Which Render Engine is Better: Blender VRAY vs Cycles?

In this article, we are going to make a comparison between Blender Vray vs Cycles. We will see which renderer is better at getting its job done. The criteria are higher efficiency along with accuracy.

The two most used render engines today are Cycles and VRay. They are effective and strong. It is also true that they have unique characteristics.

We are going to compare these two engines to help you in choosing. Choose the engine that fulfills all the requirements of your project.

The 3D artist who uses 3DS Max, Maya, or Revit must know the significance of the engines.

For such artists who want to see respective comparisons of Enscape vs Twinmotion, Twinmotion vs Lumion, D5 Render vs Twinmotion, Blender, Maya, Revit, Sketch Up, and against the D5 Render can also head over to 3DHEVEN and get useful insights.

BRIEF BACKGROUND OF BLENDER VRAY VS CYCLES

In 1997, Vray came into existence through The Bulgarian Chaos Group.

It is used in many computer graphics and industries. It also includes architecture, journalism, entertainment, video games, movie-making, and industrial design.

WHAT IS VRAY?

V-Ray is a powerful, fully functional 3D rendering technology made for designers, developers, and generalists. In general, the words I hear most frequently when artists describe V-Ray are high-quality, real-time speed, and photo-realistic renders. Additionally, they claim that the abundance of pre-installed materials and settings makes it simple to get started. Artists also appreciate that V-Ray offers a wide range of options that let users alter virtually every element of the lighting as well as materials. Chaos offers substantial online training that ranges from beginner to higher levels in light of this.

WHAT IS CYCLES?

On December 14, 2011, the Blender Foundation created Cycles JS. Cycles is a path-tracing render engine. Cycles were integrated alongside Blender Internal (as a “preview release”).

Blender is very simple and interactive. It provides the opportunity for an ocean simulator, dynamic paint, and motion tracking. It also offers several tools that aid Blender artists in their work.

USER INTERFACE IN BLENDER VRAY VS CYCLES

The UI of Vray is clear and uncomplicated. There are various toolbars in the interface. Each toolbar has further toolbars with straightforward shortcuts. These shortcuts take you to many of the most popular Vray models and also components.

The Frame Buffer, which has several extra rendering features, is also available. The Screen and Rendering Colour spaces are selectable. You may do this using the Vray Colour Picker, a color manager. Besides these features, a file manager enables you to establish file paths. It helps you to generate scene archives, and keep track of resources. Many resources are there such as textures, IES files, and gateway objects. These textures are also available at 3DHEVEN for free download.

The user interface for Cycles is neat and straightforward. It provides some basic options for quick renderings. But you may delve deeper if you want more control over the outcome. When compared to VRAY's materials system, Blender's node-based architecture offers more flexibility.

There are many options in almost every node. There are even more choices in the properties submenu. every node repeats several pointless alternatives. There is a distinction between color and float values. Various nodes exist for each category.

THE SPEED OF THE RENDER

An important factor that 3D artists take into account when choosing a rendering engine, is rendering speed.

Vray includes a sizable collection of manual settings. We were able to reduce the delivery time. While maintaining a high-quality render thanks to its many parameters. Biassed rendering, often known as one-sided rendering, sees V-RAY take the lead.

When it comes to Cycles, it's an impartial, path-tracing engine designed for animations. As a result, it builds an image by mapping the pathways taken by “rays” as they move around the scene. Cycles can move quickly. It is enough to compete. To make the most of it, though, you must be aware of how to adjust its settings.

These 2 rendering engines offer exceptional speed and performance despite their divergent rates. Because of this, it is difficult to declare that one is superior to the other in this category. Furthermore, Vray operates in Bias mode.

In the impartial form by cycles, it is outperformed. Ignore the fact that not only the speed but also the interface efficiency of the two render engines are comparable. But, you will benefit more from using Vray. Vray is an ancient render engine and has a complete corporation behind it.

THE SETTINGS OF RENDERING

Render settings might be very frightening to a newbie because there are so many tabs and choices.

If you select the render tab in the properties window, you can find the cycles render settings there. meaning that to achieve the best results, each one might need a different set of settings. In forums, you can locate ready examples.

Vray has many more possibilities. If you know how to experiment with the key variables, you can always optimize V-Ray for a scenario. Many parameters are available in the V-Render ray's Settings Window for both V-Ray as well as V-Ray RT. Depending on the mode you're using, the settings might need to be changed every time. In forums and even on the Chaos platform, samples of ready settings can be found.

MATERIAL DIFFERENCES IN BLENDER VRAY VS CYCLES

Shaders, which are separate components, make up the materials used in cycles. To create even more intricate surfaces or volume shaders, they can be mixed. 

Cycles make it possible to exercise with materials. You can do this without having to spend a lot of time learning how to make them yourself. This is good news for beginners. And you can use ready-made materials to do this. 

There are many different kinds of materials, including stone, wood, and glass. These are all divided into three groups of shaders. They may be utilized with a single drag and drop and are as follows:

Surface Shader:

The surface shader specifies how light interacts with the mesh's surface.

Volume Shader:

Light enters the volume when it is not reflected or received by the surface shader. It will pass through the mesh without getting refracted.

Displacement Shader:

They allow you to change the surface's shape.

But V-ray does indeed come with a library of ready-to-use materials. But there are many of them available for download in forums, either for free or for money.

You can adjust any material using conventional settings. Or you can operate using the node-based system when things get involved.

RENDERING CAPABILITIES AT RENDER TIME

Real-time rendering, and offline rendering, are the two main categories of rendering.

In 3D video games, real-time rendering is employed. Each frame must be generated in a few moments. For realistic photos and movies, offline rendering is employed. This is because each of these can take hours to create.

Since it is only a very quick preview and not the final render quality, we cannot define it as real-time. This function only is in the rendering to provide the user with a real-time preview. This simplifies and makes it clear.

Eevee, a render engine for real-time rendering, is another feature of Blender. So, Cycles lack real-time functionality.

With V-ray, you may get a real-time glimpse of your scene. This can be done without having to wait for it to be rendered each time thanks to V-ray RT. You can alter the camera angle, as well as the materials, lighting, and items used. From your viewpoint, they update themselves.

Vray RT is excellent and gets better every year. And given that blender is free, it is a terrific option and an amazing replacement for the other engines.

THE CON SIDES OF BLENDER VRAY VS CYCLES

There is a lack of GPU support for volume rendering in Cycles. Also, subsurface scattering is one of the key drawbacks of Cycles renderers. Another issue may be that some key aspects of the product are missing. A rapid preview of the rendering is all that Cycles' real-time rendering is about. Giving the user an “almost” real-time preview.

Due to its use of RAM rather than constrained VRAM, VRAY seems to have an advantage when it comes to memory usage. Both engines can produce accurate results. Using V-ray can be more challenging and confusing, especially for less skilled users.

3D SOFTWARE INTEGRATION

Blender has native integration with Cycles. Another software Poser uses a modified version of the engine. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Linux, Windows, as well as Mac OS X.

V-Ray is compatible with a wide range of programs. These include Cinema 4D, 3DS Max, Revit, Maya, Sketchup, and Unreal Engine. Additionally, it contains a standalone version of V-Ray. It is compatible with Linux and Windows.

UNIQUENESS OF VRAY

HOST SUPPORT

Almost all of the widely used 3D creative software programs, including Cinema 4D, Blender, 3ds Max, Revit, and many others, include V-Ray integration. In the market, no other renderer supports these many hosts, in comparison.

HYBRID RENDERING

In comparison to other renderers of equivalent quality, the lighting as well as shadows are more genuinely correct. For artists who wish to create photo-realistic renders, V-Ray is the best option.

V-RAY BENCHMARK

The negative is that GPUs are constrained by the amount of VRAM, or video memory, which some 3D renderers will use instead of the CPU. This can result in faster renders.

PHOTOREALISM

A popular algorithm for photo-realism employed by 3D software is the Montecarlo Method. Deterministic Monte Carlo is a type of Monte Carlo sampling that is utilized by V-Ray.

EASE OF LEARNING THE ENGINES

V-Ray allows customers the option to define their parameters, determine what the result will look like, and estimate the rendering time. V-Ray is the best option if photorealism is your main concern. In any event, you ought to be familiar with the fundamentals and guidelines of photorealism. However, if you only wish to comprehend the fundamentals of rendering, most of the time, learning the essential V-Ray tools will take about a week.

On the other hand, Cycles is a rendering program that is renowned for being among the simplest to learn. It provides some excellent tools for a variety of uses, and it works particularly well for animation. Consequently, it is worthwhile to get through the first learning stage.

INDUSTRIAL USAGE OF BLENDER VRAY VS CYCLES

Cycles are used in the industry, but not as frequently as Vray. Small studios and freelancers are more likely to use it. Therefore, in this sense, it is utilized in the “business,” but it is not yet an industry “standard.” It is used in product design, motion design, architecture, and interior design.

Many specialists and professionals use V-Ray in a variety of fields, including architecture, product production, interior design, and the video game industry.

Additionally, a wide variety of studios that make Hollywood movies employ it. V-Ray is used in shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Avengers: Infinity War.”

TYPES OF RENDERING USING VRAY

FILM VFX AND TELEVISION 

VFX production has adopted V-Ray as the industry standard due to its dependability and speed. After all, it has been employed by other firms, including Method Studios, Digital Domain, Blur Studio, and Scanline VFX. Blockbuster movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man 3, Black Panther, The Avengers, Maleficent, Ant-Man, Ender's Game, and Independence Day 2 have utilized V-Ray for their visual effects. The television series Game of Thrones, Arrow, Deadwood, and Fear the Walking Dead are just a few that have utilized V-Ray.

INTERIOR DESIGNS AND ARCHITECTURE

Due to its compatibility with Rhino, Unreal, Revit, 3DS Max, and particularly SketchUp, V-Ray is the best option for architectural visualization. The enormous material library and, of course, its quickness are both adored by artists. However, architects particularly adore its lifelike lighting and shadows. Finally, there are a ton of tutorials and materials available for both novice and advanced users, covering every facet of this extensive tool.

AUTOMOTIVE RENDERING

Because the generated vehicles look so lifelike, V-Ray is frequently utilized in automobile advertisements on television. Concept cars are also created by auto designers using V-Ray.

VRScans is the name of ground-breaking material scanning technology developed by V-Ray. Since VRScans is native to V-Ray, it has over a thousand pre-scanned photo-realistic materials, which allows renders to closely resemble reality. V-Ray is used by advertising companies for computer-generated imagery (CGI) and by automobile designers for concept cars.

WHY VRAY IS WORTH IT?

There has never been a more crucial time for designers, developers, and architectural visualization artists to have a quick, dependable rendering engine. Everyone from lone artists to huge teams inside architectural firms might feel the pressure of deadline pressure, shorter project cycles, increased competition, and rising quality standards.

Thankfully, V-Ray is available to ease the pressure. The render engine used by Chaos enables designers and artists to clearly and unrestrictedly express their creative ideas while also communicating their creations. It also creates new opportunities for clients to communicate in real time.

LIMITLESS IMAGINATION WITH VRAY

Design is most significant when creativity is involved. You may have additional possibilities and chances if you use friendly tools that are easily integrated into your creative exploration.

V-Ray has had a facelift in the last few years that makes it simpler and faster to launch. The goal of any artist must be to produce beautiful architectural visualization graphics quickly and easily.

With V-scene Ray's intelligence technology and universally applicable default settings, you can focus more on innovative solutions and spend less time on technical details.

Large projects also have large overhead costs. There can be millions of items and hundreds of lights in scenes with enormous hotels, worldwide airports, and sometimes even smart cities. Even just imagining the enormous volume of data involved makes us uneasy.

Fortunately, Chaos has created a rendering engine with V-Ray that can easily handle these enormous scenes.

TURN YOUR IDEAS INTO REALITY WITH VRAY

V-Ray provides two real-time alternatives: A raster engine called V-Ray Vision (accessible in SketchUp and Revit) enables you to improve the view of your drawings in a separate window. You can extract your scene using V-Ray Vision so that your buyers can view and assess design concepts.

A ray-traced real-time solution is Chaos Vantage. You can traverse your environment and view your design only with realistic V-Ray quality with its Live Link.

Additionally, Interactive Production Rendering (IPR) allows you to design interactively while simultaneously viewing the finished product, speeding up the lookdev process for materials and lighting. You can now make judgments more quickly and work much more productively.

3D ASSETS AND HDR SKIES

Contextualizing the place is made necessary by the creation of photorealistic architecture visualization. It facilitates the development of a timely narrative.

When we bring our designs to reality, the formal manifestations that may be seen in things, nature, individuals, and vehicles work well together. 

For artists, having a sizable library of 3D elements is crucial. These resources can be extremely valuable to our design process because they provide us the freedom to confidently explore, suggest, experiment, and assess.

With a straightforward drag-and-drop method, Chaos Cosmos offers the finest quality 3D objects, and Materials and is integrated into V-Ray. but they are very limited, 3DHEVEN Offers 1000s of free PBR Textures, HDRI, and 3D Assets which you can get for your 3D Scenes.

CLOUD RENDERING IN VRAY

The deadlines for architectural visualization projects can be absurdly short. Large projects occasionally require the prompt delivery of several high-resolution photos as well as 4K movies.

The money to invest in the computer system is available to large studios. Smaller studios, however, must meet these demands as they arise.

Any V-Ray user can make use of the incredible power of cloud rendering with Chaos Cloud, whether they are a freelancer looking to finish off small projects for their portfolio or a major studio in need of extra horsepower to meet a tight deadline. It is quick, user-friendly, and compatible with add-ons from other developers. You can even check a web page to see how your jobs are doing from a distance.

WHY BLENDER IS WORTH IT?

REALISM

For realistic rendering, Cycles are without a doubt the finest option. Additionally, from an artistic perspective, it is incredibly simple to utilize because it is based on physically sound concepts. With physically-based scanline renders like BI, artists must play a seemingly endless game of tricks as well as parameter experimenting to even attempt realism.

GPU ACCELERATION

Even while Cycles continue to advance, rendering times become faster and faster over time, but this is still its major drawback. Because, well, recreating the intricate light system, in reality, is sort of difficult! Cycles' enables GPU acceleration, which can significantly shorten render times, to combat this. Cycles engines are wonderful if you can afford to buy a new graphics card. When viewport rendering is used to create lighting and materials in real time, this is very impressive.

COMMUNITY OF VRAY VS CYCLES

The community surrounding the 3D rendering software V-Ray is enormous and includes forums, content producers, social media, teachers, and more. You can ask about anything, from technical knowledge to thoughts on your most recent render, and you can be sure to get a helpful response.

Additionally, Chaos offers a variety of free instructional tools to assist everyone—from beginners getting started to seasoned artists looking to add a new feature. To streamline their workflows for arch viz, designers and architects can quickly locate a wealth of documents, tutorials, and 3D assets.

Unfortunately, the community of Cycles is not as strong and is not readily available.

PRICING

V-ray costs, on average, $80 a month, and an institutional license costs $99 a year. It is FREE when it comes to Cycles. This is quite helpful if you're a beginner hobbyist.

CONCLUSION

V-rays offer more possibilities and potential than Cycles. This is because it is better developed. Additionally, while utilizing Vray, render settings and you may increase the speed. But Cycles is still an excellent option if you're using Blender.

V-ray is rather pricey, so if you're a hobbyist or new to this sector, you could opt not to invest money in it. Cycles is a fantastic renderer as a result, and the differences between the two aren't that great.