This page provides information on exploring the parameters of materials and textures created from plugins with V-Ray.
Overview
Materials and textures can be created from any V-Ray Standalone material or texture plugin that comes with the V-Ray installation. The parameters of these materials and textures can be accessed through the command prompt.
There are two separate tools that contain the above information: plgparams.exe and plugininfo.exe.
Location
By default, the plgparams.exe can be found in:
C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 20xx\bin\ for V-Ray for 3ds Max 2021 and earlier, or
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20xx\bin for V-Ray for 3ds Max 2022 and later.
By default, the plugininfo.exe can be found in:
C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 20xx\bin\ for V-Ray for 3ds Max 2021 and earlier, or
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20xx\bin for V-Ray for 3ds Max 2022 and later.
Accessing Parameters in CMD
plgparams
Details on plugin nodes from plugins is available with the plgparams.exe tool that comes with the V-Ray installation.
With the command prompt, navigate to the bin folder and run plgparams.exe without arguments to see a help message on the tool's usage. In general, you will need to run a series of commands to point plgparams to the plugin folder, locate the V-Ray name of the node (which might differ from its display name in the V-Ray UI), and list the parameters for the plugin.
To point plgparams to the folder where your plugins reside, use the -plugindir option:
plgparams -plugindir <plugin folder>
This command tells plgparams where to find your plugins. By default, the default plugins folder location is:
C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 20xx\bin\plugins for V-Ray for 3ds Max 2021 and earlier, or
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20xx\bin\plugins for V-Ray for 3ds Max 2022 or later.
The plugin folder must be specified with the -plugindir switch each time you run the command.
## Example for 3ds Max 2021 and earlier "C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plgparams.exe" -plugindir "C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plugins" ## Example for 3ds Max 2022 and later "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2022\bin\plgparams.exe" -plugindir "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2022\bin\plugins"
To see the list of plugin names in this folder, use the following command:
## Usage plgparams -plugindir <plugin folder> -list ## Example for 3ds Max 2021 and earlier "C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plgparams.exe" -plugindir "C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plugins" -list ## Example foe 3ds Max 2022 and later "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2022\bin\plgparams.exe" -plugindir "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2022\bin\plugins" -lilst
To see help on the parameters for a specific plugin, name the plugin in quotes after the -plugindir switch and folder. For example, to see help on the BRDFGlass plugin, use the command:
## Usage plgparams -plugindir <plugin folder> <plugin name> ## Example for 3ds Max 2021 and earlier "C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plgparams.exe" -plugindir "C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plugins" BRDFGlass ## Example foe 3ds Max 2022 and later "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2022\bin\plgparams.exe" -plugindir "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2022\bin\plugins" BRDFGlass
This will list all the parameters for the plugin and definitions for each.
plugininfo
Navigate to the bin folder and run plugininfo.exe without arguments to see a help message on the tool's usage. In general, you will need to run a series of commands to point plugininfo to the plugin folder, locate the V-Ray name of the node (which might differ from its display name in the V-Ray UI), and list the parameters for the plugin.
To point plugininfo to the folder where your plugins reside, use the -plugindir option:
plugininfo -plugindir <plugin folder>
This command tells plugininfo where to find your plugins. By default, the default plugins folder location is:
C:\Program Files\Chaos\V-Ray\3ds Max 20xx\bin\plugins for V-Ray for 3ds Max 2021 and earlier, or
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20xx\bin\plugins for V-Ray for 3ds Max 2022 or later.
## Example for 3ds Max 2022 and later "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2024\bin\plugininfo.exe" -plugindir "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2024\bin\plugins"
To see the list of plugin names in this folder, use the following command:
##Usage plugininfo.exe -plugindir <plugin folder> -list ##Make the list organized by category plugininfo.exe -plugindir <plugin folder> -list -listByCategory
To display the plugin information in a JSON format, use the following command:
##Usage plugininfo.exe -plugindir <plugin folder> -name BRDFGlass -json ##outputs the parameters of the BRDFGlass plugin in a JSON format
The plugin folder must be specified with the -plugindir switch each time you run the command.