V-Ray 3.40.01 for 3ds Max is available for download

[alexander.kazandzhiev]

Hello all,

It will be officially announced the next week, but the V-Ray 3.40.01 for 3ds Max builds are already available for download. Below you can find the changelog for this service pack:

Build 3.40.01 (official) (31 May 2016)
==============

New features:
(*) V-Ray: Add support for 3ds Max 2017 including:
- Initial support for the new Physical Material;
- Support for MultiTile in V-Ray RT;
- Support for ColorMap in V-Ray RT;
- VFB: Initial HiDPI scaling support;
(*) VRayDenoiser: Implement a new render element that contains a denoised version of the image:
- The denoiser can take advantage of hardware acceleration;
- The denoised result can be adjusted after a render is complete;
- The denoised result is updated periodically during progressive rendering;
- The render elements required by the denoiser are automatically added;
(*) vdenoise.exe: A new command-line tool for denoising still images and animations with frame blending;
(*) V-Ray: Enable GI by default;
(*) V-Ray: Add another deep output fragment merge mode, "None", where fragments are not merged at all;
(*) V-Ray: Add "layers" type to override material exclude list;
(*) V-Ray: Add refraction filter bake element;
(*) V-Ray: Lower tessellation rate for out-of-view hair and displaced/subdivided geometry to save RAM in heavy scenes;
(*) V-Ray: Move the VRayHDRI's Tiled textures options from the material editor's interface to the V-Ray's Settings tab;
(*) V-Ray: Print a warning if "Show GI only" is enabled;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add support for Orthographic camera;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add support for bump with procedural Noise texmap;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Print the memory usage in the VFB statistics;
(*) VFB: Add option to enable auto-saving to history if the render completed normally (i.e. is not aborted);
(*) VFB: Add option to keep the VFB history folder relative to the current project path;
(*) VRayAerialPerspective: Add "filter color" parameter;
(*) VRayIES: Add an option to select luminous intensity in candelas (cd);
(*) VRayInstancer: Add option to override the node properties of the source objects;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Add textured flakes support;
(*) VRayStereoscopic: Add support for vertical placement of the left/right views in addition to side-by-side;
(*) VRayTriplanarTex: Add random modes: "By particle ID"/"By instance ID" support;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implemented ability to pop out and enlarge the render diagrams;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implemented different interpolation types per point in the render diagrams;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implement motion blur clipping by the Cutter geometry for non-Mesh modes;
(*) .vrscene exporter: Show progress bar instead of "not responding" during export to .vrscene;
(*) V-Ray scene converter: Convert rectangle/sphere/disc photometric lights without web profile to the corresponding V-Ray lights;
(*) V-Ray Installer: Attempt to uninstall previous installation without registry record;
(*) V-Ray Installer: Installation options can be set from the command-line;
(*) ply2vrmesh.exe: Store the textures names used by OBJ files into user attributes;
(*) vrayspawner.exe: Make it possible to run V-Ray from a remote location;

Modified features:
(*) V-Ray: Faster rendering with the light cache;
(*) V-Ray: Blend the "Fixed" and "Adaptive" sampler UI into a "Bucket" image sampler;
(*) V-Ray: Enable support for processor groups and more than 64 CPU cores by default;
(*) V-Ray: Rename "Color threshold" to "Noise threshold" in the Adaptive image sampler;
(*) V-Ray: Add texmap shortcut buttons next to colors for plugins with automatically generated UI
(*) V-Ray: Add UI mode views switching for the Image Sampler rollout;
(*) V-Ray: Make the DR settings window with persistent size;
(*) V-Ray: Remove the "Adaptive subdivision" sampler from the UI
(*) V-Ray: Slow rendering of objects visible behind multiple panes of glass;
(*) V-Ray: The log messages window text and background match the 3ds Max color scheme;
(*) VRayLight: Streamline the UI rollouts;
(*) VRayLight: When assigning a new VRayHDRI or a Bitmap texture through the UI, automatically browse for a file and set the mapping to spherical environment;
(*) V-Ray RT: Add information about the current noise threshold to the render statistics;
(*) V-Ray RT: Enable region changes without restarting the render in RT;
(*) V-Ray RT: Enabled by default the rendering of Proxies, X-ref, Particle systems, Displacement and Motion Blur;
(*) V-Ray RT: Make override material independent for production and ActiveShade renderers;
(*) V-Ray RT: Optimize export of scenes with many instanced geometries with many faces;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add "bias" spinners support for VRayDirt;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Improvement automatic texture resizing, leading to reduced memory usage and better quality;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Optimized rendering of VRayBlendMaterial;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Speed up loading of resized textures to the GPU;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Warn the user if all the GPUs they have are used for rendering;
(*) VFB: Added a button to open the V-Ray messages window;
(*) VFB: Show warning when images cannot be saved in the history;
(*) VFB: The MaxScript command "vfbcontrol #clearimage" should not trigger confirmation dialog;
(*) VRayDisplacementMod: Automatically calculate the "precision" parameter for 2d displacement mode;
(*) VRayDisplacementMod: Enable the "static geometry" option by default;
(*) VRayExposureControl: Bring back for 3ds Max 2016 and newer;
(*) VRayFur: Faster hair strands generation;
(*) VRayHDRI: Implement drag and drop of texture files from Windows Explorer to the file edit field;
(*) VRayMtl: Improved GGX/GTR sampling to reduce fireflies;
(*) VRayMtl: The "Anisotropy" spinner has a lower step;
(*) VRayProxy: Optimize rendering;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Improved importance sampling algorithm, removed the "texture subdivs" parameter;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Treat "num flakes" as square root of the number of flakes;
(*) VRaySun/VRaySky: Add "blend angle" and "horizon offset" options to the user interface;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Add option for changing the mesh preview color;
(*) V-Ray scene converter: Convert the 3ds Max Normal Bump map to VRayNormalMap;
...

[alexander.kazandzhiev]

Bug fixes:
(*) V-Ray: 3ds Max freezes when exporting a .vrmesh file with the lock selection toggle enabled;
(*) V-Ray: Artifacts in objects outline upon saving to *.hdr file when image filter is set to VRaySincFilter;
(*) V-Ray: Crash upon rendering VRayIES lights;
(*) V-Ray: Crash when rendering an object with changing topology and VRaySamplerInfo render element with Forward/Backward occlusion type;
(*) V-Ray: Noisier results with "Clamp output" and "Sub-pixel mapping" enabled;
(*) V-Ray: Double stamp is printed when saving through 3ds Max output;
(*) V-Ray: Fixed artifacts with NormalMap;
(*) V-Ray: Freeze after rendering with displacement
(*) V-Ray: Misspelled additional parameters in some materials and textures;
(*) V-Ray: NaN pixels when rendering matte geometry with Hair and Fur;
(*) V-Ray: RAW image output file extension is not memorized between sessions;
(*) V-Ray: Scenes with more than 64 render elements crash;
(*) V-Ray: The %numpasses and %numsubdivs keywords are written as 0 in multichannel OpenEXR files;
(*) V-Ray: The items from the viewport quad menus are not restored from the "V-Ray menu registration" button;
(*) V-Ray RT: Crash when adjusting a NoiseMap attached to V-Ray OSL shader;
(*) V-Ray RT: Crash when switching between CUDA or OpenCL and VRAY_OPENCL_PLATFORMS_x64 is not set;
(*) V-Ray RT: Crash with VRayDistanceTex and FFD modifier;
(*) V-Ray RT: Displacement map is not working when the host material is used as base in VRayBumpMtl;
(*) V-Ray RT: Machine with disabled "Use local host" option DR takes render node license;
(*) V-Ray RT: Matte rendering is not working with Forest Pro objects;
(*) V-Ray RT: Moving a light during ActiveShade causes two light re-exports;
(*) V-Ray RT: Override material is not working on Forest Pro and Rail Clone geometry;
(*) V-Ray RT: Render to texture saves black image when set as production renderer;
(*) V-Ray RT: VRayFur's "Placement" options are not working;
(*) V-Ray RT: When rendering Active Shade with Render Mask selected - changes to selection are not updated;
(*) V-Ray RT CPU: Crash when trying to select objects in the 3ds Max ActiveShade frame buffer;
(*) V-Ray RT CPU: Crash when rendering with motion blur, Particle Flow and Multi/Sub-Object material;
(*) V-Ray RT CPU: Crash with rendering out-of-process and render region;
(*) V-Ray RT CPU: Textures in VRayMtl's Self-Illumination slot are clamped (0-1);
(*) V-Ray RT CPU: VRayNormalMap plugged into the texmap slot of VRayDisplacementMod is not considered;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Crash with multiple UV sets on dynamic geometry;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Different VRaySky horizon compared to V-Ray RT CPU;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Fixed memory leak and crashes with displacement, subdivision and VRayProxy;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Fixed loading Light Cache from file depending on the current frame;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Fixed wrong bump mapping with VRayColor2Bump;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Fixed high memory usage with proxies, hair, particles, displacement and subdivision in animation;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Size and offset of "Use real-world scale" are not working when the mapping is "Planar from World XYZ";
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Motion-blurred hair with light cache is rendered very slow;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: MultiTexture and VRayMultiSubTex can work as input to other textures;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: VRayMultiSubTex is not modified when processed through another texmap;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Wrong shading for the Light Cache with displacement, subdivision and VRayProxy;
(*) V-Ray Standalone: Projector textures in direct lights do not render properly;
(*) VFB: Crash with auto-save to the history after Render To Texture;
(*) VFB: Saving an image to the history from V-Ray RT does not save the scene file name;
(*) VFB: Saving image results in broken filename when not ASCII;
(*) VFB: Window position is saved when cloning the renderer;
(*) VRayBlendMtl: SSS/Skin sub-materials cause difference in final result between active/inactive Render Elements;
(*) VRayBumpMtl: Limited actions (drag/cut/copy/paste) on base material slot;
(*) VRayClipper: Black surface of the section of the clipped geometry with "Affect lights" disabled;
(*) VRayEdgesTex: The "show subtriangles" option is not working;
(*) VRayFastSSS2: Garbage data produced for normals with the VRaySamplerInfo render element;
(*) VRayFastSSS2: Old scenes should be left in "Prepass-based illumination map" mode;
(*) VRayFastSSS2: The "Save/Load flythrough map" prepass modes are missing from the user interface;
(*) VRayFur: 3ds Max crashes when the value for per area or per face is set too high on very large geometry;
(*) VRayFur: Tiling occurs with Curl options;
(*) VRayHDRI: Artifacts (splotches) when hdri image is set in the 3ds max environment slot;
(*) VRayHDRI: Viewport preview is very slow with large bitmaps;
(*) VRayInstancer: Incorrect velocity information is generated;
(*) VRayLight: Open EXR file renders black when used for IBL;
(*) VRayLight: "Store With Irradiance Map" does not work well with Use Local Subdivs off;
(*) VRayLightMtl: Crash when rendering with Scanline or Raytrace texmap;
(*) VRayLightMeter: Indirect illumination is wrongly evaluated;
(*) VRayMtl: Animated diffuse color is not updated in the viewport;
(*) VRayMtl: Crash when changing to Scanline renderer if opacity map is set and material editor is open;
(*) VRayMtl: Difference in bump map rendering with older versions;
(*) VRayMtl: Diffuse texture is not working with Particle Flow operator "Position Object/ Density by Material /grayscale";
(*) MultiMatteElement: Settings rollout name is wrong;
(*) VRayOSLMtl/VRayOSLTex: Tweak dropdown controls forget their position when switching between different textures;
(*) VRayProxy: MaxScript objects return "Object" class name insted of "VRayProxy";
(*) VRayProxy: Wrong Alembic particle/hair width;
(*) VRayScatterVolumeMtl/VRayHairMtl: Texmap slots are not updated on map change with Slate Material Editor;
(*) VRayStereoscopic: Crash with high resolution renderings when autosave is enabled;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Not appearing in the VRayMtlSelect render element;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Fixed black dot artifacts when rendering using "Volumetric Heat Haze" mode;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Frame blending does not work properly with adaptive grid;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Imported VDB files have wrong orientation in V-Ray RT;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: The viewport GPU preview disappears when changing frames with a single cache;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Mesh preview crashes on 3ds max 2016 and newer with Nitrous DX9;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Multi Matte Element is not filled in "Volumetric Geometry" mode;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: VDB levelset caches render with inverted normals and winding;
(*) .vrscene exporter: VRayProxy with displacement modifier is exported as static mesh;
(*) V-Ray Light Lister: Handling invalid nodes;
(*) V-Ray Quick settings: Rollouts disappear when loading custom preset;
(*) ply2vrmesh: Is swapping the MtlIDs;

Best regards,
Alexander

[Johnnysonicom]

amazing! so many improvements and again in a service pack, not a charged version leap thanks to everyone involved!

[NicoC]

Yes ! congratulations guys, another great release !
I can't wait to deploy it and use it in production

Thanks a lot,

Cheers.

[darthviper107]

Question--is Vray 2.5 no longer getting updated to support latest versions of Max? I don't quite need to upgrade to Vray 3 yet but I wanted to start using 3ds Max 2017

[AndresAhumada]

New Physical matrial?

[jacksc02]

Amazing work that has gone in to this release!
Congratulations to everyone at Chaos!

[vlado]

Question--is Vray 2.5 no longer getting updated to support latest versions of Max? I don't quite need to upgrade to Vray 3 yet but I wanted to start using 3ds Max 2017

We are looking into that, but it will take a while longer. Our primary goal was to release the 3.40 update as soon as possible.

Best regards,
Vlado

[RotemS]

Bug fixes:
(*) V-Ray: Crash when rendering an object with changing topology and VRaySamplerInfo render element with Forward/Backward occlusion type;

Not actually fixed, as mentioned here.

[darthviper107]

We are looking into that, but it will take a while longer. Our primary goal was to release the 3.40 update as soon as possible.

Best regards,
Vlado

Cool, thanks. I'll keep an eye out for that

[eyepiz]

New Physical matrial?

Is this going to be like the Physical Camera? I haven't tried Max 2017 yet so not sure how that New Physical Material works, sounds very interesting.

[thablanch]

Is the denoiser working with the standard 3dsMax frame buffer?

[vlado]

Is the denoiser working with the standard 3dsMax frame buffer?

Not for the moment. Someone requested it and we will look into it, but it's a bit complicated.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Bigguns]

Hi vlado, as far as I can see, still no 2d displacement support for UDIM ?? I'm asking it for years now .. and maya has it from day one I think ... I though it would be in this update.. Any idea if it can be done soon?

[vlado]

I have to finish that skin shader first...

Best regards,
Vlado