---
title: "Old V-Ray Proxy Node"
canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/VMAYA/111741821/Old%20V-Ray%20Proxy%20Node"
format: markdown
---
This page describes the V-Ray Proxy attributes in Maya using the old V-Ray proxy node.
## **Overview**
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VRayProxy loads geometry from file on disk at render time only. The geometry is not present in the scene, and does not use up any resources, except for the viewport preview. This allows rendering scenes with many millions of faces, more than Maya itself can handle.
The V-Ray Proxy in Maya is a VRayProxy node that loads the geometry from a file on disk. The node loads alembic (*.abc*) and V-Ray Proxy (*.vrmesh*) files. Any mesh can be exported to an *.abc* or *.vrmesh* file from Maya and then loaded as a proxy.
Meshes are exported to a special *.vrmesh* file format. This file contains all geometric information for a mesh such as vertices and face topology as well as texture channels, face material IDs, smoothing groups, and normals. In short, everything that is needed to render the mesh is included in the file. In addition, the mesh is preprocessed and subdivided into chunks for easier access. The file also contains a simplified version of the mesh used for preview purposes in the viewports. More information about the *.vrmesh* file format is available in the V-Ray SDK documentation that comes with the V-Ray for Maya installation.
After loading the file, the V-Ray Proxy attributes are accessible in the Attribute Editor.
To load files with V-Ray Proxy, see the [Import V-Ray Proxy](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VMAYA/pages/111739662) page.
To export meshes to V-Ray Proxy, see the [Export Mesh to V-Ray Proxy](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VMAYA/pages/111739401) page.
## **Basic Parameters**
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## **Alembic Layers**
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This rollout becomes active only if the loaded proxy file is in .*abc* file format.
The Alembic layers feature allows modification of a selected alembic proxy by adding layer files on top of it. Each layer transforms the proxy with a different set of properties. These transformations include adding properties to a shape (e.g. UV mapping of an object that has no UVs), overriding properties, adding new objects, pruning objects or properties, replacing an object's (or properties') hierarchy with a new one, etc.
You can combine different cache files. Whenever the same object is found in a layer, all of its properties are considered.
> Macro (anchor)
** **
## **Animation Parameters**
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## **Restore the Mesh**
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## **Visibility Lists**
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> Macro (anchor)
## **Alembic Proxy Parameters**
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## **Point Cloud**
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## **Material assignment overrides**
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##### **Alembic Sample XML script**
```xml
pCube*
VRayMtl1@material
```
The sample XML assigns the *VRayMtl* material to all alembic objects matching the pattern *pCube**, i.e. all objects whose name starts with *pCube*.
##### **Proxy Sample XML Script**
```xml
VRayMtl1
VRayMtl1@material
```
The sample XML assigns the *VRayMtl1* material to all vrmesh objects matching *VRayMtl1* pattern, i.e. all objects whose material name is *VRayMtl1*.
For this feature to work, you need to specify the path to the .*vrscene* containing the materials (procedural textures or paths to bitmaps). This only works with post-translate python script. The following example script specifies the path to the .*vrscene* file and should be copied into *Render Settings > Common > MEL / Python callbacks > Post translate python script*.
##### **Post-translate Python script**
```python
from vray.utils import *
appendSceneContent("C:/mtlAssignments/materials.vrscene")
```
Sample scene files
> Macro (refined-button)
You will need to set the correct path to the xml in the proxy node and then set the correct path to the .*vrscene* file from *Render Settings > Common > MEL / Python callbacks > Post translate python script*.
Note that the geometry, the settings and the "node" plugins from the vrscene are deleted, because using *appendSceneContent* will add all the content from the vrscene file, including the geometry, which is not needed in this case.
> ✅ The **material assignment overrides** is still a highly experimental feature and can change at any point!
## **VRayMesh File Info**
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## **Notes**
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- Maya 2022 introduced a bug where using the old proxy node causes a crash. This is fixed in Maya 2022.3, so it's recommended to update to this version.