Rayscaper New Releases

pixelcruncher

@lightscape Good stuff! Definitely great renders to showcase Rayscaper's capabilities.

Krass

hello Thomas,
I can't reach real reflections on my glass material. In this screen shot the IQR is very high...

on this other screen these picture is behind a standard glass

pixelcruncher

@Krass Thanks for the screenshots, you found a bug! When Thin is on, Rayscaper ignores the IOR, so a thin pane of glass doesn't reflect anything at all. Raising the IOR can't help.

I rebuilt your situation in a small test scene (a framed picture behind a single face of glass, with a window across the room) and fixed it: thin glass now reflects as much as its IOR gives, like real glass (about 8% when you look at it straight on, more at a glancing angle), while the light still passes straight through. Left is the current behavior, right is the fix, both with Thin on and IOR 1.5:

The fix won't be in today's release, but it will be in the next one.

Until then, a workaround: turn Thin off for the picture glass and set the IOR back to about 1.5. Glass lying flat on a picture doesn't visibly bend the light, so you get the reflection without side effects. Also keep in mind that a reflection only shows where something bright, like a window or a lamp, sits in the mirror direction from the camera.

pixelcruncher

Hey, Rayscaper users!

Rayscaper 0.9.102 Beta is available. You can get it via:

The SketchUcation store.
Direct download: Rayscaper_Win_0.9.102_Beta.rbz.

I recommend upgrading to the latest version.

What Changed?

Render History

Not sure whether the warmer sun or the new material looked better? Click Save in the new render history (the clock button in the toolbar) before you change something, and click a saved render to compare it with the live one. You can still change the exposure, tone mapping, white balance or bloom of a saved render afterwards, without rendering it again.

Render history

Render Scenes

File > Render Scenes... renders your SketchUp scenes one after the other and saves each image under the name of its scene. Start it before you leave the office, and all the views of a project are waiting for you in the morning. Override the resolution or samples for quick drafts of every view.

Render Scenes

Fixes

Update the render when you change the size of a texture in SketchUp.
Fix SketchUp crashes while Rayscaper renders: when quitting SketchUp, when importing a Collada, 3DS or IFC file, and when adding a snap.

Full release notes: rayscaper.com/manual/release-notes

Help Me Build the Community

If you like Rayscaper, please share your renders (final or work-in-progress, it doesn't matter)! This is motivating and helps me showcase its capabilities to new users.

Follow me on X.

Happy Rendering!
Thomas

Rich O Brien

Image History! Yay!!!!!!

Krass

Ah, while I was struggling with Rayscaper, a new version came out!

So: rendered with an old Rayscaper, GPT image character, arranged with Magnific AI (apart from the character, everything is raw Rayscaper).

Krass

Thomas,
I’m still missing a render method that would allow for quick masking by material, using solid colors—similar to a Render ID pass.
Thanks a lot for the Render Scenes feature!

Rich O Brien

FR: Cryptomatte

Krass

@pixelcruncher
Thanks a lot Thomas for the tip about glass reflection!

Krass

Yes Rich,
I ve let V-ray for so long to replace it with rayscaper, this is exactly cryptomatte

Krass

adjusting the exposure of the background with a mix of two différent exposure renders using Photopea

3 (1).gif

Krass

SHUT DOWN COMPUTER AFTER RAYSCAPER SCENES RENDER

I’m not sure if something like this already exists, but I asked ChatGPT to create an extension for me that puts the PC into hibernation after Rayscaper finishes rendering scenes.
The first button closes SketchUp once the renders are complete; the second one shuts down the PC—or rather, puts it into hibernation—after the rendering is done.
I’ve only tested it with small-scale renders involving about ten scenes, and it works well. It allows me to run longer rendering tasks overnight or after I’ve left for the day.
I’ve attached the RBZ file (it’s currently in French, but once it’s gone through beta testing, we can create an English version!). Works well on my SU 2024.
If you’re able to test the extension to see how well it works, thanks in advance!
Shut down PC after Rayscaper scene render.rbz
But it is in french :

Alattab

I’ve left it as is, but the image has become more distracting due to the watermarks scattered throughout it; I think they should only be placed in the corner.

Mike Amos

Well, the idea would be that you try it and buy the full release, making it possible to do commercial work on a free product is counter intuitive.

pixelcruncher

@Alattab, thanks for the feedback. The watermark placement was deliberate, though.

Many people use Rayscaper, but comparatively few have a commercial license. I suspect some are rendering at high resolution and cropping or editing out a corner watermark, which works against how I've set up the licensing. Spreading the watermarks across the image makes that harder.

I know the free renders are more distracting, and I'm sorry about that. But it doesn't feel fair for people to make money from Rayscaper while the work behind it goes unsupported. A license is $99, or $74.99 for members here, and it removes the watermarks entirely. If Rayscaper is giving you value, even as a hobbyist, I hope that feels like a fair price. It's also what keeps development going.

Cheers,
Thomas

Mike Amos

I believe the free version should be seen as a longer term trial, try before you buy. Free 'stuff' is nice when you get it but expecting everything free to be usable for commercial work is fraudulent. The developer works hard to produce a product which is bloody good value and I say this as a hobby user who gets a LOT from Rayscaper.
Also, consider the perpetual license so support will be with you down the line rather than paying ever increasing monthly premiums.
Buy the full version mate, you will not regret it and no, not a rich person but a person living on a pension.

I rate this product as one of the best value for money products I have EVER purchased.

Krass

I also noticed the changes to the free version, and you’re right to offer a full-featured trial version of your program—it has truly become a must-have.
Over the years, I’ve worked with:

V-Ray
Indigo
Thea Render
Twilight Render
Twinmotion
D5 Render
SimLab Composer

I can now say that Rayscaper is a polished, high-quality program that includes all the necessary features.
It’s rare to find an interface this well-thought-out in this type of software, and the quality of the help pages and the manual is simply unmatched. It’s also rare to be able to communicate directly with the developer, and I really appreciate how attentive he is to user requests.
I’ve purchased a perpetual license for 88 euros!

Alattab

I’ve left it as is, but the image has become more distracting due to the watermarks scattered throughout it; I think they should only be placed in the corner.

Alattab

@pixelcruncher Is it really necessary for users of the trial version—who are using it for personal projects—to end up with an image so heavily marred by watermarks that it ruins the entire scene? In any case, thank you; I hope you will give this feedback some serious consideration. I was quite interested in the software, but I’ve decided to step back and go back to using FluidRay instead .

I was having a good time, and you ruined all the fun.

Rest assured that artificial intelligence has become the primary destination; people no longer want to burden themselves with extra applications. Therefore, if you want to attract users, you must remove the watermark constraint and leave things as they were.

Alattab

What’s the point? I managed to remove the watermark using AI. Previously, I didn’t feel the need to do that; I would just leave the RayScaper logo in the corner. It didn’t bother me—as long as the application is useful and the logo helps promote it, having a small logo at the bottom of the screen is perfectly fine.