The V-Ray rendering system has a rich set of features; we have listed some of the major ones here
Major features of V-Ray™ for 3dsmax™ ver 1.5 SP2 (150SP2)
The V-Ray rendering system has a rich set of features; we have listed some of the major ones here. For a full list of features and capabilities visit the V-Ray documentation. Please be aware that every features is subject to change without prior notice.
Core architecture
Multi-platform object-oriented API Fully multithreaded core Unified sampling system based on Schlick sampling Distributed rendering Efficient shading system specifically optimized for ray-tracing Modular architecture - many components of the system can be replaced with custom ones
Geometry
Efficient geometry handling True instance rendering On-demand dynamic geometry creation On-demand geometry loading from disk files Displacement mapping Catmull-Clark and Loop subdivision surfaces Extensible with custom geometric primitives through the V-Ray SDK
Image sampling
Three different image sampling methods Full-scene antialiasing Progressive path tracing Support for additional render elements (diffuse, reflection, GI etc) Advanced color (tone) mapping controls Extensible with custom image samplers through the V-Ray SDK
Illumination
Physically accurate full global illumination solutions Different GI algorithms: path tracing, irradiance cache, photon maps, light cache Reusable GI solutions for accelerated rendering of walk-through animations and animations with dynamic objects Physically accurate area lights Efficient illumination from HDR environments Procedural sun & sky models Extensible with custom lights through the V-Ray SDK Physically accurate area lights; IES photometric lights
Shaders
Physically plausible materials Blurry reflections/refractions Accurate hilights Sub-surface scattering Support for efficient material layering Extensible with custom shaders through the V-Ray SDK
Camera effects
Depth-of-field with bokeh effects Accurate motion blur Physical camera model Extensible with custom cameras through the V-Ray SDK
Extras
Toon effect Fur generator/raytracer Extended matte/shadow capabilities Support for Render-to-Texture mode of 3ds Max VRaySphereFade to isolate only specific portions of the scene for compositing
Frame buffer
V-Ray specific frame buffer with integrated color corrections and display of multiple rendering elements Direct rendering to disk for extremely large images, either as OpenEXR files or as .vrimg files