The Update Blender Artists Have Been Waiting For
Chaos launches V-Ray 7.1 for Blender 🎉, released on August 26, 2025 as Update 1. This update introduces two long-awaited features by the community: direct rendering of Geometry Nodes without the need for baking and an automatic tool to convert materials from Cycles to V-Ray. Additionally, it adds compatibility with Blender 4.5 LTS and the OpenPBR material standard, marking a milestone in the integration between the free software and the professional render engine.
Revolution in the Workflow with Geometry Nodes
The most celebrated feature is the ability to process Geometry Nodes setups directly in V-Ray, eliminating the tedious need for prior baking. This means:
- Direct rendering of complex procedural systems
- Greater flexibility for last-minute adjustments and changes
- Significant reduction in preprocessing times
- Maintenance of the procedural nature throughout the entire pipeline
Artists can now work with the power of Geometry Nodes without worrying about additional conversions 🌀.
Intelligent Material Conversion
The new automatic conversion tool for materials from Cycles to V-Ray is another game-changer. With a single click, you can migrate:
- Individual materials or all project materials
- Complex Cycles node setups
- Connected textures and maps
- Roughness, metallic, and specular settings
This function greatly streamlines the transition between render engines, allowing you to maintain existing shader libraries effortlessly 🎨.
Expanded Capabilities and Compatibility
V-Ray 7.1 is not limited to these two major features. The update also includes:
- Adoption of the OpenPBR standard for consistency between applications
- Expanded access to over 3,100 scanned materials in Chaos Cosmos
- Official compatibility with Windows 10+ and NVIDIA GPUs
- Performance optimizations for complex scenes
- Improvements in integration with the Blender viewport
The great leap in renders doesn't come from lights or transparencies, but from sewing fluidity between Blender and V-Ray
Who would have thought the most revolutionary feature would be avoiding the famous bake at the end of the tunnel. Now artists can focus on creating instead of converting... although they will still have to wait for the renders, because not even V-Ray 7.1 can magically speed that up 😅.