Chaos has released V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max, adding Gaussian Splat support along with more than 20 new features and improvements, from creative scatter options to firefly removal.Version 7 continues V-Rays leadership in both visualization and visual effects, with innovations that accelerate and extend whats possible for creative professionals, said Phillip Miller, VP Product, Solutions for Artists at Chaos. V-Ray 7 also improves extensibility for custom pipelines while further cementing the Chaos ecosystem with design workflows from Enscape, previsualization with Chaos Vantage and virtual production with Project Arena.One immersive technique which is increasingly popular in creative industries, 3D Gaussian Splats, now provides users a fast way to create realistic 3D environments from photos or videos. V-Ray 7 now offers the first native support for Gaussian Splats with ray-traced rendering, so users can include their scenes within detailed environments with accurate reflections and shadows reducing the effort to place projects in context or on location.Immersive, interactive virtual tours can be uploaded from V-Ray 7 and assembled in Chaos Collaboration, to create panoramic experiences with automatic hotspot generation. Each tour can be customized by adding floor plans, personalizing hotspots and transitions or including contextual details/design elements.The V-Ray Frame Buffers (VFB) expansion helps users do more in one place. New custom-shaped render regions enable artists to render just one or many parts of their frame with custom-drawn shapes. A vignette layer camera effect is now included that can also be customized by shape. The VFB also includes new color-correction presets that let users explore different looks as they refine their design.Additional features and improvements include:Chaos Scatter AidsInstance Brush The new Chaos Scatter Brush can easily populate instances within a scene with more precision. Users can add extra details or quickly remove unwanted areas.Distribution Maps Users can switch between different density styles using the new Chaos Scatter distribution maps library, helping designers add realistic looks and experiment with instance distribution.Faster Scatter-Heavy Exports Chaos Scatter is now managed procedurally by V-Ray 7 Standalone, enabling massive scattering results to export in minimal time when network rendering or submitting to Chaos Cloud.Better LightingFirefly Removal V-Ray 7s new algorithm automatically detects and finishes unresolved pixels, known as fireflies, during bucket rendering, reducing the time needed to produce final images.Enhanced V-Ray Sun & Sky V-Ray 7 offers an improved PRG sky model that can create more realistic images and immersive animations. V-Ray Sky can also now render various observer altitudes up to several kilometers.Chaos Cosmos UpgradesV-Ray Luminaires V-Rays expanding Chaos Cosmos asset library, now brings more speed and accuracy to lighting fixtures, accurately distributing the light, and properly illuminating the fixtures themselves. Most light fixtures within Chaos Cosmos are now all Luminaires in V-Ray 7, making it easier to populate scenes with realistic lighting while also rendering results more quickly.Asset Variants Support Chaos Cosmos has more asset variations to choose from, such as seasonal options for 3D vegetation models (ex: summer or autumn leaves). Users can select desired variants and drag and drop it into their scene or alter it freely after import.Accelerated WorkflowsV-Ray Profiler Users can track the time V-Ray spends calculating shaders and volumes, exporting scenes, compiling geometry and displacement, and loading bitmaps. Once all hotspots are located, users can optimize their pipelines for faster rendering. The Profiler can be paired with the Memory Tracker for more data/insights.V-Ray Lister Geometry Tab V-Ray Lister gains a new tab for managing and tweaking V-Ray geometry objects including V-Ray Proxy, Fur, Decal, and Clipper. With advanced filtering options, artists can navigate and manage settings, controlling multiple geometry objects directly from the Listers UI.GPU BoostsFaster Time to First Pixel New optimizations for scatter rendering, texture heavy scenes, data uploads and geometry compilations offer better production/interactive rendering experiences, as well as a faster time to first pixel.Caustics Support V-Ray GPU now supports caustics, enabling realistic surface reflections and refractions in both production and interactive rendering. Based on photon mapping, the new Caustics solver is optimized to fully utilize GPU hardware, delivering faster results than a CPU.Out-of-Core Textures Texture-heavy scenes can be rendered more efficiently, helping artists add detail to their scenes without sacrificing shading quality.Other UpdatesSelective V-Ray Scene Conversion Users can convert selected objects, update materials with a new Material Process, or convert textures to .TX files for smoother use and better performance, all with the same toolset.Extended USD Support V-Ray 7 now supports the latest version of USD for Autodesk 3ds Max 0.9.0, so users benefit from the latest features and enhancements.OpenPBR Support Consistent shading results are achievable across applications with OpenPBR Material support recently introduced with 3ds Max 2025.3. This brings a new shading model to V-Ray that promises to boost production efficiency by reducing the need for manual adjustments when switching between compatible renderers and applications.Additional information is available here.Source: Chaos Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.