Nvidia today released an Iray plug-in for Autodesk Maya, allowing designers to get photoreal feedback in real time instead of waiting for full renders.

The new Iray for Maya closely follows the release earlier this month of an Iray version for Autodesk 3ds Max, and Nvidia says there are more to come. They will support Nvidia's Iray Server distributed rendering system, which is in beta now with an early 2016 scheduled ship date. Iray plug-ins are also available for Autodesk Revit and Rhinoceros.

"Designers who need to switch from one tool to another can still get consistent results thanks to Iray's Material Definition Language (MDL)," said Nvidia Product Marketing Manager Cassie Thibodeau in a statement provided by the company. The MDL allows materials to be shared among applications, including other MDL-compliant renderers, she explained. 

"Also available is the first edition of vMaterials," Thibodeau continued, "a free set of digital material offerings verified for accuracy, control and consistency. With vMaterials, designers no longer have to spend time sourcing and creating their own materials.

Iray for Maya is available as a node-locked or floating license for $295/year through the Nvidia Iray software store, and a 90-day trial version is available.

Nvidia: www.nvidia.com