To run V-Ray, you have to:
Overview
This guide is to serve as a reference for installing V-Ray for 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design.
A complete installation of V-Ray for 3ds Max consists of V-Ray, V-Ray GPU, V-Ray Standalone, V-Ray DR Spawner, V-Ray license server, V-Ray tools, V-Ray SDK, V-Ray Chaos Cloud Client.
If you are a trial user, please refer to the Trial installation of V-Ray for 3ds Max, as the process differs from the one showed on this page.
Installing V-Ray for 3ds Max gives you access to:
Before running the installation, make sure your Windows account has administrative privileges.
Run the installer. Windows may ask you for permission to run the installer with administrator privileges. Please confirm.
Running the Installer
End User License Agreement
Once you've carefully read the License Agreement, click I accept the Agreement if you agree to the terms.
Proceed to click the Install button. If you need to customize your V-Ray installation, click the Advanced button.
V-Ray type
The available installation types are:
Workstation – This is a full installation and includes all components as described in the Overview section. It allows you to use V-Ray in 3ds Max, do Distributed or Network Rendering, run V-Ray GPU render server, use V-Ray SDK, and have V-Ray license server on this machine.
3ds Max render server – This installation includes V-Ray, V-Ray GPU, V-Ray Standalone, V-Ray DR Spawner and external V-Ray tools. This option does not include the local V-Ray license server application. Please choose this option if you plan to use this machine for Distributed or Network Rendering with V-Ray.
Standalone render server – This installation includes V-Ray Standalone and V-Ray GPU render server. Please choose this option if you plan to use this machine only for Distributed Rendering with V-Ray Standalone and a V-Ray GPU render server.
The V-Ray Standalone version included in the 3ds Max installer is intended for DR use when V-Ray GPU is set. It is not a replacement for the 3ds Max render server, which is intended for use with the V-Ray renderer.
Directories & Feedback
Here you can specify the installation paths. Please check if the default folders are correct. If you are installing V-Ray for 3ds Max 2022 or later, you can also choose between installation for all users or current user only. For more information, see the V-Ray for 3ds Max Autodesk application package page.
Help make V-Ray even better – Participate in the improvement decisions for future version of V-Ray. No intelligence property is violated when agreeing to participate in the feedback program. Chaos does not gather scenes, assets, materials, etc. What Chaos receives is user preferences on just a few key render settings and the resulting render times. The point of this feature is to improve V-Ray's performance and the user experience. This preference can be changed at any time later on from V-Ray Setup > V-Ray > About V-Ray > Feedback program settings. For more information, see the Chaos Telemetry page.
Licensing
In this step, you can specify whether the V-Ray license server runs locally or on another machine.
- If you select the Local licensing option, you need to install the License Server on your machine. See the Chaos License Quick Start Guide for a walkthrough.
- If you select the Remote option, you have to fill in the IP address of your V-Ray license server in the field Primary License Server. Please leave the port 30304 unchanged. An Alternate License Server is used when the primary one does not respond.
Chaos License Server Options
At this step you can choose the license server directory.
Migrate data during installation – When enabled, transfers all of your settings made with earlier versions of the License Server, such as enabled dongle subsystem, proxy settings, etc. When disabled, installs the License Server with all settings at their defaults and any custom settings from the previous installation are lost.
Add firewall exception – When enabled, the default licensing port (TCP 30304) can pass the firewall. If you disable it at this step, you will need to manually add firewall exceptions later.
V-Ray installation is successful.
Next Step
Go to step 2 to activate your Chaos License.