---
title: "Features"
canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/VMAX/113575219/Features"
format: markdown
---
This page lists many of V-Ray's advanced features.
## **Overview**
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At the heart of V-Ray is its superior image sampling and global illumination tools which facilitate photorealism and support advanced production pipelines. V-Ray has many advanced features in addition to these core features.
Listed below are only some of V-Ray's advanced features. For a full list of all V-Ray modules and options, please see the *[Supported Features pages](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VMAX/pages/113586734)*.
For a comparison of the V-Ray features available in recent releases, please see the [V-Ray Feature Comparison Chart](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VMAX/pages/113588541).
**Note**: All features are subject to change without special notice.
## **Core Architecture**
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- Multi-platform, object-oriented API
- Fully multithreaded core
- Unified sampling system based on Schlick sampling
- Distributed rendering
- Efficient shading system specifically optimized for ray-tracing
- Modular architecture – many components of the system can be replaced with custom ones
## **Render output**
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- Support for full HDR floating-point output
- Multi-layer *OpenEXR*
- Deep* OpenEXR 2*
- Direct rendering to disk for very large output resolutions
## **Geometry**
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- Efficient geometry handling
- True instance rendering
- On-demand dynamic geometry creation
- On-demand geometry loading from disk files
- Displacement mapping
- Catmull-Clark and Loop subdivision surfaces
- Extensible with custom geometric primitives through the V-Ray SDK
- Hair rendering (3ds Max Hair&Fur, Ornatrix, HairFarm support)
- Alembic support (meshes, curves, particles)
## **Image Sampling**
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- Several different image sampling methods
- Progressive rendering
- Full-scene antialiasing
- Support for additional render elements (diffuse, reflection, GI, etc.)
- Advanced color (tone) mapping controls
- Extensible with custom image samplers through the V-Ray SDK
## **Illumination**
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- Physically accurate full global illumination solutions
- Different GI algorithms: path tracing, irradiance cache, photon maps, light cache
- Reusable GI solutions for accelerated rendering of walk-through animations and animations with dynamic objects
- Physically accurate area lights
- Efficient illumination from HDR environments
- Procedural sun & sky models
- Extensible with custom lights through the V-Ray SDK
## **Shaders**
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- Physically plausible materials
- Blurry reflections/refractions
- Accurate highlights
- Sub-surface scattering
- Support for efficient material layering
- Extensible with custom shaders through the V-Ray SDK
## **Camera Effects**
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- Depth-of-field with bokeh effects, with support for custom bitmap-driven aperture shape
- Accurate motion blur
- Physical camera model
- Extensible with custom cameras through the V-Ray SDK
## **Extras**
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- Toon effect
- Fur generator/raytracer
- Extended matte/shadow capabilities
- Support for Render-to-Texture mode of 3ds Max
- VRaySphereFade to isolate only specific portions of the scene for compositing
- Interactive rendering
- Interactive GPU rendering
- CPU and GPU-accelerated Denoiser
- Support for openVDB, Field3D, and PhoenixFD cache files through Volume Grid (which also includes probabilistic shading)
## **Frame Buffer**
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- V-Ray specific frame buffer with integrated color corrections and display of multiple rendering elements
- Direct rendering to disk for extremely large images, either as *OpenEXR* files or as .*vrimg* files
- New VFB is available in 3ds Max 2018 or later. Older 3ds Max versions only support the previous [V-Ray VFB](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VMAX/pages/113575745/Rendering+with+Older+Assets#V-Ray-Frame-Buffer).