V-Ray for Maya

V-Ray is now available for Autodesk's Maya! This highly anticipated rendering solution for the Maya platform is the perfect complement for reproducing the advanced visual techniques used in the Visual FX, Film, Media and Entertainment industries.

The comprehensive set of features provided by V-Ray for Maya includes true 3D Motion Blur, Sun & Sky procedural lighting system, Physical camera for matching life footage, Environment Fog, a set of Sub-Surface Scattering shaders and many others.

V-Ray for Maya is supported on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora operating systems in their 32-bit and 64-bit versions (other distributions also work). V-Ray runs with Autodesk Maya 2008, 2009 and 2010 versions

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 raytracing
• 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 (.vrmesh files, converter for .OBJ, .PLY, .GEO files included)
• On-demand geometry loading from disk files
• Displacement mapping
• Catmull-Clark and Loop subdivision surfaces
• Extensible with custom geometric primitives through the V-Ray SDK
• Particle rendering & particle istancer

 Image Sampling

• Three different image sampling methods
• Full-scene anti-aliasing
• Progressive path tracing
• Support for additional render elements (diffuse, reflection, GI, etc)
• Advanced color (tone) mapping controls
• Extensible with custom image samplers through the V-Ray SDK

 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
• Extensible with custom lights through the V-Ray SDK

 Shaders

• Physically plausible materials
• Blurry reflections/refractions
• Accurate hilights
• Set of fast Sub-surface scattering shaders
• Support for efficient material layering
• Extensible with custom shaders through the V-Ray SDK

 Camera Effects

• Depth-of-field with bokeh effects
• Accurate motion blur
• Physical camera model
• Extensible with custom cameras through the V-Ray SDK

 Extras

• Extended matte/shadow capabilities
• Texture baking of any render element (GI, lighting, etc)

 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

 Integration with Maya

• All features accessible from within Maya (no external applications required) Standalone version included (10 licenses)
• Support for many of the standard Maya shaders, lights, materials, procedural and utility textures

Supported Autodesk Maya platforms

• Autodesk Maya 2008, Autodesk Maya Complete 2009, Autodesk Maya Unlimited 2009, Autodesk Maya 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• System Requirements
• A computer with Autodesk Maya 2008, Autodesk Maya Complete 2009, Autodesk Maya Unlimited 2009, Autodesk Maya 2010 software;
• Supported OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business (SP1 or higher), Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2 or higher), 32-bit or 64-bit versions (64-bit is recommended); Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 5.3 WS (64-bit) ; Fedora™ 8 operating system (32-bit and 64-bit) ; Apple® Mac OS® X 10.5.7 or higher operating system (32-bit and 64-bit);
• Intel Penium III or compatible processor at 400 MHz minimum (dual Pentium IV or AMD Opteron or later recommended);
• Minimum 128 MB RAM and 350 MB swap. For best performance are recommended 4 GB or more RAM, 4 GB or more swap file.
• Intel Penium III or compatible processor at 400 MHz minimum (dual Pentium IV or AMD Opteron or later recommended);
• Minimum 128 MB RAM and 350 MB swap. For best performance are recommended 4 GB or more RAM, 4 GB or more swap file.