Friday, February 7th, 2025Posted by Jim ThackerChaos releases Beta 2 of the new V-Ray for Blenderhtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Originally posted on 25 October, and updated with the link to the latest beta release.The long-awaited new version of V-Ray for Blender is due out in beta this year, developer Chaos has told CG Channel.The updated plugin will have a feature set based on the V-Ray 7 core, and will be available via its own single-product subscription, in addition to standard V-Ray subscriptions.The first update to the V-Ray Blender integration for five yearsV-Ray actually already has an integration for Blender: just not a current one.The old plugin, which exported scenes from Blender to V-Ray Standalone, became an official Chaos product in 2014, but has been in limbo for years.The last new nightly build came out in 2019, and supports Blender 2.79: 19 releases and four entire release series behind Blender 4.3, the current version of the software.Since then, Chaos has periodically hinted that a new version was in development, most strongly in its Chaos Unboxed livestream in February.Includes core features from V-Ray 7The new V-Ray for Blender is a brand new and more conventional integration.Chaos tells us that it is based around V-Ray 7, the latest version of the renderer, currently available for 3ds Max.The initial release will be based around the V-Ray 7 core, but will not have V-Ray 7s complete feature set.In particular, the initial release may not have all of V-Rays scene-building tools, like geometry replication system V-Ray Enmesh.Pitched as an alternative to RenderMan for Blender for VFX and animation workWhile V-Ray has both CPU and GPU render engines, Chaos told us that it expected a key market for the new edition to be studios looking for a CPU-based production renderer.The sector is currently served by Blenders native Cycles renderer, and RenderMan for Blender, the new-ish Blender integration for Pixars heavyweight VFX and animation renderer.Available via a unique single-product subscriptionV-Ray subscriptions currently provide access to all of the current integrations of the software, which include Maya, Houdini, 3ds Max and Cinema 4D.On its release, the new Blender integration will be added to that list.However, it will also be available via its own unique single-product subscription.Chaos told us that Blender would be a first-class citizen in the V-Ray product line, and that the single-product option would include the same additional features as standard subscription plans, such as access to online rendering platform Chaos Cloud.Updated 11 December 2024: Chaos has released the first public beta of the new V-Ray for Blender.Its a free download, but to access it, you will need to register for an account on the Chaos website and fill out a short usage questionnaire.You can find more information about its features in the online documentation, and support for installation issues on Chaoss forum.Updated 7 February 2025: Chaos has released the second public beta of V-Ray for Blender.Beta 2 reworks the V-Ray Proxy node for handling render-time proxy geometry, adding support for Alembic, and adding a Lights list to the LightSelect render channel.There are also bugfixes based on early user feedback.Price, system requirements and release datesThe new V-Ray for Blender is available free in beta, with a stable release due in early 2025.Beta 2 is compatible with Blender 4.2 on Windows 10+ only. It supports GPU rendering with NVIDIA GPUs only.V-Ray is rental-only, with node-locked V-Ray Solo subscriptions priced at $84.90/month or $514.80/year, and V-Ray Premium subscriptions priced at $119.90/month or $718.80/year.Chaos hasnt announced pricing for the new Blender-only subscription plan.Register for the beta of V-Ray for BlenderRead a list of new features in V-Ray for Blender in the online documentationHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsSee CG benchmarks for NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUsDiscover how NVIDIA's Blackwell GPUs performed in CG software like 3ds Max, Arnold, Blender, Maya, UE5 and V-Ray in our early tests. 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