By far one of the most frequent calls we get to the support team here at Escape is about the installation of Chaos Group’s V-Ray. In this post I’ll give you a step-by-step guide to installing V-Ray.
This post deals with installing V-Ray on your local computer. I’ll write another one soon for network installations.
Step 1: Your dongle
You’ll receive a dongle. Put this to the side for the moment but don’t lose it.
Step 2: Drivers
The USB dongle is what’s called a Wibukey. It’s something that normally your computer won’t be able to talk to. So you need to install the Wibukey drivers, which aren’t included in Windows so you need to download them from here: Wibukey Drivers
Step 3: Installing Wibukey
Install the Wibukey driver. Follow the installer - no extra information will be needed for the installer.
Step 4: The dongle
Insert USB dongle.
Step 5
Start Wibukey server:
Go to Start > Applications > Wibukey > Network Server. Start this program and a Wibukey icon will show up in the system tray. Right click on this and… start server.
You’re done with Wibukey now. On to V-Ray.
Step 6: Getting your V-Ray plugin
V-Ray is a plugin renderer for different software packages like NUKE, Maya, 3ds Max etc. But where it differs is that you need to be running a local license server in order to use it.
Logon to your Chaos Group download area (https://accounts.chaosgroup.com/?return_to=https://login.chaosgroup.com/login.php) and download the V-Ray plugin for your corresponding software (i.e. if you’re using NUKE download V-Ray for NUKE)
Step 7: Installing the license server and plugin
Before anything else you’ll need to install the license server (if you don’t already have it).
Run the installer you just downloaded from Chaos Group’s website and click through the dialogue. You’ll be given the choice of “standalone” or “full install”. If you need to install the server go for full install, otherwise choose standalone.
Step 8: Run the license server
Again you won’t need any extra information or configuration. Once finished you’ll find “Launch V-Ray License Server” in the start menu under Chaos Group. Run this program and you’ll see it pop up in the system tray.
Step 9: Check the license server is working
Once the license server is running open a web browser to check that everything is in order.
With the dongle is plugged into your local machine go to https://localhost:30304
If you’re having trouble accessing the webpage it’s normally a sign that it’s being blocked by the firewall. We normally disable firewalls but for the security conscious you can add an exception in the firewall by opening port 30304. Keep your eyes open for another blog on firewall exceptions.
Once you’re on the webpage click “Get server status”. You should see something like this:
Step 10: Open your software
Open your software package of choice (NUKE, Maya, 3ds Max etc.) and you should see a new menu called “V-Ray”.
If you’re in NUKE it will in your sidebar at the bottom. For Maya and 3ds Max it will be a dropdown in the menu bar.
Step 11: Render
You’re ready to use V-Ray. For a more in depth guide to using V-Ray check out the manuals on Chaos Group’s website: http://help.chaosgroup.com/