V-Ray 5.1 review

Our V-Ray 5.1 review explores if the software is a must-have addition to your 3D toolset.

V-Ray 5.1 review
(Image: © Chaos Group)

Our Verdict

A solid update that boosts creativity and improves workflow.

For

  • Improved render setups and times
  • Easier and faster scene lighting
  • Camera editing is much easier
  • Material and material editor overhaul

Against

  • Substance popup still appears
  • Render Elements require two clicks

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Welcome to our V-Ray 5.1 review. This is the latest update to Chaos Group's rendering software and it's certainly one for 3D artists to be excited about. Taking a look at the 5.1.1 update since V-Ray 5 shipped last summer, it seems Chaos Group have taken several pages out of the Corona Renderer book and focused V-Ray's 5.x release series on creativity and ease of work more than anything else.

As a 3D artist makes you feel old to realise that artists are just starting out who are younger than V-Ray. Since its humble beginnings in Sofia, Bulgaria in the late nineties, Chaos Group's V-Ray has become a multi-application industry staple. Let's find out if Cirstyn Bech-Yagher believes V-Ray 5.1 lives up to the name and delivers on the excitement.

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The Verdict
8

out of 10

V-Ray 5.1

A solid update that boosts creativity and improves workflow.

TOPICS
Cirstyn Bech-Yagher

Cirstyn is a freelance CG artist and educator, with over 15 years' experience in 3D. Her clients include AMD and Daz, and she has written for 3D World magazine for a number of years. She is a certified agile (software) project manager, an avid reader and gamer.

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