Installation from zip

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, Linux, and macOS operating systems.

 

Overview

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Installing V-Ray for Maya from a .zip file provides several advantages over the regular installer:

 

Required steps to run V-Ray

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To run a ZIP installation, you will need to:

1. Unpack the ZIP file to a location of your choice
2. Set up the environment variables needed to run V-Ray for Maya and/or V-Ray Standalone
3. Set up your license
4. Run Maya or V-Ray Standalone

These steps are further discussed in the sections below with examples.

Unpacking the .zip file

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Extract the contents of the relevant .zip file into a suitable folder. After unpacking, there should be three sub-folders: maya_root, maya_vray, and vray.

Below is a step-by-step guide:

 

 

 

Environment setup

---

Before you run Maya оr V-Ray Standalone, you need to set up an environment. There are some specific steps to consider for Maya, XGen with Maya and V-Ray Standalone. The license setup is the last requirement, as V-Ray needs to be instructed where to look for a valid license.

Please read the sections below for more information and examples.

Setup for Maya

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The following environment variables need to be set when running Maya with V-Ray.

nnnn is the Maya version. For example, 2018, 2017, etc. While for Maya 2018 the variable name is VRAY_FOR_MAYA2018_MAIN, or VRAY_FOR_MAYA2018_PLUGINS or VRAY_OSL_PATH_MAYA2018, note that for Maya 2016.5 it will be VRAY_FOR_MAYA2016_5_MAIN, etc for the rest of the variables that include the Maya version in their name.

VRAY_PLUGINS is used for running the V-Ray Standalone executable that comes with the V-Ray for Maya installation. You may need this if you want to render .vrscene files directly with V-Ray Standalone. Another use for this variable when deploying V-Ray for Maya with a ZIP installation, is the unlikely case where you would want to use out-of-process IPR. An alternative to settings VRAY_PLUGINS as an environment variable is to use the vrayconfig.xml located in vray_builds/my_version/maya_vray/bin/vrayconfig.xml. You will need to edit the xml file with a text editor and point the [PLUGINS]/vrayplugins to vray_builds/my_version/maya_vray/vrayplugins.

1. -- Example: Locate the xml file in the location where the ZIP build is unpacked, in the examples so far -  /opt/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/bin/vrayconfig.xml.
   -- Once edited, here's how the line containing the vrayplugins location should look like: <PluginsPath>/opt/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/vrayplugins</PluginsPath>

   Example: vrayconfig.xml

    <!--
   	Example contents of vrayconfig.xml as an alternative to settings the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable
   	In this example, the ZIP installation is for V-Ray Next for Maya 2018 for Windows and the .zip file is extracted in D:\vray_builds\.
   	In this case, the vrayconfig.xml file is located in D:\vray_builds\vray40401_maya2018\maya_vray\bin\vrayconfig.xml.
   -->
   <VRayStd>
   	<Configuration>
   		<PluginsPath>D:\vray_builds\vray40401_maya2018\maya_vray\vrayplugins</PluginsPath>
   	</Configuration>
   </VRayStd>

    <!--
   	Example contents of vrayconfig.xml as an alternative to settings the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable
   	In this example, the ZIP installation is for V-Ray Next for Maya 2018 for Linux and the .zip file is extracted in /opt/vray_builds/.
   	In this case, the vrayconfig.xml file is located in /opt/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/bin/vrayconfig.xml.
   -->
   <VRayStd>
   	<Configuration>
   		<PluginsPath>/opt/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/vrayplugins</PluginsPath>
   	</Configuration>
   </VRayStd>

    <!--
   	Example contents of vrayconfig.xml as an alternative to settings the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable
   	In this example, the ZIP installation is for V-Ray Next for Maya 2018 for macOS and the .zip file is extracted in the root of the system drive in a new folder called vray_builds.
   	In this case, the vrayconfig.xml file is located in /vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/bin/vrayconfig.xml.
   -->
   <VRayStd>
   	<Configuration>
   		<PluginsPath>/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/vrayplugins</PluginsPath>
   	</Configuration>
   </VRayStd>

    

   VRAY_AUTH_CLIENT_FILE_PATH needs to point to the folder that contains the vrlclient.xml  file that holds the V-Ray license server settings (IP address and port number). Alternatively, using the tool to set or change your license settings will create the vrlclient.xml file for you at a default location and there will be no need to explicitly define its location the VRAY_AUTH_CLIENT_FILE_PATH variable. However, it might be useful to use the variable to define per-user license settings.
   For the case where using the environment variable is the best option for you and you need to create the vrlclient.xml file manually, the example below shows what it s hould contain:
   

   Example: vrlclient.xml

    <!--
   	Example contents of vrlclient.xml
   	In this example, the primary IP address to look for a valid license is 10.0.0.100 at the default 30304 port.
   	Alternate servers (hosts) have not been set.
   -->
   <VRLClient>
   	<LicServer>
   		<Host>10.0.0.100</Host>
   		<Port>30304</Port>
   		<Host1></Host1>
   		<Port1>30304</Port1>
   		<Host2></Host2>
   		<Port2>30304</Port2>
   		<User></User>
   		<Pass></Pass>
   	</LicServer>
   </VRLClient>

 

You can now run Maya.

Setup for V-Ray Standalone

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The ZIP install can be used to run only V-Ray Standalone without running V-Ray for Maya. In this case, the number of environment variables to set is reduced.

The list or variables to set requires unpacking the same ZIP build. Read the Unpacking the .zip file section for more details.

 

---

Notes: 

1. VRAY_PLUGINS is used for running the V-Ray Standalone executable that comes with the V-Ray for Maya installation. You may need this if you want to render .vrscene files directly with V-Ray Standalone. Another use for this variable when deploying V-Ray for Maya with a ZIP installation, is the unlikely case where you would want to use out-of-process IPR. An alternative to settings VRAY_PLUGINS as an environment variable is to use the vrayconfig.xml located in vray_builds/my_version/maya_vray/bin/vrayconfig.xml. You will need to edit the xml file with a text editor and point the [PLUGINS]/vrayplugins to vray_builds/my_version/maya_vray/vrayplugins.
   -- Example: Locate the xml file in the location where the ZIP build is unpacked, in the examples so far -  /opt/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/bin/vrayconfig.xml.
   -- Once edited, here's how the line containing the vrayplugins location should look like: <PluginsPath>/opt/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/vrayplugins</PluginsPath>

   Example: vrayconfig.xml

    <!--
   	Example contents of vrayconfig.xml as an alternative to settings the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable
   	In this example, the ZIP installation is for V-Ray Next for Maya 2018 for Linux and the .zip file is extracted in D:\vray_builds\.
   	In this case, the vrayconfig.xml file is located in D:\vray_builds\vray40401_maya2018\maya_vray\bin\vrayconfig.xml.
   -->
   <VRayStd>
   	<Configuration>
   		<PluginsPath>D:\vray_builds\vray40401_maya2018\maya_vray\vrayplugins</PluginsPath>
   	</Configuration>
   </VRayStd>

    <!--
   	Example contents of vrayconfig.xml as an alternative to settings the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable
   	In this example, the ZIP installation is for V-Ray Next for Maya 2018 for Linux and the .zip file is extracted in /opt/vray_builds/.
   	In this case, the vrayconfig.xml file is located in /opt/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/bin/vrayconfig.xml.
   -->
   <VRayStd>
   	<Configuration>
   		<PluginsPath>/opt/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/vrayplugins</PluginsPath>
   	</Configuration>
   </VRayStd>

    <!--
   	Example contents of vrayconfig.xml as an alternative to settings the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable
   	In this example, the ZIP installation is for V-Ray Next for Maya 2018 for macOS and the .zip file is extracted in the root of the system drive in a new folder called vray_builds.
   	In this case, the vrayconfig.xml file is located in /vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/bin/vrayconfig.xml.
   -->
   <VRayStd>
   	<Configuration>
   		<PluginsPath>/vray_builds/vray40401_maya2018/maya_vray/vrayplugins</PluginsPath>
   	</Configuration>
   </VRayStd>

    

2. VRAY_AUTH_CLIENT_FILE_PATH needs to point to the folder that contains the vrlclient.xml  file that holds the V-Ray license server settings (IP address and port number). Alternatively, using the tool to set or change your license settings will create the vrlclient.xml file for you at a default location and there will be no need to explicitly define its location the VRAY_AUTH_CLIENT_FILE_PATH variable. However, it might be useful to use the variable to define per-user license settings.
   For the case where using the environment variable is the best option for you and you need to create the vrlclient.xml file manually, the example below shows what it s hould contain:
   

   Example: vrlclient.xml

    <!--
   	Example contents of vrlclient.xml
   	In this example, the primary IP address to look for a valid license is 10.0.0.100 at the default 30304 port.
   	Alternate servers (hosts) have not been set.
   -->
   <VRLClient>
   	<LicServer>
   		<Host>10.0.0.100</Host>
   		<Port>30304</Port>
   		<Host1></Host1>
   		<Port1>30304</Port1>
   		<Host2></Host2>
   		<Port2>30304</Port2>
   		<User></User>
   		<Pass></Pass>
   	</LicServer>
   </VRLClient>

3. Starting with nightly build set 28989 (dated 2019-03-12) and later, V-Ray Next adopts thenew style of directory naming, where bin/ is used instead of bin/x64/vc14 or bin/linux_x64/clang-gcc-4.8 ; all release and stable builds at this time use the classic style. Any new batch files and shell scripts should be designed to accommodate the new style too, as upcoming updates will gradually adopt the new directory layout.

    

If you want to use any additional tools like the irradiance map viewer, the VRIMG to OpenEXR converter etc., then also add to the PATH environment variable vray_builds/my_version/vray/bin.