V Ray is a Windows extension that aims to equip SketchUp with advanced rendering capabilities. With it, users are able to create photo-realistic models for projects, including interior design, 3D printing and architecture.

Overview

The V-Ray plugin is easily deployed and integrated into SketchUp. You can access its features either via the Extensions menu or the floating toolbars. All the controls are readily available, but it is recommended to take the time and go through the extensive documentation to get the most out of this extension.

There are various factors that affect the output result when rendering an image. V-Ray tries to take into consideration the most important aspects such as lighting, used materials and mapping.

Dedicated to this purpose, this extension comes with powerful lighting instruments to help you generate natural light in your scenes, making shadows and reflections look realistic. Thanks to these tools, V-Ray saves designers the time and effort needed to manually configure lighting parameters.

Edit and create

Aside from lighting features, this plugin includes a material editor with built-in preview that allows you to adjust colors, texture, refraction depth and various other settings. It is possible to create new materials using transparency and texture mapping, as well as manage two-sided materials.

Features

free to download and use;
compatible with modern Windows versions;
gives you the ability to create realistic models;
includes a material editor;
it is possible to configure lighting settings.