. Note that you can also override the reflection/refraction environment on a per material basis
(see V-Ray Material) or a per map basis (see VRayMap). If you do not enable the Refraction override, this
group of controls affects both reflections and refractions. If you enable the Refraction override, then this group
affects only reflections.
On - with this option turned on V-Ray will use the specified Color and Texture during reflection/refraction
calculations.
Color - lets you specify the environment color for reflections/refractions. This is ignored, if there is an
environment texture specified.
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Multiplier - a multiplier for the color value. Note that the multiplier does not affect the environment texture (if
present). Use an Output map to control the brightness of the environment map, if the map itself does not have
Texture - lets you choose an environment texture texture. Note that if specified, this texture overrides
the Color.
Refraction
This group allows to override the environment for refraction rays only. When this override is disabled, V-Ray
will use the environment specified in the Reflection/refraction group when calculating refractions.
On - enables the refraction environment override.
Color - specifies the environment color for refractions. This color is ignored if there is an environment texture
specified.
Multiplier - a multiplier for the Color value. Note that the multiplier does not affect the environment texture (if
present). Use an Output map to control the brightness of the environment map, if the map itself does not have
Texture - specifies the environment texture for refractions. Note that if present, this texture overrides the
specified Color.
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Image Sampler (Antialiasing)
§ Image Sampler (Antialiasing) Overview

§ Example: What is antialiasing?
§ Image Sampler
§ Examples: Image Sampler Comparisons
§ Example: Antialiasing Filters
§ Example: Antialiasing Filters and Moire Effects
§ Fixed Rate Sampler
§ Adaptive DMC Sampler
§ Adaptive Subdivision Sampler
§ Example: Texture Antialiasing
§ Example: Randomized Antialiasing
§ Example: G-Buffer Based Antialiasing
§ Example: Normals
§ Notes
Image Sampler (Antialiasing) Overview
In V-Ray, an image sampler refers to an algorithm for sampling and filtering the image function, and producing
the final array of pixels that constitute the rendered image.
V-Ray implements several algorithms for sampling an image. You can choose between Fixed rate sampler,
Adaptive DMC sampler and Adaptive subdivision sampler.
Example: What is antialiasing?
The following example shows the basic difference between an image with antialiasing, and one without:
No antialiasing (Fixed rate sampler, 1 subdiv)
Antialiasing on (Adaptive subdivision sampler, rate -1/2)
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The left images are jagged around the edges of the sphere, while the right are smooth. Here are close-ups of
the two images:
No antialiasing (Fixed rate sampler, 1 subdiv)
Antialiasing on (Adaptive subdivision sampler, rate -1/2)
Image Sampler
Type - specifies the image sampler type:
• Fixed - this sampler always takes the same number of samples per pixel;
• Adaptive DMC - this sampler takes a variable number of samples per pixel depending on the difference in the
intensity of the pixels;
• Adaptive subdivision - this sampler divides the image into an adaptive grid-like structure and refines
depending on the difference in pixel intensity.
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Examples: Image Sampler Comparisons
Here are some examples demonstrating the quality vs. speed of the image samplers. All the samplers were set
to produce approximately the same image quality.The first example is a normal smooth image (no blurry
effects), click the images for a larger view:
Fixed rate (4 subdivs)

Render time: 36.1s
Adaptive (subdivs 1/4)

Render time: 4.0s
Adaptive subdivision (rate -1/2)

Render time: 1.8s
Both the adaptive and the adaptive subdivision samplers are substantially faster than the fixed rate sampler.
Here is a more complex example with some fine textures (lots of fine bump mapping) and an area light; this
example uses a precalculated irradiance map - the render times are for the final rendering only. Click the
images for a larger view.
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Note: the Sponza Atrium model was created by Marko Dabrovic ( http://www.rna.hr ) and was one of the
models for the CGTechniques Radiosity competition . The Athene model was a free model from the DeEspona
Infografica model bank.
Fixed rate
(4 subdivs)
Adaptive
(subdivs 1/4)
Adaptive subdivision
(rate 0/2, threshold 0.05)
In this case, the Adaptive sampler performed best, and the Adaptive subdivision - worst. Why is that? Here is
the non-antialiased image, to give an idea of what the image samplers had to deal with.
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Some parts of the image are quite "noisy" because of the fine bump map. Lots of image samples were required
to smooth this out. Furthermore, each image sample was quite costly to compute - there is an irradiance map
and an area light, which (especially the area light) need a lot of computations. With the Fixed and Adaptive
samplers, V-Ray knows in advance how many image samples will be taken for a pixel; therefore, it can optimize
the computation of some values (the area light for example) so that the final image result is similar, while
actually those values are computed with lower accuracy (i.e. tracing fewer shadow rays) for the individual
image samples. This cannot be done for the Adaptive subdivision sampler - it does not know in advance how
many samples will be computed for a pixel; therefore it needs to maintain a constant (high) accuracy. Constant
accuracy is also required in order for the sampler to adapt correctly to the image. This is why, in this example,
the Adaptive subdivision sampler performed worse than the other two methods.
Note: the dragon model is from one of the example scene files of 3ds Max 4
The third example is an image with direct GI and motion blur:
Fixed rate
(4 subdivs)
Adaptive
(subdivs 1/4)
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Adaptive subdivision
(rate 0/2, threshold 0.1)
In this case, the Fixed rate sampler was the fastest and the Adaptive subdivision sampler was the slowest of all
(admittedly, the image computed with adaptive subdivision is very smooth). This is because the cost of
supersampling a pixel for the Adaptive and the Adaptive subdivision samplers becomes too great.
Here is the scene without motion blur, with irradiance map, and with the Adaptive subdivision sampler
(render time includes GI calculations):
A ntialiasing Filter
This section allows you to choose an antialiasing filter. See the example below for more information on
antialiasing filters
Example: Antialiasing Filters
Here is an example briefly demonstrating the effect of different antialiasing filters on the final result.
Note that rendering with a particular filter is not the same as rendering without a filter and then blurring the
image in a post-processing program like Adobe Photoshop. Filters are applied on a sub-pixel level, over the
individual sub-pixel samples. Therefore, applying the filter at render time produces a much more accurate and
subtle result than applying it as a post effect. V-Ray can use all standard 3ds Max filters (with the exception of
the Plate match filter) and produces similar results to the scanline renderer.
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The Adaptive image sampler was used for the images below, with Min/Max rate of -1/3 and
the Rand option on.
Filter Image Zoomed-in image Comments
Filtering is Applies an
off internal 1x1
pixel box
filter.
Area filter, Slightly blurs

size 1.5 the image,
(default visually more
setting) pleasing than
the box filter.
Area filter, More blurring.

size 4.0
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Blend filter Combination

of a sharp and
a soft filter,
kind of
dreamy effect.
Catmull- Edge-
Rom enhancing
filter, often
used for
architectural
visualizations.
Note that
edge
enhancing can
produce
"moire"
effects on
detailed
geometry.
Mitchell- Allows control

Netravali between
edge-
enhancement
and blurring.
MItchell- Strong edge-

Netravali, enhancement.
ringing=1.5
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Mitchell- Even more

Netravali, edge
ringing=2.0 enhancement;
kind of
cartoon-style
effect.
Soften Gaussian blur.
Example: Antialiasing Filters and Moire Effects
This example demonstrates the effect antialiasing filters have on moire effects in your images. Sharpening
filters (Mitchell-Netralavli, Catmull-Rom) may enhance moire effects, even if your image sampling rate is very
high. Blurring filters (Area, Quadratic, Cubic) reduce moire effects.
Note that moire effects are not necessarily a result of poor image sampling. In general, moire effects appear
simply because the image is discretized into square pixels. As such, they are inherent to digital images. The
effect can be reduced through the usage of different antialiasing filters, but is not completely avoidable.
The scene is very simple: a sphere with a very fine checker map applied, texture filtering is off. The images
were rendered with a very high sampling rate (15 subdivs, or 225 rays/pixel). This is enough to produce quite
an accurate approximation to the pixel values. Note that the image looks quite different depending on the
filter:
No Filter
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Area filter, size = 1.5
Area filter, size = 4.0
Quadratic filter
Sharp quadratic filter
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Cubic filter
Video filter
Soften filter,size = 6.0
Cook variable, size = 2.5
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Blend, size = 8.0, blend = 0.3
Blackman
Mitchell-Netravali, blur = 0.333, ringing = 0.333
Catmull-Rom
Fixed Rate Sampler
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This is the simplest image sampler, and it takes a fixed number of samples for each pixel.
Subdivs - determines number of samples per pixel. When this is set to 1, one sample at the center of each
pixel is taken. If this is greater than 1, the samples are distributed within the pixel. The actual number of pixels
is the square of this parameter (e.g. 4 subdivs produce 16 samples per pixel).
Adaptive DMC Sampler
This sampler makes a variable number of samples per pixel based on the difference in intensity between the
pixel and its neighbors.
The following diagram shows visually the way V-Ray is placing samples when using the Adaptive
DMC sampler.
The black squares represent the pixels of the image while the dots represent the individual samples. In the
first pass V-Ray always places the minimum number of samples determined by the Min. Subdivs parameter..
Then the color of samples is compared and more are added where needed in the following passes.
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This is the preferred sampler for images with lots of small details like blurry effects (DOF, glossy reflections,
etc). It also takes up less RAM than the Adaptive subdivision sampler.
Min subdivs - determines the initial (minimum) number of samples taken for each pixel. You will rarely need
to set this to more than 1, except if you have very thin lines that are not captured correctly, or fast moving
objects if you use motion blur. The actual number of pixels is the square of this number (e.g. 4 subdivs
produce 16samples per pixel).
Max subdivs - determines the maximum number of samples for a pixel. The actual maximum number of
sampler is the square of this number (e.g. 4 subdivs produces a maximum of 16 samples). Note that V-Ray may
take less than the maximum number of samples, if the difference in intensity of the neighbouring pixels is
small enough.
Use DMC sampler threshold - when this is on (the default), V-Ray will use the threshold specified in the DMC
Sampler to determine if more samples are needed for a pixel. When this is off, the Color threshold parameter
will be used instead.
Color threshold - the threshold that will be used to determine if a pixel needs more samples. This is ignored if
the Use DMC sampler threshold option is on.
Show samples - if this is on, V-Ray will show an image where the pixel brightness is directly proportional to the
number of samples taken at this pixel. This is useful for fine-tuning the antialiasing of the image.
Adaptive Subdivision Sampler
This is an advanced image sampler capable of undersampling (taking less than one sample per pixel). In the
absence of blurry effects (direct GI, DOF, glossy reflection/reftaction etc) this is the best preferred image
sampler in V-Ray. On average it takes fewer samples (and thus less time) to achieve the same image quality as
the other image samplers. However, with detailed textures and/or blurry effects, it can be slower and produce
worse results than the other two methods.
The following diagram shows visually the way V-Ray works when using the Adaptive Subdivision image
sampler. With this mode V-Ray creates a secondary grid on top of the pixel grid and uses this grid to position
the samples. This allows it to use less than a sample per pixel. After the first pass the samples are compared
and if the difference between two samples is bigger than the values in the thresholds the grid is subdivided
and more samples are added. During the whole time V-Ray has to keep the whole grid in the memory which
makes this method less memory efficient compared to the other two methods - see the Notes below.
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Min. rate - controls minimum number of samples per pixel. A value of zero means one sample per pixel; -
1 means one sample every two pixels; -2 means one sample every 4 pixels etc.
Max. rate - controls maximum number of samples per pixel; zero means one sample per pixel, 1 means four
samples, 2 means eight samples etc.
Color threshold - determines the sensitivity of the sampler to changes in pixel intensity. Lower values will
produce better results, while higher values will be faster, but may leave some areas of similar intensity
undersampled.
Example: Texture Antialiasing
This example deals with texture antialiasing and the effect of the color threshold for
the Adaptive and Adaptive subdivision samplers.
V-Ray does not support Max's mechanism for supersampling materials and maps. Instead, texture antialiasing
is controlled by the image samplers.
By default V-Ray antialiases everything in the image, including textures. This is especially useful for textures
with small details or noisy bump maps as seen in the aboveExample . The Color threshold parameter controls
the extent to which texture antialiasing is performed. The effect of this parameter is most noticeable with
the Adaptive subdivision sampler and low min rates. For the four images below, min/max rate of -3/2 was
used:
Color threshold 10.0
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Color threshold 5.0
Color threshold 1.0
Color threshold 0.1
Note that the edges of the object in those images is always sharp. This is because the Object outline option is
turned on - see Example .
If you set the Color threshold to a high value, you are effectively telling V-Ray not to antialias textures. You
can use this fact to speed up the rendering of complex materials. Note however, that this will disable
antialiasing of V-Ray shadows, reflections, etc. as well.
Randomize samples - displaces the samples slightly to produce better antialiasing of nearly horizontal or
vertical lines.
Example: Randomized Antialiasing
Normally V-Ray places the image sample in a strict grid-like pattern. This may cause unwanted banding of
edges that are nearly horizontal or nearly vertical. You can use the Rand option to avoid that. Here is a
comparison of an image rendered with and without the Rand option:
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Rand = Off
Rand = On
Here are close-ups of the two images:
Rand = Off
Rand = On
The Rand option can be very useful for images with long thin lines as well.
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Object outline - this will cause the image sampler to always supersample object edges (regardless of whether
they actually need to be supersampled). This option has no effect if DOF or motion blur is enabled.
Example: G-Buffer Based Antialiasing
In the example on texture antialiasing, the edges of the object are always sharp, regardless of the value of
the Color threshold . This is because the Object outline option is turned on. Here are the first and the last of
the images from that example, rendered with Object outline off:
Color threshold = 10.0

Object outline = Off
Color threshold = 0.1

Object outline = Off
Now the antialiasing of edges depends only on the Color threshold . By default, the Object outline option is
on, meaning that the outlines of objects are always antialiased. If there are many small objects in the scene,
this may slow the rendering. In that case, it's better to turn this off and use only the Color threshold to
control image quality.
On the other hand, if there are lots of fine textures in the image, which you don't want supersampled, you can
simply turn up the Color threshold . In order to still keep object edges sharp, you'll need the Object
outline option.
The other options ( Normals , Z-Value , Material ID ) allow you to choose additional areas in which to force
antialiasing.
Normals - this will supersample areas with sharply varying normals. This option has no effect if DOF or motion
blur is enabled.
Example: Normals
For example, the Normals option allows you to always antialias internal object edges, in addition to the object
outline, as shown in the example below (min/max rate -3/2, Color threshold 10.0, Object outline on):
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Normals = Off
Normals = On
Show samples - if this is on, V-Ray will show an image where the pixel brightness is directly proportional to the
number of samples taken at this pixel. This is useful for fine-tuning the antialiasing of the image.
Note
• Which sampler to use for a given scene? The answer is best found with experiments, but here are some tips:
• For smooth scenes with only a few blurry effects and smooth textures, the Adaptive subdivision sampler with
its ability to undersample the image is unbeatable.
• For images with detailed textures or lots of geometry detail and only a few blurry effects,the Adaptive
DMC sampler performs best. Also in the case of animations involving detailed textures, the Adaptive
subdivision sampler might produce jittering which the Adaptive DMC sampler avoids.
• For complex scenes with lots of blurry effects and/or detailed textures, the sampler performs best and is very
predictable with regards to the quality and r ender time.
• A note on RAM usage: image samplers require substantial amount of RAM to store information about each
bucket. Using large bucket sizes may take a lot of RAM. This is especially true for the Adaptive
subdivision sampler, which stores all individual sub-samples taken within a bucket. The Adaptive
DMCsampler and the Fixed rate sampler on the other hand only store the summed result of all sub-samples
for a pixel and so usually require less RAM.
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DMC Sampler
§ Overview
§ DMC Sampler
§ References
Overview
Monte Carlo (MC) sampling is a method for evaluating "blurry" values (anitaliasing, depth of field, indirect
illumination, area lights, glossy reflections/refractions, translucency, motion blur etc). V-Ray uses a variant of
Monte Carlo sampling called deterministic Monte Carlo (DMC). The difference between pure Monte Carlo
sampling and deterministic Monte Carlo is that the first uses pseudo-random numbers which are different for
each and every evaluation (and so re-rendering a single image will always produce slightly different results in
the noise), while deterministic Monte Carlo uses a pre-defined set of samples (possibly optimized to reduce
the noise), which allows re-rendering an image to always produce the exact same result. By default, the
deterministic Monte Carlo method used by V-Ray is a modfication of Schlick sampling, introduced by
Christophe Schlick in [1] (see the References section below for more information).
Note that there exists a sub-set of DMC sampling called quasi Monte Carlo (QMC) sampling, in which the
samples are obtained from sequences of numbers, called low-discrepancy sequences, which have special
numeric properties. V-Ray, however, does not use this technique.
Instead of having separate sampling methods for each of the blurry values, V-Ray has a single unified
framework that determines how many and what exactly samples to be taken for a particular value, depending
on the context in which that value is required. This framework is called the "DMC sampler".
The actual number of samples for any blurry value is determined based on three factors:
• The subdivs value supplied by the user for a particular blurry effect. This is multiplied by the Global subdivs
multiplier (see below).
• The importance of the value (for example, dark glossy reflections can do with fewer samples than bright ones,
since the effect of the reflection on the final result is smaller; distant area lights require fewer samples than
closer ones etc). Basing the number of samples allocated for a value on importance is called importance
sampling.
• The variance (think "noise") of the samples taken for a particular value - if the samples are not very different
from each other, then the value can do with fewer samples; if the samples are very different, then a larger
number of them will be necessary to get a good result. This basically works by looking at the samples as they
are computed one by one and deciding, after each new sample, if more samples are required. This technique is
called early termination or adaptive sampling.
For more information on the relationship and effects of these parameters, please refer to the tutorials section.
DMC Sampler
Amount - controls the extent to which the number of samples depends on the importance of a blurry value. It
also controls the minimum number of samples that will be taken. A value of 1.0 means full adaptation; a value
of 0.0 means no adaptation.
Min samples - determines the minimum number of samples that must be made before the early termination
algorithm is used. Higher values will slow things down but will make the early termination algorithm more
reliable.
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Noise threshold - controls V-Ray's judgement of when a blurry value is "good enough" to be used. This directly
translates to noise in the result. Smaller values mean less noise, more samples and higher quality. A value of
0.0 means that no adaptation will be performed.
Global subdivs multiplier - this will multiply all subdivs values everywhere during rendering; you can use this to
quickly increase/decrease sampling quality everywhere. This affects everything, except for the lightmap,
photon map, caustics and aa subdivs. Everything else (dof, moblur, irradiance map, brute-force GI, area lights,
area shadows, glossy reflections/refractions) is affected by this parameter.
References
More information on deterministic Monte Carlo sampling for computer graphics can be found from the
sources listed below.
• [1] C. Schlick, An Adaptive Sampling Technique for Multidimensional Integration by Ray Tracing, in Second
Eurographics Workshop on Rendering (Spain), 1991, pp. 48-56
Describes deterministic MC sampling for antialiasing, motion blur, depth of field, area light sampling and glossy
reflections.
•
• [2] K. Chiu, P. Shirley and C. Wang, Multi-Jittered Sampling, in Graphics Gems IV, 1994
Describes a combination of jittered and N-rooks sampling for the purposes of computer graphics.
• [3] Masaki Aono and Ryutarou Ohbuchi, Quasi-Monte Carlo Rendering with Adaptive Sampling, IBM Tokyo
Research Laboratory Technical Report RT0167, November 25, 1996, pp.1-5
An online version can be found at
http://www.kki.yamanashi.ac.jp/~ohbuchi/online_pubs/eg96_html/eg96.htm
Describes an application of low discrepancy sequences to area light sampling and the global illumination
problem.
• [4] M. Fajardo, Monte Carlo Raytracing in Action, in State of the Art in Monte Carlo Ray Tracing for Realistic
Image Synthesis, SIGGRAPH 2001 Course 21, pp. 151-162;
An online version can be found at
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~gfx/Courses/2003/ImageSynthesis/papers/Monte Carlo/Monte Carlo SIGGRAPH
Course.pdf
Describes the ARNOLD renderer employing randomized quasi-Monte Carlo sampling using low discrepancy
sequences for pixel sampling, global illumination, area light sampling, motion blur, depth of field, etc.
• [5] E. Veach, December, Robust Monte Carlo Methods for Light Transport Simulation, Ph. D. dissertation for
Stanford University, 1997, pp. 58-65
An online version can be found at http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/veach_thesis/
Includes a description of low discrepancy sequences, quasi-Monte Carlo sampling and its application to solving
the global illumination problem.
• [6] L. Szirmay-Kalos, Importance Driven Quasi-Monte Carlo Walk Solution of the Rendering Equation, Winter
School of Computer Graphics Conf., 1998
An online version can be found at http://www.fsz.bme.hu/~szirmay/imp1_link.html
Describes a two-pass method for solving the global illumination problem employing quasi-Monte Carlo
sampling, as well as importance sampling using low discrepancy sequences.
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Color Mapping
§ Color Mapping Overview

§ Color Mapping
Color Mapping Overview
Color mapping (also called tone mapping) can be used to apply color transformations on the final image colors.
Sometimes an image can contain a higher range of colors that can be displayed on a computer screen. Color
mapping has the task of re-mapping the image values to be suitable for display purposes.
Color Mapping
Type - this is the type of
transformation used. These are the possible types:
• Linear multiply - this mode will simply multiply the final image colors based on their brightness without
applying any changes
• Exponential - this mode will saturate the colors based on their brightness. This can be useful to prevent burn-
outs in very bright areas (for example around light sources etc). This mode will clamp colors so that no value
exceeds (255 or 1 in floating point value).
• HSV exponential - this mode is very similar to the Exponential mode, but it will preserve the color hue and
saturation, instead of washing out the color towards white.
• Intensity exponential - this mode is similar to the Exponential one, but it will preserve the ratio of the RGB
color components and will only affect the intensity of the colors.
• Gamma correction - this mode applies a gamma curve to the colors. In this case, the Dark multiplier is a
general multiplier for the colors before they are gamma-corrected. The Bright multiplier is the inverse of the
gamma value (i.e. for gamma 2.2, the Bright multiplier must be 0.4545).
• Intensity gamma - this mode applies a gamma curve to the intensity of the colors, instead of each channel
(r/g/b) independently.
• Reinhard - this mode is a blend between exponential-style color mapping and linear mapping. If the Burn value
is 1.0, the result is linear color mapping and if the Burn value is 0.0, the result is exponential-style mapping.
Dark multiplier - this is the multiplier for dark colors.
Bright multiplier - this is the multiplier for bright colors.
Gamma - this parameter allows the user to control the gamma correction for the output image regardless of
the color mapping mode. Note that the value here is the inverse of the one used for the Gamma
correction color mapping type. For example, to correct the image for a 2.2-gamma display, you should set
the Gamma parameter simply to 2.2.
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Input Gamma - allows the user to control the gamma correction for colors and textures. Note that this option
will only work when Correct LDR and Correct RGB options are enabled.
Sub-pixel mapping - this option controls whether color mapping will be applied to the final image pixels, or to
the individual sub-pixel samples. In older versions of V-Ray, this option was always assumed to be on, however
its default value is now off as this produces more correct renderings, especially if you use the universal
settings approach.
Clamp output - if this is on, colors will be clamped after color mapping. In some situations, this may be
undesirable (for example, if you wish to antialias hdr parts of the image, too) - in that case, turn clamping off.
Clamp level - this option specifies the level at which color components will be clamped if the Clamp
output option is on.
Affect background - if this is off, color mapping will not affect colors belonging to the background.
Don't affect colors (adaptation only) - when this parameter is on, the color mapping will not be applied to the
final image, however V-Ray will proceed with all its calculations as though color mapping is applied (e.g. the
noise levels will be corrected accordingly). This can be useful, for example, if you know that you will apply
some color correction to the image later on, but wish to keep the rendering itself in linear space for
compositing purposes. Note that the Clamp output option will have an effect regardless of the value of
the Don't affect colors option.
Linear workflow - when this option is checked V-Ray will automatically apply the inverse of the Gamma
correction that you have set in the Gamma field to all V-Ray Material materials in your scene. Note that this
option is intended to be used only for quickly converting old scenes which are not set up with proper linear
workflow in mind. This option is not a replacement for proper linear workflow.
Correct LDR textures - this option automatically corrects the gamma for all texture files .
Correct RGB colors - this option automatically corrects the gamma for all colors.
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VFB Channels
§ VFB Channels Overview

§ Parameters
§ Z-Depth
§ List of Supported Render Elements
§ Notes
VFB Channels Overview
V-Ray provides its own channels or render elements for the purposes of image compositing.
Parameters
VFB channels - In order for V-Ray to render individual channels you must select the desired channel from the
pick list. The list of supported render elements is below.
Z-Depth
Black - If you are using the Z-Depth render channel, this parameter signifies the z-value where the buffer color
will turn to black.
Clamp - when enabled z-values should be clamped to the range of black to white.
White - If you are using the Z-Depth render channel, this parameter signifies the z-value where the buffer color
will turn to white.
Set from camera - this will automatically set the z-depth range based on the camera setting.
List of Supported Render Elements
The following render elements are supported by V-Ray. All render elements support native V-Ray materials.
Some render elements also support standard SketchUp materials. This is noted in the table below.
Render element name VRayMtl Std Filtering Transparency Description

support material control support
support
VRayAlpha yes yes yes** yes Alpha

transparency.
VRayBackground yes yes yes** yes The image

background.
VRayBumpNormals yes yes yes no The normals

generated by bump
maps
VRayCaustics yes no* yes** yes The caustics on the

material. Only
present when
the Caustics option
of V-Ray is enabled.
This channel does
not include GI
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caustics.
VRayDiffuseFilter yes yes yes** yes The pure diffuse

surface color. Note
that this is different
from the standard
SketchUp Diffuse
render element,
which contains the
diffuse surface
lighting.
VRayGlobalIllumination yes no* yes** yes The diffuse surface

global illumination.
Only present
if Global
illumination is
enabled.
VRayLighting yes yes* yes** yes The diffuse direct

surface lighting.
VRayMatteShadow yes yes yes yes The matte shadow

part of the image
VRayMtlID yes yes no no The material ID of

(always off) the object.
VRayNormals yes yes yes no The surface

normals.
VRayRawGlobalIllumination yes yes yes** yes The raw diffuse

global illumination
(not multiplied by
the diffuse surface
color). Only
present if Global
illumination is
enabled.
VRayRawLighting yes no yes** yes The raw diffuse

direct illumination
before it's
multiplied by the
diffuse surface
color.
VRayRawReflection yes no yes** yes The pure surface

reflection before
it's multiplied by
the reflection filter
color.
VRayRawRefraction yes no yes** yes The pure surface

refraction before
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it's multiplied by
the refraction filter
color.
VRayRawShadow yes no yes** yes The raw light that

was blocked by
other objects.
VRayRawTotalLighting yes no yes yes The sum of all raw

lighting - direct and
inderect
VRayReflection yes yes yes** yes The reflections on

the surface.
VRayReflectionFilter yes no yes** yes The reflection filter

(the color by which
the raw reflections
are multiplied to
give the final
surface reflection).
This may be
considered as an
alpha channel for
the reflections.
VRayRefraction yes no yes** yes The refractions on

the surface.
VRayRefractionFilter yes no yes** yes The refraction filter

(the color by which
the raw refractions
are multiplied to
give the final
surface refraction).
This may be
considered as an
alpha channel for
the refractions.
VRayRenderID yes yes no no The node render ID

(always off) of the object that
contributes most to
the pixel value.
VRaySamplerRate N/A N/A N/A N/A Shows an image

where the pixel
brightness is
directly
proportional to the
number of samples
taken at this pixel.
VRaySelfIllumination yes yes yes** yes The self-

illumination of the
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surface.
VRayShadow yes no yes** yes The diffuse light

that was blocked
by other objects.
VRaySpecular yes yes yes** yes The surface

specular highlights.
VRayTotalLighting yes yes yes yes The total lighting in

the scene - direct
and indirect
VRayZDepth yes yes yes no The z-depth of the

surface.
* For Standard materials, the VRayLighting element includes the direct and indirect lighting as well as caustics,
while the VRayGlobalIllumination and VRayCaustics elements are black. However for all materials, adding
the VRayLighting, VRayGlobalIllumination and VRayCaustics elements always gives the total diffuse surface
lighting.
Notes
• V-Ray always antialiases with respect to the RGB color channel. Therefore other channels may appear jagged
or noisy in areas where V-Ray has placed fewer samples.
• Render elements will render in Distributed rendering mode.
• Render elements require additional storage when rendering and thus increase the amount of RAM taken
during the rendering. When rendering to the V-Ray VFB, you can reduce this memory by rendering directly to
a .vrimg file on disk and not storing the final image in memory.
• Render elements may slow down the final image rendering a little bit, depending on the number of elements
that the user has selected. They have no effect on GI/reflection etc. calculations.
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Output and VFB
§ Output and VFB Overview

§ Output Size
§ Render Output
§ V-Ray Raw Image File
§ VFB Toolbar
§ VFB History
§ VFB Shortcuts
§ Frame Stamp
§ Notes
Output and VFB Overview
When rendering in SketchUp V-Ray utilizes a V-Ray specific frame buffer, sometimes called the VFB which has
many advantages:
• Allows you to view all render elements in a single window and switch between them easily;
• Keeps the image in full 32-bit floating-point format;
• Allows you to view the rendered channels individually.
• Has the ability to link to PDplayer.
• Allows you to make comparisons between two renders
• Allows you to do some color correction
The V-Ray VFB also has some limitations, which are listed in the Notes section below.
Output Size
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Override viewport - This option allows you to override the resolution that V-Ray obtains from the SketchUp
viewport resolution or custom resolution in the render settings locate in the SketchUp Options.
Width - Sets the width of the rendering in the V-Ray frame buffer.
Height - Sets the height of the rendering in the V-Ray frame buffer.
Image aspect - Sets the proportional relationship between height and width of the rendering in the V-Ray
frame buffer. The image aspect ratio can be locked and unlocked.
Pixel aspect ratio- specifies the pixel aspect for the rendered image in the V-Ray frame buffer. The pixel aspect
ratio can be locked and unlocked.
Get view aspect - this option will calculate the image aspect ratio from the current resolution set in the render
settings from the SketchUp Options and then replace the current Image Aspect with that value.
Render Output
Save render output - when this is on, V-Ray will automatically save the image rendered to the V-Ray frame
buffer.
V-Ray Raw Image File
Render to VRimage - when this is on, V-Ray directly writes to disk the raw image data as it is being rendered. It
does not store any data in the RAM, so this feature is very handy when rendering huge resolutions for
preserving memory. If you wish to see what is being rendered, you can set the VFB mode to Generate preview.
You can specify either a .vrimg or an .exr file for output:
• If you specify a .vrimg extension, the resulting file can be viewed by converting the file to an OpenEXR file with
the help of the vrimg2exr tool. The file contains all the render elements for the image.
• If you specify an .exr extension, V-Ray will write out a tiled OpenEXR file that can be used directly by SketchUp
or other compositing applications. When you click the Browse button you can specify the file name.
VFB Mode - these options allow you to select different modes to conserve memory when rendering.
No Memory - this option will not create a V-Ray frame buffer in order to conserve as much memory as
possible.
Full Memory - this option will create a V-Ray frame buffer and will use it to store color data that you can
observe while rendering and afterwards. This is the default mode when rendering when you are not rendering
to a V-Ray image file.
Preview - this will create a small preview of what is being rendered by V-Ray but in order to conserve memory
V-Ray will only render a small image of what is being actually rendered. This will allow you to stop the renderer
if there is anything that looks wrong.
VFB Toolbar
This part of the toolbar sets the currently selected channel, as well as the
preview mode. Choose which channels to see with the help of the
buttons. You can also view the rendered image in monochromatic mode.
When comparing two images using the A/B compare feature of the VFB
History these buttons allow you to choose the direction of the A/B
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separation line.
This will save the current frame data to a file.You can turn this on and of
on-the-fly while rendering.
Opens a .vrimg file to be previewed in the V-Ray VFB
Clears the contents of the frame buffer. Sometimes helpful when starting
a new render to prevent confusion with the previous image
This will create a 3ds Max virtual frame buffer copy of the current V-Ray
frame buffer.You can turn this on and of on-the-fly while rendering.
This will force V-Ray to render the closest bucket found to the mouse
pointer. Drag the mouse over the V-Ray frame buffer while rendering to
see which buckets are rendered first. You can turn this on and of on-the-
fly while rendering.
This option allows you to render regions in the V-Ray VFB
Links the V-Ray VFB to Pdplayer
This will open the color corrections dialog which will let you define color
corrections of various color channels. It will also show the histogram of
the currently contained image data in the buffer. Click and drag your mid-
button in the histogram to interactively scale the preview.
Forces color clamping in the V-Ray VFB
Displays the clamped colors in the V-Ray VFB
This open permanently the info dialog which will give you information
about the pixel you right-click the mouse pointer on. If you right-click the
mouse pointer over a pixel without turning this setting on - then you will
see the info dialog only while your mouse button is down
Enables the levels color corrections
Enables the color curve corrections
Enables the exposure corrections
Displays the image in sRGB color space
Enables the look up table
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Shows the V-Ray VFB history
Enables the V-Ray lens effects
Enables the pixel aspect ratio
Enables the red/cyan stereoscopic view
Enables the green/magenta stereoscopic view
VFB History
The V-Ray VFB allows the user to keep a history of previously rendered images. The images are stored as
.vrimg files on a location specified by the user. In addition to keeping history this feature allows the user to set
A and B image and compare them inside the VFB.
Enable VFB history - enables the V-Ray VFB history.
Options - brings out the VFB history options which allow the user to specify the location where the history will
be saved and the amount of disk space available.
Save - saves the current image from the VFB to the render history.
Load - loads the image selected in the Render history to the VFB.
Remove - removes the selected image from the render history.
Clear - clears the render history.
Set A - sets the currently selected image as image A for A/B comparison in the VFB.
Set B - sets the currently selected image as image B for A/B comparison in the VFB.
VFB Shortcuts
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Here is the list of shortcuts you can use to navigate through the VFB image. Please note that VFB window must
have the current focus for the shortcuts to have effect:
Mouse Description
CTRL+LeftClick, Zoom in/Zoom out

CTRL+RightClick
Roll the mouse-rollon Zoom in/Zoom out

button up/down
Double-click Left Button Zoom to 100%
RightClick Show the info dialog with the properties of the last pixel clicked. In order to
see the info non-stop - turn on the info dialog button
MidButton dragging view pan (hand tool)
Keyboard Description
+/- Zoom in/Zoom out
* Zoom to 100%
Arrow keys Pan left, up, right, down
Frame Stamp
The frame stamp is a convenient way to put some short text over the rendered images. It can be useful in
many ways - for example, in network rendering, to quickly determine which frames were rendered by which
machine. The frame stamp is one line of text, which appears at the bottom of the image.
Checkbox - turns the frame stamp on and off.
Edit box - here you enter the text you wish to appear in the images. You can also use some special keywords,
all of which begin with the percent symbol (%). The keywords are replaced by V-Ray with the corresponding
value:
Keyword Meaning
vraycore the current version of the V-Ray core
rendertime the render time for the current frame
numProcessors the number of processors that the computer has available
date the current system date
time the current system time
amountPhysicalRAM the amount of physical memory (in KBytes) installed on the system
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amountVirtualRAM the amount of virtual memory (in KBytes) available on the system
osDesc the operating system installed on the system
* An intersectable primitive is a primitive that provides a direct method for intersection with a ray (such as a
triangle, the infinite plane generated by a VRayPlane, etc). Most often, the number of these primitives is the
same as the number of triangles (faces) processed by V-Ray for the current frame. Note that this may be
different from the total number of triangles in the scene. With the dynamic raycaster, only geometry that is
actually needed is generated and accounted for. Geometry that is not generated is not included in this count.
Font - this button allows you to choose a font and font attributes for the text in the frame stamp.
Full width - when this option is checked, the frame stamp will take the whole width of the image, otherwise
the stamp will be only as wide as the text is.
Justify - specifies the position of the stamp:
• Left - the stamp is placed on the left of the image.

• Center - the stamp is centered.
• Right - the stamp is placed on the right side of the image.
Notes
• The OpenEXR file format is an open file format for high dynamic range images originally developed by
Industrial Light and Magic. The official site of the OpenEXR file format is http://www.openexr.com/
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Indirect Illumination (GI)
§ Overview
§ Primary and Secondary Bounces
§ Example: Comparisons of Different GI Methods
§ Indirect Illumination Parameters
§ GI Caustics
§ Example: GI Caustics
§ Post-Processing
§ Ambient Occlusion
§ Example: Ambient Occlusion
§ Primary Diffuse Bounces
§ Example: Light Bounces
§ Secondary Diffuse Bounces
§ Notes
Overview
Approaches to Indirect Illumination

V-Ray implements several approaches for computing indirect illumination with different trade-offs between
quality and speed:
• Brute force - this is the simplest approach; indirect illumination is computed independently for each shaded
surface point by tracing a number of rays in different directions on the hemisphere above that point.
Advantages:
• this approach preserves all the detail (e.g. small and sharp shadows) in the indirect lighting;
• it is free from defects like flickering in animations;
• no additional memory is required;
• indirect illumination in the case of motion-blurred moving objects is computed correctly.
Disadvantages:
• the approach is very slow for complex images (e.g. interior lighting);
• it tends to produce noise in the images, which can be avoided only by shooting a larger number of rays, thus
slowing it even more.
• Irradiance map - this approach is based on irradiance caching; the basic idea is to compute the indirect
illumination only at some points in the scene, and interpolate for the rest of the points.
Advantages:
• the irradiance map is very fast compared to direct computation, especially for scenes with large flat areas;
• the noise inherent to direct computation is greatly reduced;
• the irradiance map can be saved an re-used to speed up calculations of different views for the same scene and
of fly-through animations;
• the irradiance map can also be used to accelerate direct diffuse lighting from area light sources.
Disadvantages:
• some details in indirect lighting can be lost or blurred due to the interpolation;
• if low settings are used, flickering may occur when rendering animations;
• the irradiance map requires additional memory;
• indirect illumination with motion-blurred moving objects is not entirely correct and may lead to noise
(although in most cases this is not noticeable).
• Photon map - this approach is based on tracing particles starting from the light sources and bouncing around
the scene. This is useful for interior or semi-interior scenes whith lots of lights or small windows. The photon
map usually does not produce good enough results to be used directly; however it can be used as a rough
approximation to the lighting in the scene to speed the calculation of GI through direct computation or
irradiance map.
Advantages:
• the photon map can produce a rough approximation of the lighting in the scene very quickly;
• the photon map can be saved an re-used to speed up calculation of different views for the same scene and of
fly-through animations;
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• the photon map is view-independent.

Disadvantages:
• the photon map usually is not suitable for direct visualization;
• requires additional memory;
• in V-Ray's implementation, illumination involving motion-blurred moving objects is not entirely correct
(although this is not a problem in most cases).
• the photon map needs actual lights in order to work; it cannot be used to produce indirect illumination caused
by environment lights (skylight).
• Light cache - light caching is a technique for approximating the global illumination in a scene. It is very similar
to photon mapping, but without many of its limitations. The light map is built by tracing many many eye paths
from the camera. Each of the bounces in the path stores the illumination from the rest of the path into a 3d
structure, very similar to the photon map. The light map is a universal GI solution that can be used for both
interior or exterior scenes, either directly or as a secondary bounce approximation when used with the
irradiance map or the brute force GI method.
Advantages:
• the light cache is easy to set up. We only have the camera to trace rays from, as opposed to the photon map,
which must process each light in the scene and usually requires separate setup for each light.
• the light-caching approach works efficiently with any lights - including skylight, self-illuminated objects, non-
physical lights, photometric lights etc. In contrast, the photon map is limited in the lighting effects it can
reproduce - for example, the photon map cannot reproduce the illumination from skylight or from standard
omni lights without inverse-square falloff.
• the light cache produces correct results in corners and around small objects. The photon map, on the other
hand, relies on tricky density estimation schemes, which often produce wrong results in these cases, either
darkening or brightening those areas.
• in many cases the light cache can be visualized directly for very fast and smooth previews of the lighting in the
scene.
Disadvantages:
• like the irradiance map, the light cache is view-dependent and is generated for a particular position of the
camera. However, it generates an approximation for indirectly visible parts of the scene as well - for example,
one light cache can approximate completely the GI in a closed room;
• currently the light cache works only with V-Ray materials;
• like the photon map, the light cache is not adaptive. The irradiance is computed at a fixed resolution, which is
determined by the user;
• the light cache does not work very well with bump maps; use the irradiance map or brute force GI if you want
to achieve better results with bump maps.
• lighting involving motion-blurred moving objects is not entirely correct, but is very smooth since the light
cache blurs GI in time as well (as opposed to the irradiance map, where each sample is computed at a
particular instant of time).
Which method to use? That depends on the task at hand. The Examples below can help you in choosing a
suitable method for your scene.
Primary and Secondary Bounces
The indirect illumination controls in V-Ray are divided into two large sections: controls concerning primary
diffuse bounces and controls concerning secondary diffuse bounces. A primary diffuse bounce occurs when a
shaded point is directly visible by the camera, or through specular reflective or refractive surfaces. A secondary
bounce occurs when a shaded point is used in GI calculations.
Example: Comparisons of Different GI Methods
Here is a scene rendered with different GI algorithms in V-Ray. Combining the different GI engines allows great
flexibility in balancing time versus quality of the final image.
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Brute force GI, 4 bounces.
The image is darker because only 4 light bounces are computed.

Notice the grain and the long render time.
Render time: 25m 3.9s
Irradiance map + brute force GI, 4 bounces.

The grain is gone, although the GI is a little blurry.
(see the GI caustics below the glass sphere).
Light cache only.

Very fast, but shadows are blurry
( Store direct light for the light map is on).
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Light cache and direct lighting

( Store direct light is off).
Brute force GI + light cache.

There is some grain in the GI but is a lot faster than brute force GI alone.
Irradiance map + light cache;

probably the best quality/speed ratio.
Render time: 1m 39s
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Photon map only.

Notice the caustics from the glass sphere, as well as the dark corners.
Photon map and direct lighting.

Photon map with precomputed irradiance only.

Splotchy, but faster than a raw photon map.
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Irradiance map + photon map.

Notice the dark corners and incorrect shading on the letters.
Irradiance map + photon map with retracing of corners.

Corners are better although still a little dark.
Irradiance map + photon map with precomputed irradiance, with corner retracing.
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Irradiance map + light cache with GI caustics enabled.

Notice the slowdown due to the caustics.
Light cache in Progressive path tracing Mode with photon-mapped caustics.

Render time is quite high.
Render time: 1h 44m 15.4s
Indirect Illumination Parameters
On - turn indirect illumination on and off.
GI Caustics
GI caustics represent light that has gone through one diffuse, and one or several specular reflections (or
refractions). GI caustics can can be generated by skylight, or self-illuminated objects, for example. However,
caustics caused by direct lights cannot be simulated in this way. You must use the separate Caustics section to
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control direct light caustics. Note that GI caustics are usually hard to sample and may introduce noise in the
GI solution.
Refractive GI caustics - this allows indirect lighting to pass through transparent objects (glass etc). Note that
this is not the same as Caustics, which represent direct light going through transparent objects. You need
refractive GI caustics to get skylight through windows, for example.
Reflective GI caustics - this allows indirect light to be reflected from specular objects (mirrors etc). Note that
this is not the same as Caustics, which represent direct light going through specular surfaces. This is off by
default, because reflective GI caustics usually contribute little to the final illumination, while often they
produce undesired subtle noise.
Example: GI Caustics
This example shows GI caustics generated by a self-illuminated object:
Post-Processing
These controls allow additional modification of the indirect illumination, before it is added to the final
rendering. The default values ensure a physically accurate result; however the user may want to modify the
way GI looks for artistic purposes.
Saturation - controls the saturation of the GI; a value of 0.0 means that all color will be removed from the GI
solution and will be in shades of grey only. The default value of 1.0 means the GI solution remains unmodified.
Values above 1.0 boost the colors in the GI solution.
Contrast - this parameter works together with Contrast base to boost the contrast of the GI solution. When
Contrast is 0.0, the GI solution becomes completely uniform with the value defined by Contrast base. A value
of 1.0 means the solution remains unmodified. Values higher that 1.0 boost the contrast.
Contrast base - this parameter determines the base for the contrast boost. It defines the GI values that remain
unchanged during the contrast calculations.
Ambient Occlusion
These controls allow you to add an ambient occlusion term to the global illumination solution.
On - enable or disable ambient occlusion.
Amount - the amount of ambient occlusion. A value of 0.0 will produce no ambient occlusion.
Radius - ambient occlusion radius.
Subdivs - determines the number of samples used for calculating ambient occlusion. Lower values will render
faster, but might introduce noise.
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Example: Ambient Occlusion
Note: the scene in this example is from Evermotion. ( http://www.evermotion.org/)
This example demonstrates the effect of the global ambient occlusion options.
The first image to the right is rendered with the Light cache for both primary and secondary
bounces, Fixed Filter type for the light cache, and Store direct light off. The second image in the center is
rendered with the same light cache settings, but with global ambient occlusion enabled. The third image to the
right is rendered without ambient occlusion, with Brute force GI engine for primary bounces, and the Light
cache as a secondary engine with Nearest Filter type . The render times include the time for calculating the
light cache. Note how ambient occlusion can produce a feeling of a more detailed image, even though the
result is not entirely correct.
Ambient occlusion is off - lighting is good, but there is a lack of detail
Ambient occlusion is on - details are much more defined
Brute force GI, no ambient occlusion - details are fine, but render times is longer.
Primary Diffuse Bounces
Multiplier - this value determines how much primary diffuse bounces contribute to the final image
illumination. Note that the default value of 1.0 produces a physically accurate image. Other values are
possible, but not physically plausible.
Primary GI engine - the list box specifies the method to be used for primary diffuse bounces.
• Irradiance map - selecting this will cause V-Ray to use an irradiance map for primary diffuse bounces. See
the Irradiance Map section for more information.
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• Global photon map - selecting this option will cause V-Ray to use a photon map for primary diffuse bounces.
This mode is useful when setting up the parameters of the global photon map. Usually it does not produce
good enough results for final renderings when used as a primary GI engine. See the Global Photon Map section
for more information.
• Brute force - selecting this method will cause V-Ray to use direct computation for primary diffuse bounces. See
the brute force GI section for more information.
• Light cache - this chooses the light cache as the primary GI engine. See the Light Cache section for more
information.
Example: Light Bounces
This example shows the effect of the number of light bounces on an image:
Direct lighting only: GI is off.
1 bounce: irradiance map, no secondary GI engine.
2 bounces: irradiance map + brute force GI with 1 secondary bounce.
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4 bounces: irradiance map + brute force GI with 3 secondary bounces
Unlimited bounces (complete diffuse lighting solution): irradiance map + light cache
Secondary Diffuse Bounces
Multiplier - this determines the effect of secondary diffuse bounces on the scene illumination. Values close to
1.0 may tend to wash out the scene, while values around 0.0 may produce a dark image. Note that the default
value of 1.0 produces physically accurate results. While other values are possible, they are not physically
plausible.
Secondary diffuse bounces method - this parameter determines how V-Ray will calculate secondary diffuse
bounces.
• None - no secondary bounces will be computed. Use this option to produce skylit images without indirect
color bleeding.
• Global photon map - selecting this option will cause V-Ray to use a photon map for primary diffuse bounces.
This mode is useful when setting up the parameters of the global photon map. Usually it does not produce
good enough results for final renderings when used as a primary GI engine. See the Global Photon Map section
for more information.
• Brute force - selecting this method will cause V-Ray to use direct computation for primary diffuse bounces. See
the Brute Force GI section for more information.
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• Light cache - this chooses the light cache as the primary GI engine. See the Light Cache section for more
information.
Notes
• You will get physically accurate lighting if you set both the primary and secondary GI multipliers to their default
value of 1.0. While other values are possible, they will not produce a physically accurate result.
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Brute Force GI
§ Brute Force GI Overview

§ Brute Force GI Parameters
Brute Force GI Overview
This section is available only if you have chosen Brute force as either the primary or the secondary GI engine.
The brute force method for computing global illumination recomputes the GI values for every single shaded
point separately and independently from other points. While very slow, this method is very accurate,
especially if you have many small details in the scene.
To speed up brute force GI, you can use a faster method (the photon map or the light map) for approximating
secondary GI bounces, while using the brute force method for the primary bounces.
The following diagram shows the way rays are traced when using the Brute Force GI. Since the method is view
dependent the first rays (Black) are traced from the camera into the scene in order to determine the points for
which GI is going to be calculated. Then the Primary bounces(Red) are traced into the scene - the number of
rays traced depends on the Subdivs parameter. The Secondary bounce rays (Blue) are traced only when Brute
Force GI is used for secondary GI engine. In that case a single ray is traced for each bounce and the number of
bounces depends on the Secondary Bounces parameter.
Brute Force GI Parameters
Subdivs - this determines the number of samples used to approximate GI. Note that this is not the exact
number of rays that V-Ray will trace. The number of rays is proportional to the square of this number, but also
depends on the settings in the DMC sampler rollout.
Secondary bounces - this parameter is available only if brute force GI is selected as a secondary GI engine. It
controls the number of light bounces that will be computed.
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Irradiance Map
§ Irradiance Map Overview

§ Basic Parameters
§ Options
§ Detail Enhancement
§ Advanced Options
§ Mode
§ Irradiance Map Control Buttons
§ On Render End
Irradiance Map Overview
This section allows the user to control and fine-tune various aspects of the irradiance map. This section is
enabled only when the irradiance map is chosen as the GI method for primary diffuse bounces.
Below is some background for understanding how the irradiance map works is necessary in order to grasp the
meaning of these parameters.
Irradiance is a function defined for any point in the 3D space and represents the light arriving at this point from
all possible directions. In general, irradiance is different in every point and in every direction. However, there
are two useful restrictions that can be made. The first is the surface irradiance - which is the irradiance arriving
at points which lie on the surface of objects in the scene. This is a natural restriction since we are usually
interested in the illumination of objects in the scene, and objects are usually defined through their surface. The
second restriction is that of diffuse surface irradiance - which is the total amount of light arriving at a given
surface point, disregarding the direction from which it comes.
In more simple terms, one can think of the diffuse surface irradiance as being the visible color of a surface, if
we assume that its material is purely white and diffuse.
In V-Ray, the term irradiance map refers to a method of efficiently computing the diffuse surface irradiance for
objects in the scene. Since not all parts of the scene have the same detail in indirect illumination, it makes
sense to compute GI more accurately in the important parts (e.g. where objects are close to each other, or in
places with sharp GI shadows), and less accurately in uninteresting parts (e.g. large uniformly lit areas). The
irradiance map is therefore built adaptively. This is done by rendering the image several times (each rendering
is called a pass) with the rendering resolution being doubled with each pass. The idea is to start with a low
resolution (say a quarter of the resolution of the final image) and work up to the final image resolution.
The irradiance map is in fact a collection of points in 3d space (a point cloud) along with the computed indirect
illumination at those points. When an object is hit during a GI pass, V-Ray looks into the irradiance map to see
if there are any points similar in position and orientation to the current one. From those already computed
points, V-Ray can extract various information (i.e. if there are any objects close by, how fast the indirect
illumination is varying etc). Based on that information, V-Ray decides if the indirect illumination for the current
point can be adequately interpolated from the points already in the irradiance map, or not. If not, the indirect
illumination for the current point is computed, and that point is stored in the irradiance map. During the actual
rendering, V-Ray uses a sophisticated interpolation method to derive an approximation of the irradiance for all
surfaces in the scene.
The following diagram shows the way the Irradiance map is generated. Since the method is view-dependent
the first rays (Black) are traced from the camera into the scene in order to determine the placement of the
irradiance samples. Once this is done GI rays (Red) are traced from the samples into the scene in order to
determine the illumination coming from the environment. The number of traced rays is determined by
the HSph. subdivs parameter. The irradiance map only traces one bounce of light. All additional bounces (Blue)
are traced from the secondary engine. The irradiance map is created on several passes - each pass adding
more samples where this is needed. During rendering, for each rendered point, V-Ray takes several samples
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from the already complete Irradiance map and interpolates between them in order to create a smooth GI
solution. The number of samples taken is determined by the Interpolation samples parameter.
Basic Parameters
Min rate - this value determines the resolution for the first GI pass. A value of 0 means the resolution will be
the same as the resolution of the final rendered image, which will make the irradiance map similar to the
direct computation method. A value of -1 means the resolution will be half that of the final image and so on.
You would usually want to keep this negative, so that GI is quickly computed for large and flat regions in the
image. This parameter is similar to (although not the same as) the Min rate parameter of the Adaptive
subdivision image sampler.
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Max rate - this value determines the resolution of the last GI pass. This is similar to (although not the same as)
the Max rate parameter of the Adaptive subdivisionimage sampler.
Color threshold (Clr thresh) - this parameter controls how sensitive the irradiance map algorithm is to changes
in indirect lighting. Larger values mean less sensitivity; smaller values make the irradiance map more sensitive
to light changes (thus producing higher quality images).
Normal threshold (Nrm thresh) - this parameter controls how sensitive the irradiance map is to changes in
surface normals and small surface details. Larger values mean less sensitivity; smaller values make the
irradiance map more sensitive to surface curvature and small details.
Distance threshold (Dist thresh) - this parameter controls how sensitive the irradiance map is to distance
between surfaces. A value of 0.0 means the irradiance map will not depend on object proximity at all; higher
values place more samples in places where objects are close to each other.
Hemispheric subdivs (HSph. subdivs) - this controls the quality of individual GI samples. Smaller values make
things faster, but may produce blotchy result. Higher values produce smoother images. This is similar to
the Subdivs parameter for direct computation. Note that this is not the actual number of rays that will be
traced. The actual number of rays is proportional to the square of this value and also depends on the settings
in the DMC sampler rollout.
Interpolation samples - this is the number of GI samples that will be used to interpolate the indirect
illumination at a given point. Larger values tend to blur the detail in GI although the result will be smoother.
Smaller values produce results with more detail, but may produce blotchiness if low Hemispheric subdivs are
used. Note that if you use interpolated irradiance maps (i.e. the Mode is set to Animation (rendering)), V-Ray
will actually multiply this value by the number of irradiance maps used. For example, if you have
the Interpolation samples set to 20, and the Interpolation frames to 2, V-Ray will actually use 100 samples to
interpolate. This is done in order to preserve the blurring of the GI solution compared to a single frame
irradiance map, however it also slows down the rendering. To speed up the rendering in that case, you can
decrease this value to 10 or 5.
Interpolation frames - this determines the number of frames that will be used to interpolate GI when
the Mode is set to Animation (rendering). In this mode, V-Ray interpolates the irradiance from the maps of
several adjacent frames to help smooth out any flickering. Note that the actual number of frames used
is 2*(interp. frames)+1 - e.g. the default value of 2 means that in total 5 irradiance maps will be interpolated.
Higher values slow down the rendering and may produce "lagging" effect. Lower values render faster but may
increase flickering. Note that increasing this value also increases the number of samples used for interpolation
from the irradiance map - see the note for the Interpolation samples parameter.
Options
Show calc phase - when this option is on, V-Ray will show the irradiance map passes as the irradiance map is
calculated. This will give you a rough idea of the indirect illumination even before the final rendering is
complete. Note that turning this on slows the calculations a little bit, especially for large images. This option is
ignored when rendering to fields - in that case, the calculation phase is never displayed.
Show direct light - this option is only available when Show calc phase is on. It will cause V-Ray to show direct
lighting for primary diffuse bounces in addition to indirect lighting while the irradiance map is being calculated.
Note that V-Ray does not really need to compute this. The option is only for convenience. This does not mean
that direct lighting is not calculated at all - it is, but only for secondary diffuse bounces (only for GI purposes).
Show samples - when this option is on, V-Ray will show visually the samples in the irradiance map as small dots
in the scene.
Detail Enhancement
Detail enhancement is a method for bringing additional detail to the irradiance map in the case where there
are small details in the image. Due to its limited resolution, the irradiance map typically blurs the GI in these
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areas or produces splotchy and flickering results. The detail enhancement option is a way to calculate those
smaller details with a high-precision brute-force sampling method. This is similar to how an ambient occlusion
pass works, but is more precise as it takes into account bounced light.
On - turns on detail enhancement for the irradiance map. Note that an irradiance map calculated in this mode
should not be used without the detail option. When detail enhancement is On, you can use lower irradiance
map settings and higher Interpolation samples. This is because the irradiance map is only used to capture the
general far-off lighting, while direct sampling is used for the closer detail areas.
Scale - this determines the units for the Radius parameter:
• Screen - the radius is in image pixels.

• World - the radius is in world units.
Radius - this determines the radius for the detail enhancement effect. Smaller radius means that smaller parts
around the details in the image are sampled with higher precision - this would be faster but may be less
precise. Larger radius means that more of the scene will use the higher precision sampling and may be slower,
but more precise. This is similar to a radius parameter for an ambient occlusion pass.
Subdivs mult. - this determines the number of samples taken for the high-precision sampling as a percentage
of the irradiance map Hemispheric subdivs. A value of 1.0 means that the same number of subdivs will be used
as for the regular irradiance map samples. Lower values will make the detail-enhanced areas more noisy, but
faster to render.
Advanced Options
Interpolation type - this option is used during rendering. It selects the method for interpolating the GI value
from the samples in the irradiance map.
• Weighted average - this method will do a simple blend between the GI samples in the irradiance map based on
the distance to the point of interpolation and the difference in the normals. While simple and fast, this method
tends to produce a blochiness in the result.
• Least squares fit - the default method; it will try to compute a GI value that best fits in among the samples
from the irradiance map. Produces smoother results than the weighted average method, but is slower. Also,
ringing artifacts may appear in places where both the contrast and density of the irradiance map samples
change over a small area.
• Delone triangulation - all other methods of interpolation are blurry methods - that is, they will tend to blur the
details in indirect illumination. Also, the blurry methods are prone to density bias (see below for a description).
In difference, the Delone triangulation method is a non-blurry method and will preserve the detail while
avoiding density bias. Since it is non-blurry, the result might look more noisy (blurring tends to hide noise).
More samples will be needed to get a sufficiently smooth result. This can be done either by increasing the
hemispheric subdivs of the irradiance map samples, or by decreasing the Noise threshold value in the brute
force sampler rollout.
• Least squares with Voronoi weights - this is a modification of the least squares fit method aimed at avoiding
the ringing at sharp boundaries by taking in consideration the density of the samples in the irradiance map.
The method is quite slow and its effectiveness is currently somewhat questionable.
Although all interpolation types have their uses, it probably makes most sense to use either Least
squares fit orDelone triangulation. Being a blurry method, Least squares fit will hide noise and will
produce a smooth result. It is perfect for scenes with large smooth surfaces. Delone triangulation is a
more exact method, which usually requires more hemispheric subdivs and high Max irradiance map rate
(and therefore more rendering time), but produces accurate results without blurring. This is especially
obvious in scenes where there are a lot of small details.
Sample lookup - this option is used during rendering. It selects the method of choosing suitable points from
the irradiance map to be used as basis for the interpolation.
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• Nearest - this method will simply choose those samples from the irradiance map which are closest to the point
of interpolation. (How many points will be chosen is determined by the value of the Interpolation
samples parameter.) This is the fastest lookup method and was the only one available in early versions of V-
Ray. A drawback of this method is that in places where the density of the samples in the irradiance map
changes, it will pick more samples from the area with higher density. When a blurry interpolation method is
used, this leads to the so-called density bias which may lead to incorrect interpolation and artifacts in such
places (mostly GI shadow boundaries).
• Nearest quad-balanced - this is an extension of the nearest lookup method aimed at avoiding density bias. It
divides the space about the interpolated point in four areas and tries to find an equal number of samples in all
of them (hence the name quad-balanced). The method is a little slower than the simple Nearest lookup, but in
general performs very well. A drawback is that sometimes, in its attempt to find samples, it may pick samples
that are far away and not relevant to the interpolated point.
• Precalculated overlapping - this method was introduced in an attempt to avoid the drawbacks of the two
previous ones. It requires a preprocessing step of the samples in the irradiance map during which a radius of
influence is computed for each sample. This radius is larger for samples in places of low density, and smaller
for places of higher density. When interpolating the irradiance at a point, the method will choose every sample
that contains that point within its radius of influence. An advantage of this method is that when used with a
blurry interpolation method it produces a continuous (smooth) function. Even though the method requires a
preprocessing step, it is often faster than the other two. These two properties make it ideal for high-quality
results. A drawback of this method is that sometimes lonely samples that are far-away can influence the wrong
part of the scene. Also, it tends to blur the GI solution more than the other methods.
• Density-based - the default method; it combines the Nearest and the Precalculated overlapping methods and
is very effective in reducing ringing artifacts and artifacts due to low sampling rates. This method also requires
a preprocessing step in order to compute sample density, but it performs a nearest neighbor look-up to
choose the most suitable samples while taking sample density in account.
Being the fastest of the three methods, Nearest lookup may be used for preview purposes. Nearest quad-
balanced performs fairly well in the majority of cases. Precalculated overlapping is fast and in many cases
performs very well, but may tend to blur the GI solution. The Density-based method produces very good
results in the majority of cases and is the default method.
Note that the lookup method is mostly important when using a blurry interpolation method. When
using Delone triangulation, the sample lookup method does not influence the result very much.
Calc. pass interpolation samples - this is used during irradiance map calculation. It represents the number of
already computed samples that will be used to guide the sampling algorithm. Good values are between 10 and
25. Low values may speed the calculation pass, but may not provide sufficient information. Higher values will
be slower and will cause additional sampling. In general, this parameter should be left to the default value of
15.
Multipass - when this is turned on, V-Ray will make several passes through the image with progressively finer
resolutions, starting with the Min rate and working up towards the Max rate. This typically gives a better
sample distribution in the irradiance map and also gives an early preview of the scene. When this is off, V-Ray
makes just one pass with the specified Max rate, which is slightly faster, but may produce samples that are
aligned in a straight line around the edges of the render regions.
Randomize samples - this is used during irradiance map calculation. When it is checked, the image samples will
be randomly jittered. Unchecking it will produce samples that are aligned in a grid on the screen. In general,
this option should be kept checked in order to avoid artifacts caused by regular sampling.
Check sample visibility - this is used during rendering. It will cause V-Ray to use only those samples from the
irradiance map, which are directly visible from the interpolated point. This may be useful for preventing "light
leaks" through thin walls with very different illumination on both sides. However it will also slow the
rendering, since V-Ray will trace additional rays to determine sample visibility.
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Mode
Mode - this groups of controls allow the user to select the way the irradiance map is (re)used.
• Bucket mode - in this mode, a separate irradiance map is used for each rendered region ("bucket"). Note that
since each bucket is computed independently of the others, there may be differences at the bucket edges.
They can be reduced by using higher settings for the irradiance map (the High preset, more hemispheric
subdivs and/or smaller Noise threshold for the DMC sampler).
• Single frame - the default mode; a single irradiance map is computed for the whole image, and a new
irradiance map is computed for each frame. This is the mode to use when rendering animations of moving
objects. In doing so one must make sure that the irradiance map is of sufficiently high quality to avoid
flickering.
• Incremental add to current map - in this mode V-Ray will use the irradiance map that is already in memory and
will only refine it in places that don't have enough detail. This mode is useful when compiling an irradiance
map to render multiple views of a static scene or a fly-through animation.
The irradiance map mode that should be used depends on the particular rendering task - a static scene, a static
scene rendered from multiple views, a fly-through animation or an animation with moving objects. Refer to
the tutorials section for more information.
Irradiance Map Control Buttons
There are some more buttons in this group that allow one to perform certain operations on the irradiance
map:
File (...) - this button allows the user to select the irradiance map file which will be loaded if the From file mode
is selected. Alternatively, the user can enter the path and name of the file directly in the edit box.
Save - this will save to file the irradiance map which is currently in memory. Note that the Don't delete option
in the On render end group must be turned on. Otherwise V-Ray will automatically delete the irradiance map
at the end of the rendering process.
Reset - this will clear the irradiance map from memory.
On Render End
This group of controls instructs V-Ray what to do with the irradiance map at the end of the rendering process.
Don't delete - the default for this option is on, which means that V-Ray will keep the irradiance map in memory
until the next rendering. If this option is cleared, V-Ray will delete the irradiance map when rendering is
complete. This means that you will not be able to save the map manually afterwards.
Auto save - if this option is set, V-Ray will automatically save the irradiance map to the specified file at the end
of the rendering. This mode is particularly useful if you want to send the irradiance map for rendering on a
different machine through network rendering.
Auto save File - specifies the file name to save the irradiance map to.
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Global Photon Map
§ Global Photon Map Overview

§ Basic Parameters
§ Notes
Global Photon Map Overview
The global photon map is somewhat similar to the irradiance map. It is also used to represent the lighting in
the scene, and it is a collection of points in 3D space (a point cloud). However, the photon map is built in a
different way. It is built by tracing particles (photons) emitted by the scene lights. Those photons bounce
around the scene and hit various surfaces. The hit points are stored in the photon map.
Reconstructing the illumination from the photon map is also different from the irradiance map. With the
irradiance map, a simple interpolation is used to blend the nearby GI samples. With the photon map, we need
to estimate the photon density at a given point. The idea of density estimation is central to the photon map. V-
Ray can use several methods for density estimation, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Usually
these methods are based on looking for the photons that are nearest to the shaded point.
Note that in general, the photon map provides a less accurate approximation of the scene illumination than
the irradiance map, especially when it comes to small details. The irradiance map is built adaptively, whereas
the photon map is not. Also a major disadvantage of the photon map is the boundary bias. This unwanted
effect is mostly visible around corners and object edges, which appear darker than they should be. The
irradiance map can also exhibit boundary bias, however its adapative nature allows one to decrease the effect
greatly. Another disadvantage of the photon map is that it cannot simulate illumination from skylight. This is
because the photons need an actual surface to be emitted from. The skylight, at least in V-Ray, is not a surface
actually present in the scene.
On the other hand, the photon map is view-independent and can be computed relatively quickly. This makes it
ideal for approximating the scene illumination when used together with more accurate methods like direct
computation or the irradiance map.
The following diagram shows the way the Photon Map is generated. In the first pass (Blue) rays are traced
from each light into the scene which generates light samples across the entire scene. In the second pass all
samples in a specified radius are gathered from the camera in order to create the final GI solution.
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Basic Parameters
Note that the building of the photon map is also controlled by the photon settings of individual lights in
the scene. See the Light settings dialog for more information.
Bounces - this parameter controls the number of light bounces approximated by the photon map. More
bounces produce a more realistic result, but take more time and memory.
Auto search dist - when this is on, V-Ray will try to compute a suitable distance within which to search for
photons. Sometimes the computed distance is okay, in other cases it might be too big (which will slow down
the rendering) or too small (which will produce a more noisy result).
Search dist - this option is only available when Auto search dist is off. It allows you to specify the photon search
distance manually. Keep in mind that this value depends on the size of your scene. Lower values will speed up
the rendering but may produce more noisy results. Larger values will slow down the rendering but may
produce smoother results.
Max photons - this option specifies how many photons will be taken into consideration when approximating
the irradiance at the shaded point. More photons mean a smoother (and more blurry) result and may also
slow down the rendering. Smaller values mean a more noisy result but will render faster. When this value is 0,
V-Ray will use all the photons in the given search range.
Multipler - this allows you to control the brightness of the photon map.
Max density - this parameter allows you to limit the resolution (and thus the memory) of the photon map.
Whenever V-Ray needs to store a new photon in the photon map, it will first look if there are any other
photons within a distance specified by Max density. If there is already a suitable photon in the map, V-Ray will
just add the energy of the new photon to the one in the map. Otherwise, V-Ray will store the new photon in
the photon map. Using this options allows you to shoot many photons (and thus get smoother results) while
keeping the size of the photon map manageable.
Convert to irradiance map - this will cause V-Ray to precompute the irradiance at the photon hit points stored
in the photon map. This allows fewer photons to be used when interpolated the irradiance during rendering,
while keeping the result relatively smooth. It is important to note that the resulting map stores irradiance, but
is not the same as the irradiance cache used by V-Ray for primary diffuse bounces.
Interp. samples - this controls how many irradiance samples will be taken from the photon map once it is
converted to an irradiance map. Larger values produce smoother results, but may be slower; smaller values
produces more noisy results but rendering is faster.
Convex hull area estimate - when this is off, V-Ray will use a simplified algorithm for computing the area,
covered by a number of photons (by only taking the distance to the farthest photon). This algorithm may cause
corners to be darker. Using the convex hull area estimate avoids the dark corners problem, but is slower and
not as robust.
Store direct light - when this is on, V-Ray will store direct illumination in the photon map as well. This may
speed up the irradiance map or brute force GI, when used as a primary engine, and there are lots of lights in
the scene. When this is off, direct lighting will be computed always by tracing the necessary rays. This may
slow things down if there are lots of lights in the scene.
Retrace threshold - when this is greater than 0.0, V-Ray will use brute force GI near corners, instead of the
photon map, in order to obtain a more accurate result and to avoid splotches in these areas. This may slow
down the rendering. When this is 0.0 , the photon map will be used always, which will be faster, but may
produce artifacts near corners or in places where objects are close to each other.
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Retrace bounces - controls how many bounces will be made when retracing corners. If Retrace threshold is
0.0, then this parameter is ignored. Typically this should be equal to the Bounces parameter.
Notes
• The photon map cannot simulate secondary illumination due to skylight. The photon map is mostly useful for
interior scenes with artificial lighting or relatively small windows.
• The photon map works only with V-Ray materials. Standard materials will receive GI, but will not generate any
photons.
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Light Cache
• Light Cache Overview

• Calculation Parameters
• Example: The Subdivs Parameter
• Example: The Sample Size Parameter
• Example: The Scale Parameter
• Reconstruction Parameters
• Example: The Retrace Threshold Parameter
• Mode
• On Render End
• Current Map
• Notes
Light Cache Overview
Light caching (called "light mapping" in older versions of V-Ray) is a technique for approximating the global
illumination in a scene. This method was developed originally by Chaos Group specifically for the V-Ray
renderer. It is very similar to photon mapping, but without many of its limitations.
The light cache is built by tracing many many eye paths from the camera. Each of the bounces in the path
stores the illumination from the rest of the path into a 3d structure, very similar to the photon map. On the
other hand, in a sense, it is the exact opposite of the photon map, which traces paths from the lights, and
stores the accumulated energy from the beginning of the path into the photon map.
Although very simple, the light-caching approach has many advantages over the photon map:
• It is easier to set up. We only have the camera to trace rays from, as opposed to the photon map, which must
process each light in the scene and usually requires separate setup for each light.
• The light-caching approach works efficiently with any lights - including skylight, self-illuminated objects, non-
physical lights, photometric lights etc. In contrast, the photon map is limited in the lighting effects it can
reproduce - for example, the photon map cannot reproduce the illumination from skylight or from standard
omni lights without inverse-square falloff.
• The light cache produces correct results in corners and around small objects. The photon map, on the other
hand, relies on tricky density estimation schemes, which often produce wrong results in these cases, either
darkening or brightening those areas.
• In many cases the light cache can be visualized directly for very fast and smooth previews of the lighting in the
scene.
Even with these advantages, light caching is similar in speed to the photon map and can produce
approximations to the global lighting in a scene very quickly. In addition, the light cache can be used
successfully for adding GI effects to animations.
Of course, the light cache has some limitations:
• Like the irradiance map, it is view-dependent and is generated for a particular position of the camera.
• Like the photon map, the light cache is not adaptive. The illumination is computed at a fixed resolution, which
is determined by the user.
• The light cache does not work very well with bump maps.
The following diagram shows the way the Light Cache is being generated. To get the lighting from the
environment V-Ray traces many rays from the camera into the scene. Each bounce of light creates a sample in
the light cache that can be used during the rendering. If one ray hits a sample that was created by another ray
the tracing is stopped and the information from the sample is read instead. This speeds up the process a lot.
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Calculation Parameters
These parameters affect the calculation phase of the light cache; they do not affect the final rendering.
Subdivs - this determines how many paths are traced from the camera. The actual number of paths is the
square of the subdivs (the default 1000 subdivs mean that 1 000 000 paths will be traced from the camera).
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Example: The Subdivs Parameter
The Subdivs parameter controls the number of rays that are shot into the scene and the "noise" quality of the
light cache samples.
Here is a scene rendered with different settings for the Subdivs parameter (all other settings are the same).
• As we add more samples, the noise is reduced, but the render times increase. When the Subdivs parameter is
increased twice, the light cache takes approximately 4 times as long to calculate.
Subdivs = 500
Subdivs = 1000
Subdivs = 2000
Sample size - this determines the spacing of the samples in the light cache. Smaller numbers mean that the
samples will be closer to each other, the light cache will preserve sharp details in lighting, but it will be more
noisy and will take more memory. Larger numbers will smooth out the light cache but will loose detail. This
value can be either in world units or relative to the image size, depending on light cache Scale mode.
Example: The Sample Size Parameter
The Sample size parameter controls the size of the individual light cache samples. Smaller values produce a
more detailed lighting solution, but are noisier and take more RAM. Larger values produce less detail, but take
less RAM and may be faster to calculate.
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Here is a scene rendered with different values for the Sample size parameter. All other values are the same.
• Note the light leak from the wall on the right in the last image - this is because samples from the other side of
the wall are quite large (because of the Screen Scale) and end up being used on the side facing the camera
(compare this with the World Scale in the above example).
• Note the difference in the noise level between the samples.
Sample size = 0.01
Sample size = 0.02
Sample size = 0.0
Scale - this parameter determines the units of the Sample size and the Filter size :
• Screen - the units are fractions of the final image (a value of 1.0 means the samples will be as large as the
whole image). Samples that are closer to the camera will be smaller, and samples that are far away will be
larger. Note that the units do not depend on the image resolution. This value is best suited for stills or
animations where the light cache needs to be computed at each frame.
• World - the sizes are fixed in world units everywhere. This can affect the quality of the samples - samples that
are close to the camera will be sampled more often and will appear smoother, while samples that are far away
will be noisier. This value might work better for fly-through animations, since it will force constant sample
density everywhere.
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Example: The Scale Parameter
The Scale parameter determines whether the Sample size and Filter size parameters are in screen space or
world space.
In the table below, the Screen scale was used, and the scene was rendered with different image and world
sizes. The Sample size was constant for all images - the default 0.02.
• As you can see, we always get the same number of light cache samples for all cases, regardless of resolution or
scene size - in fact, when scaled to the same size, the images look identical. This is why the Screen Scale is
applicable to the large variety of scenes.
Scene scaled down to 50%
Normal scene
Scene scaled up to 200%
Resolution 250x300
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Resolution 500x600
Normal scene
Resolution 250x300
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Resolution 1000x1200
Normal scene
Resolution 250x300
In the table below, the World Scale mode was used. Again, the scene is rendered at three different
resolutions and scales, but with the same light cache parameters. The sample size was set to be 1/5th of the
sphere radius in the scene at normal scale.
• You will notice that the number of samples again does not depend on the image resolution, but it does depend
on the scene size.
• Also notice how the samples near the camera appear larger because of the perspective - in difference from
the Screen Scale mode which compensates for this effect and tries to make the samples with more or less
equal size on the image.
• Another thing to note is that we don't get light leaks (compare with sample size example), even when the
samples are relatively large - this is because the World Scale forces a uniform sample size on both sides of the
right wall.
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Scene scaled down to 50%
Normal scene
Resolution 250x300
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Resolution 500x600
Normal scene
Resolution 250x300
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Resolution 1000x1200
Normal scene
Resolution 250x300
Number of passes - the light cache is computed in several passes, which are then combined into the final light
cache. Each pass is rendered in a separate thread independently of the other passes. This ensures that the light
cache is consistent across computers with different number of CPUs. In general, a light cache computed with
smaller number of passes may be less noisy than a light cache computed with more passes, for the same
number of samples; however small number of passes cannot be distributed effectively across several threads.
For single-processor non-hyperthreading machines, the number of passes can be set to 1 for best results.
Depth - this parameter determines the length of the light paths to be traced. It is important to note that even
though Light cache the depth is limited, due to the recursive nature of this method there will be longer paths
in the end result.
Store direct light - with this option, the light cache will also store and interpolate direct light. This can be
useful for scenes with many lights and irradiance map or direct GI method for the primary diffuse bounces,
since direct lighting will be computed from the light cache, instead of sampling each and every light. Note that
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only the diffuse illumination produced by the scene lights will be stored. If you want to use the light cache
directly for approximating the GI while keeping the direct lighting sharp, uncheck this option.
Show calc. phase - turning this option on will show the paths that are traced. This does not affect the
calculation of the light cache and is provided only as a feedback to the user. This option is ignored when
rendering to fields - in that case, the calculation phase is never displayed.
Adaptive tracing - when this option is on, V-Ray will store additional information about the incoming light for
each light cache sample, and try to put more samples into the directions from which more light coming. This
may help tp reduce the noise in the light cache, particularly in the case of caustics.
Use directions only - this option is only available when the Adaptive tracing option is on. It causes V-Ray to
only use the optimized directions, generated from the light cache samples, rather than the accumulated
irradiance from the samples themselves. This produces more accurate results, but also a noisier light cache.
Larger values cause more retracing to occur and will slow down the rendering. Lower values will make
rendering faster, but may cause artifacts to reappear.
Reconstruction Parameters
These parameters control how the light cache is used in the final rendering, after is has been calculated.
Pre-filter - when this is turned on, the samples in the light cache are filtered before rendering. Note that this is
different from the normal light cache filtering (see below) which happens during rendering. Prefiltering is
performed by examining each sample in turn, and modifying it so that it represents the average of the given
number of nearby samples. More prefilter samples mean a more blurry and less noisy light cache. Prefiltering
is computed once after a new light cache is computed or loaded from disk.
Filter - this determines the type of render-time filter for the light cache. The filter determines how irradiance
is interpolated from the samples in the light cache.
• None - no filtering is performed. The nearest sample to the shaded point is taken as the irradiance value. This
is the fastest option, but it may produce artifacts near corners, if the light cache is noisy. You can use pre-
filtering (see above) to decrease that noise. This option works best if the light cache is used for secondary
bounces only or for testing purposes.
• Nearest - this filter looks up the nearest samples to the shading point and averages their value. This filter is
not suitable for direct visualization of the light cache, but is useful if you use the light cache for secondary
bounces. A property of this filter is that is adapts to the sample density of the light cache and is computed for a
nearly constant time. The Interpolation samples parameter determines how many of the nearest samples to
look up from the light cache.
• Fixed - this filter looks up and averages all samples from the light cache that fall within a certain distance from
the shaded point. This filter produces smooth results and is suitable for direct visualization of the light cache
(when it is used as the primary GI engine). The size of the filter is determined by the Filter size parameter.
Larger values blur the light cache and smooth out noise. Typical values for the Filter size are 2-6 times larger
than the Sample size . Note that Filter size uses the same scale as the Sample size and its meaning depends
on the Scale parameter.
Use light cache for glossy rays - if this option is on, the light cache will be used to compute lighting for glossy
rays as well, in addition to normal GI rays. This can speed up rendering of scenes with glossy reflections quite a
lot. When you use this option, it is recommended to also enable the Retrace threshold option, which will
prevent the light cache from being visible in very glossy surfaces.
Retrace threshold - when enabled, this option improves the precision of the global illumination in cases where
the light cache will produce too large an error. This is especially obvious with the Use light cache for glossy
rays option, or near corners where light leaks might be possible because of the light cache interpolation. For
glossy reflections and refractions, V-Ray dynamically decides whether to use the light cache or not based on
the surface glossiness and the distance from it so that the errors due to the light cache are minimized. Note
that this options may increase the render time.
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Example: The Retrace Threshold Parameter
The first set of images shows how the Retrace threshold parameter can be used to reduce light leaks due to
the light cache interpolation. The scene is an interior scene with parts of the exterior visible. The bright light
cache samples from the exterior blend with the darker samples from the interior causing light leaks when the
irradiance map is calculated. The Retrace threshold option (with the default value of 1.0) successfully resolves
the problem at the expense of slightly increased calculation time for the irradiance map.
Without retracing, light cache samples from the bright exterior are mixed with the dark samples in the exterior
causing light leaks.
With light cache retracing enabled, the light leaks are successfully eliminated at the expense of slightly longer
irradiance map calculation time.
The second scene in this example shows how the Retrace threshold option can be used to improve the
appearance of glossy reflections and refraction with the Use light cache for glossy rays option. In this case, V-
Ray dynamically decides whether to use the light cache or not, based on the glossiness of the surface and the
distance from it.
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Without retracing, the light cache samples are clearly visible in the glossy reflections and refractions.
With light cache retracing enabled, V-Ray is able to dynamically decide whether to use the light cache or not,
leading to a much better result.
Filter Samples - When the Filter Type is set to Nearest this parameter determines how many of the nearest
samples to look up from the light cache.
Filter Size - When the Filter Type is set to Fixed this parameter determines the size of the filter. The units of
the value is determined by the state of the World scale parameter.
Mode
Mode - determines the rendering mode of the light cache:
• Progressive path tracing - in this mode, the light cache algorithm is used to sample the final image
progressively. For a discussion of this mode see the tutorial .
• Single frame - this will compute a new light cache for each frame of an animation.
• Fly-through - this will compute a light cache for an entire fly-through animation, assuming that the camera
position/orientation is the only thing that changes. The movement of the camera in the active time segment
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only is taken in consideration. Note that it may be better to use World Scale for fly-through animations. The
light cache is computed only at the first rendered frame and is reused without changes for subsequent frames.
• From file - in this mode the light cache is loaded from a file. The light cache file does not include the
prefiltering of the light cache; prefiltering is performed after the light cache is loaded, so that you can adjust it
without the need to recompute the light cache.
File - specifies the file name to load the light cache from, when the Mode is set to From file.
On Render End
This group of controls determine what happens with the light cache after rendering is complete.
Don't delete - when on (the default), the light cache remains in memory after the rendering. Turn this
option off to automatically delete the light cache (and thus save memory).
Auto save - when on, the light cache will be automatically written to the specified file. Note that the light
cache will be written as soon as it is calculated, rather than at the actual end of the rendering.
Current Map
Save - this button allows to save the light cache to a file on disk, for later re-use. Note that the Don't
delete option must be on for this to work - otherwise, the light cache will be deleted as soon as rendering is
complete and it will not be possible to save it.
Notes
• Do not set the Adaptive amount in the DMC sampler rollup to 0.0 when using the light cache, as this will
cause excessive render times.
• Do not apply perfectly white or very close to white materials to a majority of the objects in the scene, as this
will cause excessive render times. This is because the amount of reflected light in the scene will decrease very
gradually and the light cache will have to trace longer paths. Also avoid materials that have one of their RGB
components set to maximum (255) or above.
• If you want to use the light cache for animation, you should choose a large enough value for the Filter size in
order to remove the flickering in the GI.
• There is no difference between light caches computed for primary bounces (direct visualization) and for
secondary bounces. You can safely use light caches computed in one of these modes for the other.
• Similar to the photon map, you can get "light leaks" with the light cache around very thin surfaces with
substantially different illumination on both sides. The effect can be reduced by decreasing the Sample
size and/or the filtering.
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Caustics
§ Caustics Overview
§ Caustics
§ Mode
§ On Render End
§ Notes
Caustics Overview
In order to calculate the caustics effects, V-Ray uses a technique known as photon mapping. It is a two-pass
technique. The first pass consists of shooting particles (photons) from the light sources in the scene, tracing
them as they bounce around the scene, and recording the places where the photons hit the object surfaces.
The second pass is the final rendering, when the caustics are calculated by using density estimation techniques
on the photon hits stored during the first pass.
Caustics
On - turns rendering of caustics on and off.

Multiplier - this multiplier controls the strength of the caustics. It is global and applies to all light sources that
generate caustics. If you want different multipliers for the different light sources then you should use the local
light settings.Note: this multiplier is cumulative with the multipliers in the local light settings.
Search distance - when V-Ray needs to render the caustics effect at a given surface point, it searches for a
number photons on that surface in the area surrounding the shaded point (search area). The search area in
fact is a circle with center the original photon and its radius is equal to the Search distance value. Smaller
values produce sharper, but perhaps more noisy caustics; larger values produce smoother, but blurrier
caustics.
Max photons - this is the maximum number of photons that will be considered when rendering the caustics
effect on a surface. Smaller values cause less photons to be used and the caustics will be sharper, but perhaps
noisier. Larger values produce smoother, but blurrier caustics. The special value of 0 means that V-Ray will use
all the photons that it can find inside the search area.
Max density - this parameter allows you to limit the resolution (and thus the memory) of the caustics photon
map. Whenever V-Ray needs to store a new photon in the caustics photon map, it will first look if there are any
other photons within a distance specified by Max density. If there is already a suitable photon in the map, V-
Ray will just add the energy of the new photon to the one in the map. Otherwise, V-Ray will store the new
photon in the photon map. Using this options allows you to shoot many photons (and thus get smoother
results) while keeping the size of the caustics photon map manageable.
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Mode
Mode - controls the mode of the irradiance map:
• New map - when this option is selected a new photon map will be generated. It will overwrite any previous
photon map left over from previous rendering.
• Save to file - hit this button if you want to save an already generated photon map in a file.
• From file - when you enable this option V-Ray will not compute the photon map but will load it from a file. Hit
the Browse button on the right to specify the file name.
File - the file name with the caustics photon map to be loaded when the Mode is set to From file.
On Render End
Don't delete - when checked, V-Ray will keep the photon map in memory after the scene rendering has
finished. Otherwise the map will be deleted and the memory it takes will be freed. This option can be
especially useful if you want to compute the photon map for a particular scene only once and then reuse it for
further rendering.
Auto save - when this is turned on, V-Ray will automatically save the caustics photon map to the provided file
when rendering is complete.
Switch to saved map - this option is only available if Auto save is on. It will cause V-Ray to automatically set
the Mode to From file with the file name of the newly saved map.
Notes
• Caustics also depend on the individual light settings.
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Default Displacement
§ Default Displacement Overview

§ Default Displacement
Default Displacement Overview
This section allows you to control displacement of objects globally. If you want to control the displacement per
material you must disable use globals option in the maps section of the material.
Default Displacement
Override on - when this option is on, V-Ray will render objects with displacement materials using its own
internal microtriangle displacement. When this option isoff, the objects displacement will be rendered on a
per material basis.
Edge length - this determines the quality of the displacement. Each triangle of the original mesh is subdivided
into a number of subtriangles. More subtriangles mean more detail in the displacement, slower rendering
times and more RAM usage. Less subtriangles mean less detail, faster rendering and less RAM. The meaning
of Edge length depends on the View-dependent parameter below.
View-dependent - when this is on, Edge length determines the maximum length of a subtriangle edge, in
pixels. A value of 1.0 means that the longest edge of each subtriangle will be about one pixel long when
projected on the screen. When View-dependent is off, Edge length is the maximum subtriangle edge length in
world units.
Max. subdivs - this controls the maximum subtriangles generated from any triangle of the original mesh. The
value is in fact the square root of the maximum number of subtriangles. For example, a value of 256 means
that at most 256 x 256 = 65536 subtriangles will be generated for any given original triangle. It is not a good
idea to keep this value very high. If you need to use higher values, it will be better to tessellate the original
mesh itself into smaller triangles instead. Starting with the release of V-Ray 1.5 for SketchUp the actual
subdivisions for a triangle are rounded up to the nearest power of two (this makes it easier to avoid gaps
because of different tessellation on neighboring triangles).
Amount - this is a scaling parameter for the default displacement. Values larger than 1.0 increase the
displacement amount, while values lower than 1.0 reduce it.
Relative to bbox - if this parameter is on, the actual displacement amount is based on the bounding box of the
objects. If this option is off, the displacement is expressed in generic world units where white areas in the
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displacement map correspond to displacement of 1 generic unit. You can use the Amount parameter to
increase or decrease displacement amount.
Tight bounds - when this is on, V-Ray will try to compute the exact bounding volume of the displaced triangles
from the original mesh. This requires pre-sampling of the displacement texture, but the rendering will be
faster, if the texture has large black or white areas. However, if the displacement texture is slow to evaluate
and varies a lot between full black and white, if may be faster to turn this option off. When it is off, V-Ray will
assume worst-case bounding volumes, and will not presample the texture.
V-Ray RT and SketchUp
§ V-Ray RT and SketchUp Overview

§ General Options
§ Performance
§ Notes
V-Ray RT and SketchUp Overview
V-Ray RT is an interactive rendering engine for SketchUp. To start using V-Ray RT you can simply left mouse
click the RT button from the main V-Ray toolbar. You can always switch back to the V-Ray production renderer
by clicking the RT button with the right mouse button.
To start V-Ray RT manually you must first start a local DRSpawner. Next, you must enable from the RTEngine
rollout in the V-Ray renderer parameters. Finally you must enable Distributed Rendering from the System
rollout of the V-Ray renderer parameters.
General Options
Enable - turn on or off the V-Ray RT engine.

Refraction Caustics - this allows indirect lighting to pass through transparent objects (glass etc). Note that this
is not the same as Caustics, which represent direct light going through transparent objects. You need refractive
GI caustics to get skylight through windows, for example.
Reflective Caustics - this allows indirect light to be reflected from specular objects (mirrors etc).
Note that this is not the same as Caustics, which represent direct light going through specular surfaces. This
is off by default, because reflective GI caustics usually contribute little to the final illumination, while often
they produce undesired subtle noise.
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Trace depth - Represents the maximum number of bounces that will be computed for reflections and
refractions. The individual material reflection/refraction depth settings are still considered, so long as they
don't exceed the value specified here.
GI depth - the number of bounces for indirect illumination. Other GI settings (e.g. whether GI is enabled or
disabled) are taken from the production V-Ray renderer.
Performance
The parameters in this section affect the performance of V-Ray RT. Note that the optimal values for a given
machine and network configurations may be different from the defaults. The user is encouraged to experiment
with these values to find the optimal ones.
Ray bundle size - This controls the number of rays that are sent to the V-Ray RT render servers for processing.
When using distributed rendering, the smaller sizes cause more frequent client/server communication with
smaller network packets thus decreasing the speed of the renderer but increasing the interactivity and vice
versa. Note that this number is not the exact amount of rays, but is proportional to it. It is not recommended
to increase this value beyond 512.
Rays per pixel - The number of rays that are traced for each pixel during one image pass. The greater the value,
the smoother the picture from the very beginning of the rendering with GI, but interactivity may be
significantly diminished. Increasing this value also reduces amount of data transferred from the render servers
back to client machine.
Notes
• V-Ray RT in SketchUp does not currently support rendering on the GPU.

• When using V-Ray RT and Distributed Rendering you must disable localhost or 127.0.0.1 from your distributed
rendering servers. For additional information on distributed rendering, please refer to the
dedicated Distributed Rendering section.
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V-Ray Angle Blend
§ V-Ray Angle Blend Overview

§ V-Ray Angle Blend Parameters
V-Ray Angle Blend Overview
The VRay Angle Blend material allows you to make a blend between two materials. The angle of blend depend
of the view direction and the surface normal. V-Ray can use several blend functions to determine the blended
result. It can be used to create complex materials like car paints, velvet, pearl, etc.
V-Ray Angle Blend Parameters
Mtl One - this is the material which is going to be used on the perpendicular area to the view direction.
Mtl Two - this is the material which is going to be used on the parallel area to the view direction.
Start Angle - angle in which the blend of the material will start.
Stop Angle - angle in which the blend of the material will stop.
Blend Function - this option allows you to choose a specific function for V-Ray to calculate the blended result.
• Linear
• Normal Distribution
• Sigmoid
• Gompertz
• Cube Root
• Cubic
• Cubic Polynominal
Flip view direction - checking this option changes the direction of the blend.
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VRayMtl
§ V-Ray Material Editor Overview

§ Material Options
§ Standard Material Parameters
§ Diffuse
§ Ex ample: The Roughness Parameter
§ Reflection
§ Example: The Reflection Color Parameter
§ Soften
§ Glossiness
§ Example: The Reflection Glossiness Parameter
§ Example: The BRDF Type
§ Anisotropy
§ Example: The Anisotropy Parameter
§ Example: The Anisotropy Rotation Parameter
§ Dim Distance
§ Interpolation
§ Refraction
§ Example: The Refraction Color Parameter
§ Example: The Refraction IOR Parameter
§ Options
§ Example: The Refraction Exit Color Parameter
§ Fog
§ Example: The Fog Color Parameter
§ Example: The Fog Multiplier Parameter
§ Dispersion
§ Example: Dispersion
§ Translucency
§ Interpolation
§ Options
§ Example: The Refraction Depth Parameter
§ Ignore Objects in Secondary
§ Maps
§ Displacement
§ Notes
V-Ray Material Editor Overview
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A. Materials List - this area contains a list of all the materials in the scene. You can create material, load
material, load a material collection and purge unused material by right clicking over Scene Material.
B. Material Options - this area allows you to control all the parameters of the material.
C. Material Preview - allows you to see the appearance of the adjusted material. Once you have made a
material preview, the preview image is cached for later use.
Live Updated - when this option is selected the material preview will update automatically every time one of
the VRay Material properties is changed.
Material Options
Create Layer - this option allows you to create Diffuse, Reflection, Refraction, and Emissive layers for your
material.
Save Material - this option allows you to save the selected material to disk.
Pack Material - allows you to create and archive of your material including all related texture files.
Duplicate Material - when this option is used a duplicate of the current material will automatically be made.
Rename Material - allows you to rename individual material names.
Remove Material - is used to delete and individual material from your scene.
Import Material - this option allows you to import material files that you have saved to disk.
Apply Material to Selection - will apply the currently selected material to any geometry that you have
selected.
Apply Material to Layer - when selected will display a dialog box which you can choose a layer from to apply
the currently selected material to.
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Select All Objects Using This Material - this option allows you to select the objects that are using the current
material.
Standard Material Parameters
A special Standard material is provided with the V-Ray renderer. This allows for better physically correct
illumination (energy distribution) in the scene, faster rendering, more convenient reflection and refraction
parameters. Within the Standard material you can apply different texture maps, control the reflections and
refractions, add bump and displacement maps, force direct GI calculations, and choose the BRDF for the
material. V-Ray for SketchUp has a layer based material system.
Note: In order to see through the diffuse and Emissive layer you will need to add transparency to the layer.
Diffuse
Diffuse - this is the diffuse color of the material. Note the actual diffuse color of the surface also depends on
the reflection and refraction colors.
Roughness - this parameter can be used to simulate rough surfaces or surfaces covered with dust (for
example, skin, or the surface of the Moon).
Ex ample: The Roughness Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Roughness parameter. Note how, as the Roughness increases,
the materials appears more "flat" and dusty.
Roughness = 0.0
(regular diffuse material)
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Roughness = 0.3
Roughness = 0.6
Transparency - this control the transparency of the Diffuse layer. Black color is completely opaque and white is
completely transparent. A texture can be used to control the transparency of the diffuse layer.
Use Irradiance Map - with this option enabled the irradiance map will be used to approximate diffuse indirect
illumination for the material. If this is disabled, brute force GI will be used. You can use this for objects in the
scene which have small details and are not approximated very well by the irradiance map.
Use color texture as transparency - if this enabled V-Ray will use the direct alpha transparency of the texture
on the materials. V-Ray for SketchUp supports transparency from the .png and .tiff image formats.
Reflection
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Reflection - reflection color. Note that the reflection color dims the diffuse surface color based on the Energy
preservation . Energy preservation in V-Ray for SketchUp is always in RGB mode.
Example: The Reflection Color Parameter
This example demonstrates how the Reflection color parameter controls the reflectivity of the material. Note
that this color also acts as a filter for the diffuse color (e.g. stronger reflections dim the diffuse component).
Reflection color = Black.

(0, 0, 0)
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Reflection color = Medium Gray.

(128, 128, 128)
Reflection color = White.

(255, 255, 255)
Filter - this option is use to tint the color of the reflection.
Affect Alpha - Allows you to specify which channels are going to be affected by the transparency of the
material
• Color Channel Only - the transparency will affect only the RGB channel of the final render
• Color and alpha channel - this will cause the material to transmit the alpha of the refracted objects, instead of
displaying an opaque alpha. Note that currently this works only with clear (non-glossy) refractions.
• All channels - all channels and render elements will be affected by the transparency of the material
Soften - this parameter allows the user to soften the transition from dark to bright areas in specular
reflections.
Soften
Soften = -1
Soften = 0
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Soften = 1
Exit color - if a ray has reached its maximum reflection depth, this color will be returned without tracing the
ray further.
Glossiness
Highlight - this determines the shape of the highlight on the material. Normally this parameter is the same
as Reflect value in order to produce physically accurate results.
Reflect - controls the sharpness of reflections. A value of 1.0 means perfect mirror-like reflection; lower values
produce blurry or glossy reflections. Use the Subdivs parameter below to control the quality of glossy
reflections.
Example: The Reflection Glossiness Parameter
This example demonstrates how the Reflection glossiness and Highlight glossiness parameters control the
highlights and reflection blurriness of the material.
Reflection/Highlight Glossiness = 1.0

(perfect mirror reflections)
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Shader Type - this determines the type of BRDF (the shape of the highlight). This parameter have an effect
only if the reflection color is different from black and the reflection glossiness is different than 1.0.:
• Phong - Phong highlight/reflections

• Blinn - Blinn highlight/reflections
• Ward - Ward highlight/reflections
Example: The BRDF Type
This example demonstrates the differences between the BRDFs available in V-Ray. Note the different
highlights produced by the different BRDFs.
BRDF type = Phong
BRDF type = Blinn
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BRDF type = Ward

Treat glossy rays as GI rays - this specifies on what occasions glossy rays will be treated as GI rays:
• Never - glossy rays are never treated as GI rays.

• Only for GI rays - glossy rays will be treated as GI rays only when GI is being evaluated. This can speed up
rendering of scenes with glossy reflections and is the default.
• Always - glossy rays are always treated as GI rays. A side effect is that the Secondary GI engine will be used for
glossy rays. For example, if the primary engine is irradiance map, and the secondary is light cache, the glossy
rays will use the light cache (which is a lot faster).
Subdivs - controls the quality of glossy reflections. Lower values will render faster, but the result will be more
noisy. Higher values take longer, but produce smoother results.
Anisotropy
Anisotropy - determines the shape of the highlight. A value of 0.0 means isotropic highlights. Negative and
positive values simulate "brushed" surfaces.
Example: The Anisotropy Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Anisotropy parameter. Note how the different values stretch the
reflections horizontally or vertically.
Anisotropy = -0.9
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Anisotropy = -0.45
Anisotropy = 0.0
no anisotropy
Anisotropy = 0.45
Anisotropy = 0.9
Rotation - determines the orientation of the anisotropic effect. Different brushed surfaces can be simulated by
using a texture map for the anisotropy rotation parameter.
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Example: The Anisotropy Rotation Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Anisotropy rotation parameter. For all the images in this
example, the Anisotropy parameter itself is 0.8.
Anisotropy rotation =
0.0 degrees
45.0 degrees
90.0 degrees
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135.0 degrees
Bitmapped
map in the upper-right corner
Local axis - controls how the direction for the anisotropic effect is chosen:
• X - the direction is based on the X axis.

• Y - the direction is based on the Y axis.
• Z - the direction is based on the Z axis.
Map channel - the direction is based on the selected mapping channel.
Dim Distance
On - check this option to enable dim distance.
Dim distance - specifies a distance after which the reflection rays will not be traced.
Dim fall off - a fall off radius for the dim distance.
Interpolation
Interpolation - Check this option to turn caching on. V-Ray can use a caching scheme similar to the irradiance
map to speed up rendering of glossy reflections. The options for the interpolation of glossy reflections are also
very similar to the options for the irradiance map. Note that it is not recommended to use interpolation for
animations, since this may cause severe flickering.
Refraction
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Color - refraction color. Note that the actual refraction color depends on the reflection color as well.
Transparency - this control the transparency of the Refraction layer. Black color is completely opaque and
white is completely transparent. A texture can be used to control the transparency of the refraction layer.
Glossiness - controls the sharpness of refractions. A value of 1.0 means perfect glass-like refraction; lower
values produce blurry or glossy refractions. Use the Subdivs parameter below to control the quality of glossy
refractions.
Example: The Refraction Color Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction color parameter to produce glass materials. For the
images in this example, the material has a gray Diffuse color , white Reflection color , and the Fresnel option
is turned on.
Refraction color = Black

(0, 0, 0)
no refraction
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Refraction color = Light Gray

(192, 192, 192)
Refraction color = White

(255, 255, 255)
IOR - index of refraction for the material, which describes the way light bends when crossing the material
surface. A value of 1.0 means the light will not change direction.
Example: The Refraction IOR Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction IOR parameter. Note how light bends more as the IOR
deviates from 1.0. When the index of refraction (IOR) is 1.0, the render produces a transparent object. Note
however, that in the case of transparent objects, it might be better to assign an opacity map to the material,
rather than use refraction.
Refraction IOR = 0.8
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Subdivs - controls the quality of glossy refractions. Lower values will render faster, but the result will be more
noisy. Higher values take longer, but produce smoother results. This parameter also controls the quality of the
translucent effect, if on (see below).
Options
Affect shadows - this will cause the material to cast transparent shadows, depending on the refraction color
and the fog color. This only works with V-Ray shadows and lights.
Affect alpha - this will cause the material to transmit the alpha of the refracted objects, instead of displaying
an opaque alpha. Note that currently this works only with clear (non-glossy) refractions.
Enable Exit color - this will enable or disable the exit color options.
Refract Exit color - if this is on, and a ray has reached the maximum refraction depth, the ray will be
terminated and the exit color returned. When this is off, the ray will not be refracted, but will be continued
without changes.
Example: The Refraction Exit Color Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the refraction Exit color parameter. This is mostly useful to show
areas of deep refractions in the image, or for materials needing higher refraction depth. Note how the red
areas are reduced when the Reflection depth and Refraction depth are increased.
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Refraction Exit color = Off

Reflection depth = 5
Refraction depth = 5
Refraction Exit color = On

Refraction Exit color = Red
(255, 0, 0)
Reflection depth is 5
Refraction depth is 5

Reflect Exit color - if this is on, and a ray has reached the maximum reflection depth, the ray will be
terminated and the exit color returned. When this is off, the ray will not be reflected, but will be continued
without changes.
Fog
Color - the attenuation of light as it passes through the material. This option allows to simulate the fact that
thick objects look less transparent than thin objects. Note that the effect of the fog color depends on the
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absolute size of the objects and is therefore scene-dependent unless the Fog system units scaling is enabled.
The fog color also determines the look of the object when using translucency.
Example: The Fog Color Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Fog color parameter. Notice how the thick areas of the object
are darker in the two images on the right because of the light absorption of the fog.
Fog color = White

(255, 255, 255)
no light absorption
Fog color = Gray

(243, 243, 243)
Fog color = Green

(230, 243, 213)
Multiplier - the strength of the fog effect. Smaller values reduce the effect of the fog, making the material
more transparent. Larger values increase the fog effect, making the material more opaque. In more precise
terms, this is the inverse of the distance at which a ray inside the object is attenuated with am amount equal
to the Fog color .
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Example: The Fog Multiplier Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Fog multiplier parameter. Smaller values cause less light
absorption because of the fog; while higher values increase the absorption effect.
Fog multiplier = 0.5
Fog bias - this parameter allows to change the way the fog color is applied; by adjusting this parameter you
can make thin parts of the object to appear more transparent than normal, or less transparent than normal.
Emission - this controls the fog color light emission (self-illumination).

Dispersion
On - this option enables the calculation of true light wavelength dispersion
Abbe - this option allows you to increase or decrease the dispersion effect. Lowering it widens the dispersion
and vice versa. (Example)
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Example: Dispersion
This example demonstrates the Dispersion capabilities of the V-Ray material and the effect of the Abbe
parameter.
Dispersion = Off
Dispersion = On
Abbe = 10
Dispersion = On
Abbe = 50
Translucency
On - this enable translucency (also called sub-surface scattering). Currently only single-bounce scattering is
supported.
Color - normally the color of the sub-surface scattering effect depends on the Fog color; this parameter allows
you to additionally tint the SSS effect.
Texture - normally the color of the sub-surface scattering effect depends on the Fog color; this parameter
allows you to additionally tint the SSS effect.
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Light multiplier - a multiplier for the translucent effect.
Thickness - this limits the rays that will be traced below the surface. This is useful if you do not want or don't
need to trace the whole sub-surface volume.
Scatter coefficient - the amount of scattering inside the object. 0.0 means rays will be scattered in all
directions;1.0 means a ray cannot change its direction inside the sub-surface volume.
Forward/backward coefficient - controls the direction of scattering for a ray. 0.0 means a ray can only go
forward (away from the surface, inside the object); 0.5 means that a ray has an equal chance of going forward
or backward; 1.0 means a ray will be scattered backward (towards the surface, to the outside of the object).
Interpolation
Interpolation - Check this option to turn caching on. V-Ray can use a caching scheme similar to the irradiance
map to speed up rendering of glossy refractions. The options for the interpolation of glossy refractions are also
very similar to the options for the irradiance map. Note that it is not recommended to use interpolation for
animations, since this may cause severe flickering.
Options
Double-sided - if this is true, V-Ray will flip the normal for back-facing surfaces with this material. Otherwise,
the lighting on the "outer" side of the material will be computed always. You can use this to achieve a fake
translucent effect for thin objects like paper.
Trace reflections - if this is off, reflections will not be traced, even if the reflection color is greater than black.
You can turn this off to produce only highlights. Note that when this is off, the diffuse color will not be dimmed
by the reflection color, as would happen normally.
Reflect on back side - if this is true, reflections will be computed for back-facing surfaces too. Note that this
affects total internal reflections too (when refractions are computed).
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Only in Secondary - if this is on the material will only be visible in the reflection or refraction.
Can be Overridden - if this is on the material will not be overridden when you enable the override color option
in the Global Switches.
Disable Volume Fog - when this option is disable V-Ray will trace direct lighting into the material.
Trace refractions - if this is off, refractions will not traced, even if the refraction color is greater than black.
Cast Shadows - if this is off, the material will not cast shadows.
Cutoff - this is a threshold below which reflections/refractions will not be traced. V-Ray tries to estimate the
contribution of reflections/refractions to the image, and if it is below this threshold, these effects are not
computed. Do not set this to 0.0 as it may cause excessively long render times in some cases.
Refraction Max depth - the number of times a ray can be refracted. Scenes with lots of refractive and
reflective surfaces may require higher values to look right. -1 means that V-Ray will use the value specified on
the “Max Depth” in the Global Switches.
Example: The Refraction Depth Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction depth parameter. Note how too low of a refraction
depth produces incorrect results. Also, in the last two examples, note how areas with total internal reflection
are also affected by the Reflection depth .
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Alpha Contribution - allows you to obtain the alpha channel of each material in the scene. A value of 1 means
no alpha and 0 means full alpha.
ID Color - you can set this color to be a unique color that will be visible when rendering using the ID Color VFB
Channel.
Ignore Objects in Secondary
On - if this is on the material will not be overridden when you enable the override color option in the Global
Switches.
Optimized Exclusion - if this is on the material will not be overridden when you enable the override color
option in the Global Switches.
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Maps
These determine the various texture maps are used by the current material.
Bump - allows you to use a texture map as bump map.
Displacement - allows you to use a texture map as a displacement map.
Refraction - this option allows to override the refraction map.
Background - this option allows to override the background map of the environment settings.
GI - this option allows to override the GI map of the environment settings.
Reflection - this option allows to override the reflection map of the environment settings.
Displacement
Keep Continuity - using this will try to produce a connected surface, without splits.
Use Globals - if this is disable V-Ray will use the material displacement parameter. If this is on, V-Ray will use
the Default displacement parameters located on the V-Ray option windows.
View Dependent - when this is on, Edge length determines the maximum length of a subtriangle edge, in
pixels. A value of 1.0 means that the longest edge of each subtriangle will be about one pixel long when
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projected on the screen. When View-dependent is off, Edge length is the maximum subtriangle edge length in
world units.
Shift - this specifies a constant, which will be added to the displacement map values, effectively shifting the
displaced surface up and down along the normals. This can be either positive or negative.
Water Level - this will clip the surface geometry in places where the displacement map value is below the
specified threshold. This can be used for clip mapping a displacement map value below which geometry will be
clipped.
Max Subdivs - this controls the maximum subtriangles generated from any triangle of the original mesh. The
value is in fact the square root of the maximum number of subtriangles. For example, a value of 256 means
that at most 256 x 256 = 65536 subtriangles will be generated for any given original triangle. It is not a good
idea to keep this value very high. If you need to use higher values, it will be better to subdivide the original
mesh itself into smaller triangles instead. The actual subdivisions for a triangle are rounded up to the nearest
power of two (this makes it easier to avoid gaps because of different tessellation on neighboring triangles).
Edge Length - this determines the quality of the displacement. Each triangle of the original mesh is subdivided
into a number of subtriangles. More subtriangles mean more detail in the displacement, slower rendering
times and more RAM usage. Less subtriangles mean less detail, faster rendering and less RAM. The meaning of
Edge length depends on the View-dependent parameter below.
Notes
• Use the Standard material whenever possible in your scenes. This material is specifically optimized for V-Ray
and often GI and lighting is computed much faster for V-Ray materials than for standard SketchUp materials.
Many V-Ray features (e.g. light cache, photon mapping, render elements) are guaranteed to work properly
only with Standard material and other V-Ray compliant materials.
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VRay Skp Two Sided
§ VRay Skp Two Sided Overview

§ VRay Skp Two Sided Parameters
§ Notes
VRay Skp Two Sided Overview
The VRay Skp Two Sided material is a utility material provided with the V-Ray renderer. The material allows
you to have a separate material for the front and back faces. It can be very useful when creating very quick
conceptual render when trying to convey ideas with minimal modeling. The Skp Two-Sided material looks very
similar to the V-Ray Two Sided material. It has two slots, one for the front material, and another for the back
material.
VRay Skp Two Sided Parameters
Front material - this is the material which will be used for front-side faces as defined by the object normals.
Back material - this is the material V-Ray which will be used for back side faces as defined by their normals.
Force One-Sided - when is is on (the default), the sub-materials will render as one-sided materials. Turning this
option off is not recommended.
Notes
• As with the V-Ray Two Sided material the front and back materials cannot be created from within the Two-
Sided material itself. The material must be already created in order to be added to either the front or the back
material.
• Although it Is possible to utilize much of the features of the standard V-Ray material in the Skp Two Sided
material, it is not recommended to use any refraction layers in materials used for the sub-materials.
• The Skp Two Sided Material will work when have only one material defined for the front or back side. The
material for whichever side does not have a material assigned will not be rendered. This can be very useful for
architectural visualization, and can be used to look inside rooms with the appearance of the wall still affecting
the illumination of the enclosed environment.
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VRayToon
§ VRayToon Overview
§ VRayToon Parameters
§ Maps
§ Notes
>>> VRayToon >>>
VRayToon Overview
VRayToon is a very simple material that produces cartoon-style outlines on objects in the scene. Note
that VRayToon is not intended to be a full NPR (non-photorealistic rendering) effect. However, it may be
useful in many cases.
VRayToon Parameters
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Line color - this is the color of the outlines.
Line width - this is the width of the outlines in world units.
Opacity - this option determines the opacity of the outlines.
Distortion - This will be used to distort the outlines. Also a texture can be use to distort the outlines. This works
similar to bump-mapping and will take the gradient of the texture as direction for distortion. Note that high
output values may be required for larger distortion.
Overlap threshold - this determines when outlines will be created for overlapping parts of one and the same
object. Lower values will reduce the internal overlapping lines, while higher values will produce more overlap
lines. Don't set this value to pure 1.0 as this will fill curved objects completely.
Trace bias - this parameter depends on the scale of your scene, it determines the ray bias when the outlines
are traced in reflections/refractions.
Do secondary - this will cause the outlines to appear in reflections/refractions as well. Note that this may
increase render times.
Normal threshold - this determines when lines will be created for parts of the same object with varying surface
normals (for example, at the inside edges of a box). A value of 0.0 means that only 90 degrees or larger angles
will generate internal lines. Higher values mean that more smooth normals can also generate an edge. Don't
set this value to pure 1.0 as this will fill curved objects completely.
Do Silhouette Mult - this option enables and disables the Silhouetter Multiplier.
Silhouette Mult - this value will multiply the silhouette effect.
Divide By Distance - when this option is enabled toon lines on objects that are closer to the camera will be
thicker. Toon lines will be thinner the farther away the objects are from the camera.
Maps
There are four parameters that allow the user to control the outlines using various texture maps.
Line Color map - a texture map for the outline color. Screen-mapped maps will work best. Maps with World
XYZ mapping are also supported, but may not work very well.
Line Width map - a multiplier texture for the outline width. Screen-mapped maps will work best. Maps with
World XYZ mapping are also supported, but may not work very well.
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Opacity map - a texture for the outline opacity. Screen-mapped textures work best, although World XYZ
mapping is also supported.
Distortion map - a texture that will be used to distort the outlines. This works similar to bump-mapping and
will take the gradient of the texture as direction for distortion. Note that high output values may be required
for larger distortion. Screen-mapped textures work best, although World XYZ mapping is also supported.
Notes
• VRayToon only provides outlines. You will need to come up with your own cartoon-style materials (for
example, using falloff maps etc or other third-party material plugins).
• VRayToon will not work properly with objects that have their Cast Shadows property turned off.
• The quality of the lines depends on the current settings of the Image sampler.
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VRay Two Sided
§ VRay Two Sided Overview

§ VRay Two Sided Parameters
§ Notes
VRay Two Sided Overview
The VRay Two Sided material is a utility material provided with the V-Ray renderer. The material allows seeing
the light on the backside of the objects. Use this material to simulate thin translucent surfaces like paper, cloth
curtains, tree leaves etc.
VRay Two Sided Parameters
Front material - this is the material which will be used for front-side faces as defined by the object normals.
Back material - this is the material V-Ray will be used for back side faces as defined by their normals.
Color - this determines which side (front or back) relative to the camera is more visible in the rendering
process. By default this color is black (0.0), which means that only the front side will be visible. When this color
is closer to white (1.0) the more of the back material is going to be seen. When it is closer to black (0.0), the
more of the material facing the camera is going be seen..
Force One-Sided - when is is on (the default), the sub-materials will render as one-sided materials. Turning this
option off is not recommended.
Notes
• This material will give best results when assigned to singleside objects (non-shelled) objects like planes,
extruded splines etc. Otherwise it can lead to extremely longer render times.
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VRayMtlWrapper
§ VRayMtlWrappers Overview
§ VRayMtlWrapper Parameters
§ Additional Surface Properties
§ Matte Properties
VRayMtlWrappers Overview
The VRayMtlWrapper can be used to specify additional surface properties per material.
VRayMtlWrapper Parameters
Base material - this is the actual surface material.

GI surface ID - this number can be used to prevent the blending of light cache samples across different
surfaces. If two objects have different GI surface IDs, the light cache samples of the two objects will not be
blended. This can be useful to prevent light leaks between objects of vastly different illumination.
Additional Surface Properties
Generate GI - controls the GI generated by the material.
Receive GI - controls the GI received by the material.
GI Quality Multiplier - determines the quality of GI for specific objects, this options allow you to increase the GI
render quality for the specific the object.
Generate caustics - turn this off, if the material should not generate caustics.
Receive caustics - turn this off if the material should not receive caustics.
Caustics multiplier - determines the effect of caustics on the material.
Matte Properties
Matte - makes the material appear as a matte material, which shows the background, instead of the base
material, when viewed directly. Note that the base material is still used for things like GI, caustics, reflections
etc.
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Shadows - turn this on to make shadow visible on the matte surface.
Affect alpha - turn this on to make shadows affect the alpha contribution of the matte surface. Areas in perfect
shadow will produce white alpha, while completely unoccluded areas will produce black alpha. Note that GI
shadows (from skylight) are also computed, however GI shadows on matte objects are not supported by the
photon map and the light map GI engines, when used as primary engines. You can safely use those with matte
surfaces as secondary engines.
Shadow Color - an optional tint for the shadows on the matte surface.
Shadow Brightness - an optional brightness parameter for the shadows on the matte surface. A value of 0.0
will make the shadows completely invisible, while a value of 1.0 will show the full shadows.
Matte for secondary rays - normally the base material will be used when an object with a VRayMtlWrapper is
seen through reflections/refractions. Turn this option on, if you want the VRayMtlWrapper to show the
environment when seen through reflections/refractions or want to project the environment map on the matte
geometry.
Alpha contribution - determines the appearance of the object in the alpha channel of the rendered image. A
value of 1.0 means the alpha channel will be derived from the transparency of the base material. A value of 0.0
means the object will not appear in the alpha channel at all and will show the alpha of the objects behind it. A
value of -1.0 means that the transparency of the base material will cut out from the alpha of the objects
behind. Matte objects are typically given an alpha contribution of -1.0. Note that this option is independent of
the Matte surface option (i.e. a surface can have an alpha contribution of -1.0 without being a matte surface).
Reflection amount - shows the reflections from the base material. This only works if the base material is
directly a V-Ray Material.
Refraction amount - shows the refractions from the base material. This only works if the base material is
directly a V-Ray Material.
GI amount - determines the amount of GI shadows.
No GI on other mattes - this will cause the object to appear as a matte object in reflections, refractions, GI etc
for other matte objects. Note that if this is on, refractions for the matte object might not be calculated (the
object will appear a matte object to itself and will not be able to "see" the refractions on the other side).
Trace Depth - Represents the maximum number of bounces that will be computed for reflections and
refractions. The individual material reflection/refraction depth settings are still considered, so long as they
don't exceed the value specified here.
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V-Ray Material
§ VRayMtl Overview
§ Diffuse Parameters
§ Ex ample: The Roughness Parameter
§ Reflection
§ Example: The Reflection Color Parameter
§ Example: The Fresnel Option
§ Example: The Reflection Glossiness Parameter
§ Refraction
§ Example: The Refraction Color Parameter
§ Example: The Refraction IOR Parameter
§ Example: The Refraction Glossiness Parameter
§ Example: The Refraction Depth Parameter
§ Example: The Refraction Exit Color Parameter
§ Example: The Fog Color Parameter
§ Example: The Fog Multiplier Parameter
§ Example: Dispersion
§ Translucency
§ BRDF
§ Example: The BRDF Type
§ Example: Soften
§ Example: The Anisotropy Parameter
§ Example: The Anisotropy Rotation Parameter
§ Options
§ Maps
§ Reflect Interpolation
§ Refract Interpolation
§ Notes
VRayMtl Overview
A special material - the V-Ray Material- is provided with the V-Ray renderer. This allows for better physically
correct illumination (energy distribution) in the scene, faster rendering, more convenient reflection and
refraction parameters. Within the V-Ray Material you can apply different texture maps, control the reflections
and refractions, add bump and displacement maps, force direct GI calculations, and choose the BRDF for the
material.
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Diffuse Parameters
Diffuse - this is the diffuse color of the material. Note the actual diffuse color of the surface also depends on
the reflection and refraction colors. See the Energy preservation parameter below.
Roughness - this parameter can be used to simulate rough surfaces or surfaces covered with dust (for
example, skin, or the surface of the Moon).
Ex ample: The Roughness Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Roughness parameter. Note how, as the Roughness increases,
the materials appears more "flat" and dusty.
Roughness = 0.0
(regular diffuse material)
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Roughness = 0.3
Roughness = 0.6
Reflection
Reflect - reflection color. Note that the reflection color dims the diffuse surface color based on the Energy
preservation option.
Example: The Reflection Color Parameter
This example demonstrates how the Reflection color parameter controls the reflectivity of the material. Note
that this color also acts as a filter for the diffuse color (e.g. stronger reflections dim the diffuse component).
Reflection color = Black.

(0, 0, 0)
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Reflection color = Medium Gray.

(128, 128, 128)
Reflection color = White.

(255, 255, 255)
Fresnel reflections - checking this option makes the reflection strength dependent on the viewing angle of the
surface. Some materials in nature (glass etc) reflect light in this manner. Note that the Fresnel effect depends
on the index of refraction as well.
Example: The Fresnel Option
This example demonstrates the effect of the Fresnel option. Note how the strength of the reflection varies
with the IOR of the material. For this example, the Reflection color is pure white (255, 255, 255).
Fresnel = On
IOR = 1.3
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Fresnel = On
IOR = 2.0
Fresnel = On
IOR = 10.0
Fresnel = Off.
Fresnel IOR - the IOR to use when calculating Fresnel reflections. Normally this is locked to the Refraction
IOR parameter, but you can unlock it for finer control.
Highlight glossiness - this determines the shape of the highlight on the material. Normally this parameter is
locked to the Reflection glossiness value in order to produce physically accurate results.
Reflection glossiness - controls the sharpness of reflections. A value of 1.0 means perfect mirror-like
reflection; lower values produce blurry or glossy reflections. Use the Subdivs parameter below to control the
quality of glossy reflections.
Example: The Reflection Glossiness Parameter
This example demonstrates how the Reflection glossiness and Highlight glossiness parameters control the
highlights and reflection blurriness of the material.
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(perfect mirror reflections)
Subdivs - controls the quality of glossy reflections. Lower values will render faster, but the result will be more
noisy. Higher values take longer, but produce smoother results.
Use interpolation - V-Ray can use a caching scheme similar to the irradiance map to speed up rendering of
glossy reflections. Check this option to turn caching on. See the Reflection interpolation section for more
details.
Dim distance - specifies a distance after which the reflection rays will not be traced.
Dim fall off - a fall off radius for the dim distance.
Max depth - the number of times a ray can be reflected. Scenes with lots of reflective and refractive surfaces
may require higher values to look right.
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Exit color - if a ray has reached its maximum reflection depth, this color will be returned without tracing the
ray further.
Refraction
Refract - refraction color. Note that the actual refraction color depends on the reflection color as well. See
the Energy preservation parameter below.
Example: The Refraction Color Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction color parameter to produce glass materials. For the
images in this example, the material has a gray Diffuse color , white Reflection color , and the Fresnel option
is turned on.
Refraction color = Black

(0, 0, 0)
no refraction
Refraction color = Light Gray

(192, 192, 192)
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Refraction color = White

(255, 255, 255)
IOR - index of refraction for the material, which describes the way light bends when crossing the material
surface. A value of 1.0 means the light will not change direction.
Example: The Refraction IOR Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction IOR parameter. Note how light bends more as the IOR
deviates from 1.0. When the index of refraction (IOR) is 1.0, the render produces a transparent object. Note
however, that in the case of transparent objects, it might be better to assign an opacity map to the material,
rather than use refraction.
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Glossiness - controls the sharpness of refractions. A value of 1.0 means perfect glass-like refraction; lower
values produce blurry or glossy refractions. Use the Subdivs parameter below to control the quality of glossy
refractions.
Example: The Refraction Glossiness Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction glossiness parameter. Note how lower Refraction
glossiness values blur the refractions and cause the material to appear as frosted glass.
Refraction glossiness = 1.0
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Subdivs - controls the quality of glossy refractions. Lower values will render faster, but the result will be more
noisy. Higher values take longer, but produce smoother results. This parameter also controls the quality of the
translucent effect, if on (see below).
Use interpolation - V-Ray can use a caching scheme similar to the irradiance map to speed up rendering of
glossy refractions and translucency. Check this option to turn caching on. See the Refraction
interpolation section for more details.
Max depth - the number of times a ray can be refracted. Scenes with lots of refractive and reflective surfaces
may require higher values to look right.
Example: The Refraction Depth Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction depth parameter. Note how too low of a refraction
depth produces incorrect results. Also, in the last two examples, note how areas with total internal reflection
are also affected by the Reflection depth .
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Exit color - if this is on, and a ray has reached the maximum refraction depth, the ray will be terminated and
the exit color returned. When this is off, the ray will not be refracted, but will be continued without changes.
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Example: The Refraction Exit Color Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the refraction Exit color parameter. This is mostly useful to show
areas of deep refractions in the image, or for materials needing higher refraction depth. Note how the red
areas are reduced when the Reflection depth and Refraction depth are increased.
Refraction Exit color = Off


Refraction Exit color = Red
(255, 0, 0)
Reflection depth is 5
Refraction depth is 5

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Fog color - the attenuation of light as it passes through the material. This option allows to simulate the fact
that thick objects look less transparent than thin objects. Note that the effect of the fog color depends on the
absolute size of the objects and is therefore scene-dependent unless the Fog system units scaling is enabled.
The fog color also determines the look of the object when using translucency.
Example: The Fog Color Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Fog color parameter. Notice how the thick areas of the object
are darker in the two images on the right because of the light absorption of the fog.
Fog color = White

(255, 255, 255)
no light absorption
Fog color = Gray

(243, 243, 243)
Fog color = Green

(230, 243, 213)
Fog multiplier - the strength of the fog effect. Smaller values reduce the effect of the fog, making the material
more transparent. Larger values increase the fog effect, making the material more opaque. In more precise
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terms, this is the inverse of the distance at which a ray inside the object is attenuated with am amount equal
to the Fog color .
Example: The Fog Multiplier Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Fog multiplier parameter. Smaller values cause less light
absorption because of the fog; while higher values increase the absorption effect.
Fog bias - this parameter allows to change the way the fog color is applied; by adjusting this parameter you
can make thin parts of the object to appear more transparent than normal, or less transparent than normal.
Affect shadows - this will cause the material to cast transparent shadows, depending on the refraction color
and the fog color. This only works with V-Ray shadows and lights.
Affect Channels - Allows you to specify which channels are going to be affected by the transparency of the
material
• Color Only - the transparency will affect only the RGB channel of the final render
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• Color+alpha - this will cause the material to transmit the alpha of the refracted objects, instead of displaying
an opaque alpha. Note that currently this works only with clear (non-glossy) refractions.
• All channels - all channels and render elements will be affected by the transparency of the material
Dispersion - this option enables the calculation of true light wavelength dispersion
Abbe - this option allows you to increase or decrease the dispersion effect. Lowering it widens the dispersion
and vice versa.
Example: Dispersion
This example demonstrates the Dispersion capabilities of the V-Ray material and the effect of the Abbe
parameter.
Dispersion = Off
Dispersion = On
Abbe = 10
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Dispersion = On
Abbe = 50
Translucency
Type - selects the algorithm for calculating translucency (also called sub-surface scattering). Note that
refraction must be enabled for this effect to be visible. Currently only single-bounce scattering is supported.
The possible values are:
• None - no translucency is calculated for the material;

• Hard (wax) model - this model is specifically suited for hard materials like marble;
• Soft (water) model - this model is mostly for compatibility with older V-Ray versions (1.09.x);
• Hybrid model - this is the most realistic sss model and is suitable for simulating skin, milk, fruit juice and other
translucent materials.
Back-side color - normally the color of the sub-surface scattering effect depends on the Fog color; this
parameter allows you to additionally tint the SSS effect.
Thickness - this limits the rays that will be traced below the surface. This is useful if you do not want or don't
need to trace the whole sub-surface volume.
Light multiplier - a multiplier for the translucent effect.

Scatter coefficient - the amount of scattering inside the object. 0.0 means rays will be scattered in all
directions; 1.0 means a ray cannot change its direction inside the sub-surface volume.
Forward/backward coefficient - controls the direction of scattering for a ray. 0.0 means a ray can only go
forward (away from the surface, inside the object); 0.5 means that a ray has an equal chance of going forward
or backward; 1.0 means a ray will be scattered backward (towards the surface, to the outside of the object).
BRDF
he BRDF parameters determine the type of the highlights and glossy reflections for the material. There
parameters have an effect only if the reflection color is different from black and reflection glossiness is
different than 1.0.
Type - this determines the type of BRDF (the shape of the highlight):
• Phong - Phong highlight/reflections

• Blinn - Blinn highlight/reflections
• Ward - Ward highlight/reflections
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Example: The BRDF Type
This example demonstrates the differences between the BRDFs available in V-Ray. Note the different
highlights produced by the different BRDFs.
BRDF type = Phong
BRDF type = Blinn
BRDF type = Ward

Soften - this parameter allows the user to soften the transition from dark to bright areas in specular
reflections.
Example: Soften
This example demonstrates the effect of the soften parameter.
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Soften = -1
Soften = 0
Soften = 1
Fix dark glossy edges - enabling this option will fix dark edges that some times appear on objects with glossy
materials
Anisotropy - determines the shape of the highlight. A value of 0.0 means isotropic highlights. Negative and
positive values simulate "brushed" surfaces.
Example: The Anisotropy Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Anisotropy parameter. Note how the different values stretch the
reflections horizontally or vertically.
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Anisotropy = -0.9
Anisotropy = -0.45
Anisotropy = 0.0
no anisotropy
Anisotropy = 0.45
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Anisotropy = 0.9
Rotation - determines the orientation of the anisotropic effect in degrees (rotation in degrees). Different
brushed surfaces can be simulated by using a texture map for the anisotropy rotation parameter.
Example: The Anisotropy Rotation Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Anisotropy rotation parameter. For all the images in this
example, the Anisotropy parameter itself is 0.8.
0.0 degrees
45.0 degrees
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90.0 degrees
135.0 degrees
Bitmapped
map in the upper-right corner
Local axis - controls how the direction for the anisotropic effect is chosen:
• Local axis - the direction is based on the selected local object axis.
• Map channel - the direction is based on the selected mapping channel.
Options
Trace reflections - if this is off, reflections will not be traced, even if the reflection color is greater than black.
You can turn this off to produce only highlights. Note that when this is off, the diffuse color will not be dimmed
by the reflection color, as would happen normally.
Trace refractions - if this is off, refractions will not traced, even if the refraction color is greater than black.
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Cutoff - this is a threshold below which reflections/refractions will not be traced. V-Ray tries to estimate the
contribution of reflections/refractions to the image, and if it is below this threshold, these effects are not
computed. Do not set this to 0.0 as it may cause excessively long render times in some cases.
Environment priority - this specifies how to determine the environment to use if a reflected or refracted ray
goes through several materials each of which has an environment override.
Double-sided - if this is true, V-Ray will flip the normal for back-facing surfaces with this material. Otherwise,
the lighting on the "outer" side of the material will be computed always. You can use this to achieve a fake
translucent effect for thin objects like paper.
Reflect on back side - if this is true, reflections will be computed for back-facing surfaces too. Note that this
affects total internal reflections too (when refractions are computed).
Use irradiance map - if this is true, the irradiance map will be used to approximate diffuse indirect illumination
for the material. If this is off, brute force GI will be used. You can use this for objects in the scene which have
small details and are not approximated very well by the irradiance map.
Fog system units scaling - when enabled the fog color attenuation becomes dependent on the current system
units.
Treat glossy rays as GI rays - this specifies on what occasions glossy rays will be treated as GI rays:
• Never - glossy rays are never treated as GI rays.

• Only for GI rays - glossy rays will be treated as GI rays only when GI is being evaluated. This can speed up
rendering of scenes with glossy reflections and is the default.
• Always - glossy rays are always treated as GI rays. A side effect is that the Secondary GI engine will be used for
glossy rays. For example, if the primary engine is irradiance map, and the secondary is light cache, the glossy
rays will use the light cache (which is a lot faster).
Energy preservation mode - determines how the diffuse, reflection and refraction color affect each other. V-
Ray tries to keep the total amount of light reflected off a surface to be less that or equal to the light falling on
the surface (as this happens in the real life). For this purpose, the following rule is applied: the reflection level
dims the diffuse and refraction levels (a pure white reflection will remove any diffuse and refraction effects),
and the refraction level dims the diffuse level (a pure white refraction color will remove any diffuse effects).
This parameter determines whether the dimming happens separately for the RGB components, or is based on
the intensity:
• RGB - this mode causes dimming to be performed separately on the RGB components. For example, a pure
white diffuse color and pure red reflection color will give a surface with cyan diffuse color (because the red
component is already taken by the reflection).
• Monochrome - this mode causes dimming to be performed based on the intensity of the
diffuse/reflection/refraction levels.
Maps
These determine the various texture maps used by the material.
Reflect Interpolation
These determine the options for the interpolation of glossy reflections. They are very similar to the options for
the irradiance map. Note that it is not recommended to use interpolation for animations, since this may cause
severe flickering.
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Refract Interpolation
These determine the options for the interpolation of glossy reflections. They are very similar to the options for
the irradiance map. Note that it is not recommended to use interpolation for animations, since this may cause
severe flickering.
Notes
• Use the VRayMtl/VRayBRDF whenever possible in your scenes. This material is specifically optimized for V-Ray
and often GI and lighting is computed much faster for V-Ray materials than for standard materials. Many V-Ray
features (e.g. light cache, photon mapping, render elements ) are guaranteed to work properly only
with VRayMtl and other V-Ray compliant materials.
• VRayMtl can produce reflections/refractions for matte objects - see VRayMtlWrapper.
VRayDirt
§ VRayDirt Overview
§ VRayDirt Parameters
§ Example: Bias
§ Example: Falloff Parameter
§ Example: Subdivs Parameter
§ Example: Ignore for GI
§ Example: Consider Same Object Only
§ Example: Invert Normal
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VRayDirt Overview
The VRayDirt is a texture map that can be used to simulate a variety of effects, for example dirt around the
crevices of an object, or to produce an ambient occlusion pass.
VRayDirt Parameters
White - this is the color that will be returned by the texture for unoccluded areas. You can also use a texture
map for this parameter.
Black - this is the color that will be returned by the texture for occluded areas. You can also use a texture map
for this parameter.
Glossiness - this parameter controls the spread of the rays traced for reflection occlusion. You can also use a
texture map for this parameter.
Mode - Allows you to specify the procedural mode that will be used to generate the VRayDirt texture.
• 0 - Ambient occlusion
• 1 - Phong reflection occlusion
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• 2 - Blinn reflection occlusion

• 3 - Ward reflection occlusion
Bias (X,Y,Z) - these parameters will bias the normals to the X (Y,Z) axes, so that the dirt effect is forced to those
directions. Consider that these parameter can also take negative values for inverting the direction of the
effect.
Example: Bias
These parameters will bias the normals so that the dirt effect is forced to some of the axis(es).
bias_X: 100.0
bias_Y: 100.0
bias_Z: 100.0
Radius - this parameters determines the amount of area (in scene units) where the VRayDirt effect is
produced. You can also use a texture to control the radius. The texture intensity is multiplied by the radius to
calculate the final radius at a given surface point. If the texture is white at a given surface point, the full radius
value is used. If the texture is black, a radius of 0.0 is used.
Falloff - this parameter controls the speed of the transition between occluded and unoccluded areas.
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Example: Falloff Parameter
falloff: 0.0
falloff: 1.0
falloff: 5.0
Subdivs - controls the number of samples that V-Ray takes to calculate the dirt effect. Lower values render
faster but produce a more noisy result.
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Example: Subdivs Parameter
subdivisions: 1
subdivisions: 5
subdivisions: 20
Double-Sided - when enabled the rays needed to generate the dirt map will be shot from both sides of the
faces (both in the direction of the normals and in the opposite direction).
Ignore for GI - this check-box determines whether the dirt effect will be taken into consideration for GI
calculations or not.
Example: Ignore for GI
This check-box determines whether the dirt effect is going to be visible during the GI calculation.
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ignore for GI: on
ignore for GI: off

Example: Consider Same Object Only
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consider same object only: on
Ignore Self Occlusion - when this option is on the object will not occlude itself. It will still be occluded by other
objects in the scene.
Ignore other objects - when on, the dirt will affect only the objects themselves, without including contact
surfaces and edges. If off, the entire scene geometry is participating for the final result.
Use Transparency - when on, VRayDirt will take into account the opacity of the occluding objects. This can be
used, for example, if you want to calculate ambient occlusion from opacity-mapped trees etc. When off (the
default), occluding objects are always assumed to be opaque. Note that working with correct opacity is slower,
since in that case VRayDirt must examine and evaluate the material on the occluding objects.
Invert normal - this option allows to revert the effect with respect to surface normals - e.g. instead of
crevices, open corners will be shaded with the occluded color.
Example: Invert Normal
In the next example, a bitmap is used in the texmap radius slot. Notice that the main radius parameter still has
effect - it determines the amount of area where the texmap radius bitmap would blend.
invert normal: off
invert normal: on
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Environment occlusion - when this option is checked V-Ray will use the environment when calculating the
occlusion of areas that are not occluded by other objects.
Affect Reflection - when checked the ambient reflection will affect the reflection render elements. This can be
used to create reflection masks.
VRay Omni Light
§ VRay Omni Light Overview

§ Enable
§ Intensity
§ Options
§ Sampling
§ Shadows
VRay Omni Light Overview
The VRay Omni Light is a V-Ray specific light source plugin that can be used to create physically accurate area
lights.
Enable
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Enabled - turns the VRay Omni Light on and off.
Intensity
Color - specifies the color of the light when the Mode parameter is set to Color. When using photometric units,
this color is normalized so that only the color hue is used, whereas the light intensity is determined by
the light Intensity.
Intensity - this value determines the light intensity.
Units - allows choosing the light units. Using correct units is essential when you work with
the VRayPhysicalCamera. The light will automatically take the scene units scale into consideration to produce
the correct result for the scale you are working with. The possible values are:
• Default (scalar) - the color and multiplier directly determine the visible color of the light without any
conversion. The light surface will appear with the given color in the final image when seen directly by the
camera (assuming there is no color mapping involved).
• Luminous power (lm) - total emitted visible light power measured in lumens. When this setting is used, the
intensity of the light will not depend on its size. A typical 100W incandescent light bulb emits about 1500
lumens of light.
• Luminance (lm/m^2/sr) - visible light surface power measured in lumens per square meter per steradian.
When this setting is used, the intensity of the light depends on its size.
• Radiant power (W) - total emitted visible light power measured in watts. When using this setting, the intensity
of the light does not depend on its size. Keep in mind that this is not the same as the electric power consumed
by a light bulb for example. A typical 100W light bulb only emits between 2 and 3 watts as visible light.
• Radiance (W/m²/sr) - visible light surface power measured in watts per square meter per steradian. When this
setting is used, the intensity of the light depends on its size.
Options
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Decay - allows you to choose the behavior of the light intensity from the distance of the light source. Normally
the light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the light (surfaces that are
farther from the light are darker than surfaces which are closer to the light). The possible values are:
• Linear - when this option is on the intensity will not decay with distance.
• Inverse - light intensity inversely proportional to the distance from the light.
• Inverse Square - light intensity inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the light. This is the
normal behavior of light.
Affect diffuse - this determines whether the light is affecting the diffuse properties of the materials.
Affect specular - this determines whether the light is affecting the specular of the materials.
Sampling
Photon Subdivs - this value is used by V-Ray when calculating the Global Photon Map. Lower values mean
more noisy results, but will render faster. Higher values produce smoother results but take more time.
Caustic Subdivs - this value is used by V-Ray when calculating Caustics. Lower values mean more noisy results,
but will render faster. Higher values produce smoother results but take more time.
Cutoff Threshold - this parameter specifies a threshold for the light intensity, below which the light will not be
computed. This can be useful in scenes with many lights, where you want to limit the effect of the lights to
some distance around them. Larger values cut away more from the light; lower values make the light range
larger. If you specify 0.0, the light will be calculated for all surfaces.
Shadows
Shadows - when on (the default), the light casts shadows. Turn this option off to disable shadow casting for the
light.
Shadow Bias - bias moves the shadow toward or away from the shadow-casting object (or objects). If the Bias
value is too low, shadows can "leak" through places they shouldn't, produce moire patterns or making out-of-
place dark areas on meshes. If Bias is too high, shadows can "detach" from an object. If the Bias value is too
extreme in either direction, shadows might not be rendered at all.
Shadow Radius - adjusts the softness of non area shadows.
Shadow Subdivs - this value controls the number of samples V-Ray takes to compute lighting. Lower values
mean more noisy results, but will render faster. Higher values produce smoother results but take more time.
Note that the actual number of samples also depends on the DMC Sampler settings.
Shadow Color - this parameter specifies a shadow color for this light. Note that any other color than black is
not physically correct.
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VRay Rectangular Light
§ VRay Rectangular Light

§ Enable
§ Intensity
§ Shadows
§ Options
§ Sampling
VRay Rectangular Light
The VRay Rectangular Light is a V-Ray specific light source plugin that can be used to create physically accurate
area lights.
Enable
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Enable - turns the VRay Rectangular Light on and off.
Intensity
lumens of light.
Shadows
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light.
Options
Double-sided - when the light is a planar light source this option controls whether light is beamed from both
sides of the plane. This field has no effect for Sphere or Dome light sources.
Invisible - this setting controls whether the shape of the VRayLight source is visible in the render result. When
this option is turned off the source is rendered in the current light color. Otherwise it is not visible in the scene.
Note that this option only affects the visibility of the light when seen directly by the camera or through
refractions. The visibility of the light with respect to reflections is controlled by the Affect specular option.
No decay - normally the light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the light
(surfaces that are farther from the light are darker than surfaces which are closer to the light). When this
option is on the intensity will not decay with distance.
Ignore light normals - normally, the surface of the source emits light equally in all directions. When this option
is off, more light is emitted in the direction of the source surface normal.
Light portal - when this option is on, the Color and Multiplier parameters are ignored; instead the light will
take its intensity from the environment behind it.
Store in Irrad. map - when this option is on and GI calculation is set to Irradiance map V-Ray will calculate the
effects of the VRayLight and store them in the irradiance map. The result is that the irradiance map is
computed more slowly but the rendering takes less time. You can also save the irradiance map and reuse it
later.
Affect reflections - this determines whether the light will appear in reflections of materials.
Sampling
Subdivs - this value controls the number of samples V-Ray takes to compute lighting. Lower values mean more
noisy results, but will render faster. Higher values produce smoother results but take more time. Note that the
actual number of samples also depends on the DMC Sampler settings.
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Caustic Subdivs- this value is used by V-Ray when calculating Caustics. Lower values mean more noisy results,
VRay Spot Light
§ VRay Spot Light Overview

§ Enable
§ Intensity
§ Options
§ Sampling
§ Shadows
§ Barn Door Effect
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VRay Spot Light Overview
The VRay Spot Light is a V-Ray specific light source plugin that can be used to create physically accurate area
lights.
Enable
Enable- turns the VRay Spot Light on and off.
Intensity
lumens of light.
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Options
Decay - allows you to choose the behavior of the light intensity from the distance of the light source. Normally
the light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the light (surfaces that are
farther from the light are darker than surfaces which are closer to the light). The possible values are:
• Linear - when this option is on the intensity will not decay with distance.
• Inverse - light intensity inversely proportional to the distance from the light.
• Inverse Square - light intensity inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the light. This is the
normal behavior of light.
Penumbra Falloff - determines how the light will transition from full strength to no lighting inside the light
cone. The possible values are:
• Linear
• Smooth Cubic
Area Specular - if enabled, the highlights will match the shape of the light. If false, highlights will always be
calculated as from a point light.
Legacy Mode - if enabled the V-Ray spot light will behave as it did in V-Ray 1.05.29 and earlier versions of our
product. Note the spot light actually work properly is this is disabled.
Sampling
Photon Subdivs- this value is used by V-Ray when calculating the Global Photon Map. Lower values mean more
noisy results, but will render faster. Higher values produce smoother results but take more time.
Shadows
light.
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Shadow Radius - adjusts the softness of non area shadows.
Barn Door Effect
Barn Door On - This option enables or disables the barn door effect. Barn doors restrict the light cone on the
four sides of the light to produce a rectangular light shape (in the real world, they are four planes attached in a
square around the light).
Barn Door Left - this is the left barn door shutter value.
Barn Door Right - this is the right barn door shutter value.
Barn Door Top - this is the top barn door shutter value.
Barn Door Bottom - this is the bottom barn door shutter value.
VRay Dome Light
§ VRay Dome Light Overview

§ Enable
§ Intensity
§ Dome Settings
§ Options
§ Sampling
§ Shadows
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VRay Dome Light Overview
The VRay Dome Light is a V-Ray specific light source plugin that can be used to create physically accurate area
lights.
Enable
Enable - turns the VRay Dome Light on and off
Intensity
this color is normalized so that only the color hue is used, whereas the light intensity is determined by the
light Intensity.
lumens of light.
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Dome Settings
Use Dome Texture - this tells the light to use a texture for the light surface. If there are surfaces which are
close to a texture-mapped light, it is best to have GI enabled. This allows V-Ray to use combined direct and
indirect sampling for the light, reducing the noise for surfaces close to the light.
Dome Texture - specifies the texture to use. The texture intensity is also affected by the Intensity of the light.
Texture Resolution - specifies the resolution at which the texture is resampled for importance sampling.
Target radius - for the Dome light, defines a sphere around the light icon where photons are being shot when
photon-mapped caustics or the global photon map are used.
Emit radius - for the Dome light, defines a sphere around the light icon from which photons are being shot
towards the target radius area.
Spherical - when on, this option causes the dome light to cover the entire sphere around the scene.
When off(the default), the light covers a hemisphere only.
Adaptive - controls the amount to which light sampling is tuned to the texture brightness. If 0.0, no adaptation
based on texture intensity is performed. When set to 1.0 (the default), the maximum amount of adaptation is
used. Changing this parameter may be required if there are very bright portions of the map, which are
however obscured for the particular scene. This will prevent the light from concentrating a lot of samples in
this area and shooting too few samples in other parts of the texture. This parameter is ignored when the light
type is Mesh as in that case sampling is not dictated by texture brightness.
Ray Distance - allows you to specify the maximum distance to which shadow rays are going to be traced.
Ray Distance Mode - allows you to specify the mode to which V-Ray will use to calculate the Ray Distance.
• From GI Settings - the Ray Distance value is determined by the Ray Dist parameter in the GI settings.
• Explicit - the Ray Distance value is determined by the Ray Distance parameter.
Options
later.
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Sampling
Shadows
light.
Shadow Texture - this parameter specifies a texture file to use as a shadow.
VRay Sphere Light
§ VRay Sphere Light Overview

§ Enable
§ Intensity
§ Options
§ Sampling
§ Shadows
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VRay Sphere Light Overview
The VRay Sphere Light is a V-Ray specific light source plugin that can be used to create physically accurate area
lights.
Enable
Enable - turns the VRay Sphere Light on and off.
Intensity
lumens of light.
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Sphere Segments - controls the quality of the light object when it is visible either directly or in reflections. A
bigger number makes the sphere smoother.
Options
No decay - normally the light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the light
(surfaces that are farther from the light are darker than surfaces which are closer to the light). When this
option is on the intensity will not decay with distance.
later.
Sampling
Shadows
light.
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VRay IES Light
§ VRay IES Light Overview

§ Enable
§ Intensity
§ Options
§ Sampling
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§ Shadow
VRay IES Light Overview
The VRay IES Light is a V-Ray specific light source plugin that can be used to create physically accurate area
lights.
Enable
Enable - turns the VRayLight on and off.
Intensity
Filter Color - specifies the color of the light.

Power - this value determines the power of the light in Lumens.
Options
File - specifies the .ies file that defines light distribution.
Area Specular - if enabled, the highlights will match the shape of the light. If false, highlights will always be
calculated as from a point light.
Sampling
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Shadow
light.
Soft Shadows - if on, this causes the light to take into account the information about the light shape in the IES
file (if there is any shape defined) so that it produces proper soft shadows.
VRaySun and VRaySky Parameters
§ VRaySun and VRaySky Overview

§ Example: Direction of the VRaySun Light
§ VRaySun Parameters
§ Sun
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§ Example: The Size Multiplier Parameter

§ Example: The Turbidity Parameter
§ Example: The Intensity Multiplier Parameter
§ Example: Ozone Value
§ Sampling
§ Shadow
§ Example: Shadow Bias
§ Example: The Shadow Subdivs Parameter
§ Default Sky Options
§ Example: VRay Sun and Sky with Different Color Mapping Types
§ Notes
§ References and Links
VRaySun and VRaySky Overview
The VRaySun and VRaySky are special features which are provided by the V-Ray renderer. Developed to work
together, the VRaySun and VRaySky reproduce the real-life Sun and Sky environment of the Earth. Both are
coded so that they change their appearance depending on the direction of the VRaySun.
The V-Ray Sun and Sky are based largely on the model presented in [1]. For a more complete list of references,
please see the References and links section.
Example: Direction of the VRaySun Light
Note: All the images below are rendered with Color mapping: HSV exponential, Dark multiplier: 1.0, Bright
multiplier: 1.0 unless otherwise noted.
This example demonstrates the effect of the sun direction. Note how in addition to the scene brightness, the
sun position also changes the appearance of the sky and the sun light color.
Enabled: on, Turbidity: 3.0, Shadow subdivision: 8, Intensity multiplier: 0.01, Size multiplier: 1.0.
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Sun Z height: 500
Sun Z height: 1600
Sun Z height: 6000 (almost straight above)
VRaySun Parameters
The VRaySun is located in the (Create - Lights - VRay) panel.

You can also specify the VRaySun as the sun type inside a SketchUp Daylight system.
Sun
Enabled - turns on and off the sun light.

Water Vapor - aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water. Water vapor is one state of the water cycle within the
hydrosphere.
Size multiplier - this parameter controls the visible size of the sun. This affects the appearance of the sun disc
as seen by the camera and reflections, as well as the blurriness of the sun shadows.
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Example: The Size Multiplier Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Size multiplier parameter. Notice how changes in this parameter
affect both the visible sun size and the shadow softness (however overall illumination strength remains the
same).
Enabled: on, Turbidity: 3.0, Shadow subdivision: 8, Intensity multiplier: 0.01
Size multiplier is 4.0
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Horizon Illum. - specifies the intensity (in lx) of the illumination on horizontal surfaces coming from the sky
Sky Model - Allows you to specify the procedural model that will be used to generate the VRaySky texture.
• Preetham et al. - when this mode is selected the VRaySky procedural texture will be generated based on the
Preetham et al. method.
• CIE Clear - when this mode is selected the VRaySky procedural texture will be generated based on the CIE
method for clear sky.
• CIE Overcast - when this mode is selected the VRaySky procedural texture will be generated based on the CIE
method for cloudy sky
Turbidity - this parameter determines the amount of dust in the air and affects the color of the sun and sky.
Smaller values produce a clear and blue sky and sun as you get in the country, while larger values make them
yellow and orange as, for example, in a big city.
Example: The Turbidity Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Turbidity parameter. Generally, this controls the amount of dust
particles in the air. Notice how larger values cause the sun and the sky to become yellowish while smaller
values make the sky clear.
Enabled: on, Intensity multiplier: 0.01, Shadow subdivision: 8, Size multiplier: 1.0
Turbidity is 2.0
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Turbidity is 4.0
Turbidity is 8.0
Intensity multiplier - this is an intensity multiplier for the VRaySun. Since the sun is very bright by default, you
can use this parameter to reduce its effect. See the Notes and for more information.
Example: The Intensity Multiplier Parameter
Enabled: on, Turbidity: 3.0, Shadow subdivision: 8, Size multiplier: 1.0
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Height: Z = 0, Intensity mult: 0.01
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Ozone - this parameter affects the color of the sun light. Available in the range between 0.0 and 1.0. Smaller
values make the sunlight more yellow, larger values make it blue.
Example: Ozone Value
The Ozone parameter affects only the color of the light emitted by the sun. Higher values cause the color
mapping mode to change. This example demonstrates the looks achieved with several different color mapping
modes. See also the section on Color mapping for more details.
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Enabled: on, Turbidity: 2.0, Shadow subdivision: 36, Intensity multiplier: 0.01, Size multiplier: 10.0.
Ozone: 0.0
Ozone: 0.5
Ozone: 1.0
Invisible - when on, this option makes the sun invisible, both to the camera and to reflections. This is useful to
prevent bright speckles on glossy surfaces where a ray with low probability hits the extremely bright sun disk.
Sampling
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Photon Emit Distance - this parameter defines a radius around the sun from where the photons will be shot.
Photon Radius - determines the radius of the area, in where photons would be shot. This area is represented
by the green cylinder around the Sun's ray vector. This parameter has effect when photons are used in the GI
solutions or caustics.
Affect Diffuse - this determines whether the VRaySun is affecting the diffuse properties of the materials.
Affect Specular - this determines whether the VRaySun is affecting the specular of the materials.
Diffuse Mult - a multiplier for the illumination generated by the Global Photon Map.
Caustic Mult - a multiplier for the illumination created by Caustics.
Shadow
Shadows - turns the casting of shadows On and Off
Shadow Bias - moves the shadow toward or away from the shadow-casting object (or objects). If the bias value
is too low, shadows can "leak" through places they shouldn't, produce moire patterns or making out-of-place
dark areas on meshes. If bias is too high, shadows can "detach" from an object. If the bias value is too extreme
in either direction, shadows might not be rendered at all.
Example: Shadow Bias
Enabled: on, Turbidity: 2.0, Shadow subdivision: 36, Intensity multiplier: 0.01, Size multiplier: 10.0
Shadow bias: 0.0
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Shadow bias: 7.0
Shadow bias: 13.0
Shadow Subdivs - this controls the number of samples for the area shadow of the sun. More subdivs produce
area shadows with better quality but render slower.
Example: The Shadow Subdivs Parameter
This example demonstrates the effect of the Shadow subdivs parameter. Note how lower subdivs cause the
shadows to be more noisy.
Enabled: on, Height Z: 1200, Turbidity is 2.0, Intensity multiplier is 0.01, Size multiplier: 10.0
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Shadow subdivs is 8
Shadow subdivs is 16
Shadow subdivs is 48
Shadow Color - a tint for the shadows created by the V-Ray Sun.
Default Sky Options
The VRaySky texture map is
typically used as an environment map, either in the SketchUp Environment dialog, or in one of the slots of the
V-Ray Environment rollout and behaves very much like a HDRI environment map. The VRaySky changes its
appearance based on the position of theVRaySun.
Sun - specifies how the VRaySky determines its parameters:
• Off - the VRaySky will automatically take its parameters from the first enabled VRaySun in the scene. In this
case, none of the other parameters of VRaySky are accessible.
• On - you can choose a different light source. It is recommended that you choose only direct lights, as the
vector for the direction is taken into consideration when computing the appearance of the sky. In that case
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the VRaySun is no longer controlling the VRaySky and the parameters in the texture map rollout determine the
final look of the sky.
Sky Brightness -
Turbidity - refer to VRaySun parameters
Ozone - refer to VRaySun parameters
Invisible - when on, this option makes the sun invisible, both to the camera and to reflections. This is useful to
prevent bright speckles on glossy surfaces where a ray with low probability hits the extremely bright sun disk.
Sky Model - Allows you to specify the procedural model that will be used to generate the VRaySky texture.
• Preetham et al. - when this mode is selected the VRaySky procedural texture will be generated based on the
Preetham et al. method.
• CIE Clear - when this mode is selected the VRaySky procedural texture will be generated based on the CIE
method for clear sky.
• CIE Overcast - when this mode is selected the VRaySky procedural texture will be generated based on the CIE
method for cloudy sky
Size Mult - refer to VRaySun parameters
Water Vapor - refer to VRaySun parameters
Horizon Illum. - refer to VRaySun parameters
Example: VRay Sun and Sky with Different Color Mapping Types
In addition to the parameters of the sun and sky, their appearance also depends on the selected color mapping
mode. This example demonstrates the looks achieved with several different color mapping modes. See also
the section on Color mapping for more details.
Enabled: on, Height Z: 800, Turbidity: 3.0, Shadow subdivision: 8, Intensity multiplier: 0.01, Size
multiplier: 1.0
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Color mapping: Linear
Color mapping: Exponential
Color mapping: HSV exponential
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Color mapping: Intensity exponential

Notes
• By default, the VRaySun and VRaySky are very bright. In the real world, the average solar irradiance is about
1000 W/m^2 (see the References below). Since the image output in V-Ray is in W/m^2/sr, you will typically
find that the average RGB values produces by the sun and the sky are about 200.0-300.0 units. This is quite
correct from a physical point of view, but is not enough for a nice image. You can either use Color mapping to
bring these values to a smaller range (which is the preferred way) or you can use the Sun intensity multiplier to
make the sun and sky less bright. Using the VRayPhysicalCamera with suitable values also produces a correct
result without changing the sun and sky parameters.
References and Links
Here is a list of links and references about the V-Ray Sun and Sky implementation, as well as general
information about the illumination of the Sun.
• [1] A.J. Preetham, P. Shirley, and B. Smits, A Practical Analytic Model for Daylight, SIGGRAPH 1999, Computer
Graphics Procedings;
An online version can be found at http://www.cs.utah.edu/~shirley/papers/sunsky/
This paper includes source code examples and is the base for the VRaySun and VRaySky plugins.
• [2] R. H. B. Exell, The intensity of solar radiation, 2000
This page is available at http://www.jgsee.kmutt.ac.th/exell/Solar/Intensity.html
This page contains information about the average intensity of the solar radiation, as well as some specific
measurements.
• [3] R. Cahalan, Sun & Earth Radiation
This page can be found at http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/static/cahalan/Radiation/
These pages contain a list of accurate solar irradiances across a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
• [4] D. Robinson-Boonstra, Venus Transit: Activity 3, Sun & Earth Day 2004
This document can be found online
at http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/2004/2004images/VT_Activity3.pdf
Among other things, this document gives the distance from the Sun to the Earth and the size of the Sun derived
from astronomic observations.
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VRayProxy
§ VRayProxy Overview
§ Exporting a Mesh to a File
§ The Mesh Export Dialog
§ Importing a Mesh from a File
§ The .vrmesh File Format
§ Creating a Proxy Object
§ Notes
VRayProxy Overview
VRayProxy allows you to import geometry from an external mesh at render time only. The geometry is not
present in the SketchUp scene and does not take any resources. This allows the rendering of scenes with many
millions of triangles - more than SketchUp itself can handle.
Exporting a Mesh to a File
Before you can import a mesh through a VRayProxy object, you need to create the mesh file first. You can do
this in two ways:
Through the main V-Ray toolbar: select the meshes you want to export, left-click on the V-Ray Proxy icon
. This will open the Save VRMesh file window to appear. After saving the file this will cause the Mesh
Export dialog to appear.

You will first be prompted for a file name an then the Mesh Export dialog will appear.
The Mesh Export Dialog
The Mesh Export dialog allows you to specify the mesh file as well as some export options.
File - this is the file name and folder for the mesh file(s).
Export all selected objects as single mesh file - this option will take all selected objects and will merge them
into one mesh file. This option also stores the transformations of the selected objects. When you import the
file with a proxy object, it must be centered at the origin, if you want the objects to be in the same place. Also,
since the imported mesh is rendered using the material of the proxy object, all meshes from the file will render
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with that material. You must use subobject materials and different material IDs if you want them to have
different materials.
Export each selected object in a separate file (non-recursive) - this option will create one file for each selected
object. The name of each file is derived from the name of the corresponding 3ds max node. The
transformation of an object is not included in its mesh file, and the corresponding proxy must have the same
transformation as the original object, if it is to appear in the same place. Note that you can use this option
even with a single object, which will cause the object pivot to be preserved in the exported .vrmesh file.
Automatically create proxies - this option will create proxy objects for the exported meshes. The proxies will
have the correct transformations and materials derived from the original objects. The original objects will be
deleted.
Warn for existing files - when this option is selected V-Ray will warn you if you are saving over an existing file
Set triangle count for preview mesh - allows you specify how many faces are going to be used to show a
preview of the proxy in the view port.
Pressing the OK button will create the mesh files and the proxy objects. The export process may take some
time, depending on the amount of geometry that must be processed.
Importing a Mesh from a File
Once you have exported a mesh to a VRayProxy you can import the mesh back at any time. There are two
ways you can import a mesh back from a VRayProxy object:
Through the main V-Ray toolbar: left-click on the V-Ray Proxy icon . This will open the Choose a VRMesh
file window to appear. Select your file and the mesh will appear in the scene.
The .vrmesh File Format
Meshes are exported to a special .vrmesh file format. It contains all geometric information for a mesh -
vertices and face topology as well as texture channels, face material IDs, smoothing groups, normals - in short,
everything that is needed to render the mesh. In addition, the mesh is preprocessed and subdivided into
chunks for easier access. The file also contains a simplified version of the mesh used for preview purposes in
the viewports. Also, there is an option for adding a point cloud data to the file which is a simplified geometric
representation of the mesh in the form of 3D disks with different levels of detail. Each level comprises disks
with equal radius which is greater for levels of lower detail and smaller for the more detailed ones. When the
object is rendered a point cloud geometry level is chosen depending on the distance between the object and
the camera - for distant objects lower resolution point clouds are used. Thus original mesh is replaced by the
simpler point cloud geometry with the appropriate level of detail allowed by distance.
It is important to realize that the mesh is in a "ready to render" format. No further modifications to the mesh
are expected. You can't apply modifiers to the mesh, or animate it in any way except if you animate the
position/orientation of the proxy object. If you need to make changes to the mesh, you can import it back as
an Editable mesh (see the Import section below) and re-export it back to a.vrmesh file.
Creating a Proxy Object
After you export a mesh to a .vrmesh file, you need a proxy object to represent it in the SketchUp scene. To
create a proxy object click the VRayProxy button from the main V-Ray toolbar. A dialog box will appear that
allows you to choose the .vrmesh file to import. Finally, click in a viewport to create the actual proxy object.
Notes
• If you need to create several proxies linked to the same .vrmesh file, it's better to make them blocks - this will
save memory since the .vrmesh file will be loaded only once.
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• The resulting .vrmesh files can be rendered outside of SketchUp - for example, by V-Ray for 3ds Max, V-Ray for
Maya, V-Ray for Softimage and in the standalone version of V-Ray.
VRayPlane
§ VRayPlane Overview
§ Creating a VRayPlane Object
VRayPlane Overview
The VRayPlane is a very simple option that implements a procedural infinite plane primitive for V-Ray.
Creating a VRayPlane Object
The VRayPlane can be created by clicking in the V-Ray infinite plane icon located in the V-Ray toolbar.
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VRayLensEffects
§ VRayLensEffect Overview
§ Bloom
§ Glare
§ Camera Parameters
§ Notes
VRayLensEffect Overview
The VRayLensEffects is a render effect plugin used to simulate bloom and glare lens effects by filtering the
rendered image with a filter kernel. It uses fast multithreaded technique to compute the result. You can add it
from the V-Ray frame buffer.
Bloom
On - turns on the bloom lens effect.
Mode - determines if the bloom will be applied to the RGB image, stored in a separate render element, or
both. Storing to a render element only works with the V-Ray VFB.
Weight - specifies the strength of the interpolation between the filtered image and the original image.
Size - specifies the size of the filter as percentage of the image's width.
Shape - specifies the fall off of the filter.
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Fill edges - enabling this option will add pixel data outside the edges of the original image. This will remove the
darkening around the edges.
Glare
On - turns on the glare lens effect.
Mode - determines if the glare effect will be applied to the final image, stored into a separate render element,
or both. Storing to a render element only works when the V-Ray VFB is enabled.
Glare type - this parameter specifies how the glare is computed. The possible values are:
• From image - takes the image specified in Bitmap as filter kernel.

• From render camera - takes the necessary parameters from the camera used to perform the rendering and
automatically generates the filter kernel.
• From camera parameters - takes the camera parameters specified in the VRayLensEffects render effect itself
and automatically generates the filter kernel.
Fill edges - enabling this option will add pixel data outside the edges of the original image. This will remove the
darkening around the edges.
Weight - specifies the strength of the interpolation between the filtered image and the original image.
Size - specifies the size of the filter as percentage of the image's width.
Bitmap - path to the filter kernel. Available if From Image option is selected. you can create filters using Filter
Generator which comes with V-Ray for 3ds Max instalation.
Turn on diffraction - this option will turn the diffraction on, producing colored patterns in the glare.
Use obstacle image - enable the use of the obstacle image specified in Obstacle.
Obstacle - path to the obstacle image. Available if Use obstacle image option is enabled.
Camera Parameters
These parameters are used if the Glare type is specified as From camera parameters.
f-number - the f-number used to calculate the glare. Larger values produce smaller camera aperture and
stronger glare effects.
Blades - this parameter controls if the camera aperture has any blades and how many they are. This effect
directly controls the "rays" of the glare.
Blades rotation - this parameter controls the rotation of the of the camera aperture blades.
Notes
• When using the V-Ray VFB, VRayLensEffects will be able to handle properly any Color Mapping applied to the
image by computing the bloom and glare based on actual linear data, and then applying the color mapping to
the final result. To achieve this, VRayLensEffects creates internally a render element called LensEffectsSource,
which contains the linear colors. When using the 3ds Max frame buffer, this is not possible. In that case, it is
recommended to render in linear color space and apply any color mapping as a post-process.
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Tutorials
This tutorial section presents step-by-step walkthroughs for some of the most common rendering tasks. Some
of the tutorials also demonstrate specific usage of V-Ray's features.
Creating and Using V-Ray Proxies
2D Proxies in V-Ray for SketchUp
Basic Materials
Reflective Materials
Refractive Materials
V-Ray Wrapper Material
Image Based Lighting with the Dome Light
Rendering an Exterior Scene
Rendering an Interior Scene
Basic Animation
V-Ray Batch Render
V-Ray Option Editor and Preset ToolBar
64 Bit Workflow *SketchUp 2014 and below*
Introduction to Compositing
Distributed Rendering Installation Guide
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Creating and Using V-Ray Proxies
§ Creating and Using V-Ray Proxies Overview

§ Starting with V-Ray Proxy
§ Steps
Creating and Using V-Ray Proxies Overview
This tutorial will teach you how to use the new feature in V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp, V-Ray Proxy.
V-Ray meshes are saved to your hard drive and they’re dynamically loaded during the rendering process. This
is how the SketchUp file size stays compact and your computers RAM usage is optimized.
Starting with V-Ray Proxy
Steps
1. Open the Modern Villa scene from our exterior tutorial. (here).
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2. Select one of the bushes you see lining the fence.
3. Press “Export Proxy” icon to create your V-Ray proxy.
4. Assign a name and save the .vrmesh file where ever you like.
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5.You will notice that the geometry of the original bush has changed within SketchUp, this is normal. These
triangles represent simplified versions of the V-Ray proxies used in this scene.
6. Remove the other bushes from the scene.
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7. Using copy and paste, replace the bushes with your new proxy object. It may be easier to place the pasted
object then move it to your desired location using the move tool.
8. Press Render:
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2D Proxies in V-Ray for SketchUp
§ Overview
§ Part I: Importing the Proxy
§ Step 1. We are going to click in the import proxy icon to import a proxy tree.
§ Step 2. Click Render and you will see all the random color of the material ID.
§ Part II: Applying Materials
§ Part III: Preparing the 2D Images
§ Part IV: Importing the Image and Making it a Component
§ Part V: Replacing the Low Polygon Proxy Representation for a 2D Images
§ Part VI: Next Time That You Need the Same Proxy
§ Part VII: Import the Proxy Component
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Overview
In V-Ray for SketchUp there is a way to replace the proxy geometry by any other object. Every single vertices
and faces consume memory of ram, meaning that if you have several proxy in the scene, not only the
SketchUp feedback is slower, but you could be wasting memory of ram needed to achieve a high resolution
render. That is why it is a good idea to replace the actual low polygon proxy representation for an even more
simpler geometry. In this document we are going to replace the Proxy triangle representation for a single
surface with the image of the proxy object.
Part I: Importing the Proxy
Step 1. We are going to click in the import proxy icon to import a proxy tree.
1.1. The proxy geometry doesn't support material information, therefore V-Ray for SketchUp will create a
multi-material and it will have random material color for every single ID.
Step 2. Click Render and you will see all the random color of the material ID.
2.1. In this example, the tree has two material ID applied to it. The green material (ID 1) for the leaves and the
pink material (ID) for the trunk.
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In the material editor you can see a generic multi-material with two ID. The idea is to replace those two
generic material with the final material.
Part II: Applying Materials
You can apply the correct material to the proxy multi-material. There are couple way to do this.
Step 1. You can edit the current material and add all the mapping and material properties as reflection, bump,
etc.
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Step 2. You can import material properties over the current materials by selecting the material, right click on it
and select import material. This will override the current materials properties with the desired once.
Step 3. You can import new materials and replace the old material in the multi-material for the imported once.
This is method that I’m going to use in this tutorial.
Notice in the material editor the new materials. For the leaves, we are using a 2 sided material to achieve
more realism. Also you can see the final render with the correct material.
Now the idea is to use the same image of the render to replace the proxy tree representation.
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Part III: Preparing the 2D Images
Step 1. Make a render of the final tree without floor and kinda front view. Something similar to the previous
render in this example.
Step 2. Save the image as .png. Saving the image as .png will remove background.
Step 3. Crop it to the tree bounding box.
Part IV: Importing the Image and Making it a Component
Import the tree image into SketchUp

Step 1. Select file, import
Step 2. Select .png in the file format.
Step 3. Select import as image
Step 4. Select the image and click open
Step 5. Place the image in SketchUp and be sure that the high is the same as the proxy tree.
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Step 6. Explode the image. We want to create an always face camera component.
Step 7. Select the whole image and right click on it.
Step 8. Select “Create component”
Step 9. Assign a name to the component, enable the always face the camera option.
Step 10. Set the component axes to the bottom of the trunk and click “create”.
Part V: Replacing the Low Polygon Proxy Representation for a 2D Images
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The proxy object is a group enclosed in a component. So, if we replace the geometry inside the group we are
not breaking the proxy.
Step 1. Copy the 2D image component of the tree.
Step 2. Double click on the proxy tree to enter into the component.
Step 3. Double click again, to enter inside the group.
Step 4. Now that you are inside the proxy group, you can import the 2d image component
Step 5. Delete the proxy geometry representation. (we are going to use the 2d image to represent the proxy)
These method is very useful for couple reason. First you are representing the Proxy file with less polygons that
the V-Ray default proxy setting saving valuable ram resource. The SketchUp viewport feedback will be faster
no matter how many proxies you get on your scene and the 2d representation will give you a great idea of how
your final image will look.
Part VI: Next Time That You Need the Same Proxy
Because Proxy doesn't support materials, the next time that you import the proxy, it will come without the real
materials. The solution is to save the proxy component as Sketchup file.
Step 1. Select the Proxy component that you want to save.
Step 2. click on save as, then press “save”.
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Part VII: Import the Proxy Component
Step 1. Go to the File menu

Step 2. Select “import”
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Step 3. In the “File of type” select “SketchUp file”

Step 4. Click “open” and place the file in your desired position.
Here is an example of the 3d warehouse scene with proxies trees and grass.
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Basic Materials
§ Overview
§ Using the Material Editor
§ V-Ray Material vs SketchUp Material
§ Diffuse Material
§ Glossy Plastic Material
§ Textured Materials
Overview
A special Standard material is provided with the V-Ray renderer. This allows for better physically correct
illumination (energy distribution) in the scene, faster rendering, more convenient reflection and refraction
parameters. Within the Standard material you can apply different texture maps, control the reflections and
refractions, add bump and displacement maps, force direct GI calculations, and choose the BRDF for the
material.
Using the Material Editor
The material editor can be opened using the Material icon located in the V-Ray toolbar. You can also get
access to the V-Ray material editor using the SketchUp menu “V-Ray” then you can select “Material Editor”.
The Standard V-Ray material is a material base on a layer. The layer position is very important. V-Ray reads the
layer from top to bottom and you can have an unlimited number of layers. Due V-Ray material contain layers
and some layers can block other layers, you need to use transparency to be able to see the layer below. For
example, if you have two diffuse layers , you will have to add some grade of transparency to the top layer if
you want to see the bottom layer. The default material contains one active diffuse layer. Additional layers can
be placed per RMB click on the material name.
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We have three main areas in the material editor.

Area 1, is the material preview. In this area you can have an interactive preview of your material.
Area 2, is the Material list. In this area you can find a list of all the materials to be used in that particular
SketchUp session.
Area 3, is where you can find all the material and layer options. Any necessary material changes have to be
done in this area.
By right mouse button clicking over
the material name you can find additional material operations like:
• Create layer
• Save material
• Pack material
• Duplicate material
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• Rename material
• Remove material
• Import material
• Apply material to selection
• Apply material to Layer
• Select all Object using this material.
V-Ray Material vs SketchUp Material
V-Ray Material is a special material optimized for V-Ray render. The material is physically made, to allows the
user get the correct effect without having to fake anything. For example, once the reflection layer is added to
the material, it will respond to the light condition in the physically correct way. You don’t have to worry about
the highlight or any other aspect of the reflection, because V-Ray will take care of that for you. The same thing
will happen with the refraction effect.
The good news is that the V-Ray material editor is 100% compatible with the SketchUp material editor. Any
change made in the SketchUp side will be automatically transfer to the V-Ray side making the material
creation experience very easy.
You can also use the SketchUp paint bucket to apply V-Ray materials due them being the same as SketchUp
materials. You can change the scale of the texture in the SketchUp material and V-Ray will recognize that
change. Anything that you change in the SketchUp material editor will be respected by V-Ray.
Notice that the V-Ray material editor (left), doesn’t have any material. Therefore the SketchUp material editor
(right), doesn’t have any material either.
How to convert SketchUp
material to V-Ray material?
• Add a SketchUp material from the material library.

• The SketchUp material is automatically converted to a V-Ray Material.
Notes:
If you populate the SketchUp Material editor with one material, The V-Ray material editor automatically get
populate with the same material.
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Tips:
Now you can add reflection, refraction layer to optimize the material even more, to get a realistic result.
You could also save component with V-Ray material and at the importation time, you will get back all the V-
Ray material attached to that component
V-Ray also respects the changes in coloration made in the SketchUp material editor.
Diffuse Material
When you make a material, by default it is a diffuse material. The material only contains one diffuse layer. You
can select the color of the diffuse layer by clicking on the color picker or you can use a texture by clicking on
the “m” near the color.
Color - used to select the color of the diffuse layer (base color of the material.
“m" (mapping) - used to select a texture or any other type of procedural mapping.
Multiplier (numeric slot) - use to increase or decrease the brightness of the mapping.
Transparency - used to add some grade of transparency to the diffuse layer. White means 100% transparency,
while black means 100% opaque. You can also use a mapping to control the diffuse layer transparency.
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Notice that the diffuse color is light blue and the material color is the same.
Glossy Plastic Material
When we add a reflection layer, we are able to create a glossy plastic material. The material have a physical
reflection effect called “Fresnel”. With this effect the reflection varies depending of the point of view of the
camera.
How to add a reflection layer?
• Right click on the material name

• Select “Create layer”
• Select “Reflection”
Notice the fresnel reflection in the rendered material. With the same approach you can create ceramic
material.
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Textured Materials
With textured materials we mean
materials that have a mapping in the diffuse layer. You can create several material with this method. For
example you can create wood, bricks, grass, etc.
How to created a textured material?
• Click on the “m” near the color picker in the diffuse layer. This will bring the “Texture Editor”
• In the texture editor, click over the word “none” and select “TexbBitmap”.
• Select the desired texture from your hard drive
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Note: In the texture editor you can change some properties of the images as the gamma, placement, UVW,
etc.
By default we have value of 1 on the gamma slot. That means that we are going to use the gamma value baked
into the image. Usually the gamma baked into the images is 2.2. The HDRI have a gamma value of 1.0 by
default.
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Reflective Materials
§ Overview
§ Metallic Materials
Overview
In this tutorial we will discuss the rendering of reflective surface interfaces with V-Ray.
Metallic Materials
To create a metallic material, we need to add a reflection layer. Then we have to increase the reflection
amount using the reflection IOR value. The reflection IOR value is located in the Fresnel effect inside the
reflection layer mapping.
Formula for a Basic Chrome material:
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• Add a reflection layer

• Click on the “M” near the Reflection color. You will see the fresnel effect enable by default.
• Increase the IOR value 20.
Note:
A metallic reflection has an IOR value between 6 to 26.
A plastic reflection has an IOR value between 1 to 5.
Refractive Materials
§ Overview
§ Refraction Layer (Glass Materials)
§ How to create a Basic Glass material:
§ Example: Realistic Glass vs. Architectural Glass
Overview
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In this tutorial we will discuss the rendering of refractive surface interfaces with V-Ray.
Refraction Layer (Glass Materials)
Refraction is the phenomenon of light going under the surface of an object and the ray get bent inside
producing, in this case, the glass material.
In V-Ray for Rhino we can create a glass material by adding a refraction layer. Usually the refraction layer is
below the Diffuse layer and the diffuse layer blocks the effect of the Refraction layer. In order to be able to see
the refraction effect, we have to use transparency in the diffuse layer.
How to create a Basic Glass material:
• Add a reflection layer

• Add a refraction layer
• Change the diffuse layer transparency color to 100% white
To add a Refraction layer:
• Right click over the material name

• Select create Layer
• Select Refraction layer
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Note:
If you use a gray-scale color in the diffuse transparency slot, you will make the diffuse layer semi-transparency.
Therefore, you will be able to see the diffuse color at some grade.
Tips:
If you remove the refraction layer to a glass material, you can create fake Architectural glass with only
Reflection layer. Because the material does not have the refraction layer the calculation for this material is
faster. You can use this material in a simple plane to simulate glass windows.
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Example: Realistic Glass vs. Architectural Glass
Real Glass Material

Refraction layer on
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§ V-Ray Wrapper Material

§ Part I: Photo Match
§ Part II: Flat Image on the Background
§ Part III: Image Placement
§ Part IV: Wrapper Geometry
§ Part V: Wrapper Material
§ Part VI: Rendering the Image
The VRay Wrapper can be used to specify additional surface properties per material. In this tutorial we are
going to use it to cast shadows in a transparent plane. This option is very useful in combination with SketchUp
photomatch to combine a 2D image with a 3D model.
Scene courtesy of Omar Estévez C
The scene for this rendering can be found here.
Part I: Photo Match
We are not going to covering the photo match process, but it is important to mention the steps.
Step 1. We are going to import an image file as “use as new matches photo”.
Step 2. Once the image is placed, we are going to move the grid axis to align the working area with the photo.
Step 3. You can now start the modeling process.
Note: You can make the model first and then use the photo match, to locate the model in the correct position
base on the image.
The first image show the photo match axis. The second image show the model. The photo match is not 100%
matching the image, we tweak the photo match to fit the perspective that we wanted.
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Step 4. V-Ray doesn't support the 2D camera of the Photo match. However, you can do a couple thing to get
the correct camera.
Method 1 (this method will slightly change your camera)

1.1. You can move slightly the camera to get out of the 2D photo match camera.
1.2. Go to the Windows menu and select “Scene”. This will open the scene windows. Add a scene tab.
Method 2 (this is the one that we use here)
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2.1. Go to the Windows menu and open the Ruby console windows.
2.2. Type “Sketchup.send_action 10624” without quotes. This will show you the camera parameters. Notice
that the camera is set as 2D. We need to change that to 3D.
2.3. Click on the 2D-3D button to disable the 2D camera. This will give you the same camera as the photo
match.
2.4. Close the window by clicking on the X.
2.5. Go to the Windows menu and select “Scene”. This will open the scene windows. Add a scene tab.
Rendering takes more time now as V-Ray needs to calculate a more precise Antialiasing solution.
Part II: Flat Image on the Background
In order to be able to see the image on the render, we have to place it as our background. Until this build, we
were not able to use flat images in the Environment. We add a new feature called “screen” environment
mode, to be able to achieve this effect. How does it work?
Step 1. Go to the environment rollout and click on the “M” near Reflection/refraction (background).
Step 2. Select “TexBitmap” as our mapping type.
Step 3. select the same image that you use for the photo match.
Step 4. Under the UVW type, selec “UVWGenEnvironment”
Step 5. Select “screen” as your mapping type and click OK- this is the option that allows you tochange the
multiplier of the background to 10 to correct the exposure of the image.
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Part III: Image Placement
Our image will be visible in the render, but it will be stretched through the image output size. We need the
same aspect ratio of the image. It is a good time to use RT to adjust the “placement” of the image in the
background.
Step 1. Start RT. Notice that the image is stretched.
Step 2. Click on the “M” near the Reflection/refraction (background) to called the texture editor.
Step 3. I the texture editor change the “Placement Type” to “Place”. This will allows you to change the position
of the image in the background.
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Step 4. Change the width to 0.905, then click OK. This will reduce the size of the image. This operation is
manual.
You have to use trial and error, that is why RT is very useful for this.
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Notice in the image how the Sketchup viewport and the RT match.
Part IV: Wrapper Geometry
In order to use the wrapper material, we need some geometries in which we are going to cast shadows. In this
scene I would like to get some GI and shadows on the background building and on the floor. The idea is to use
the same floor of the image. So, we need to create two geometries where we’re going to apply the wrapper
material. The floor will be a flat plane. In the wall I want to get some Ambient occlusion in the facade, so we
are going to add a simple detail.
This is the image with the geometries for the wrapper material. Notis all the shadows and ambient occlusion
that those geometries are getting and generating. That is the reason we add the small detail in the geometry in
the facade.
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Part V: Wrapper Material
Once we have the geometries, we are going to create and apply the wrapper material to them.
Step 1. Open the material editor by clicking the first icon on the V-Ray toolbar.
Step 2. Right click on the “Scene Materials”, then select “Create Material”, then “Wrapper Material”
Step 3. Double click on the new material and rename as “Wrapper Mat”.
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Step 4. We need a base material for the wrapper material. Select the “Color_001” for this tutorial. The base
material should depend of the image area in which we want to cast shadow. If the area on the image has a
reflection, we could use a material with a reflection layer, to be able to cast reflections on the wrapper
material. In this case the floor and the building do not have reflection properties, so we are going to use a
material with just diffuse layer.
Step 5. Enable the “Matte” option - this will produce the transparency effect on the material, to be able to see
the background.
Step 6. Enable the “Shadow” option - this will allows you to cast shadows in the transparent geometry.
Step 7. Enable the “Affect Alpha” option - this option will affect the alpha contribution of the matte
geometries. So you will see the effect in the alpha channel.
Step 8. Change the “Alpha contribution” to -1.0 - This will allows you to see the alpha of the shadow and not
the alpha of the matte geometries.
Step 9. Change the “Matte for secondary rays” option to “All secondary rays” - this will allows you to get the
reflection of the environment in the reflective object, instead of the reflection of matte geometries.
Step 10. Select the matter geometries and apply the new wrapper material to them.
Tips: It is very important that the normals of the geometries that have the wrapper material are pointing up.
The front face of the material should be facing up.
Dome light environment is not compatible with the wrapper material. The dome light have to be invisible and
the same image of the dome light should be place in the Environment Reflection/refraction (background)
option.
Part VI: Rendering the Image
Notice how we get shadows on the floor and facade of the images. Wrapper material it is a very powerful tool
for compositing process.
This is the V-Ray for SketchUp Raw render. Notice that we are able to render shadows on transparent
geometries. Also we are able to render a flat background directly in the V-Ray frame buffer using the new
screen environment mode.
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Final image. Simple color and distortion correction in Photoshop.
The final scene for this rendering can be found here.
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Image Based Lighting with the Dome Light
§ Image Based Lighting with the Dome Light Overview

§ Part I: Creating the Dome Light
§ Step 1. First Render
§ Step 2. Adding a Dome light
§ Step 3: Adjusting the Dome Light
§ Part II: Attaching an HDRI Image
§ Step 1. Attaching an HDRI
§ Step 2. Adjusting an HDRI
§ Part III: Shadow Quality
§ Step 1: Better Noise Quality
Image Based Lighting with the Dome Light Overview
This tutorial will teach you how to use the dome light feature in V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp. The VRay Dome Light
is a V-Ray specific light source plug-in that can be used to create image base lighting setup.
Part I: Creating the Dome Light
Step 1. First Render
1.1. Open the scene (which can be found here).

1.2. Open the V-Ray Options menu.
1.3. Go to the Environment rollout and unchecked GI (skylight) and Reflection/refraction (background).
1.4. Doing a test render will produce a black scene at this point.
Step 2. Adding a Dome light
2.1. From the V-Ray toolbar click on the dome light icon and then click anywhere in the scene. This will
place the dome light. (screen shot)
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Step 3: Adjusting the Dome Light
3.1. The light is too dim with the default settings of the dome light.
3.2. So select the dome light and right click on it.
3.3. Choose V-Ray for SketchUp then Edit light.
3.4. Set the Intensity to 20.0
3.5. Render the scene:
3.6. Reopen the dome light editor and set the Intensity to 15.0
3.7. Click on the Color box. This will open the Color picker Window. Select the light blue color and click Okay.
3.8. Click Okay to close the Light Editor and then Render the scene.
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Part II: Attaching an HDRI Image
Step 1. Attaching an HDRI
1.1. Reopen the dome light editor and enable the "Spherical" option. This will wrap the image around a full
sphere in the scene.
1.2. Click the checkbox next to "Use Dome Texture" and then click the “m” button.
1.3. Select TexBitmap from the drop down.
1.4. Select any HDRI file from your hard drive.
1.5. Change the UVW Type to UVWGenEnvironment
1.6. Make sure that the "Mapping Type is set to "Spherical" if you are using a spherical HDRI. Notice that we
support additional mapping type to match any HDRI type.
1.7. Render the scene.
You will see HDRI file has added trees and clouds to your background and is providing a more natural light to
the scene.
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Step 2. Adjusting an HDRI
You can adjust the HDRI image rotation both vertically and horizontally so that you can have the correct
lighting for your scene and in this case the trees and cloud positions.
2.1. Reopen the dome light editor click the checkbox next to Use Dome Texture
2.2. Click the “M” button.
2.3. Under the UVW section you should see Horizontal and Vertical rotation option. In this tutorial we adjust
the "Horizontal" rotation to 155 and the click Okay.
2.4. Increase the Dome light "Intensity" to 45 - The intensity of the HDRI will depend on the HDRI exposure and
on the setting of the physical camera that you are using.
Notice how we have more contrast and the shadows are very well defined.
Part III: Shadow Quality
Step 1: Better Noise Quality
1.1. Reopen the dome light editor.

1.2. Increase the Subdivs under the V-Ray light editor from 8 to 32. This change will reduce the noise in the
scene.
1.5 Render the scene.
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Even with medium quality GI settings we are able to produce a very high quality image. As you can see, we
have less noise and more defined and sharp shadows.
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Rendering an Exterior Scene
§ Part I: Adjusting the GI Settings

§ Step 2. Tweaking the Physical Sun and the Physical Camera
§ Step 3: Tweaking the Color Mapping
§ Step 4. Better Antialiasing and Less Noise
§ Step 5: Better GI Solution and Ambient Occlusion
§ Part II: Rendering with Materials
§ Step 1. Rendering with Materials
§ Part III: Rendering the Final Image
§ Step 1. Adjusting V-Ray for Larger Resolution
§ Step 2. Rendering the Final Image
§ Part IV: Post-Processing the Image
Part I: Adjusting the GI Settings

1.2. Check the Override material option in the Global switches rollout. This will give you an idea of how your
lights will work without the final materials.
1.3. Set the Image sampler type to Fixed Rate.
1.4. Go to the Output tab and set the resolution to 400 x 325.
1.5. In the Irradiance map rollout set the Min Rate to -5 and the Max Rate to -3.
1.6. In the Light Cache rollout set the subdivs to 500. We will change this to 1000 for the final render.
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Notice that the render looks bright considering that we are using light gray color as the override material. Also
the position of the sun it is not the one that we are looking for. First, we are going to change the position of
the sun. Then we are going to change the shadow settings and tweak the exposure using the Physical camera.
Step 2. Tweaking the Physical Sun and the Physical Camera
2.1. Click on Window, located in the SketchUp menu. Then select Shadows
2.2. Open the Shadows settings (Windows>Shadows) use the SketchUp menu to set the time to 12:15am and
the Date to 1/25.
2.3. Other effect that we want to have is blurry shadows on the sun light. To achieve that effect we have to go
to the Environment rollout and click on the "M" near GI(Skylight) and change the "size" to 20.
2.4. In the V-Ray options under Camera increase the Shutter Speed to 250.
2.5. Click Render and compare this to your original render:
The result is quite noisy, but it does give a good idea of what the scene lighting is like. Notice that the exposure
is better right now, but we still having some very bright areas in the render. The final material color will be
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brighter than the override material color and those bright areas could be a problem when we switch to the
final material render.
Step 3: Tweaking the Color Mapping
3.1. By default V-Ray for Sketch Up is using Linear as the color mapping. Therefore, we are getting very bright
areas. In the Color mapping rollout change the color mapping type to "Reinhard".
3.2. Render
You can see that the result is very close to the previous render with linear color mapping. The Reinhard color
mapping is a blend between linear and exponential. If the burn value is 1.0, the result is linear color mapping,
while if the Burn value is set to 0.0, the result is exponential style mapping
3.3. The idea is to have an exponential style mapping. So, we have to reduce the Burn value to 0.8
3.4. Render
The result is much better. We still have the same amount of light in the scene, but we don't have the very
bright area produced by the physical sun.
At this point, the illumination is very good. The only issue here is the overall quality of the render.
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Step 4. Better Antialiasing and Less Noise
In the first steps we change the quality of the render to be able to have a fast preview, while we are working
with the illumination. Our goal now is to improve the setting to achieve better antialiasing, better GI and less
noise in my render.
4.1. In the Image Sampler rollout, change the type to Adaptive DMC .
4.2. Set the Min Subdivs to 2 and the Max Subdivs to 6.
4.3. In the DMC Sampler rollout set the Noise Threshold to 0.008 .
4.4. The sun shadow has a lot of noise. To avoid that, we have to increase the subdivs of the sun light. In the
Environment rollout, click on the "M" near GI(Skylight) and increase the subdivs to 32.
Step 5: Better GI Solution and Ambient Occlusion
The Antialiasing looks Okay now, but we still have a low GI quality. For this reason we have some missing and
blurry shadows. We also want to use an Ambient Occlusion effect to add more definition in the render.
5.1. In the Irradiance Map rollout, set the Min Rate to -4 and the Max Rate to -1 .
5.2. Change the Color Threshold to 0.3 .
5.3. Render
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We do have better shadows definition, but We would like to improve the shadows on the corners and crevices
5.4. Go to the Indirect illumination rollout and enable the Ambien Occlusion option.
5.5. increase the Subdivs to 32
5.5. Render.
Notice that the GI solution is very good and we have nice edges, corners and crevices definition.
This completes the first part of the tutorial. In the next part, we'll add the scene materials.
Part II: Rendering with Materials
Step 1. Rendering with Materials
1.1. Turn the Override material option in the Global switches rollout off.
1.2. Render.
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The render looks pretty good with all of the material applied. It is time for the final render. We will render the
image in a final resolution in the next part.
Part III: Rendering the Final Image
We now have to render the final image.
Step 1. Adjusting V-Ray for Larger Resolution
1.1. Set the resolution to 1600 x 1300.

1.2. In the System rollout, set the render region division size to 48 x 48.
We will need to adjust the irradiance map parameters: since we increased the resolution twice, we can
decrease the irradiance map Min and Max rate by 2.
1.3. Set the irradiance map Min Rate to -6 .
1.4. Set irradiance map Max Rate to -3.
1.5. In the Light Cache rollout, set the Subdivs to 1000.
Step 2. Rendering the Final Image
2.1. In the Output rollout enable "Save render output" to automatically save the rendered image. Pick the
image file extension and assign a name and a path. For increased precision, you can choose a 16-bit image
format (for example, a 16-bit .png).
2.2. Press the Render button.
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Part IV: Post-Processing the Image
The image looks okay, but in most cases you will want do some color correction in an image processing
program.
For example, here is the same image some level, color balance and curves correction. To add a more
photographic feel to your image, you can apply some radial darkening of the corners and some chromatic
aberration, for example like this:
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Rendering an Interior Scene
§ Part I: Adjusting the GI Settings

§ Step 2. Tweaking the Exposure
§ Step 3: Tweaking the Color Mapping
§ Step 4. Better Antialiasing and Less Noise
§ Step 5: Better GI Solution
§ Part II: Rendering with Materials
§ Step 1. Rendering with Materials
§ Part III: Rendering the Final Image
§ Step 1. Adjusting V-Ray for Larger Resolution
§ Step 2. Rendering the Final Image
§ Part IV: Post-Processing the Image
Part I: Adjusting the GI Settings

1.2. Check the Override material option in the Global switches rollout.
1.3. Set the Image sampler type to Fixed Rate.
1.4. Go to the Output tab and set the resolution to 400 x 325.
1.5. In the Irradiance map rollout set the Min Rate to -5 and the Max Rate to -3.
1.6. In the Light Cache rollout set the subdivs to 500. We will change this to 1000 for the final render.
Step 2. Tweaking the Exposure
2.1. Since the scene looks too dark, we would like to brighten it a bit. There are several ways to do this. One is
to increase the power of the lights. However, this will make the directly lit areas of the image, like the patch of
sunlight, too bright while indirectly lit regions will remain relatively dark. Other way is using the physical
camera to adjust the overall exposure of the scene. This will also increase the brightness of the sun and some
area could appear over-bright. Don't worry about that, because we are going to fix the burned areas using the
color mapping.
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2.2. In the Camera rollout, decrease the Shutter Speed to 40.

2.3. Other effect that we want to have is blurry shadows on the sun light. To achieve that effect we have to go
to the Environment rollout and click on the "M" near GI(Skylight) and change the "size" to 30.
2.4. Render:
The result is quite noisy, but it does give a good idea of what the scene lighting is like. Notice that the sun is
burning some areas in the render
Step 3: Tweaking the Color Mapping
3.1. By default V-Ray for Sketchup is using Linear as the color mapping. Therefore, we are getting very bright
areas. In the Color mapping rollout change the color mapping type to "Reinhard".
3.2. Render
You can see that the result is very close to the previous render with linear color mapping. The Reinhard color
mapping is a blend between linear and exponential. If the burn value is 1.0, the result is linear color mapping,
while if the Burn value is set to 0.0, the result is exponential style mapping.
3.3. The idea is to have an exponential style mapping. So, we have to reduce the Burn value to 0.3
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3.4. Render
The result is much better. We still have the same amount of light entering the scene, but we don't have the
burned area produced by the physical sun.
At this point, the illumination is very good. The only issue here is the overall quality of the render.
Step 4. Better Antialiasing and Less Noise
In the first steps we change the quality of the render to be able to have a fast preview, while we are working
with the illumination. Our goal now is to improve the setting to achieve better antialiasing, better GI and less
noise in my render.
4.1. In the Image Sampler rollout, change the type to Adaptive DMC .
4.2. Set the Min Subdivs to 2 and the Max Subdivs to 6.
4.3. In the DMC Sampler rollout set the Noise Threshold to 0.008 .
4.4. The sun shadow has a lot of noise. To avoid that, we have to increase the subdivs of the sun light. In the
Environment rollout, click on the "M" near GI(Skylight) and increase the subdivs to 32.
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Step 5: Better GI Solution
The Antialiasing looks okay now, but we still have a low GI quality. For this reason we have some missing and
blurry shadows. We'll deal with those now.
5.1. In the Irradiance Map rollout, set the Min Rate to -3 and the Max Rate to -1 .
5.2. Change the Color Threshold to 0.3 .
5.3. Render
We do have better shadows definition, but we can see some splotches on the render. We'll adjust the HSph
subdivs to improve that.
5.4. Set the HSph subdivs to 80.
5.5. Render.
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Notice that the final render is noise free and the GI solution is very good.
This completes the first part of the tutorial. In the next part, we'll add the scene materials.
Part II: Rendering with Materials
Step 1. Rendering with Materials
1.1. Turn the Override material option in the Global switches rollout off.
1.2. Render.
The render looks pretty good with all of the material applied. It is time for the final render. We will render the
image in a final resolution in the next part.
Part III: Rendering the Final Image
We now have to render the final image.
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Step 1. Adjusting V-Ray for Larger Resolution
1.1. Set the resolution to 1600 x 1300.

1.2. In the System rollout, set the render region division size to 48 x 48.
We will need to adjust the irradiance map parameters: since we increased the resolution twice, we can
decrease the irradiance map Min and Max rate by 2.
1.3. Set the irradiance map Min Rate to -6.
1.4. Set irradiance map Max Rate to -3.
1.5. In the Light Cache rollout, set the Subdivs to 1000.
Step 2. Rendering the Final Image
2.1. In the Output rollout enable "Save render output" to automatically save the rendered image. Pick the
image file extension and assign a name and a path. For increased precision, you can choose a 16-bit image
format (for example, a 16-bit .png).
2.2. Press the Render button.

Part IV: Post-Processing the Image
The image looks okay, but in most cases you will want do some color correction in an image processing
program.
For example, here is the same image some level, color balance and curves correction.
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To add a more photographic feel to your image, you can apply some radial darkening of the corners and some
chromatic aberration, for example like this:
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Basic Animation
§ Part I: Creating a Fly-Through Animation

§ Part II: Create a Video File using Quicktime Pro
Part I: Creating a Fly-Through Animation
Step 1. Open the scene (which can be found here).

1.1. Setup your SketchUp scene tabs. This can be done by going to View->Animation->Add Scene. Scene tabs
for this file are already created for you.
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Step 2. Go to Window->Model Info->Animation, and make sure that “Enable scene transitions” is checked, and
set it to 20 seconds. Also make sure “Scene Delay” is set to 0.
Step 3: Under Global switches turn on Don’t render final image. This will prevent V-ray from rendering after GI
is calculated.
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Step 4. Under the Output rollout in the Animation section turn on the check box next to Animation on. This
will tell V-ray to render all of the frames between scene tabs. Make sure Include Frame Number is checked.
When the image sequences are saves, this option will add numbers to each image saved to create the image
sequence.
Step 5. Under Indirect Illumination, set primary bounce to Light cache and secondary bounce to None.
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Step 6. Set the Frame rate to Custom, and set FPS to 1. We are setting FPS to 1 simply for calculating the Light
Cache. If this was off or set to 0, then the Light cache would only calculate for the first frame. With it set to 1 it
will calculate for the entire animation.
Step 7. Under Light cache change the Mode to Fly-through, and hit render. The Light Cache will calculate for
the entire animation, then go through several iterations of according to the FPS number.
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Step 8. After Light cache is calculated, and the V-ray progress window is done, in the Light cache rollout under
Current map, click Save, and choose a location and file name.
Step 9. Now switch the light cache Mode from Fly-through to From File, and on the right, choose the light
cache file (vrlmap file) that we just saved.
Step 10. Under Indirect illumination (GI), change the Primary bounces to Irradiance map and the Secondary
bounces to Light cache.
Step 11. Under Irradiance map change the Mode from Single frame to Incremental add to current map. This
will allow the Irradiance map to simply add to the same map as it calculates along the camera path.
Step 12. Under Output change the FPS from 1 to 2, and hit render. Choosing 2 FPS in this instance will calculate
the Irradiance map 40 times along our camera path based on how many scenes there are and the number of
seconds between scenes. Or it can also be thought of how many frames along a camera path you want to
render.
The formula for calculating this is:
(number of scene tabs - 1)*(seconds between scenes) *FPS = number of renderings along camera path.
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In our example we have 2 scene tabs with 20 seconds of animation between tabs, and with 2 frames per
second, the irradiance map will calculate 40 times along the animation.
Step 13. Now under Irradiance map rollout, hit the Save button and choose a location and file name for the
irradiance map.
Step 14. Now change the irradiance map Mode from “Incremental add to current map” to From File, and on
the right choose the location of the saved irradiance map (vrmap file).
Step 15. Under Global switches uncheck Don’t render final image.
Step 16. Now under Output check Save render output, and choose a location (preferably in a folder since it will
save an image sequence) and file type. Choosing jpg is perhaps the most straightforward file format with the
smallest file size. If you choose png take note that by default the sky will render as a transparency. If you would
like to turn off the alpha for png, under the VFB channels rollout, simply unselect Alpha.
Step 17. Change the FPS from 2 to 30, and now hit the render button.
With the 20 seconds of animation at 30 FPS, it will render 600 still images. Because Include Frame
Number was checked each image will save with the number according to the order it was rendered. When the
animation is done you will have a folder with 600 different jpgs or pngs, depending on which file format you
saved to.
Step 18. With the image sequence created, you can use a variety of programs to stitch the sequence into a
video format. Software such as Quicktime Pro and Photoshop CS5.5 and higher are capable of creating videos
from image sequences.
Part II: Create a Video File using Quicktime Pro
Step 1. Open Quicktime Player

Step 2. Go to File-> Open Image Sequence
Step 3. Locate to the first file of the image sequence, then at the bottom next to Frame rate choose correct
frame rate. This should be the same value as the FPS field in your Vray settings under Animation, just before
rendering. Typically 30 FPS is recommended.
Step 4. Hit the Open button and wait for Quicktime to put all of the images into a sequence. At this point you
can play to preview your animation.
Step 5. If you are happy with the result, to save it to a video format go to File-> Export. Under Export,
choose Movie to Quicktime Movie, then hit the Options button.
Step 6. Under Video, hit the Settings button, and for Compression Type choose H.264, frame rate to Current,
Key Frames to Automatic, Compressor Quality to High. Hit OK, OK, then Save. Now you have a .mov video file
of your animation.
You can view the finale animation from SketchUp 2013 (which can be found here).
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V-Ray Batch Render
§ Overview
§ Batch Rendering
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Overview
In this tutorial we're going to be covering the use of the Batch Render tool. The Batch Render tool is useful
when you have multiple scenes that need to be rendered out, but have objects that may change between
scenes. With Batch Render you can set up all of your scene tabs, and render each individual scene tab with the
press of one button. V-Ray also recognizes items turned off and on in each scene tab (our provided scene
illustrates this) so, for example, if you have renderings for a client with different variations of a design to show,
you can quickly and easily set up multiple renderings via Sketchups Scene Tabs, and just click Batch Render and
walk away to let V-Ray do its thing.
First lets review what the Batch Render tab looks like. In your V-Ray Tool
set you'll see a button labeled BR short for
Batch Render ( ).
By clicking this tool you will prompt the Batch Render function. The Batch Render function can be cancelled
the same way cancelling any rendering is done, by closing the Frame Buffer window or using the cancel render
button in the V-Ray Progress Window.
Now that we know where the Batch Render function is located and what it does, lets try it out. Download the
test scene located here and lets get started. This folder contains all the necessary assets needed to run a batch
render in sketchup. You can find the final output files located in the Final Output folder, here you can see what
the renders will look like based on the content provided.
Batch Rendering
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1.1. Open the scene named “Batch Scene Start.skp”

*note: this sketchup scene has been set up ahead of time, to learn more about Scene tabs and how they work
check out this tutorial here.
1.2. Once the Sketchup file is open go ahead and click the Batch Render tool ( ).
1.3. At this point you’ll be prompted to provide some “Save Output” information.
This is normal.
1.4. Go ahead and open your V-Ray Options Editor tool ( ) and select your Output dialogue. There you will
have control over your output size and where it will save the rendered file too.
1.5. Click the save output box.
1.6. Create a name for your output file (in my case I used 001 and a PNG File and selected the “Batch Render
Tutorial” folder as a save location). You can path your output file to save anywhere you like.
*Note: In SketchUp it is important to turn off scene transitions and set the scene delay to 0. You can do so
from your SketchUp Model Info window, under the Animation settings
1.7. Now that you have your Output Location setup, click the Batch Render button ( ) and go grab a cup of
coffee (or tea) and come back to check your renders periodically to see which have finished.
Now that you know how it works, test it out, play around and enjoy!
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V-Ray Option Editor and Preset ToolBar
§ Part I: V-Ray Presets

§ Part II: Using the Presets Toolbar
§ Part III: How it all works
§
Part I: V-Ray Presets

In this section you’ll be learning the proper procedures when using the V-Ray Presets as well as best practices
when creating your own custom presets. Below you'll find the different tools available and a brief explanation
of what each tool is used for.
Preset Menu Bar - This menu bar provides all the necessary tools to use existing presets and create custom
user specific presets.
Save - The “Save” icon is responsible for saving ALL options (edited or not) within the V-Ray Option Editor
dialogue box as a .vropt or visopt file for later use. This tool allows very elaborate options to be saved for later
use.
Load - The “Load” icon is responsible for loading any existing V-Ray setting (.vropt and .visopt). This function
WILL REPLACE ALL options with in the V-Ray Options Editor dialogue box, erasing any existing changes made to
the default settings.
Load Defaults - The “Load Default” icon is responsible for resetting the V-Ray Option editor to all of its default
settings standard to the software.
Export - The “Export” icon will export only the settings altered up to that point in the V-Ray Options Editor.
Any options left unaltered up to this point will remain the standard default settings when the .visopt file is
created.
For example: If settings are changed in the Output dialogue box and saved via the “Export” button then the
next time that file is imported, only the options in the Output dialog box will be altered.
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Import - The “Import” icon is responsible for importing any previously saved .visopt file created. Importing
using this method will only change the settings that were previously altered and exported to that file. No
other dialogue boxes will be affected.
For example: If settings are changed in your Output dialogue box and then saved via the “Export” button a
.visopt then only the settings in your Output dialogue box will be affected by importing that file.
The Presets - The “Presets” bar consists of two dropdown menus (see: Category and Category Presets below).
Here you’ll find some useful pre-existing scene options for general settings, interior and exterior scenes, and
some preset camera options. These standard options allow for some mixing and matching to occur as well.
Category - The “Category” preset dropdown menu comes standard with three separate categories; Camera,
Exterior, and Interior settings. Each Category provides a number of presets corresponding to that category
(see Category Presets below). Customizable presets can also be created based on a users prefered methods for
rendering (see Part II; 2.1-2.9).
Category Presets - Each Category provides a drop down menu with a specific set of presets. The Exterior and
Interior Category both provide preset settings ranging from very low quality, “Test Quality” settings to “Very
High Quality” settings, these presets do not affect the Output, Environment or Camera settings.
The “Camera” category provides a number of camera options to properly expose an image in many different
lighting situations. These presets ONLY effect the Camera settings in the V-Ray Option Editor and can be
added to any of the Interior or Exterior presets.
Use Preset - The “Use Preset” icon applies the presets to the V-Ray Option Editor dialogue box ( ) . This
icon must be clicked to apply any of the presets currently selected in the the drop down menu.
Part II: Using the Presets Toolbar
Now that you’re familiar with what each icon does Part I of this tutorial will explore how to implement these
presets properly. Lets get started by following the steps below.
Part 1.
1.1. Open any scene (something simple will work best) and begin by selecting the V-Ray Options Editor in your
V-Ray toolbar.
1.2. Now that our option editor is open you should see all of your different options in the V-Ray Option Editor
dialogue box. Here you can alter your scenes rendering options. Lets start by selecting one of V-Ray’s standard
presets in the Exterior Category, then select the
Exterior preset: “02_Low_Quality_Exterior” and apply using the “Use Preset” ( ) Button.
(see examples 1.3.a and 1.3.b)

1.3.a.
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1.3.b.
1.3 Once applied to your scene, select render ( ) and see how it affects your final result.
Now that we have a preset render setting in place, you can begin to add different camera settings to the
option editor. These settings will only affect your “Camera” dialogue and nothing else in the option editor. To
do this follow the steps below:
1.4 Under the drop down “Category" menu select “Camera”.
1.5 Now, under the Presets drop down menu, select a camera setting that best corresponds to the lighting
situation in your scene. In this case we’ll select the “Cloudy Sky” preset and apply it by clicking the “Use
Preset” ( ) icon. (see examples 1.5a and 1.5b)
1.5.a.
1.5.b.
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1.6. Once applied to your scene, select render ( ) and see how it affects your final result.
This system of selecting a “Presets Category” then a “Preset” render setting is the same for each in the pull
down menu. Try out a few of the different settings to see how they each affect your scene differently. To reset
back to your default settings select the “Load Defaults” ( ) button and move on to Part II.
Part 2.
Part 2 of this tutorial will explore the development of your own personal “Category” and “Category Presets”
that can be reused across multiple scenes and projects. To do this follow the steps below:
2.1. Open your V-Ray Option Editor dialogue box ( ) and expand your “Output” tab. The default settings
here for a rendered scene are 800px by 600px (see example 2.1a).
2.1.a
2.2. Feel free to make a custom setting on your own, but in this case we will use a typical HD image with a 16:9
aspect ratio. In the Width category change the pixels to 1920 and in the Height category change it to 1080
pixels (see example 2.2a).
2.2.a.
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Now we need to save this new preset.

2.3. Select the “Export” icon ( ) at the top of your V-Ray Options Editor. When you click save you'll be
redirected to the containing folder if not the the file path can be found
here:C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\VfS\Presets\Options.
2.4. Once in the “Options” folder, go ahead and make a new folder. For our purposes we’ll name it “Output
Presets”. (see example 2.4a)
2.4.a.
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2.5. Open the “Output Presets” folder.

2.6. Now save your new .visopt as 1080x1920
2.7.Close SketchUp and restart the program.
(note: no presets will take effect until you close and restart SketchUp)
2.8. Once SketchUp is reopened, open your V-Ray Options Editor ( ), and you should have a new addition
to your “Categories” dropdown menu. (see example 2.8a)

2.8.a
2.9. Now click on the “Use Preset” icon ( ) and your new custom output will be updated in your V-Ray
Options Editor Output dialogue box.

Part 3.
In Part III of this tutorial we will explore the use of the “Save” ( ) and “Load” ( ) tools within the V-
Ray Options Editor. This section is for more advanced scene setup where multiple dialogue boxes and
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extensive rendering options have been checked or changed. Remember when you use the “Save” icon, you
save ALL of your settings to a file, and when you use the Load icon from that saved file, you will change ALL of
your default settings to the new loaded .visopt file. Any previously made changes will be lost to your new
settings. This function is best used to easily transfer extensively altered scene settings from one project to
another.
Suggested Workflow:
In most cases it is best to save these extensive scene settings to your projects directory as you work. By
saving out multiple .visopt files, you can make extensive adjustments and still load a previous version if
the adjustments you made are not satisfactory.
3.1. Open a new scene and then open your V-Ray Options Editor ( ).
3.2. Alter your settings in your Options Editor as you see fit for the scene you’ve opened.
3.3. Once you have your settings put together in a way that best suites your scene, click the “Save” icon (
) to save the .visopt file. This will save all your settings to a .visopt file.
3.4. Create a new folder in your preset “Options” folder and open it. (see Part II: steps 2.4-2.8 for this process)
Name the new folder “Project Presets” and save the .visopt file somthing that corresponds to the project you
are currently working on . In this case I've used “001_TestProject” as my .visopt file name.
3.5. Close SketchUp and restart the program.
3.6. Open any new scene and open the V-Ray Options Editor ( ).
3.7.a) Click on your “Load” icon ( ) and select the recently saved file, “001_TestProject.visopt”, from the
“Project Presets” folder (the “Load” icon also allows you to browse your computer to for .visopt files saved in
project folders or anywhere else on your computer, this comes in handy when looking for a packaged scene
and model). Select the file and click open. It will immediately load ALL of your preset Option Editor settings.
(remember this will change all your current settings to the selected new settings)
3.7.b) Because your .visopt file is also saved in the “Preset Options” folder we can also get to it via the
dropdown menu. To do so, select it, use the Category drop down menu and select “Project Presets”. In your
“Presets” category, select the “001_TestProject” and click the “Use Preset” icon ( ) to apply the settings.
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Part III: How it all works
Now that you understand the general functionality of the Preset Options in the V-Ray Options Editor, play with
your settings as much as you want. Save out lots of variations and explore all kinds of options without the fear
of forgetting what you did. Have fun, and when you find something that works you can save it and use in
projects later!
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64 Bit Workflow *SketchUp 2014 and below*
§ VRImage output
§ Reloading the Image
§ Saving out the file
VRImage output
To start, under your System roll out, check the box labeled “Don’t use local machine” then locate the output
rollout window and go to Render output. Tick the box "Render to VRImage". Once selected choose an output
location and save it as a .exr or .vrimage like we’ve shown below. If you choose the .exr option then render will
be saved in Gamma 1.0 and will appear over bright and washed out. You will need to change your Gamma in
Photoshop (Typically editing the exposure to .4242 in the Gamma will correct it). Next choose either “No
memory” or "Preview" from the drop-down menu on the right. If you choose "No memory" the render will
start, but you won’t see anything but the Render Progress Window until the rendering is completed. If you
choose "Preview" you will see a preview window of the rendering.
Reloading the Image
V-Ray will write the data to the location you've chosen on your hard-drive. To review and the image once the
render has completed, open the file location via the VRay Frame Buffer. Click the file folder location and open
the .vrimage:
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Saving out the file
The image file will open to the V-Ray Frame Buffer and can be saved out in any format along with all channels
rendered using the save all channels icon.
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Introduction to Compositing
§ Overview
§ Part I: Necessary Options
§ Part II: Render
§ Part III: Explanation of different channels
§ Part IV: Export the image files
§ Part V: Opening the images in Adobe Photoshop
§ Part VI: Tweaking the Image Layers
§ Part VII: Saving the file image
Overview
As we all know, post-processing is a major component in producing high quality renderings. V-Ray has an
integrated compositing system which is invaluable to any 3d artist using many of today’s popular image editing
software packages. This tutorial will introduce you to the channels of V-Ray, and how easy it is to use them to
control key aspects in the rendered image including: lighting, reflections, and refractions.
When V-Ray renders, it calculates several of the different properties of materials and lights individually and
composites them together to form the final image. By default, V-Ray only exports the final composited image.
What we will be doing in this tutorial is telling V-Ray to export these properties as individual image files which
we will be able to layer and tweak to form the final image ourselves.
Part I: Necessary Options
There are a couple options we need to change in order to have a proper set of images to work with. Go to
your V-Ray for SketchUp Options Editor and expand the Color Mapping options.
Ensure that you have “Don’t affect colors (adaptation only)” checked; This will tell V-Ray to not add the gamma
correction to any of the exported images. Next, make sure that the option “Clamp output” is not checked.
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Now expand the “VFB channels” section.
Here we will be selecting which channels we would like to render out separately. Leave the default channel
“RGB color” selected, and make sure that the following channels are also selected:
GI
Lighting
Reflection
Refraction
Self Illumination
Specularity
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Recommended: It is always a good idea to select an output file before rendering. Go ahead and expand the
“Output” section and enable “Save output”. For file format, regardless of what the final image format will be, it
is always best to use a 32-bit format. This ensures that the least amount of rendered information will be lost
during post-processing. .JPG and .PNG are both 8-bit formats, while .TIF is a 16-bit format and .EXR is typically
a good choice as it is a 32-bit format.
Part II: Render
Finish tweaking settings for your final render, then hit the “Render” button.
While the image is rendering, you can enable the “Display colors in sRGB space” button at the bottom of the
“V-Ray frame buffer” window. This will show a preview of the image with the correct gamma settings that we
disabled by checking the “Don’t affect colors (adaptation only)” option. We can also cycle through the
channels we selected earlier by using the drop down in the upper left. You can see that the RGB color is on by
default. Note that the other channels will display as black until the final pass.
Part III: Explanation of different channels
While we are waiting for the render to finish, let’s review what the channels we are exporting mean. These
channels make up the core basic elements that make up any V-Ray rendering. They can be further subdivided,
but that is for another tutorial.
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GI (Global Illumination)
This layer shows the secondary light bounces.
Lighting
The first light bounce is covered in this layer
Reflection
This layer is the image bounces off of any reflective materials in the scene. Any reflections that are not blurry
show up in this channel.
Refraction
This layer shows the light that is refracted through any materials that are set up to do so.
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Self Illumination
This covers light sources that are shining directly into the camera. This includes emissive materials as well as
lights.
Specularity
This is second reflective channel which handles blurry reflections. When you set the glossiness value of a
material to be less than one, blurry reflections are produced which will appear in this channel, while the less
blurry portion of the reflection will show up in the reflection channel.
Part IV: Export the image files
If you have not set an output file location before rendering, you will need to save the files from within the
frame buffer once it has finished rendering. Make sure to use the “Save all image channels” button
shown below. This will save your RGB Color channel using the filename of your choice and every additional
channel will have a suffix with the channel name appended to it.
As mentioned above, it is best to use a 32 bit format such as .exr which will have more information in it
allowing for for a higher-quality end result, even if you plan on saving the final image out as a lower quality
version such as a .PNG or .JPG.
It is usually best to ensure that the files have saved out before closing the V-Ray frame buffer.
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Part V: Opening the images in Adobe Photoshop
For this tutorial, we will be using photoshop, but other Image editors, such as GIMP, can also be used.
We could open each file individually and then combine them within photoshop manually, but there is an easier
method. In Photoshop, go toFile>Scripts>Load Files into Stack… Now click Browse and select all of the files you
exported. You do not need to include the RGB color file, but it can be nice to bring it in to compare with the
final composited result.
Go ahead and select “OK” and your files will be loaded into the project.
From here, hide your RGB Color layer (the one without a suffix). Select the remaining layers, and using
the Blending Modes drop down, change all of these layers from “Normal” to “Linear Dodge (Add)”.
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You now have the completed image. If you are using .EXR files, your image will look exactly as it should. With
some formats like .TIF and .JPG, you will need to add an exposure layer for the whole image with a Gamma
Correction of 2.2. Again, this is only a ne
cessary step if you did not use the .EXR format.
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Part VI: Tweaking the Image Layers
At this point, we can start each layer individually to change the final look of the image. Lets make a few basic
modifications to improve the look of the image.
For starters, the reflection is causing some areas to look a little overbright. Rather than re-rendering the
image, we can just turn down the amount of reflection. To do this, select the Reflection layer in Photoshop,
and change the Opacity to something around 40%. You will notice that the reflections in the entire image have
diminished.
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Next, let’s dark the black areas on the image on the tv. We used a rectangular light to produce the image, so it
resides on the Self Illumination layer. One way would be to adjust the brightness and contrast of the layer, but
the better method is to create a new exposure layer that only affects the Self Illumination layer. This will allow
us to edit it as much as possible without diminishing the quality of the original with each edit. To do this, first
create anExposure layer as explained in the last part of section 6, and drag it to be directly above the Self
Illumination layer. Next, select the new exposure layer and in the properties, select the option which clips it to
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the layer below, meaning it will only affect the layer directly below it. This option is highlighted in yellow
below.
Now, using just the Exposure and Offset sliders, we can modify just the Self Illumination layer. I used
an Exposure value of -0.40 and a Gamma Correctionvalue of 0.43.
Some of the areas in our rendering are a little overbright. We can use another exposure layer like we used on
the Self Illumination layer. Clip it to the Lighting layer to correct this. Set the Exposure value to -0.40 and
the Gamma Correction value to 0.70.
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Another useful tip, especially when working with exterior renderings with underdeveloped interiors, is
reducing the opacity refraction layer. If we turn down the opacity of the refractive glass, we are left with the
diffuse and reflections. The result is a tinted glass.
Part VII: Saving the file image
Once you get the file to look how you want, you can save out the image to the format of your choice. If you are
using .EXR or any other 32-bit format, you will need to convert the file to 8 or 16 bit before you can save it out
as certain compressed formats such as jpg or png. The recommended path is to save the file in 32 bit format as
a .PSD first in case you wish to edit the image later. Next, to save as a smaller-sized .JPG or .PNG, go
to Image>Mode>16 Bits per Channel or 8 Bits per Channel. Hit the “Merge” button, and select “Exposure and
Gamma” for the Method.
This will remove all layer information from the file, so make sure you do not save over your .PSD file at this
point. You can now save in other formats.
This concludes the introduction to channels tutorial. Using these basic channels, you will be able to more easily
separate renderings for post-processing to produce better results faster.
Final result with some vignetting added:
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Distributed Rendering Installation Guide
Distributed Rendering is a technique for distributing a single render job within a single frame across many
computers in a network. There are different approaches of doing this but the main concept is to reduce the
render times by dividing different parts of the rendering pipeline and giving each participant different parts of
the job. The most common way to do this is to divide the frame to be rendered into small regions (buckets)
and give each machine to render a number of them. Then get the results and combine them into the final
image.
Installing a license of V-Ray as a Distributed Rendering Node (also referred to as render slave, slave machine,
or DR node) is quite easy. This tutorial will outline the process in a few simple steps. This process is the same
for both Sketchup and Rhino. For additional information visit our help page here.
1. Make sure that SketchUp is closed and begin the installation process. Click Next.
2. Click “I accept the terms of the license agreement”, then click next.
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3. Select the components you want to install. In our case we want to install the 4 tools outlined in red in the
image below. Click next when ready.
A. WIBU Key Runtime - This installs all necessary WIBU Key drivers for your Dongle Licensing.
B. Microsoft C++ Redistributable - This installs Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package.
C. V-Ray for SketchUp - This will install the files needed to run V-Ray for SketchUp.
D. The command line render spawner tool - This installs the standalone version of V-Ray.
E. The distributed rendering spawner - This installs the files need to run V-Ray in distributed rendering
mode.
F. The 64-bit distributed rendering spawner
G. Utilities for dongle licensing - This installs the V-Ray license server and utilities.
H. V-Ray Tools - This installs a collection of advanced tools to help you get the most out of V-Ray.
i. Filter generator tool
ii. Image to tiled multiresolution EXR converter
iii. Irradiance map viewer
iv. Lens analysis tool v. OBJ GEO PLY to .vrmesh converter
vi. VRImg to OpenEXR converter
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4.1. Click next to begin the installation.
4.2. In some cases you may have to uninstall the existing version of V-Ray. Follow the steps as prompted to
uninstall.
5. Wait for the installation to complete.
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6. In this instance we chose not to install the WIBU Key (dongle) Drivers click Finish to complete the
installation. Since this is going to be installed on a slave machine be sure to un-check “Register V-Ray Liscense
Server as service” and choose Finish.
7.Once installed you can start the Distributed Rendering Spawner on the Render Node.
In Windows, start by going to the computer’s Start Menu, then to Programs> Chaos Group> V-Ray for
SketchUp/V-Ray for Rhino> Distributed Rendering> Launch the distributed rendering spawner.
In OSX, start by going to Macintosh HD > Applications > ASGVIS > DRSpawner > XMLDRSpawner.
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This window needs to stay open during the render process. It will provide information about the render.
8. Once the spawner is open you can go back to your main model you can begin rendering via your local
network. In your Sketchup model go to your “Options Editor” and under the “System” roll out turn on
Distributed Rendering and choose from a list of “Hosts” on the network.
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Add server - this button allows you to manually add a server by entering its IP address or network name.
Remove server - this button deletes the currently selected server(s) from the list.
Resolve servers - this button resolves the IP addresses of all servers.
9. Choose which machines on the network you would like to render from, and enjoy!
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Irradiance Map Viewer
§ Irradiance Map Viewer Overview

§ Installation
§ Usage
§ Notes
Irradiance Map Viewer Overview
The irradiance map viewer can be used to view, merge and save irradiance map files created by V-Ray. Note
that the viewer is a separate program and does not require 3ds Max in order to run.
Installation
By default, the installation of V-Ray for SketchUp installs the irradiance map viewer in the
folder ProgramData\ASGVIS\Tools\x64\imapviewer.exe. A shortcut to the irradiance map viewer is also
installed in the Start Menu: click Start Menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp
> Tools > Irradiance map viewer.
Usage
There are several methods of running the irradiance map viewer, which are outlined below.
• The simplest way is to double-click the imapviewer.exe file. This will bring up an Open File dialogue box that
lets you browse for an irradiance map to open. This is the same as starting the irradiance map viewer from
the Start Menu. The menus of the program allow you to do various things with the irradiance map (merging
and saving etc).
• You can also run the irradiance map viewer from the command line. In this case there are several possible
choices:
• If you type just
> imapviewer
• on the command line, this is the same as double-clicking the file. It will bring up the File Open dialogue for
selecting an irradiance map file.
• You can also type
> imapviewer <filename>
• where <filename> is the name of an irradiance map file. This file will be opened automatically.
• A third way is to use the viewer to merge several maps into one:
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> imapviewer -load <map1> -load <map2> ... [-save<finalmap>] [-nodisplay]
• This will load the specified maps and combine them into one irradiance map. If the -save option is specified,
the result will be written to the given file. If the -nodisplay option is specified, the resulting map will not be
displayed (otherwise the viewer will display the final result).
Notes
• Use the -help option on the command line to see a short description of the usage of the irradiance map
viewer;
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.obj and .ply to .vrmesh Converter
§ .obj and .ply to .vrmesh Converter Overview

§ Installation
§ Usage
§ Notes
.obj and .ply to .vrmesh Converter Overview
This is a command-line utility that can be used to convert .ply, .obj, .geo, .bgeo and .bin files to .vrmesh files
for rendering by V-Ray through a VRayProxy.
Installation
By default, the installation of V-Ray for 3ds Max installs the ply2vrmesh tool in the folder [Program
Data]\ASGVIS\Tools\x64. A shortcut to the converter is also installed in the Start Menu: click Start
Menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUp > Tools > OBJ GEO PLY to .vrmesh converter.
Usage
> ply2vrmesh <inputFile> <outputFile> [options]
This converts the given .ply or .obj file and writes it to the given .vrmesh file. Note that you must specify the
file extension, it will not be added automatically.
There are also additional options that you can specify; run the ply2vrmesh program without any parameters to
see the description of these options.
Notes
• The converter understands most of the popular .ply formats, both ASCII and binary, big-endian or little-endian.
• In addition to the geometric data (faces and vertices), the converter recognizes some of the most common
additional channels like diffuse surface color. Vertex colors are recognized if they are specified as "red",
"green" and "blue" or "diffuse_red", "diffuse_green" and "diffuse_blue" vertex properties. In 3ds Max, those
can be visualized by applying a Vertex Color texture in the diffuse slot of the corresponding VRayProxy object.
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.vrimg to .exr Converter
§ .vrimg to .exr Converter Overview

§ Installation
§ Usage
§ Options
.vrimg to .exr Converter Overview
This is a command-line utility that can be used to convert .vrimg image files to .exr files in OpenEXR format.
The .vrimg file format is a special format used by the V-Ray VFB to store the rendered image incrementally
while rendering, in full floating-point format, will all available render elements.
Installation
By default, the installation of V-Ray for SketchUp installs the .vrimg to .exr converter in the
folder ProgramData\ASGVIS\Tools\x64. A shortcut to the converter is also installed in the Start Menu:
click Start Menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for SketchUP > Tools > VRImg to OpenEXR converter.
Usage
There are two methods for running the vrimg2exr converter:

• Converting a single .vrimg file to a single .exr file:
> vrimg2exr <vrimg_file> <exr_file> [options]
• In this case, the <vrimg_file> cannot contain wildcards. Note that the .exr extension is not added automatically
to the output file name.
• Converting multiple .vrimg files to multiple .exr files:
> vrimg2exr <vrimg_wildcard> [options]
• In this case, <vrimg_wildcard> can contain the wild-card symbols '*' and '?'; the .vrimg files will automatically
be converted to OpenEXR files with the .exr file extension.
• Caution! Under Linux and OS X parameters with wildcards must be placed within apostrophe symbols -
'image_wildcard'. Otherwise the command line shell will expand automatically the wildcard into file list, which
will force the program to terminate.
In both cases, the original .vrimg file is not deleted.
Options
One or more of the following options may be specified:

Option Description
-info Prints information about the .vrimg file (resolution, channels present etc). This is
only supported for .vrimg files created with V-Ray versions 1.48.xx and higher.
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-half Stores the floating-point data in the .exr file as 16-bit floating point numbers. If
this option is not specified, the data is stored as 32-bit floating point numbers.
-sRGB Converts the RGB data from the .vrimg file to the sRGB color space before writing
it to the .exr file. Without this option, no color conversion is performed.
- Applies the specified gamma value to the RGB colors before writing the .exr file. If
gamma <gamma_value> this option is not specified, the data is stored in linear space.
-channel <name> Only reads the specified channel from the .vrimg file and writes it as the RGB
channel in the output file. No other channels are written to the .exr file. This
option can be used to extract the different channels in the .vrimg file to separate
image files. Use the -info option for a list of available channels in the file.
-compression <method> Sets the compression type for the resulting .exr file. If not specified, ZIP
compression is used. Currently supported values
for <method> are: none, zips, zip, piz, pxr24
-bufsize <buf_size> The maximum buffer size per channel (in megabytes) that will be used for the
conversion. If the image does not fit into that buffer size, the converter will
process it in several passes. Larger buffer size means faster conversion, but,
obviously, requires more memory. The default is 10 MB per channel.
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Image to Tiled Multiresolution OpenEXR Converter
§ Image to Tiled Multiresolution OpenEXR Converter Overview

§ Usage
§ Options
Image to Tiled Multiresolution OpenEXR Converter Overview
This is tool that can be used to convert a variety of image files to tiled multiresolution .exr files
in OpenEXR format. The resulting tiled OpenEXR textures can be used in V-Ray for SketchUp through the
VRayHDRI texture.
Supported input image formats are:
• V-Ray image file (*.vrimg)

• Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
• Windows bitmap (*.bmp)
• Targa image file (*.tga)
• Radiance HDR image (*.hdr)
• Silicon Graphics (*.sgi, *.rgb, *.rgba)
• JPEG image file (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe)
• OpenEXR image file (*.exr)
• Softimage PICT file (*.pic)
• Tagged image file format (*.tif, *.tiff)
• Photoshop (*.psd)
Usage
There are several methods for running the img2tiledexr converter:
• The simplest way is to double-click the img2tiledexr.exe file. This will bring up the GUI main window of the
program letting you to select all the options, browse the input file/directory and after that press
the Convert button. You can optionally specify input directory, where all the converted files will be placed. If
not specified all converted files will be written to the directories, they were found.
• There are three methods for running the img2tiledexr from the command line:
• If you type just
> img2tiledexr
• on the command line, this is the same as double-clicking the file.

• Converting a single image file to a single .exr file:
> img2tiledexr <image_file> <exr_file> [options]
• In this case, the <image_file> cannot contain wildcards. Note that the .exr extension is not added automatically
to the output file name.
• Converting multiple image files to multiple .exr files:
> img2tiledexr <image_wildcard> [output_dir] [options]
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• In this case, <image_wildcard> can contain the wild-card symbols '*' and '?'; the image files will automatically
be converted to OpenEXR tiled multiresolution files with the .exr file extension. Optionally you can specify
in <output_dir> the directory of the output files. If not specified, the output files will be written to the input
directory.
• Caution! Under Linux and OS X parameters with wildcards must be enclosed with apostrophe symbols -
'image_wildcard'. Otherwise the command line shell will expand automatically the wildcard into file list, which
will force the program to terminate.
In all cases, the original image files are not deleted.
Postfix "_tiled" will be added to the file name in case you use wildcards.
Note that many applications expect the colors in OpenEXR files to be in linear color space rather than
sRGB/gamma 2.2 color space.. For this reason, img2tiledexr automatically converts the colors in the input
image from sRGB to linear space for all image file formats except .hdr and .exr images. You can use the -
linear option to control this converson.
Options
One or more of the following options may be specified:

Option Description
-32bit Stores the floating-point data in the .exr file as 32-bit floating point numbers. If
this option is not specified, the data is stored as 16-bit floating point numbers.
- Sets the compression type for the resulting .exr file. If not specified, ZIP
compression <method> compression is used. Currently supported values for <method>
are: none, rle, zips, zip, piz, pxr24
-tileSize <size> Set in <size> the dimension of a square tile. If not specified, the default tile size is
64x64.
-linear <mode> Specifies if the input image should be converted from sRGB to linear color space
when saved into the tiled OpenEXR file. Possible values are: off (no
conversion), on (convert colors from sRGB to linear space), auto (convert all
images except .hdr and .exr files).
-subdirs When using wildcard, this option makes img2tiledexr to search the subdirectories
of the specified one.
-help Print the help massage
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Filter Generator
§ Filter Generator Overview

§ Installation
§ Usage
Filter Generator Overview
The Filter generator is a simple tool for composing filters (HDR images in *.hdr format). It is specially designed
to produce filters for the VRayLensEffects render effect.
Installation
By default, the installation of V-Ray for 3ds Max installs the fitler generator in the folder [Program Files]\Chaos
Group\V-Ray\3dsmax Rx for yyy\tools. A shortcut to the filter generator is also installed in the Start Menu:
click Start Menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for 3dsmax > Tools > Filter generator tool.
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Usage
The Filter generator is easy to use. It's workspace is divided into two panels separated with horizontal line. In
the upper panel there are four tabs (Radially symmetric pattern, Corona Flare Lines Pattern, Special Flare Lines
Pattern, Lenticular Halo), where you compose the different components of your filter. In every tab you can
change the parameters in the right side of the upper panel and instantly see the result in the left side of the
upper panel. You can always see the result of the mix of all these components in the left side of the lower
panel while all the controls related to mixing are in the right side of this panel. Once you are ready with your
mix you can save it in *.hdr format by pressing File > Export HDR Ctrl+E.
You can also easily save your own presets in *.txt files by pressing File > Save Preset Ctrl+S and loading them
using File > Open Preset Ctrl+O.
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Basic Ray Tracing
Ray tracing is a technique for generating an image by tracing paths of light from the camera through pixels in
an image plane and simulating the effects of its encounters with virtual objects. To create different effects
different rays are traced. The above diagram shows how the basic effects are generated. Primary rays (Red)
are always traced from the camera into the scene in order to determine what will be visible in the final image.
To create the direct illumination and shadows "Shadow rays "(Black) are traced from each rendered point to
each light in the scene. If the rays "hit" a light the point is illuminated based on the light's settings. If they hit
an object the point is shaded. Reflection rays (Green) are traced in the direction of the reflection vector which
depends on the type of reflection - fresnel or normal and the index of refraction of the material. The direction
of the Refraction rays(Blue) depends only on the index of refraction of the material. For clear reflections and
refractions only a single ray is traced. To create glossy reflections or refractions many rays are traced in a cone
- the spread of the cone depends on the glossiness amount.
Subsurface scattering and translucency effects are generated by tracing rays inside the geometry.
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Classification of GI Methods
§ The Rendering Equation

§ I: Exact vs Approximate Methods
§ Exact (Unbiased or Brute-Force) Methods.
§ Approximate (Biased) Methods:
§ Hybrid Methods: Exact Methods Used for Some Effects, Approximate Methods for Others.
§ II: Gathering vs Shooting Methods
§ Shooting Methods
§ Gathering Methods
§ Hybrid Methods
§ III: Approximate Methods: View-Dependent vs View-Independent Solutions
§ Shooting Methods
§ Hybrid Methods
§ GI Methods Supported by V-Ray
§ Exact Methods
§ Approximate Methods
§ Shooting Methods
§ Hybrid Methods
§ Example: Comparisons of Different GI Methods
§ Example: GI Caustics
The Rendering Equation
Virtually all modern GI renderers are based on the rendering equation introduced by James T. Kajiya in his
1986 paper "The Rendering Equation". This equation describes how light is propagated throughout a scene. In
his paper, Kajiya also proposed a method for computing an image based on the rendering equation using a
Monte Carlo method called path tracing.
It should be noted that the equation has been known long before that in engineering and has been used for
computing radiative heat transfer in different environments. However, Kajiya was the first to apply this
equation to computer graphics.
It should also be noted that the rendering equation is only "an approximation of Maxwell's equation for
electromagnetics". It does not attempt to model all optical phenomena. It is only based on geometric optics
and therefore cannot simulate things like diffraction, interference or polarization. However, it can be easily
modified to account for wavelength-dependent effects like dispersion.
Another, more philosophical point to make, is that the rendering equation is derived from a mathematical
modelof how light behaves. While it is a very good model for the purposes of computer graphics, it does not
describe exactly how light behaves in the real world. For example, the rendering equation assumes that light
rays are infinitesimally thin and that the speed of light is infinite - neither of these assumptions is true in the
real physical world.
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Because the rendering equation is based on geometric optics, raytracing is a very convenient way to solve the
rendering equation. Indeed, most renderers that solve the rendering equation are based on raytracing.
Different formulations of the rendering equation are possible, but the one proposed by Kajiya looks like this:
where:
L(x, x1) is related to the light passing from point x1 to point x;
g(x, x1) is a geometry (or visibility term);
e(x, x1) is the intensity of emitted light from point x1 towards point x;
r(x, x1, x2) is related to the light scattered from point x2 to point x through point x1;
S is the union of all surfaces in the scene and x, x1 and x2 are points from S.
What the equation means: the light arriving at a given point x in the scene from another point x1 is the sum of
the light emitted from all other points x2 towards x1 and reflected towards x:
Except for very simple cases, the rendering equation cannot be solved exactly in a finite amount of time on a
computer. However, we can get as close as we want to the real solution - given enough time. The search for
global illumination algorithms has been a quest for finding solutions that are reasonably close, for a reasonable
amount of time.
The rendering equation is only one. Different renderers only apply different methods for solving it. If any two
renderers solve this equation accurately enough, then they should generate the same image for the same
scene. This is very well in theory, but in practice renderers often truncate or alter parts of the rendering
equation, which may lead to different results.
I: Exact vs Approximate Methods
As noted above, we cannot solve the equation exactly - there is always some error, although it can be made
very small. In some rendering methods, the desired error is specified in advance by the user and it determines
the accuracy of the calculations (f.e. GI sample density, or GI rays, or number of photons etc.). A disadvantage
of these methods is that the user must wait for the whole calculation process to complete before the result
can be used. Another disadvantage is that it may take a lot of trials and errors to find settings that produce
adequate quality in a given time frame. However, the big advantage of these methods is that they can be very
efficient within the specified accuracy bounds, because the algorithm can concentrate on solving difficult parts
of the rendering equation separately (e.g. splitting the image into independent regions, performing several
calculation phases etc.), and then combining the result.
In other methods, the image is calculated progressively - in the beginning the error is large, but gets smaller as
the algorithm performs additional calculations. At any one point of time, we have the partial result for the
whole image. So, we can terminate the calculation and use the intermediate result.
Exact (Unbiased or Brute-Force) Methods.
Advantages:
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• Produce very accurate results.

• The only artifact these methods produce is noise.
• Renderers using exact methods typically have only few controls for specifying image quality.
• Typically require very little additional memory.
Disadvantages:
• Unbiased methods are not adaptive and so are extremely slow for a noiseless image.
• Some effects cannot be computed at all by an exact method (for example, caustics from a point light seen
through a perfect mirror).
• It may be difficult to impose a quality requirement on these methods.
• Exact methods typically operate directly on the final image; the GI solution cannot be saved and re-used in any
way.
Examples:
• Path tracing (brute-force GI in some renderers).

• Bi-directional path tracing.
• Metropolis light transport.
Approximate (Biased) Methods:
Advantages:
• Adaptive, so typically those are a lot faster than exact methods.

• Can compute some effects that are impossible for an exact method (e.g. caustics from a point light seen
through a perfect mirror).
• Quality requirements may be set and the solution can be refined until those requirements are met.
• For some approximate methods, the GI solution can be saved and re-used.
Disadvantages:
• Results may not be entirely accurate (e.g. may be blurry) although typically the error can be made as small as
necessary.
• Artifacts are possible (e.g. light leaks under thin walls etc).
• More settings for quality control.
• Some approximate methods may require (a lot of) additional memory.
Examples:
• Photon mapping.
• Irradiance caching.
• Radiosity.
• Light cache in V-Ray.
Hybrid Methods: Exact Methods Used for Some Effects, Approximate Methods for Others.
Advantages:
• Combine both speed and quality.
Disadvantages:
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• May be more complicated to set up.
Examples:
• Final gathering with Min/Max radius 0/0 + photon mapping in mental ray.
• brute force GI + photon mapping or light cache in V-Ray.
• Light tracer with Min/Max rate 0/0 + radiosity in 3ds Max.
• Some methods can be asymptotically unbiased - that is, they start with some bias initially, but it is gradually
decreased as the calculation progresses.
II: Gathering vs Shooting Methods
Shooting Methods
These start from the lights and distribute light energy throughout the scene. Note that shooting methods can
be either exact or approximate.
Advantages:
• Can easily simulate some specific light effects like caustics.
Disadvantages:
• They don't take into consideration the camera view; thus they might spend a lot of time for parts of the scene
that are not visible or do not contribute to the image (e.g. caustics that are not visible - they must still be
computed).
• Produce more precise solutions for portions of the scene that are close to lights; regions that are far from light
sources may be computed with insufficient precision.
• Cannot simulate efficiently all kinds of light effects e.g. object lights and environment lights (skylight); non-
physical light sources are difficult to simulate.
Examples:
• photon mapping (approximate).

• particle tracing (approximate).
• light tracing (exact).
• some radiosity methods (approximate).
Gathering Methods
These start from the camera and/or the scene geometry. Note that gathering methods can be either exact or
approximate.
Advantages:
• They work based on which parts of the scene we are interested in; therefore, they can be more efficient than
shooting methods.
• Can produce a very precise solution for all visible parts of the image.
• Can simulate various light effects (object and environment lights), non-physical lights.
Disadvantages:
• Some light effects (caustics from point lights or small area lights) are difficult or impossible to simulate.
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Examples
• path tracing (exact)

• irradiance caching (final gathering in mental ray), (approximate).
Hybrid Methods
These combine shooting and gathering; again, hybrid methods can be either exact or approximate.
Advantages:
• Can simulate nearly all kinds of light effects
Disadvantages:
• May be difficult to implement and/or set up.
Examples:
• final gathering + photon mapping in mental ray (approximate).

• irradiance map/brute force GI + photon map in V-Ray (approximate).
• bi-directional path tracing and metropolis light transport (exact).
III: Approximate Methods: View-Dependent vs View-Independent Solutions
Some approximate methods allow the caching of the GI solution. The cache can be either view-dependent or
view-independent.
Shooting Methods
Advantages:
• Shooting methods typically produce a view-independent solution.
Disadvantages:
• The solution is typically of low quality (blurry and lacking details). Detailed solution requires a lot of time
and/or memory.
• Adaptive solutions are difficult to produce.
• Regions that are far from light sources may be computed with insufficient accuracy.
Examples:
• photon mapping
• some radiosity methods
Gathering Methods
Gathering methods and some hybrid methods allow for both view-dependent and view-independent solutions.
View-dependent solutions
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Advantages:
• Only the relevant parts of the scene are taken into consideration (no time is wasted on regions that are not
visible).
• Can work with any kind of geometry (i.e. no restriction on geometry type).
• Can produce very high-quality results (keeping all the fine details).
• In some methods, view-dependent portions of the solution can be cached as well (glossy reflections,
refractions etc).
• Require less memory than a view-independent solution.
Disadvantages:
• Requires updating for different camera positions; still, in some implementations portions of the solution may
be re-used.
Examples:
• Irradiance caching (in V-Ray, mental ray, finalRender, Brazil r/s, 3ds Max's light tracer).
View-independent solutions
Advantages:
• Solution needs to be computed only once.
Disadvantages:
• All of the scene geometry must be considered, even though some of it may never be visible.
• The type of geometry in the scene is usually restricted to trianglular or quadrangular meshes (no procedural or
infinite geometry allowed).
• Detailed solutions require lots of memory.
• Only the diffuse portion of the solution can be cached; view-dependent portions (glossy reflections) must still
be computed.
Examples:
• Some radiosity methods.
Hybrid Methods
Different combinations of view-dependent and view-independent techniques can be combined.

Examples:
• photon mapping and irradiance caching in V-Ray.

• photon mapping and final gathering in mental ray.
• radiosity and light tracer in 3ds Max.
GI Methods Supported by V-Ray
V-Ray supports a number of different methods for solving the GI equation - exact, approximate, shooting and
gathering. Some methods are more suitable for some specific types of scenes.
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Exact Methods
V-Ray supports two exact methods for calculating the rendering equation: brute force GI and progressive path
tracing. The difference between the two is that brute force GI works with traditional image construction
algorithms (bucket rendering) and is adaptive, whereas path tracing refines the whole image at once and does
not perform any adaptation.
Approximate Methods
All other methods used V-Ray (irradiance map, light cache, photon map) are approximate methods.
Shooting Methods
The photon map is the only shooting method in V-Ray. Caustics can also be computed with photon mapping, in
combination with a gathering method.
Gathering Methods
All other methods in V-Ray (brute force GI, irradiance map, light cache) are gathering methods.
Hybrid Methods
V-Ray can use different GI engines for primary and secondary bounces, which allows you to combine exact and
approximate, shooting and gathering algorithms, depending on what is your goal. Some of the possible
combinations are demonstrated on below.
Example: Comparisons of Different GI Methods
Here is a scene rendered with different GI algorithms in V-Ray. Combining the different GI engines allows great
flexibility in balancing time versus quality of the final image.
Brute force GI, 4 bounces.

Notice the grain and the long render time.
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Irradiance map + brute force GI, 4 bounces.

The grain is gone, although the GI is a little blurry.
(see the GI caustics below the glass sphere).
Light cache only.

Very fast, but shadows are blurry
( Store direct light for the light map is on).
Light cache and direct lighting

( Store direct light is off).
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Brute force GI + light cache.

There is some grain in the GI but is a lot faster than brute force GI alone.
Irradiance map + light cache;

probably the best quality/speed ratio.
Render time: 1m 39s
Photon map only.

Notice the caustics from the glass sphere, as well as the dark corners.
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Photon map and direct lighting.

Photon map with precomputed irradiance only.

Splotchy, but faster than a raw photon map.
Irradiance map + photon map.

Notice the dark corners and incorrect shading on the letters.
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Irradiance map + photon map with retracing of corners.

Corners are better although still a little dark.
Irradiance map + photon map with precomputed irradiance, with corner retracing.
Irradiance map + light cache with GI caustics enabled.

Notice the slowdown due to the caustics.
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Light cache in Progressive path tracing Mode with photon-mapped caustics.

Render time is quite high.
Render time: 1h 44m 15.4s
Example: GI Caustics
This example shows GI caustics generated by a self-illuminated object
This example shows the effect of the number of light bounces on an image:
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Direct lighting only: GI is off.
1 bounce: irradiance map, no secondary GI engine.
367
2 bounces: irradiance map + brute force GI with 1 secondary bounce.
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Unlimited bounces (complete diffuse lighting solution): irradiance map + light cache
Note: the scene in this example is from Evermotion ( http://www.evermotion.org/ )
This example demonstrates the effect of the global ambient occlusion options.
The first image to the right is rendered with the Light cache for both primary and secondary
bounces, Fixed Filter type for the light cache, and Store direct light off. The second image in the center is
rendered with the same light cache settings, but with global ambient occlusion enabled. The third image to the
right is rendered without ambient occlusion, with Brute force GI engine for primary bounces, and the Light
cache as a secondary engine with Nearest Filter type . The render times include the time for calculating the
light cache. Note how ambient occlusion can produce a feeling of a more detailed image, even though the
result is not entirely correct.
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Ambient occlusion is off - lighting is good, but there is a lack of detail.
Ambient occlusion is on - details are much more defined.
Brute force GI, no ambient occlusion - details are fine, but render times are longer.
370
Terminology
Analytic Sampling
This is one of the V-Ray's techniques for calculating motion blur. Instead of taking a number of time samples,
the analytic method blurs the moving triangles perfectly. It will take in consideration all triangles crossing a
given ray during a given time interval. Keep in mind that because of its "perfection" this method will be
extremely slow on high-poly scenes with fast motion. (See also: Motion blur, Motion blur parameters, Quasi
Monte Carlo sampling)
Antialiasing (Image sampling)
Antialiasing is a special technique for producing smooth images of high-contrast edges and small details in
materials and objects. V-Ray achieves antialiasing by taking additional image samples where necessary. To
determine if more samples are needed, V-Ray compares differences in color (and/or other properties) of
neighboring image samples.. This comparison can be performed in several ways. V-Ray supports fixed, simple 2
level and adaptive antialiasing (See also: Image samplers, G-Buffer, G-Buffer Antialiasing)
Area Lights
Area light is a term describing a non-point light source. These types of light sources produce area shadows. V-
Ray supports rendering of area lights through VRayLight. (See also: VRayLight, Area shadows)
Area Shadows (Soft shadows)
Area shadows are blurred shadows (or shadows with blurred edges) that are caused by non-point light sources
(Area lights). V-Ray is capable of producing the effect of area shadows either through VRayShadow or
through area lights. (See also: Area lights)
BRDF (Bi-Directional Reflectance Distribution Function)
One of the most general means to characterize the reflection properties of a surface is by use of the bi-
directional reflection distribution function (BRDF), a function which defines the spectral and spatial reflection
characteristic of a surface. V-Ray supports the following BRDF types: Phong, Blinn, Ward. (See also: VRayMtl)
BSP (BSP Tree, Binary Space Partitioning Tree)
BSP is special data structure for organizing scene geometry in order to speed up ray-triangle intersections
(intersecting a ray with the triangles in the scene is the task most frequently performed by a raytracer).
Currently V-Ray implements two types of BSP Tree. These are a static BSP Tree for scenes without motion
blur and a motion blur BSP Tree. (See also: Motion Blur)
Bucket (Region, Rendering region)
A bucket is a rectangular part of the current frame that is rendered independently from other buckets. The
division of a frame into rendering regions allows for optimal resource utilization (CPUs, PCs, memory). It also
allows for distributed rendering. (See also: Distributed rendering)
Caustics (Radiosity)
This is the effect of light refracted by a non-opaque object hitting a (diffuse) surface. (See also: Caustics)
Depth of field (DOF)
Depth of field is the effect of having a particular point in the scene to appear focused (sharp) and the rest to
out of focus (blurry) depending on camera shutter properties and the distance from the camera. This is similar
to how real world cameras work so this effect is especially useful for producing photorealistic images. (See
also: DOF, Camera)
Distributed rendering (DR)
Distributed rendering is a technique for utilization of all available computational resources (all CPUs in a
machine, all machines in a LAN, etc.). DR divides the currently processed frame into rendering regions and
371
keeps all CPUs in LAN-connected machines busy computing the rendering result. Overall DR assures that V-Ray
makes the most out of your equipment when rendering a single frame. For animation sequences however, you
should use MAX's standard network rendering as it may be more efficient. (See also: Bucket, Distributed
rendering)
Early Termination
Early termination is a technique for reducing the samples taken for evaluating a blurry value. This basically
works by looking at the samples as they are computed one by one and deciding, after each new sample, if
more samples are required. Early termination is used throughout V-Ray for all blurry values. (See
also: importance sampling.)
G-Buffer
This term describes the collection of various data generated during image rendering. These could be Z-values,
material IDs, object IDs, non-clamped colors etc. This has proven to be very useful for performing post-
rendering image processing. (See also: Antialiasing, Image sampler)
G-Buffer Antialiasing
V-Ray is capable of antialiasing the rendered image based on the differences in one or several G-Buffer
channels. (See also: Antialiasing, Image sampler,G-Buffer)
HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image)
A High Dynamic Range Image is an image containing high-dynamic range colors (with components exceeding
the range 0.0-1.0, or 0-255). This type of images is often used as an environment map to light the scene with
natural light.
Importance Sampling
Importance sampling is a technique for basing the number of samples required for evaluating a blurry value,
on the effect that value has on the final result. For example, dark materials require fewer samples for
evaluating GI than bright materials; dim area lights can do with less samples than bright lights etc. Importance
sampling is used throughout V-Ray for all blurry values. (See also: early termination)
Index of Refraction (IOR)
The index of refraction is defined as the speed of light in vacuum divided by the speed of light in a given
medium. IOR = C/V, where V is the light speed specific for the different mediums. To achieve a material with a
specific IOR you have to set the Index of refraction field value in MAX's standard materials in the
section Extended parameters.
Material Index
Vacuum 1.00000
Air at STP 1.00029
Ice 1.31
Water at 20 C 1.33
Acetone 1.36
Ethyl alcohol 1.36
Sugar solution(30%) 1.38
Fluorite 1.433
372
Fused quartz 1.46
Glycerin 1.473
Sugar solution (80%) 1.49
Typical crown glass 1.52
Crown glasses 1.52-1.62
Spectacle crown, C-1 1.523
Sodium chloride 1.54
Polystyrene 1.55-1.59
Carbon disulfide 1.63
Flint glasses 1.57-1.75
Heavy flint glass 1.65
Extra dense flint, EDF-3 1.7200
Methylene iodide 1.74
Sapphire 1.77
Heaviest flint glass 1.89
Diamond 2.417
Indirect Illumination (Global lighting, Global Illumination)

In real world when a particle ray of light hits an object it produces multiple reflected rays with different
intensity in all directions. These rays on their turn may hit some other objects and produce even more rays and
so on. This process, multiply repeated, generates the so called Global Illumination. (See also: Indirect
Illumination, Irradiance map)
Irradiance Map
Indirect Illumination in V-Ray is generally achieved by calculating GI samples. The irradiance map is a special
cache where V-Ray keeps precalculated GI samples. During the rendering process when V-Ray needs a
particular GI sample it computes it by interpolating the nearest precalculated GI samples stored in the
irradiance map. Once computed, the Irradiance map can be saved in a file and reused in subsequent
renderings. This can be especially useful for camera fly-through animations. Samples for VRayLight can also be
stored in the irradiance map. (See also: Indirect Illumination parameters,Indirect Illumination, Area lights, Area
shadows)
Low accuracy computations
In certain cases V-Ray will not need to compute absolutely precisely a ray contribution to the final image. V-
Ray will then use faster but less precise methods for computation and will take fewer samples. This produces
slightly noisier results, but decreases rendering times. Users can control the degree of optimization by
changing when V-Ray switches to Low accuracy computations by changing Degrade depth values. (See also:
Degrade depth, Low subdivs)
(Quasi) Monte Carlo sampling
Monte Carlo sampling is a method for numerical computation of integrals of functions by evaluating these
functions at a number of random points. Quasi Monte Carlo sampling is a modification of this method, which
373
instead of randomly generated points uses points forming a low-discrepancy sequence, which are more evenly
distributed than purely random ones. This is the method used by V-Ray to evaluate complex things like global
illumination, blurry reflections, depth of field, motion blur and image antialiasing.
Motion Blur
This effect is observed when looking at some fast-moving object. The motion is so fast that one can not focus
the object and the object's image appears blurred to the viewer. (See also: Motion Blur, Analytic
sampling, Monte Carlo sampling)
Photon, Photon map
This is a simulation of a real world photons (a photon is a light particle). In order to produce caustics effects V-
Ray traces certain amount of photons that come out of the light sources. Then the results are stored in a
photon map and used during the rendering process so that highly realistic caustic effects are produced.
Reflections
As an advanced raytracer V-Ray supports accurate reflections. Glossy reflections are as well supported (See
also: VRayMap, VRayMtl, Glossiness)
Refractions
Refraction is the bending of a wave when it enters a medium where it's speed is different. The refraction of
light when it passes from a fast medium to a slow medium bends the light ray toward the normal to the
boundary between the two media. As an advanced raytracer V-Ray supports true accurate refractions. V-Ray
also handles glossy refractions (See also: VRayMap, VRayMtl, IOR, Translucency, Glossiness, Reflections)
Russian roulette
This is a technique for reducing variance (i.e. noise) by eliminating computationally intensive paths with little
or no contribution to the final picture, without introducing bias.
Subdivs
In V-Ray subdivs is a measure for the maximum amount of samples (rays) that V-Ray will use to compute a
certain value. The maximum number of samples is proportional to the square of the subdivs value. For
example, if the subdivs value of a glossy reflection is 5, V-Ray will never make more than 5 x 5 = 25 samples to
evaluate the reflection.
Translucency
Translucency is a term describing the interaction of light with a non-opaque medium (wax, marble, skin etc.).
V-Ray supports a simple translucency model that can nevertheless produce quite natural results. (See also:
VRayMap, VRayMtl, Refractions)
374
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What is a dongle?

Answer: A dongle is a USB device that contains your V-Ray for SkethcUp license or licenses. It’s very small and
does not have any accessible storage space, it contains only the license and not the software itself.
Question: When do I need to plug in my dongle?

Answer:You can plug in your dongle at any point in the installation. The dongle must be attached to the
computer whenever you are using V-Ray.
Question: Can I use this software on more than one computer?

Answer: You can move the dongle back and forth between users to quickly move the license or you can use
the the built in floating license manager to allow other computers on the same Local Area Network to access
the license from your machine.
Question: Where can I download material files?

Answer: You can access our material library by signing into the Chaos Group site here:
http://chaosgroup.com/en/2/downloads.html?s=v-ray-materials
Question: Where is the 64bit version for SketchUp 2013?

Answer: SketchUp 2013 is only available as a 32bit program and V-Ray as a plugin takes these settings from
SketchUp. As a result V-Ray for SketchUp is only 32bit.
Question: Does V-Ray for SketchUp support GPU rendering?

Answer: At this time V-Ray does use the video card or the GPU when rendering.
Question: Which hardware works best with V-Ray?

Answer: At this point rendering is all about number crunching. This means that a powerful processor is the
best place to focus when choosing a machine. V-Ray for SketchUp and Rhino do not currently use the GPU
when rendering but a good video card is not considered a waste. Chaos Group does not recommend any
specific brand or endorse a particular model computer, processor or otherwise.
Question: How can I locate the records of my other Chaos Group purchases?
Answer: Contact us at support@chaosgroup.com with as much information as you have about the purchases
and we will be glad to locate the records in our system.
Link:
https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VRAY2SKETCHUP/V-Ray+2.0+for+SketchUp+Help
Copyright © 2016 Chaos Software Ltd. All Rights Reserved. V-Ray and the V-ray logo are registered trademarkeds of Chaos
Software Ltd. in Bulgaria and / or other countries. Autodesk and and Maya are registered trademarks or trademarks of
Autodesk, Inc, and / or its subsidiaries and / or affiliates in the USA and or / other countries. Microsoft, Windows Vista and
Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United State and / or other
countries. apple Mac and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is a
registered trademarks of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. All other brand names, product names, or
trademarks belong to their respective holders.
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License Agreement for V-Ray for SketchUp

END USER SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT

V-Ray 1.5 for SketchUp

3.1. THE LICENSEE shall not:

5.1. THE AGREEMENT is effective until terminated.

License Agreement for the V-Ray License Server

§ LICENSE SERVER AGREEMENT

LICENSE SERVER AGREEMENT

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Article 3. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE LICENSEE

3.1. THE LICENSEE shall not:

b) duplicate THE DONGLE;

h) adapt or reverse engineer or otherwise tamper with THE DONGLE;

Article 4. PRODUCT AUTHORIZATION AND DONGLE

5.1. This AGREEMENT is effective until terminated.

Credits and 3rd Party Copyright Notices

§ V-Ray for SketchUp Copyright Notice

V-Ray for SketchUp Copyright Notice

OpenEXR Copyright Notice

OpenEXR official site: http://www.openexr.com/

Copyright (c) 1998-2002 Glenn Randers-Pehrson

PyQt Copyright Notice

Installing Distributed Rendering

WIBU-KEY drivers – drivers for the dongle.

Render Node – machine that is doing the actual rendering.

RAM 4 GB RAM and 4 GB swap minimum – recommended 8 GB or more RAM, 8 GB or more

USB Port Required for hardware lock, preferably USB 2.0

TCP/IP Only IPv4 is supported. IPv6 is currently not supported

Operating Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, 32 bit or 64 bit versions

SketchUP version 8, 2013 or later

RAM 4 GB RAM and 4 GB swap minimum – recommended 8 GB or more RAM, 8 GB or more

USB Port Required for hardware lock, preferably USB 2.0

TCP/IP Only IPv4 is supported. IPv6 is currently not supported

SketchUP version 8, 2013 or later

Installation of V-Ray for SketchUp

A complete installation of V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUpconsists of:

All components are included in the installation pack

7. Make sure that the dongle is NOT plugged-in

9. Click Finish to complete the installation

• V-Ray for SketchUp - this is the actual plug-in for SketchUp

6. Click Finish to complete the installation

11. In the next step click Continue

15. The installer will proceed with the driver installation

Setting up your Licenses

§ V-Ray Licensing System

V-Ray Licensing System

Starting and Stopping the V-Ray License Server

$ sudo /sbin/SystemStarter start vrlservice

Finding your IP address

Creating a .wbc File

3. Wait until the remote context file is created.

Updating the Contents of the Dongle

$ sudo /sbin/SystemStarter stop vrlservice

4. Start the V-Ray license server.

V-Ray License Settings Change

Cannot Install V-Ray

1. Checking the V-Ray license server:

2. Checking the available licenses on the license server:

3. Checking the connection to the license server:

4. Checking the V-Ray license settings:

Before you start, make sure the dongle is NOT plugged-in.

1. Uninstall the WIBU-KEY driver from Windows Control Panel.