Chaos Group Ships V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp

Posted by Torgeir Holm on 16.9.2013 | Category: V-Ray news

25 New Features Target Speed, Lighting and Visualization Quality; 64-Bit Rendering, V-Ray RT for CPU and GPU, Plus Support for SketchUp 2013 Now Available

Press Release: 

Sofia, Bulgaria – 16 September 2013 – With today’s launch of Chaos Group’s V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp, the access designers have to faster rendering, better lighting tools, and more detail in complex scenes has reached new heights. It’s the biggest expansion to V-Ray for SketchUp’s rendering capabilities yet, and it’s all thanks to the help of a vast and very dedicated group of beta testers. 

This artist-friendly rendering solution for SketchUp features dramatic improvements to visualization workflow (V-Ray RT®), image-based lighting quality (V-Ray Dome Light), and a designer’s ability to quickly manage complex scenes with highly detailed models (V-Ray Proxy). 

“This is by far the most exciting and influential release of V-Ray for SketchUp we have ever had. High quality visualization is now easier than ever, making V-Ray even more of an everyday tool for designers", said Corey Rubadue, Product Manager at Chaos Group. 

“V-Ray is the best rendering engine for SketchUp on the market today,” said Matthew Valero, Founder at Valero Studio. “High polygon proxies, RT rendering, and incredible accuracy at rapid speeds - simply amazing. It’s the one SketchUp plug-in I could never live without.” 

Since they were first revealed in beta form, V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp’s banner features were met with much excitement in the V-Ray community. After receiving excellent feedback from beta testers, Chaos Group was able to turn what was initially supposed to be an incremental release into a major one. 

The introduction of GPU support for V-Ray RT provides faster rendering and real time interactions with speed improvements up to 30 times faster. With 64-bit rendering, 3D artists can tap their 64-bit render farm for more processing power with added flexibility to render larger scene sizes, images, and animations in SketchUp. The ability to produce animation for SketchUp projects has also been streamlined, ensuring a cleaner and easier creation process. 

For the full list of features, click here. 

"We use V-Ray for SketchUp as a base for every illustration that leaves this studio," said Jeremy Kay, Owner at StudioJDK. “Its remarkably fast rendering speeds, customization abilities and beautiful output never let you down or doubt why it’s our industry’s leading rendering software solution.” 

Chaos Group has also prepared a long list of dedicated resources that will help new V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp users. Those materials include: help documentation, a dedicated forum, and a dedicated product page. 

Pricing and Availability 

V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp is now available for SketchUp 8, SketchUp Make 2013 and SketchUp Pro 2013 on both Windows and OS X platforms. To provide optimum security, reliability, and portability Chaos Group requires a hardware key to license its software. V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp customers will have the option to purchase a new hardware key or install the license on an existing one. Registered users have access to a free demo through the V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp product page. 

Pricing for V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp will remain unchanged at $800. The upgrade price from V-Ray 1.49 for SketchUp or lower is $320. Users who purchased V-Ray for SketchUp between 15 April 2013 and 16 September 2013 will be eligible for a free upgrade.