Here is an email i got from Chaos Group. Very promising

My original question

Hi,

I would like to purchase Vray for SU. But i have a few question before I make
up my mind.

1. I am buying this software for hobby use. So I have 2 computers. One is a laptop and the other is a PC. They both belong to me. Can I buy one license and use it on both of my computers that belong to me? Or do i have to buy a second license!? If so how much extra is it going to cost me.

2)When the next version of VFSU comes out, will it be free if the next version is simply a fix for Bugs present in the current version? Or do i have to keep paying for the newer versions , even minor updated versions? And if so, how much do they generally cost.

3)Does the current version of VFSU work with the most up to date version of Sketchup?

Kindest regards
Josh

Reply from Chaos Group

Hi Josh,

Thank you for the interest in V-Ray rendering solution! Here are the answer you need:

1. One purchase, one serial number. However, since you are an individual user, we will give you a laptop activation as an exception. It's the same SN, with one extra activation.

2.) Eventually there will be plans to upgrade VfSU to version 2.0, which will be a paid upgrade. This product is not yet in development yet. A version upgrade will include significant additions to the product. We are always improiving the current version to work as best as it can. New versions are posted on our site about once a month, and they addess certain compatibility issues that arise, minor bugs, etc. As a V-Ray owner, you can always download these for free.

3.) Yes. The current installer works with both SU7 and SU8. There is a different installer for Mac and PC though. Please note that if you have BOTH SU7 and SU8 on your computer at the same time, the installer will default to SU7. In order to install with SU8 as well, you will need to change the path of the folder installation to SU8 destinations.

The i7-950 is capable of an easy 4ghz OC. The voltage can be left alone and u will still reach strong stability. As discussed
in earlier posts, get a solid performing CPU and a decent GPU card.

If I had only one wish, that would be to get
SU google HR department to hire Fredo,thom,TIG,Whaat
and perhaps a few more of our top plugin makers to
transform SU into something thrice as superior over 3dsmax.

@mirko_585 said:

I now understand I made a mistake and mixed things.
In my mind, the default VRay shaders did work the same way than jpg images you apply to emissive VRay materials... And it's not the case.
I indeed can position/scale the default VRay shaders directly from SU (my mistake).
But I still have the problem for the emissive materials (when I want to make a lit up LCD screen, for example).
Complete procedure :

• Modeling the LCD screen.
• Creating a VRay material. Adding an emissive layer to it.
• Putting a bitmap type in the "m" box next to the emissive layer color.
• Attaching a bitmap file in the "m" box in the appearing menu.
• Applying the changes and closing the VRay material box.
• Applying the shader on the proper face of the LCD screen.
• Rendering.
  -> The shader appears repeated in the "tile" option is checked.
  -> the shader appears white if the "tile" option is not checked.

Help ?

Correct,
That is what I generally do. I usually have to reduce the environmental lights
all together in order to see the effect.

@andybot said:

Yes, here are some improvements that I would not trade back to 1.05 for:

• texture processing is much faster - no longer have to remove textures from components
• smoothing of geometry is processed (in 1.05, everything is faceted.)
• greatly enhanced vray material editing

Some things were broken in the earlier 1.48 releases, like DOF and displacement, but most things are working now.

Cheers for that.
I guess its time to donate my buckaroos to Chaos Group.

Edit: What things are not working now?

Whaat, you deserve a Sketchup Medal of Honour !

Any view on this matter is greatly appreciated

Do Bumpmaps in vfsu take up just as much memory

@honoluludesktop said:

Most companies are about money first, then the quality of their product. Wish I am wrong.

On the other hand, money is a measure of success, what do I know.

I highly doubt that Chaos grp will allow Vfsu quality to fall. But you never know right?

@ecuadorian said:

You guys seem worried. My pals in a Spanish SU forum are practically celebrating this, as they believe the SU version of V-ray will now be better developed. I hope it does, and when it does, I might join the club.

VFSU is fast becoming the proverbial golden goose for Chaos group. Expect Vray for 3dsmax like features soon.
Perhaps before the 2012 financial year.

Cheers for that So when seeking seamlessly smooth frames
per second , SU is bottlenecked at the CPU at a far greater level than at
the GPU level. And that ATI has now improved. Btw, I ended up getting a i7-950
and 460m nvidia sli workstation laptop.

@escapeartist said:

Have SU running on 9800GTX+ x 2 in SLi and have zero problems. I'd say that any good video card will work fine, but I'd invest in the best processor as this is currently the bottleneck that slows me down the most, SU cannot take advantage of multi-core architecture.

Thanks for that.

Arbitrarily assuming, i would take it that Nvidia SLI runs fine.

I believe the CPU in SU is used for calculations,plugins ,etc right? and the GPU is used to display the models. So both should be on par right? Or it it common knowledge that i am missing that the CPU is the bottleneck here when trying to avoid a Sketchup slideshow ???

I use Old vray so one thing is for sure, the CPU is gonna be an i7. Im just stuck on the Video card part. Unless i am missing something, previous posts on these issues were not conclusive

And another question, What about Nvidia SLI. Good or problematic

My laptop got stolen And i need a replacement.

I heard SU does not do well with ATI. Is that true?. And what about ATI crossfirex? ...is this GPU an overkill ?

I have never used an ATI in my life.

Well I could make one for you under 5 mis, but some evil member of scoiety
broke into my house and stole my workstation laptop. Atleast they left my piano alone

@pixero said:

Well, it's hard to say how fast anyone will learn Photoshop but I use it a lot to incorporate both people, trees and more. There is lots of ready to use cutout trees availble and after a while you'll want to photograph your own and make your custom library of images. Be sure to learn how to color adjust the images so they match the lighting of the render.
Here is a good place to start: http://vyonyx.com/category/tuts/
Great tutorials and also some trees and people for download.
Another thing. If you're serious about Photoshop you should get yourself a wacom pen. Makes life soo much easier in Photoshop.

Cheers for that.

Long time ago, about 2 years, I bought a Wacom tablet for Sketchup after watching Ironman, but
I realised the mouse was so much better ,plus i needed the money at university for Booze and smokes so i sold it. Should
have kept it lol

@thomthom said:

You may find it quicker to photoshop vegetation into the render afterwards in post, rather than spending large amounts of render time rendering environment vegetation that'll have much more polys than the actual building.

Can someone tell me how long it takes to photoshop-in vegetation and how long it takes one to learn photoshop to the extent that you could do stuff like that? Im itching to try photoshop but dont have a lot of time.

TGI3d can create mesh with construction points and edit meshes.

SDS also contains features superior to sandbox.
SDS2 will blow you out of the water when it gets released.

I havent had the chance to try the rest.

@thomthom said:

Took me the wee hours of the night.

You are a legend mate

Is there a plugin list to know what works with this?