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07-848 2005

Application SDK

UI and VFB

Edit note – Allows you to add a text comment to the image; the comment appears below the image.

Last updated 6 April 2026

Introduction

  • Image preview:
    Loads render elements channels via a dropdown list;
    Works with display corrections;
    Loads various 8bit and 32bit file formats, including V-Ray resumable files;
    Image comparison between 2 or 4 renders;
  • Image management:
    Keeps the rendered image in full 32-bit floating point format;
    Can store history of rendered images with their post rendering corrections;
    Can save corrected output to various image formats;
  • Image editing and post processing:
    Set Color Corrections to rendered image and its elements;
    Composite mode for Back to Beauty workflow including layers corrections;
    LightMix control on lights contribution in the rendered image;
  • Scene editing:
    Can modify actual lights values by transferring updated intensity and color from LightMix mode (requires implementation);
    IPR camera navigation control from inside VFB;
  • Render management:
    Denoiser control;
    Region rendering control;
    Allows you to choose the order in which the buckets are rendered;

User Interface

VFB Menu

Menu

Menu Options

Menu

Menu Options

File

Save current channel – Saves the currently loaded channel to an image file format.

Save all image channels to separate files – Saves all the render elements to separate files.

Save all image channels to single file – Saves the image to a single multi-channel EXR or .vrimg file.

Load image – Opens an image file to be previewed in the V-Ray Frame Buffer.

Batch image processing – Allows processing of multiple .vrimg files with the same layer tree changes at the same time.

Batch Image Processing

Input folder – Specifies a path to start images.

Output folder – Specifies a path for the output images.

Layer preset – Specifies a layer tree corrections preset.

Output filenames suffix – Specifies a suffix added to the output image filenames.

Overwrite existing – Enables overwrite of existing files with the same name in the output folder.

Render

Start interactive rendering – Calls the VFBRenderInteractive callback. Requires showVfbButtonInteractiveStart to be set to true in RendererOptions.

Abort rendering – Stops the current rendering.

Render – Starts rendering. If the VFBRenderLast callback is set, it will not start rendering, only call the callback.

Image

Follow mouse – Renders the closest bucket found to the mouse pointer, when using the bucket image sampler. If the progressive sampler is used, V-Ray samples the closest pixels to the mouse pointer.

Follow mouse – Drag the mouse over the VFB while rendering to change what part of the image is sampled first;
Follow mouse (locked) – Locks the bucket (or sampling) starting point.

Copy current channel to clipboard – Copies the current channel to the clipboard.

Clear image – Clears the contents of the frame buffer. This is useful when starting a new render to prevent confusion with the previous image.

View

Display color space –Specifies the color space, in which the image is displayed.

None – Does not specify a color space;
sRGB – Displays the image in sRGB color space;
OCIO – Displays the image in a color space loaded from an OCIO configuration file;
ICC – Displays the image in a color space loaded from an ICC configuration file;
Gamma 2.2 – Displays the image in Gamma 2.2 color space.

Zoom VFB – Zooms in/out the rendered image in the VFB.

Zoom 50% – Zooms out to 50%;
Zoom 100% – Zooms to 100%. Alternatively, double-click in the VFB with the left mouse button;
Zoom 150% – Zooms in to 150%.
Zoom to fit – Zooms the current image to fit in the VFB. If Render Region is active – zooms to the region.

Channels – Chooses which channels to see.

View red channel – Displays the red channel;
View green channel – Displays the green channel;
View blue channel – Displays the blue channel;
Switch to alpha channel – Displays the alpha channel;
Monochromatic mode –Displays the image in monochromatic mode.

Color clamping – Opens the color clamping submenu options:

Force color clamping – Forces color clamping;
View clamped colors – Displays the clamped colors.

Use pixel aspect – Enables visualization of the pixel aspect ratio.

Panorama View – Shows the image in 360° view.

Show History – Shows the History panel.

Show Layers – Shows the Layers panel.

Options

VFB settings – Opens the VFB Settings window where you can adjusts settings for Render View, Render Region, History and Layers.

VFB Toolbar

This dropdown gives access to render elements rendered for the scene. The selected render element is displayed in the VFB. By default, the RGB color and Alpha render elements are available. Any additional render elements that have been added to the scene also appear in the drop-down.

This dropdown gives access to render elements rendered for the scene. The selected render element is displayed in the VFB. By default, the RGB color and Alpha render elements are available. Any additional render elements that have been added to the scene also appear in the drop-down.

Displays the coordinates of the mouse pointer.

Specifies the sampled area size. Click on the arrow to open a context menu with the available sampled area sizes: 1x1, 3x3, 5x5, and 7x7.

Specifies whether color and display corrections are applied (RGB) or not (Raw) when showing the sampled pixel values at the current mouse pointer position.

Displays the RGB pixel values at the current mouse pointer position before applying any color corrections.

Specifies RGB values. Click on the arrow to open a context menu with the available option.

None – Does not specify the RGB value.
HSV – Specifies the Hue, Saturation and Value of the pixel under the current mouse position.
Web – Specifies the HEX of the pixel under the current mouse position.
8bit – Specifies the 8bit color palette of the pixel under the current mouse position.

Displays the Hue, Saturation and Value of the pixel under the current mouse position when HSV is selected.

Displays the HEX of the pixel under the current mouse position when Web is selected.

Displays the 8bit color palette of the pixel under the current mouse position when 8bit is selected.

Locks the mouse pointer coordinates and displays information for the selected pixel.

Locks the mouse pointer coordinates and displays information for the selected pixel.

Shows corrected colors.

Shows the V-Ray log.

Displays the Alpha channel.

Displays the red channel.

Displays the green channel.

Displays the blue channel.

Saves the image to disk. Press and hold the icon to bring up the submenu:

Save current channel – Saves the current channel to an image file format;
Save all image channels to separate files – Saves all the render elements into separate files;
Save all image channels to single file – Saves the image into a single multi-channel EXR or .vrimg file.

Clears the contents of the frame buffer. This is useful when starting a new render to prevent confusion with the previous image.

Renders the closest bucket found to the mouse pointer, when using the bucket image sampler. If the progressive sampler is used, V-Ray samples the closest pixels to the mouse pointer. With this option enabled, you can right-click on the image and select Lock bucket starting point to lock the bucket (or sampling) starting point.

Allows you to render regions in the VFB. See the Render Region section for more information.

Starts IPR.

Stops the current rendering.

Starts rendering.

Render History

Enables or disables image A/B vertical comparison. Select images A and B from the render history.

Enables or disables image A/B vertical comparison. Select images A and B from the render history.

Enables or disables image A/B horizontal comparison. Select images A and B from the render history.

Enables or disables image A/B/C/D comparison. Select images A, B, C and D from the render history.

Saves the current image from the VFB to the render history. The image is placed at the top of the render history list.

Loads the selected image from the render history to the VFB.

Removes the selected image from the render history.

A search field where you can filter the images based on the scene paths and notes.

A search field where you can filter the images based on the scene paths and notes.

Edit note – Allows you to add a text comment to the image; the comment appears below the image.

Set A – Sets the render as A image for A/B comparison.

Set B – Sets the render as B image for A/B comparison.

Load to VFB – Loads the selected image in the VFB (same as double-clicking on the image).

Delete – Deletes the selected image from history. The image is moved to the system's Recycle Bin and can be restored from there if needed.

Load layers – Loads the layer tree preset of the selected image.

Reload history – Re-reads the history image list. This may be needed if the history folder is updated outside of Cinema 4D(e.g. from another Cinema 4D session).

Layers

Creates a layer. Multiple layers of the same type can be added.

Folder – Allows grouping multiple layers;
Background – Adds a background color correction layer;
Render Element – Selects a render element from your image that you can use in compositing. This is only available when the Source layer is set to Composite;
Constant – Adds a solid color that can be used to achieve an effect on another layer (for example to multiply by the constant);
Exposure – Adds an Exposure color correction layer;
White Balance – Adds a White Balance color correction layer;
Hue/Saturation – Adds a Hue/Saturation color correction layer;
Color Balance – Adds a Color Balance color correction layer;
Curves – Adds a Curves color correction layer;
Lookup Table – A Lookup Table layer allows loading a LUT file for color transformations;
Filmic Tonemap – Contains different types of mapping curves and gamma corrections. Also allows selection of a color space.

For more information, see the Layers page.

Creates a layer. Multiple layers of the same type can be added.

Folder – Allows grouping multiple layers;
Background – Adds a background color correction layer;
Render Element – Selects a render element from your image that you can use in compositing. This is only available when the Source layer is set to Composite;
Constant – Adds a solid color that can be used to achieve an effect on another layer (for example to multiply by the constant);
Exposure – Adds an Exposure color correction layer;
White Balance – Adds a White Balance color correction layer;
Hue/Saturation – Adds a Hue/Saturation color correction layer;
Color Balance – Adds a Color Balance color correction layer;
Curves – Adds a Curves color correction layer;
Lookup Table – A Lookup Table layer allows loading a LUT file for color transformations;
Filmic Tonemap – Contains different types of mapping curves and gamma corrections. Also allows selection of a color space.

For more information, see the Layers page.

Deletes the selected layer(s).

Saves a layer tree preset.

Loads a layer tree preset.

Quick access to custom layer presets. You must set the path to it in the VFB Settings.

Undo create layer.

Redo create layer.

Command

Description

Command

Description

Reset

Resets all changes done to the selected layer.

Save

Saves the layer as a preset.

Load

Loads a preset for the selected layer.

Delete

Deletes the selected layer.

Save all CCs as LUT

Bakes all the color corrections to a LUT file.

New Layer

Creates a new layer.

Duplicate

Duplicates the selected layer.

Blend Modes

Specifies how the selected layer blends with the result from all layers below it.

Stats

Render Region

VFB Shortcuts

Mouse

Description

Mouse

Description

Mouse wheel

Zoom in/Zoom out

Double-click left button

Zoom to 100%

Middle button dragging

Pan (hand tool)

Ctrl+Shift+Left click

Zoom in the rendered image

Ctrl+Shift+Right click

Zoom out the rendered image

Keyboard

Description

Ctrl+Shift+left click, + / =

Zoom in

Ctrl+Shift+right click, -/_

Zoom out

Double click, *

Zoom to 100%

Arrow keys

Pan left, up, right, down

F

Fit region or whole image in the VFB

Esc

Abort render

Q

Set history A/B vertical compare mode

W

Set history A/B horizontal compare mode

E

Enable history A/B/C/D compare mode

1-9

Load the respective image from the VFB history

H

Show/hide history

Ctrl+L

Show/hide whole right panel

P

Show/hide only layers tree

L

Locks the mouse pointer coordinates and displays information for the selected pixel, i.e. activates the Lock pixel info coordinates button.

Camera control for interactive (RT) rendering

Shift & mouse wheel scroll

Move the camera forward or backward

Shift & mouse wheel scroll

Move the camera forward or backward

Ctrl & mouse wheel scroll

Change camera FoV, effectively zooming in/out

Shift & drag with left mouse button

Orbit the camera around the scene

Ctrl & drag with left mouse button

Pan the camera

Control from code

Python

C++

C#.NET

Node.js

The VFB class

Python

C++

C#.NET

Node.js

VFB Progress Bar

VFB Viewport Context Menu

Python

C++

C#.NET

Node.js

Light Mix and Transfer to scene

Python

C++

C#.NET

Node.js

Other callbacks

Python

C++

C#.NET

Node.js

RendererOptions

  • enableFrameBuffer - (default: true) Controls whether the VFB will be used by this renderer. Notice that this is different from the global enableFrameBuffer function that disables the V-Ray GUI for the whole life of the process.
  • showFrameBuffer - (default: true) Controls whether the VFB is shown when rendering starts. It can still be shown later through the VFB API.
  • noRenderLicensePreCheck - (default: false) - By default creating a V-Ray renderer engages an AppSDK license and also very briefly engages a render license and releases it in order to be able to return a license error early. You can disable this pre-check with this flag for example to reduce network communication.
  • useDefaultVfbTheme - (default: true) If set to false the VFB theme is ignored and the parent application theme is inherited.
  • showVfbButtonInteractiveStart - (default: false) - Show an additional Start Interactive Rendering button and menu action. When pressed, calls a user callback (does not start rendering by default).
  • previewRenderer - (default: false) Optimize the renderer for small preview purposes. Should not be used for production.
  • allowInvalidCharactersInPluginNames - (default: false) - Allow the use of invalid characters in plugin names.
  • dockFrameBuffer - (default: false) - Dock the VFB window
  • hideToSceneButton - (default: false) - Hide the Light Mix transfer <To Scene> button in VFB. If you don't plan on implementing that functionality, it's a good idea to hide the button (otherwise it will always be disabled).
  • useVfbLog - (default: true) - Use the built-in VFB log
  • pluginLibraryPath - This can be used optionally to define a non-default path for loading V-Ray plugins. Most users won't need to set this. It allows multiple files to be specified.
  • vfbDrawStyle - This enum controls the style and colors of the VFB GUI. The available styles are those of the V-Ray Standalone product as well as V-Ray for 3dsMax and V-Ray for Maya.