Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Artists can now work with the same V-Ray scene from early look development and real-time exploration through virtual production and final rendering, with path-traced feedback available directly inside supported digital content creation applications.
The release also introduces Gaussian Splat relighting, giving artists an easy way to blend scanned, real-world environments into 3D scenes; expands Chaos Arena's real-time toolset for virtual production; and delivers faster CPU and GPU rendering, more artist-friendly workflows, and broader hardware and platform support, including AMD GPU rendering and V-Ray for Blender on Linux.
Used across visual effects, animation, product visualization, and advertising, V-Ray gives artists physically accurate lighting and rendering tools for developing shots and producing final images. V-Ray 7, update 4, connects more of that work inside the artist’s existing application, allowing the same scene and assets to move through production with fewer conversions and less rebuilding.
“Artists lose time when a scene has to be converted or rebuilt when it moves between tools,” said Allan Poore, Chief Product Officer at Chaos. “V-Ray 7, update 4, keeps the same asset moving from early exploration to on-set production and final rendering. That means faster feedback, fewer technical interruptions, and more time to focus on the shot.”
Real-Time Rendering, Right in the Viewport
Artists can now use Chaos Vantage to explore and assemble V-Ray scenes in real time inside supported DCC viewports, without exporting assets to a separate game engine. The workflow is available through a Vantage Hydra Delegate for Houdini and an enhanced Maya Live Link, with 3ds Max integration introduced earlier this year. Support for Blender is coming soon via Live Link, and Chaos is also developing an OpenUSD Hydra Delegate to bring Vantage’s real-time and V-Ray’s offline rendering into other host applications, including Nuke and Katana.
Blending Real and Virtual with Gaussian Splat Relighting
Scanned environments usually capture lighting as part of the original image, making them difficult to match to a 3D scene. Gaussian Splat relighting allows artists to adjust the lighting of captured environments in Houdini, Maya, 3Ds Max and Vantage, so they can be used from previz through final delivery, without recreating the location or relying on complex workarounds.
“Gaussian Splats have opened up incredible creative possibilities, but lighting has always been the hard part,” said Vlado Koylazov, Co-Founder and Head of Innovation at Chaos. “Now artists can bring a real, scanned environment into their scene and light it exactly the way the shot needs, instead of being stuck with what the scan gave them.”
Better Creative Control for Virtual Production
The same V-Ray scene can also move into Chaos Arena for LED wall shoots, giving crews more control over materials, focus and colour while cameras are rolling. New features include:
Real-time material editing: Adjust shaders on the LED wall without interrupting the shoot
Real-time depth of field: Match focus between physical and virtual cameras
Decal colour corrections: Adjust specific areas of the digital background to match physical props and set pieces
Lens encoder support: Carry focal length and focus changes from the physical lens into the virtual camera
Faster Rendering Across CPU and GPU
Performance updates help artists get feedback and final renders sooner. GPU interactive previews can now begin up to twice as fast, while CPU rendering is up to 13 percent faster on supported configurations. Light Cache Denoising produces cleaner interactive previews faster, out-of-frustum displacement reduces memory use for geometry of complex surfaces outside the camera view, and Distributed Rendering 2 removes previous machine-count limits for larger jobs.
New Tools for Artistic Control
V-Ray 7, update 4 also introduces new artist-friendly tools and workflows designed to reduce the time it takes to reach the desired look and final frame, including:
V-Ray Parallax Texture: Add depth to distant buildings using textures rather than full 3D geometry, reducing modelling work and scene weight
Quick caustics: Create light refraction patterns without the setup required by the traditional photon-based workflow
V-Ray Displacement Material: Build and combine displacement effects in a material that can move between V-Ray integrations
Speed up early concept exploration with new AI tools in V-Ray for Maya, Chaos Vantage and V-Ray for Blender (commercial version), generate PBR materials from photographs using the AI Material Generator, and upscale low-resolution renders into presentation-ready images with the AI Upscaler.
Pricing and Availability
V-Ray 7, update 4 is available now. For full pricing information, please visit the Chaos pricing page. The free V-Ray for Blender Community Edition remains available for Windows and macOS via the product page, with a Linux build now also available for download.
To learn more, visit the Chaos website.
About Chaos
Founded in 1997, Chaos provides world-class visualisation and design solutions that empower creative minds to bring ideas to life.
The company serves multiple industries, including architecture and design, media and entertainment, and product e-commerce, providing an ecosystem of accessible tools that support every stage of the design and creation process. Its innovative solutions help architects, designers, VFX artists/animators, and other creative professionals share ideas, optimize workflows and create immersive experiences.
Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, Chaos has offices in 11 cities worldwide. For more information, visit chaos.com.