V-Ray Tip: V-Ray Final Render Preflight Checklist

A robust render checklist prevents last‑minute surprises and keeps deliveries consistent, traceable, and client‑ready. Save this as your go-to pass before hitting “Send.” For V-Ray upgrades, add-ons, and ecosystem tools, check NOVEDGE for Chaos/V-Ray options: NOVEDGE.

• Scene sanity
  • Freeze transforms on key assets; remove unused nodes, materials, and layers.
  • Verify units and scale; match real-world camera height and focal lengths.
  • Lock final cameras; enable Safe Frame and confirm overscan needs (typically 5–10%).
  • Confirm object and light naming for easy AOV isolation.
• Color management
  • Confirm OCIO/ACEScg or sRGB pipeline consistency across DCC, V-Ray VFB, and comp.
  • Decide whether to bake VFB LUTs/grade or deliver clean linear EXR + LUT.
  • White balance finalized; camera response/filmic curve intentional and documented.
• Sampling and noise
  • Noise threshold and Max Subdivs fixed for finals; avoid changing mid‑sequence.
  • Denoiser strategy set: beauty, AOVs, or both; keep settings consistent across shots.
  • Clamp fireflies if required; verify no crushed highlights in specular/caustics.
• Lighting and GI
  • Brute Force/Light Cache tuned; retrace enabled if needed for contact shadows.
  • For animation: precompute and lock caches (e.g., LC camera path) to prevent flicker.
  • LightMix reset or baked into lights; disable interactive-only features for finals.
• Materials and textures
  • Check missing maps; ensure correct color space flags (albedo = sRGB, data = linear).
  • Verify displacement edge length and keep adaptive displacement where appropriate.
  • Consolidate textures to relative paths; consider .tx/low‑mip variants for farms.
• Render elements and output
  • Beauty + key AOVs: Reflection, Refraction, Specular, Coat, Emission, SSS, Atmosphere.
  • Utility AOVs: Cryptomatte, Z‑Depth, Normal, Position/World, LightSelect for relighting.
  • EXR half‑float, ZIP/DWAA compression; “Save all image channels” enabled in VFB.
  • Consistent naming, tokens, and versioning; slate/frame stamp to metadata or off.
• Animation specifics
  • Frame range, handles, and step confirmed; motion blur and DOF locked.
  • Deformation/velocity data validated for comp-side motion blur if used.
  • Cache simulation and geometry (Alembic/VRayProxy) to avoid farm variability.
• Farm and reproducibility
  • Test one hero frame per lighting condition; compare via VFB History.
  • Record software/build: DCC, V-Ray version, GPU/CPU drivers; include in README.
  • Export a .vrscene of the final shot for archival and vendor handoff.
• Delivery pack
  • Linear EXR sequence + LUT/OCIO config; contact sheet and graded MP4 preview.
  • Technical notes: color pipeline, sample settings, GI method, denoiser, and AOV list.
  • Checksums or frame count verification for client ingest.

Pro tip: add a preflight script to auto-check missing textures, color tags, and AOV completeness before dispatch. If you need dependable licensing, add-ons, or Chaos Cloud credits, see NOVEDGE for current offerings.

You can find all the V-Ray products on the NOVEDGE web site at this page.