--- title: "USD Supported Features" canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/VMAYA/111739268/USD%20Supported%20Features" format: markdown --- This page provides information on the supported features with Universal Scene Description by V-Ray for Maya. Starting with V-Ray 6 for Maya, Update 2, the default USD translator is Hydra-compatible.  USD Rendering The following features are supported when rendering USD files with V-Ray for Maya: Static meshes Animated transforming meshes Animated deforming meshes Motion blur for animated meshes Particles Hair VDB volumes referenced in USD files UsdPreviewSurface material V-Ray materials encoded in USD files V-Ray textures encoded in USD files V-Ray lights encoded in USD files USD light types encoded in USD files (including Maya's Spot, Direct, and Point lights) V-Ray Displacement and Subdivision encoded in USD files 14 Local rendering of USD edits that are not saved to the USD file on the disc Bifrost USD graphs Animation of shader parameters Maya nParticles and nParticle animations 5 USD Skel Dynamic USD plugins (e.g., Golaem for USD) VDB shaders Custom V-Ray attributes with USD Utility Textures such as VRayUserScalar and VRayUserColor. V-Ray Object Properties assigned to an object V-Ray Extra Attribute Object ID V-Ray Proxy VRayMaterialX Render Elements * V-Ray Clipper  XGen Interactive Groom Splines Rendering a scene with USD edits that are not saved to a USD file on disc will likely produce an unexpected result when using Distributed Rendering , or submitting to the Chaos Cloud , or exporting to . vrscene from Maya. Make sure your USD edits are always saved when using these features. USD edits will generally render correctly only when rendering locally. Assets linked in USD files may fail to resolve when using Distributed Rendering , or submitting to the Chaos Cloud , or exporting to . vrscene from Maya. For example, if a Maya scene loads a USD file that in turn loads textures and/or other USD files. Notes Render Elements from the USD stage can be rendered in Maya using the following post-translate script. Note that, for  V-Ray versions from 6.2 to 7.10.02 , this approach is not supported with the Hydra-compatible translator. Use the environment variable VRAY_USD_HYDRA_TRANSLATOR=0 to disable it. //Render V-Ray Render Elements. from vray.utils import * u = findByType('VRayScene')[0] u.set('override_render_elements', True) VRayMultiSubTex's Random by Render ID mode is inconsistent between renders. It's recommended to use other modes instead. USD Export The following features are supported when exporting USD files from Maya with V-Ray: V-Ray shaders (materials and textures). T he V-Ray Plug-in Configuration needs to be selected 1 V-Ray lights 1 V-Ray Displacement; V-Ray Subdivision 14 V-Ray Physical Camera V-Ray Dome Camera. When importing a scene containing a V-Ray Dome Camera, the camera is disabled by default. Maya nParticles and nParticle animations 5 Custom V-Ray attributes with USD Utility Textures such as VRayUserScalar and VRayUserColor. V-Ray Object Properties assigned to an object V-Ray Extra Attribute Object ID V-Ray Proxy V-Ray Render Settings 8 V-Ray Render Elements (see below for an exhaustive list) V-Ray materials and Material X Multiple UVset(s) Maya Crease Sets 15 V-Ray Clipper XGen Interactive Groom Splines Relative texture paths Gaussian Splats Exporting V-Ray materials and VRayDisplacement Materials, including V-Ray materials, can be exported to USD using Maya's File > Export / Export Selected menu. To export V-Ray materials to USD files without including geometry, use the vrayExportUsdMaterials command. MEL example vrayExportUsdMaterials "" The example above exports all materials in the scene to a USD file. This includes V-Ray materials and Maya materials supported by V-Ray, like Lambert, Blinn, and usdPreviewSurface. The vrayExportUsdMaterials command offers some additional optional flags that can be used to export VRayDisplacement and only export the current selection: - selection  - When specified, only the selected materials are exported. Selecting a mesh will export the assigned material and its shading network, but not the actual mesh. The flag is used without arguments. - displacement  - Enables export of VRayDisplacement and VRaySubdivision. The flag is used without arguments. - help  – Prints out a help message in cases where there is an error with the command. Notes The optional flags can be combined. The usd extension used in the file path string argument specifies whether a binary . usd file or an ASCII . usda is exported. If the command has an invalid or incorrectly used flag, a corresponding error message is printed. For a more detailed message, add a -help flag to the command. Upon successful export, a message is printed. MEL: Example usage // Exports all scene materials. vrayExportUsdMaterials ""; // Exports the currently selected material(s). For selected meshes, only their assigned materials are exported, without the actual mesh. vrayExportUsdMaterials -selection "; // Exports all scene materials, including VRayDisplacement and VRaySubdivision. vrayExportUsdMaterials -displacement "; // Exports the currently selected material(s), including VRayDisplacement and VRaySubdivision. vrayExportUsdMaterials -selection -displacement "; The order of flags and arguments is not strict. The flags can be placed before and/or after the string argument for the export file path. Export and import of multiple UVs are supported under the following condition: digits are forbidden as the first characters in the name of the UV set.  Exporting Render Elements The supported render elements are: Alpha Channel Atmospheric Effects Background BumpNormals Caustics Coat Reflection Coat Specular Coverage Cryptomatte Denoiser Diffuse DRBucket ExtraTex 9 GI Glossiness Lighting LightSelect Material ID Matte shadow Multi Matte Noise Level Normals Object ID Object Select Raw Diffuse Filter Raw GI Raw Light Raw Reflection Raw Reflection Filter Raw Refraction Raw Refraction Filter Raw Shadow Raw Total Light Reflect IOR Reflection Reflection Filter Reflection glossiness Refraction Refraction Filter Refraction glossiness Render ID RGB_Color Sample Rate Self Illumination Shadow Sheen Reflection Sheen Specular Specular SSS Toon Total Light Unclamped Color Velocity ZDepth Temporary Limitations The following features are still in development, and support for them will be added soon. Exporting light textures is supported only with the "Export All" option. Exporting V-Ray Fur to USD from Maya Limited IPR support for USD edits Importing V-Ray materials applied to particle animations from USD files nParticles and nParticle animations are supported with USD version 0.16.0. nParticle animations with an emitter are not visible in the viewport Exporting volumes to USD files Exporting a USD scene with Hair Exporting render settings is supported with the exception of SettingsDecal, SettingsHair, SettingsLightLinker, SettingsRTEngine, and VRayStereoscopicSettings. When exporting the ExtraTex render element with Maya Standalone, all objects in the scene are affected regardless of whether specific objects are added to the include/exclude list. Instancing lights is not yet supported with the Hydra translator. Disabled lights are always rendered with the Hydra translator. Decal is not supported. IPR support is available only in Maya 2024 with USD 0.24 and later. When exporting a USD scene with Displacement or Displacement and Subdivision, those properties are exported along with the shaders. Therefore, make sure that the V-Ray materials option is enabled during export, or Displacement (and Subdivision) will not be exported. Exporting Crease Sets is supported only with the "Catmull-Clark" Subdivision Method. If using/viewing through a USD file camera, unload the stereoCamera.mll plugin from Maya. Keeping it might cause conflict or unexpected behavior. Alternatively, duplicate the USD camera as Maya data. Autodesk USD Asset Resolver added in MayaUSD 0.34 doesn't work with V-Ray 7, update 2. V-Ray continues to use the V-Ray USD asset resolver.