In November 2009, Chaos Group announced the release of the 4th service pack for their outstanding V-Ray 1.50 render plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max.

Bursting with new and improved features, the new build is available free of charge for existing users. A brand new V-Ray Ambient light feature has been added, which promises to help overcome the ever challenging task of getting realistic light into your scene.

A comprehensive list of the new features can be found in the changelog file, which is part of the installation, but below are some of the features that we believe will benefit users most

• Improved multi-threading on multi-core machines
• Ability to specify gizmo falloff for VRayEnvironmentFog
• Ability to use arbitrary meshes as gizmos for VRayEnvironmentFog
• Option to exclude the background from VRayEnvironmentFog
• Added CIE sky models to the VRaySun and VRaySky
• It is now possible to submit DR servers list for DR through backburner
• Added option to not use area speculars in the VRayIES light
• Added Kelvin temperature settings for the colour of VRayLights
• VFB history is now turned off when 3ds Max is in slave mode
• Output .vrimg and split channel paths are listed in the Asset Tracker
• GI cache files (irradiance maps, light cache etc) are listed in the Asset Tracker

Of these new features, the improved multi-threading on multi-core machines and the enhanced asset tracking capabilities stand out as aspects that will speed up your renders and make it easier to manage your associated files.

The upgrade supports both 32-bit and 64-bit OS, and is compatible with Autodesk 3ds Max 8, Autodesk 3ds Max 9, Autodesk 3ds Max 2008, Autodesk 3ds Max 2009, Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009, Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010.

There is now an update for SP4 called SP4a, which is available as a free download for all current V-Ray for 3ds Max customers of Chaos Group and can be found in the download section of their website. 

For more information, call our experts on 03332 409 309 or email 3D@jigsaw24.com.