V-Ray Nodes

This page provides a list of all the nodes available within the V-Ray Node Editor in Blender.

Overview

V-Ray Nodes create all the textures, materials, effects, and modifiers provided by V-Ray to enhance your scene. V-Ray Nodes can only be created inside the V-Ray Node Editor, but their properties can also be found in the Properties tab.

Some nodes are available only for their node trees. Here, they are grouped according to their node trees. In the Common group are nodes that are available in all node trees.

For more information, see the corresponding node's page.

Node Types

• Common – These nodes are available for all node trees:
  • Textures
  • Texture Utilities
  • Mapping
  • Math
  • Output
  • Selectors
  • Layout
• Shader – Nodes available only in the Shader Node Tree:
  • Material
• Object – Nodes available only in the Object Node Tree:
  • Geometry
  • Object Properties
• World – Nodes available only in the World Node Tree:
  • Environment
  • Effects
  • Render Channels

Node Socket Colors

Each Node Socket is color-coded to show the type of data that can be connected to it. Some sockets match the colors of the native Blender sockets, and a few are V-Ray-specific.

Channel – This socket is used to connect V-Ray Render Channels. Mainly used to connect render channels to the World Output node.

Plugin – This socket accepts V-Ray plugins. Mainly used with the V-Ray Plugin List node.

Mapping – Accepts UVW data. This is used by most textures. You can output such data with the Mapping nodes.

Effect – This socket connects V-Ray Effects nodes. Mostly used to connect V-Ray Effects to the Effects Container node.

V-Ray-specific node input sockets

Color – This socket accepts color data. The color may or may not have alpha, depending on the node.

Geometry – This socket accepts data from Geometry nodes.

Float – This socket accepts floating-point numbers or grayscale textures, where the brightness in the texture determines the value.

Integer – This socket accepts integer numbers (whole numbers) as input.

Boolean – This socket accepts a true or false value. It usually also has a checkbox for the same purpose.

Material – This socket accepts Material BRDF data. Usually used to connect V-Ray Materials to the V-Ray Material Output node, as well as in materials themselves, like Blend Mtl and Switch Mtl.

Object – This socket accepts data from Selector nodes. Usually to serve as gizmos, or to apply some effect to the object.

Collection – This socket accepts Collection/Object data. Usually connects Selectors to other V-Ray nodes.

Vector – This socket accepts vector, coordinates, and normal information. Usually used to connect the V-Ray Vector to other V-Ray nodes.

Transform – This socket accepts a 4x4 matrix of float values. Usually used to connect V-Ray Transform and V-Ray Matrix nodes.

For a full list of all the sockets available in Blender, see the Blender documentation.

Cycles Shader Nodes Compatibility

• You can convert the current Cycles Shader nodes to V-Ray nodes using the Convert to V-Ray Material button in the V-Ray Node Editor toolbar. This converts only the current shader, you need to select each one individually to convert it. Alternatively, you can use the Convert to V-Ray Material option in the Add menu.
• You can convert all Cycles shader nodes in the scene using the Convert Materials tool.
• If you want to start over, click on the Use V-Ray Material Nodes button to create a new default V-Ray Mtl and start over with your shader creation. Alternatively, you can use the Use V-Ray Material Nodes option in the Add menu.

V-Ray Node editor toolbar when opening a Cycles shader

Add menu when working with Cycles nodes