V-Ray for SketchUp 7.30.00 release notes

Build 7.30.00

Official release

Released Apr 8, 2026.

Download V-Ray 7 for SketchUp

AI Mood Match (Beta)

• Light Gen now includes AI Mood Match (Beta). It matches your scene's environment lighting to a reference photo using HDR-based setups. Open the AI Mood Match (Beta) tab to use it.
• The new Auto Match Angle option lets Mood Match automatically align HDR rotation with your current camera view.
• The Mood Match info tooltip on the results page now shows a thumbnail of the reference image so you can identify the source.
• The Light Gen results page now includes an Adjust EV on application checkbox. Clear it to keep your project's current camera configuration when you apply scenarios. This option is available in both classic and AI-powered Light Gen modes.
• You can now rate Mood Match results and give feedback.

Vantage viewport rendering (real-time path tracing)

• You can now render in the viewport with Vantage. Enable the V-Ray Render viewport overlay in SketchUp and start a live Vantage session to see the image stream in the viewport. You can also use the new Vantage Viewport Render button on the Live Link toolbar.
• You can now save the viewport render as a file. Go to Extension / V-Ray / Overlays / Render Overlay and choose Export Viewport Image.

Gaussian splats relighting

• Scene lights can now affect Gaussian splats, with controls for blend, shadow blur, offset and normals. Enable the Lighting toggle in a Gaussian Splat object to use these controls.

Scatter improvements

• Scatter Cluster Painting now lets you create cluster-based distributions that follow painted strokes on the host geometry. To use it, enable Clustering, select Cluster Painting mode, add guests to the Base layer and create additional layers.
• Scatter now supports Displacement on guests, so scattered assets keep their displacement detail.
• Altitude Limitation in Scatter now includes a curve editor to adjust the height distribution's falloff.

Parallax interiors and textures

• The new Parallax texture uses a specialised bitmap to simulate a three-dimensional space behind a surface, such as an interior seen through a window.
• Cosmos now includes an initial set of Parallax interior assets in 3D Models / Parallax interiors. Import an asset to add a simple surface with the Parallax shader to your project. Position, resize and create instances of it as needed.

Node Editor (Beta)

• The new Node Editor (Beta) window lets you edit materials and build advanced shaders visually. Use its editing and layout tools to create, add, modify and organise materials and textures.
• Use the Asset details panel to change material and texture parameters within the Node Editor.
• The Node Editor now includes Asset Preview. It stays in sync with the preview in the Asset Editor and shows a realistic render of the selected shader.
• The Node Editor now includes a grid, grid snapping and a Minimap.
• You can now collapse nodes and parameter sections to make individual nodes more compact. Sections expand automatically when you hover over them so you can connect inputs.
• Imported non-native assets, such as vrscenes, appear as automatically generated nodes with their map-type parameters exposed.
• A dedicated Node Editor toolbar now provides quick access to common actions, such as picking and assigning materials.
• All Node Editor menu items now have tooltips and hotkeys. These include Select All, Layout All, Zoom controls, grid and minimap toggles, and apply to selection.
• You can now drag and drop Cosmos materials directly into the Node Editor.
• Other improvements are also included.
• Known limitation: Node Editor does not fully support UVW Placement nodes and Mapping Source connections. Support is planned for a later update.
• Known limitation: Minor UI synchronisation issues can occur when you use the Asset and Node Editors at the same time to edit Layered and Multi-sub Textures. Fixes are planned for the next update.
• Known limitation: Scanned materials do not currently show inputs in the node graph.

Cosmos

• Cosmos Sets now lets you import and place grouped assets, such as a table with chairs, as a single unit. You can still edit the assets afterwards.
• Importing an HDR from Cosmos now automatically creates a dedicated Dome light for environment lighting. Rename the Dome light if you need to break its connection to Cosmos.
• The new Spherical Inverted Environment texture placement mode improves support for Cosmos HDRs and Mood Match.
• Cosmos assets no longer export multiple LODs. This reduces scene complexity and file size in downstream tools.

Quick caustics (experimental)

• V-Ray Material now includes the experimental Quick Caustics effect. It is calculated at mesh level and needs sufficient mesh subdivision for detailed results. For best results with textures, use the map with a Normal (geometry) displacement modifier.
• Known limitation: 2D displacement is not currently supported.

VFB

• The Background layer is now called Image. It includes transformation tools you can use directly in the image preview area.
• Fixed aliasing issues with external images added to the VFB composition.
• The VFB layers stack now includes a Foregrounds folder at a predefined position. Use it for image layers that need to appear above the render and still receive post effects, such as sharpening and lens effects.
• The VFB layers stack now includes a Backgrounds folder at a predefined position. Use it for image layers that need to appear behind the render.
• The V-Ray Frame Buffer now includes a Histogram panel to analyse colour values in the rendered image. The panel is collapsed by default.

DR 2

• Distributed Rendering 2 (DR2) replaces DR1 to improve the reliability and scalability of distributed rendering.

Other improvements

• The new Light Cache Denoise option is enabled by default. It controls denoising of the Light Cache prepass to give a smoother first interactive frame.
• Auto Exposure now takes the render's background into account. You can enable this behaviour in legacy scenes through an option in the UI.
• All curve-based controls now support zooming, panning, grid snapping and values outside the 0 to 1 range. These include textures, falloffs and Scatter.
• The Update Result option is now correctly disabled during active renders.
• Copying Gradient textures is now faster.
• The Caustics section is now visible when you select RTX mode in the GPU engine. Options that the GPU does not support are hidden or disabled.
• Fixed the "Lost connection to Cloud application" issue after sleep and wake. The Chaos Cloud window now recovers more reliably when your computer wakes.
• Changing preview swatches for Subsurface Scattering and Hair materials now works without errors. The previews also update correctly.
• Fixed intermittent UI errors when deleting child materials or converting materials to V-Ray.
• Fixed conflicts between V-Ray AppSDK and the SDK in V-Ray for SketchUp on macOS. V-Ray no longer logs repeated "Error loading SDK Library" messages.
• Improved gRPC communication to prevent delayed state updates. Render and abort states in the Asset Editor now stay in sync with the host app.
• Improved window parenting on macOS so selection and focus behave more predictably between V-Ray windows and the host app.

Integration

• Object IDs now work correctly with Scatter for reliable per-object masking.
• Fixed issues with Scatter Area Modifiers.
• Fixed issues with scattering Mesh Lights.
• Scatter now updates correctly during interactive rendering when set to 1D - On Spline.
• Fixed a crash when moving a Polygon Render Region point during a production render.
• Fixed VPR flickering when using V-Ray Denoiser with Update Effect set to Rapid.
• Fixed an issue that replaced procedural textures imported with .skp files with baked viewport representations.
• Improved the viewport representation of specific Cosmos materials.
• Fixed missing Proxy material slots after converting SketchUp materials to V-Ray materials.
• Fixed an issue with "Apply to Selection" in specific situations.
• Fixed issues with converting native SketchUp materials to V-Ray materials.
• Layered Textures now copy and paste correctly between SketchUp projects.
• Fixed an issue that prevented changes to Enscape Clouds settings from applying correctly in V-Ray.
• Fixed a crash when disabling Polygon Render Region during DR rendering.
• Fixed a crash when activating a scene in a specific V-Ray 6 project.
• Fixed an "Exception in CORE" error when starting Interactive Rendering immediately after closing a Live Link connection.
• Reduced excessive GPU memory use caused by decals in specific projects.
• The Chaos License Server installer now checks for incompatible or outdated versions before installation.
• Fixed an error when attempting to upload from an empty VFB to Chaos Cloud.
• Fixed an issue that displayed a warning in the Cosmos window when attempting to render.
• GPU rendering now has a faster Time-to-First-Pixel, especially in scenes with many bitmaps.
• Fixed a CUDA Error 700 crash during GPU rendering with specific Cosmos assets, such as certain lamp models.
• Fixed an "Exception in CORE" error when starting GPU Interactive Rendering after importing a specific vrscene as a Proxy.
• Fixed an issue that stopped the Vantage scene updating during Live Link after opening the Asset Editor for the first time.
• Fixed Vantage errors when setting Custom Live Link on different ports.
• Texture resizing in SketchUp's material tray now appears correctly during Vantage Live Link.
• Fixed a crash when starting a render while new Enscape Cosmos assets were still downloading.
• Improved scene parsing when Enscape assets are missing. This reduces delays when opening or updating affected scenes.
• V-Ray now supports the Enscape Contrails parameter and translates the effect correctly.
• Fixed an immediate crash on macOS when using Intel Open Image Denoiser at higher resolutions in SketchUp 2025. SketchUp version 25.0.659 is required.
• Fixed a crash on macOS when creating scenes in SketchUp 2023 with Scatter viewport preview enabled.

V-Ray Preview overlay

• The V-Ray viewport preview overlay, previously known as Scatter Viewport Preview, has been rewritten to improve stability and performance.
• Scatter now uses the optimised viewport preview overlay for better performance and responsiveness when displaying large distributions.
• You can now preview Fur strands, such as grass, directly in the SketchUp viewport. The preview more closely matches the final render.
• The viewport preview now supports IES lights so you can see photometric light distributions before rendering.
• You can now disable previews by object type, including Fur, Scatter and IES lights. For example, hide demanding grass previews while keeping other elements visible. Find the controls under Extensions / V-Ray / Overlays / Preview Overlay.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when activating V-Ray with a Viewport Preview enabled.
• Fixed a scene-specific crash when removing Scatter guest objects while the viewport preview is active.