Chaos Group has released V-Ray 3.1 for Maya, with a new feature slate including compatibility with Maya 2016.

The new software boasts a variety of V-Ray RT GPU enhancements, including support for hair and fur, subsurface scattering, displacement and subdivision surfaces, anisotopic highlights and more. Two stereoscopic camera types will render 6×1 cube maps and spherical images for VR projects, with a new Shade Map to optimize stereo rendering.

The new version is a free update for all licensed users of V-Ray 3.0 for Maya.

Here is Chaos Group's complete list of new features in V-Ray 3.1 for Maya:

V-Ray RT GPU now supports:

• Hair & fur
• Subsurface scattering
• Displacement & subdivision surfaces
• Light Cache GI
• Anisotropic highlights
• UDIM textures
• Texture baking
• QMC sampling on NVIDIA CUDA devices

Proxy Object improvements:

• Identical proxy objects are now automatically instanced
• Improved viewport previews with mesh simplification options
• Import multiple proxy objects at once
• Support for hair and particle instances
• Support for instancing Ogawa Alembic files
• Mesh viewer utility – to view proxy objects and Alembic files, including subdivision surfaces, particles, and hair

Additional New Features in V-Ray 3.1:

Maya 2016 support

• Full support for new Hypershade Node Editor, Material Viewer, and Lookdev view
• Enhanced Bifrost support – including rendering liquids as isosurfaces without meshing

Workflow & User Interface

• Quick settings
• Light Lister
• Tooltips
• Updated default render settings

Geometry

• Faster rendering of dynamic meshes, proxy objects, and instances
• Faster rendering of hair and fur
• Intel Embree acceleration for hair and fur
• VRayClipper – for cutaways and sections

Lights

• Light meter – new helper object for lighting analysis

Global Illumination

• Updated Light Cache algorithm removes light leaks and improves animation

Volume rendering

• Probabilistic shading for faster volume rendering