Chaos Cosmos, V-Ray 5 for Revit, and V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max, update 1 are the latest applications in Chaos’ visualization ecosystem.

“You can’t call a company Chaos and then be a quiet brand.” That’s what Peter Mitev, Chaos CEO, said recently in a keynote on realtime and sharing the vision for the future of Chaos. Mitev announced that Chaos Group has been rebranded as ‘Chaos.’ He unveiled the new logo saying that the new brand represents the building blocks of visualization, where their products and services are interconnected together in one ecosystem.

Although Chaos products are widely used in the industry, the rebranding is aiming to raise the profile of Chaos Group. “Chaos now represents a place of excitement, of possibility, of constant progression, where 3D artists can be inspired to push themselves further, to unlock their creativity,” said Richard Pay, Design Director at Uniform, the brand design agency Chaos selected.

In addition to a brand overhaul, Chaos announced three product updates for V-Ray users.

• Chaos Cosmos offers a free new 3D asset library with 650+ assets that architects and designers can use to stage interiors, public spaces, etc.
• V-Ray 5 for Revit brings realtime functionality with V-Ray Vision, an always-on viewport that can provide feedback on a design in seconds.
• V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max, update 1 brings added support for masks, new Progressive Caustics, improved translucent materials and more.

Chaos has been working on creating a complete visualization ecosystem through its products. The introduction of Chaos Cloud was a big step in this direction. A user can access cloud rendering directly from V-Ray’s UI. In December 2020, Chaos released Chaos Vantage (formerly Project Lavina) for realtime ray tracing. A user can drag-and-drop a V-Ray scene directly into the realtime environment. Chaos says the application can handle billions of polygon without trading off on speed and quality.

Chaos Cosmos offers high-quality, highly curated 3D content usable across V-Ray, V-Ray Vision, and Chaos Vantage. It is also compatible with V-Ray 5 for Revit, new updates to V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max, SketchUp, and Rhino. Cosmos is available for free.  To browse the library, visit: https://cosmos.chaos.com/.

“Unlike other content, Cosmos assets are designed to work across the Chaos ecosystem, giving users a central way to add context and realism to any 3D visualization,” said Phillip Miller, VP of product management at Chaos. “For years, we’ve been working to connect our tools so visualization feels accessible at every stage of the design process. Now, that same interconnected system has render-ready assets on tap, making it even easier to bring rich details to a project, whether you’re working through initial concepts or finalizing the big reveal.”

V-Ray 5 for Revit brings real-time and photorealistic rendering to the BIM workflow. The app also works with Chaos Cosmos. Designers can work with immediate feedback before moving on to full photorealism with V-Ray’s final renderer. V-Ray Vision provides realtime visualization. It offers a high-quality representation of a Revit model to architects.

Other new features in V-Ray 5 for Revit include:

• New Sun and Sky – Improves accuracy across the board, including when the sun is near the horizon, right before sunrise and after sunset.
• Line Renderings – Give renders an illustrative look by adding linework with global contour controls and material overrides.
• Texture Randomization – Now easier to create subtle variations in textures and materials for added realism.
• Stochastic Texture Tiling – An automatic fix for repeating textures.
• Coat Layer – Gain extra reflections on polished or lacquered surfaces without using blend materials.
• Sheen Layer – Easily simulate fabrics like velvet, satin and silk.
• New Displacement Workflow – Displacement can now be applied to both native Revit and V-Ray materials.
• Dirt and Weathering – New controls for aging materials with procedural streaks have been added to the VRayDirtMtl.

For a full feature tour, please visit the product page.

Pricing and availability

V-Ray 5 for Revit is available now. A perpetual license is priced at $790, with upgrades available for $395. Term licensing is available at $350 (annually) and $60 (monthly). V-Ray 5 for Revit is also included in V-Ray Collection, an annual plan that gives users full access to 15 Chaos products and services for $699/year.

 V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max, Update 1 offers support for masking in V-Ray Frame Buffer, new Progressive Caustics, improved translucent materials, etc. A new material override option has been added as well, helping artists preserve a scene’s original opacity, bump, refraction, and self-illumination for more creative control. Convenience also extends to the Autodesk Physical Material, which is now auto-translated to V-Ray materials without the need for additional conversions.

Other features include:

• Progressive Caustics – Render reflected lighting from surfaces like glass and water are now far easier to achieve.
• Faster Global Illumination on V-Ray GPU – The V-Ray Light Cache now processes on the GPU, making it much faster to get to the first pixel.
• V-Ray Camera Lister – Easily edit all of the cameras in the scene from one interface.
• Batch Camera Rendering – Users can now export all of the cameras in their scene, making it easier for Chaos Cloud users to render any camera angle they need from a single export.
• Enhanced tyFlow Rendering – tyFlow simulations can now be rendered with V-Ray GPU and Chaos Cloud.
• Intel Open Image Denoising – Excellent for interactive rendering, Intel Open Image Denoise cleans up noise fast, on any machine.
• Viewport Upgrades – V-Ray Materials will now appear even more realistic in the 3ds Max viewport, giving important context to artists as they edit their scenes.

For a full feature tour, visit the product page.

Pricing and availability

V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max, Update 1 is free and available now for anyone with a V-Ray 5 license. Perpetual licenses are priced at $790, with upgrades available for $395. Term licensing is available at $350 (annually) and $60 (monthly). V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max is also included in V-Ray Collection, an annual plan that gives users full access to 15 Chaos products and services for $699/year.