V-Ray for Nuke
Install from ZIP File
This page provides information on setting up multiple versions of V-Ray on your local system from a .zip file.
Last updated 18 September 2025
This page provides information on setting up multiple versions of V-Ray on your local system from a .zip file.
Overview
Sometimes users need to be able to quickly switch between different V-Ray versions without having to constantly reinstall it. In this case, both V-Ray for Nuke and V-Ray Standalone can be installed and run from arbitrary locations on your machine or local network. This page describes how to set up your local system so that it loads the files for the correct version.
The notes here are for the Windows and Linux operating systems only.
Unpacking the Contents of the .zip File
Extract the contents of the relevant .zip file into a suitable folder, for example, vray_builds/my_version . After the extraction, there should be four sub folders in it: nuke_plugins, nuke_root, nuke_vray, vray and vray_std .
Running Nuke
Windows
Linux
OS | Action | Variable | Location | Description | Example |
|---|
OS | Action | Variable | Location | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | Set | VRAY_FOR_NUKE_n_PLUGINS Install from ZIP File#1 | vray_builds/my_version/nuke_vray | Loads the V-Ray plugins. Note: This variable can also be set to point to the vray_std folder. This allows the VRayTranslator node can locate the right V-Ray Standalone executable. | set VRAY_FOR_NUKE_12_2_PLUGINS =vray_builds/my_version/nuke_vray |
Windows | Set | VRAY_RT_GPU_LIBRARY_PATH | vray_builds/my_version/vray_std | Loads the V-Ray GPU libraries. | set VRAY_RT_GPU_LIBRARY_PATH=vray_builds/my_version/vray_std |
Windows | Set | NUKE_PATH | vray_builds/my_version/nuke_plugins | Required to run V-Ray itself. | set NUKE_PATH=vray_builds/my_version/nuke_plugins ;%NUKE_PATH% |
Windows | Set | PATH | vray_builds/my_version/nuke_root | Required to run V-Ray itself. | set PATH=vray_builds/my_version/nuke_root ;%PATH% |
OS | Action | Variable | Location | Description | Example |
|---|
OS | Action | Variable | Location | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linux | Export | VRAY_FOR_NUKE_n_PLUGINS Install from ZIP File#1 | vray_builds/my_version/nuke_vray | Loads the V-Ray plugins. Note: This variable can also be set to point to the vray_std folder. This allows the VRayTranslator node can locate the right V-Ray Standalone executable. | export VRAY_FOR_NUKE_12_2_PLUGINS =vray_builds/my_version/nuke_vray |
Linux | Export | VRAY_RT_GPU_LIBRARY_PATH | vray_builds/my_version/vray_std | Loads the V-Ray GPU libraries. | export VRAY_RT_GPU_LIBRARY_PATH=vray_builds/my_version/vray_std |
Linux | Export | NUKE_PATH | vray_builds/my_version/nuke_plugins | Required to run V-Ray itself. | export NUKE_PATH=vray_builds/my_version/nuke_plugins :$NUKE_PATH |
Linux | Export | LD_LIBRARY_PATH | vray_builds/my_version/nuke_root | Required to run V-Ray itself. | export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=vray_builds/my_version/nuke_root :$LD_LIBRARY_PATH |
Footnotes
- n is the Nuke version (12, 12.1, 12.2, etc.)
Running V-Ray Standalone
After you have complete your V-Ray for Nuke setup, you need to to perform the following steps to run V-Ray Standalone
Windows
- Edit the vray_builds/my_version/vray_std/vrayconfig.xml Replace [PLUGINS]\vrayplugins with the path to vray_builds/my_version/nuke_vray/vrayplugins .
Linux
- Edit the vray_builds/my_version/vray_std/vrayconfig.xml Replace [PLUGINS]/vrayplugins with the path to vray_builds/my_version/nuke_vray/vrayplugins .