Chaos has released V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max, bringing Gaussian Splat support, new ways to create interactive virtual tours, and more to its rendering solution. V-Ray 7 comes packed with more than 20 new features and improvements, covering everything from creative scatter options to firefly removal,.

“Version 7 continues V-Ray’s leadership in both visualization and visual effects, with innovations that accelerate and extend what’s 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, 3D Gaussian Splats, has been gaining popularity throughout creative industries as a rapid 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 easily include their scenes within rich, detailed environments with accurate reflections and shadows—reducing the effort to place projects in context or on location.

Immersive, interactive virtual tours can now be quickly uploaded from V-Ray 7 and assembled in Chaos Collaboration, allowing designers to create panoramic experiences with automatic hotspot generation. Each tour can be easily customized by adding floor plans, personalizing hotspots and transitions or including contextual details/design elements along the way.

The V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB) has been expanded to help 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 gains new color-correction presets that help users quickly explore different looks as they refine their design.

V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max is available for 3ds Max versions 2020–2025. All V-Ray subscription plans include all supported host applications, which for V-Ray 7 will include 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, and Blender. For a full feature tour of the new V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max, click here.