Chaos
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Getting started with V-Ray for SketchUp.

Your go-to source to achieve the best rendering results in SketchUp.

Ready to learn how to render in SketchUp? V-Ray’s got you covered.

Get your SketchUp rendering software skills up and running with these essential learning resources. Enjoy a host of official V-Ray video tutorials, free scenes, and documentation — and start creating amazing architectural renders and animations in no time.
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Installing V-Ray for SketchUp

To get started you'll need to download and install the V-Ray extension for SketchUp. It's important to confirm that your system meets the recommended system requirements before proceeding with the installation.

New to V-Ray for SketchUp?


Start with a series of beginner-friendly tutorials that will help you get familiar with the software and master the basics of creating photorealistic SketchUp renders today. 

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Getting started

Get familiar with the V-Ray for SketchUp user interface and main functionalities, and learn the best render settings to get up and running.

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Working with materials

Learn the essential steps when applying V-Ray materials to your SketchUp scene. Shade your scene with ready-to-use materials from Chaos Cosmos or build one from scratch.

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Lighting your scene

Learn how to add realistic sunlight and artificial lights to your scene with V-Ray for SketchUp.

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Working with camera settings

Watch to learn how to work with multiple camera settings to improve significantly the realism of your renders. Work like a photographer, with controls for exposure, white balance, depth of field and more.

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Render settings explained

Watch to see how to get your projects ready before rendering and optimize them for your needs. Learn the difference between progressive and bucket rendering, how to enhance the render quality or resolution and how to render on Chaos Cloud.

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Creating animations

Watch this video to learn all about the animation options in V-Ray for SketchUp. See how you can set up cloud animations, adjust proxy animations, and all the render settings for animations.

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Post-processing your renders

Watch to learn how to apply color corrections and work with the Light Mix to fine-tune the lighting of your scene, without the need to re-render everything.

Want to learn V-Ray tips & tricks before anyone else? Subscribe to YouTube-logo ChaosTV.

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Learn V-Ray on your terms

Whether you're an architect, interior designer, or visualization specialist, Chaos Academy is your ultimate learning portal. Access tailored training materials designed for your career path. Master essential V-Ray skills, from creating realistic lighting and shading to managing complex scenes with ease. Take your expertise to the next level—join Chaos Academy today!

Join us

Tutorials


Unlock the power of V-Ray for SketchUp. In this series, you can watch short video tutorials demonstrating how to make the most of the latest and greatest features.

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Bathroom design

This tutorial covers creating a stunning bathroom design, from start to finish. You'll learn about camera views, depth of field, auto exposure, and white balance for framing and lighting. Explore lighting options, Chaos Cosmos assets, and material customization.

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Kitchen design

Explore how to create a stunning kitchen render in this video tutorial. Learn to build a scene with Chaos assets, refine lighting, camera angles, and materials, and enhance your render with post-processing effects.

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Living room design

This tutorial reveals how to create a stunning living room design. Use V-Ray's LightGen and multiple light sources for the perfect ambiance, populate your scene with customizable Cosmos assets, and add final touches by editing directly in the VFB.

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Bedroom design

This tutorial guides you through creating a stunning modern bedroom design with V-Ray. Learn pro camera setups, master lighting, and effortlessly add high-quality Chaos Cosmos furniture.

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Bring Enscape scenes inside V-Ray

Learn how to take real-time Enscape projects to V-Ray 6. V-Ray reads Enscape materials, lights, and compatible assets, and allows you to build on your work by fine-tuning components or substituting them with hi-res equivalents.

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Get started with Chaos Vantage

Take your design to the next level with Chaos Vantage. The new live link takes even your most complex scenes to pure ray-traced real-time with zero setup. Navigate and interact with your model’s true lighting and materials, and create animations and images with ease.

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Import and manage Chaos Cosmos 3D models

Learn how easy it is to stage your scene with Chaos Cosmos assets. Render them as they are or customize their materials to suit your project. You’ll also learn tips about the optimal way to share Cosmos-rich scenes with your colleagues.

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Apply Chaos Cosmos materials in your scene

Chaos’ curated collection of render-ready V-Ray content adds a new category — materials. Make use of an extensive range of tiles, wooden floors, brick walls, and more. Use the Cosmos materials out-of-the-box or customize their color, bump, gloss, and more.

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Refine texture placement with Distance texture

Learn how to improve the precision of material and procedural effect placement using the V-Ray Distance texture. Control the spread depending on the proximity to desired objects in your composition.

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Use custom HDRI libraries in Light Gen

Use your bank of HDRIs to light your scenes with Light Gen. Pick your favorite skies and light your designs in seconds. Creating different lighting scenarios has never been easier.

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Customize the sky with procedural clouds

Learn how to add the right clouds for your scene using the procedural clouds in V-Ray Sun & Sky system. Control their type, variety, density, and height, and animate beautiful timelapses for your sun studies.

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Build realistic terrain with Scatter

Use the new scattering tool to quickly and easily add extensive entourage. Add hundreds, thousands, or even millions of Chaos Cosmos models and objects to any surface without encumbering SketchUp or Vision. Control their density, size, and orientation and create realistic terrain for your exterior scenes.

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Create complex patterns with V-Ray Enmesh

Learn the power and ease-of-use of V-Ray Enmesh — the perfect tool when you need to create tiled geometric patterns. Fabrics, fences, and panels are simple to make and customize at no extra memory cost.

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How to work with V-Ray Decal

With V-Ray Decal, you can add realistic detail to any surface material. Stack them upon one another, project them over multiple scene objects, and invest time in creativity, not additional UVW work.

Visualizing an architectural project in SketchUp from start to finish


In this video tutorial series, Boyan Petrov, 3D artist at Chaos, demonstrates the essential steps to create stunning photorealistic renders and animations for your SketchUp projects with V-Ray. All scenes and assets are available for download to help you practice.

Join him and learn valuable tips to get the best rendering experience in SketchUp.

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Introduction to series

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Populating your scene, pt.1: placing Chaos Cosmos assets

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Populating your scene, pt.2: iterating with V-Ray Vision

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Populating your scene, pt.3: object scattering

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Populating your scene, pt.4: staging your interior

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Lighting, pt.1: using the Sun and Sky system

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Materials pt.1: working with generic materials

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Materials pt.2: working with Chaos Cosmos

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Tips on optimizing scene geometry

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Lighting pt.2: finding the best light with Light Gen

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Adding atmospheric & volumetric effects

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V-Ray Frame Buffer and post-processing

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Lighting pt.3: creating evening skies

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Lighting pt.4: evening exterior artificial lights

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Lighting pt.5: evening environment illumination

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Lighting pt.6: light mixing & compositing

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Daytime interior lighting & material techniques

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Camera settings for virtual photography

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Interior night scene lighting

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Enhance the quality & speed of your renders

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Creating and exporting animations

Webinars

This series of webinars presents the features and updates in V-Ray for SketchUp's major versions.
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Getting started with V-Ray for SketchUp

Watch this webinar recording on architectural rendering using V-Ray for SketchUp, and discover the secrets to creating stunning, realistic visualizations.
Whether you're an aspiring visualization specialist, an established architect or designer, or just a curious creative, this webinar is your gateway to transforming your SketchUp models into breathtaking, realistic visualizations.

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Mastering realistic interior lighting with V-Ray

Learn how to quickly create diverse lighting options for your interior scene with V-Ray's LightGen tool. Use V-Ray Sun and Sky for natural lighting, enhance realism with image-based lighting, and strategically add artificial lights for depth. Master advanced features like Light Mix to fine-tune and experiment with different lighting setups after rendering.

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Working with materials in V-Ray

Discover how to apply materials and tweak settings to achieve the desired visual aesthetic. Explore diverse techniques for crafting physically accurate materials, such as gold and metal, as well as lifelike glass materials through perfect reflections and refractions. Learn the efficient use of Chaos Cosmos, our vast collection of pre-configured materials for seamless scene shading with just a few clicks.

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Free scenes

These free scenes will give you a head start learning V-Ray for SketchUp. Each scene includes complete assets and renders. You can also use them to follow along with our tutorials.


Get scenes

Help docs

The Chaos documentation site is the best place to find in-depth technical descriptions of V-Ray features and their parameters, as well as useful visual demonstrations of the settings in action.


See help docs
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Need more inspiration?

The official Chaos blog is the best place to find all the latest V-Ray for SketchUp news, customer stories, product updates, podcasts, and much more.
Chaos
© 2025 Chaos Software EOOD. All Rights reserved. Chaos®, V-Ray® and Phoenix FD® are registered trademarks of Chaos Software EOOD in Bulgaria and/or other countries.