All you need to know about V-Ray Hybrid rendering

V-Ray is a popular rendering engine that is praised across a wide range of 3D fields for its ability to create lifelike images. In this article, we will dive into one of its notable features – the V-Ray Hybrid rendering mode.

V-Ray offers three rendering methods: CPU, GPU, and hybrid modes.

• V-Ray CPU Rendering
  

This traditional rendering approach relies on the Central Processing Unit (CPU) to compute and render 3D scenes. Known for its ability to produce highly detailed and realistic images, CPU rendering excels at handling complex instructions and logical operations, making it ideal for intricate scenes or large-scale projects requiring substantial computational power.

One major advantage of V-Ray CPU rendering is its compatibility with any CPU, regardless of brand or model. However, its primary weakness lies in rendering speed, which can be enhanced by increasing the number of CPU cores and their clock speed.

• V-Ray GPU Rendering

As the name suggests, this method leverages the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to compute and render 3D scenes. With its capacity for parallel processing across thousands of cores, GPU rendering significantly outpaces CPU rendering in speed. V-Ray GPU rendering operates in two modes: CUDA and RTX, both compatible exclusively with NVIDIA GPUs. The choice of mode depends on the GPU cores available on your graphics card. Additionally, V-Ray supports multi-GPU rendering, which boosts performance further.

• Hybrid Rendering

Hybrid rendering was developed as Chaos sought solutions to improve debugging methods for GPU code crashes. Introduced in V-Ray 3.6, this feature allows users to render scenes by simultaneously utilizing both CPU and GPU. Known as “hybrid” or “XPU” rendering, it maximizes total system performance and enhances the efficiency of the rendering process.

Unlike the two methods that rely solely on the GPU or CPU while leaving the other hardware unused, V-Ray Hybrid leverages the combined computational power of both to deliver outstanding results in a significantly shorter time.

According to experiments conducted by Chaos, incorporating CPUs in V-Ray Hybrid rendering noticeably reduced render times compared to using GPU or CPU rendering alone. Below, we’ll explore the details of the experiment conducted with Dabarti Studio:

⚙️Hardware

CPUs: 2 x Intel Xeon CPU E5-2687W v3 3.10 GHz, total of 40 logical CPU cores
RAM: 128 GB
GPUs: 2 x NVIDIA Quadro GP100 with 16GB each, total of 7,168 GPU cores

🛠 Settings

Engine: V-Ray 3.6 CUDA
Resolution: 1920×1080
Noise threshold: 0.01

💡 Results

GPUs + CPUs Time: 9:11 (551s)

GPUs only Time: 11:33 (693s)

CPUs only Time: 40:52 (2452s)

As a result, hybrid rendering is approximately 20% faster than CPU rendering and 77% faster than GPU rendering.

The V-Ray Hybrid rendering mode supports all the features of V-Ray GPU while producing visually identical results in less time.

Another test conducted by Chaos users demonstrates that utilizing total system performance (CPU + CUDA GPU) is faster than relying solely on the GPU (CUDA or RTX). Detailed test results are shown in the accompanying chart.

Additionally, a test by another V-Ray user revealed that V-Ray Hybrid rendering outperforms both RTX and CPU rendering in speed, while delivering nearly identical results, with only minor differences in noise levels. However, it’s important to note that this test was conducted on a simple scene, and the results may vary for more complex and detailed projects.

When GPU memory (VRAM) is insufficient for rendering high-detail projects, the hybrid mode can still handle the task by utilizing system memory and paging. Since VRAM is limited and fixed for each GPU card—even when multiple GPU cards are used, the total VRAM can’t be combined—it may not be enough for larger projects. However, with the V-Ray Hybrid rendering mode, V-Ray can tap into the abundant RAM (CPU memory) to compensate for the lack of VRAM. This ensures stable rendering of heavy scenes while preventing system crashes or software malfunctions.

🔽 The rendering process in V-Ray Hybrid mode (CPU + GPU CUDA) differs from the standard CPU mode. However, according to feedback from Chaos users, for simple scenes, the results produced by both methods are nearly identical.

🔽 V-Ray Hybrid rendering mode does not require special drivers or Kernel compilation. It can even run without NVIDIA drivers or a GPU installed. In such cases, V-Ray utilizes CPU power but not in the same way as in V-Ray CPU mode. Interestingly, according to Puget Systems, rendering with V-Ray Hybrid mode using only the CPU is faster than using the standard CPU mode. This comparison is illustrated in the chart below:

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Let’s see how fast V-Ray renders on our servers!

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• 24/7 assistance: iRender’s attentive agents are always ready to support all your queries.
• All software compatibility: iRender’s PCs are built to meet the configuration needs of all 3D software and rendering tools at a variety of cost levels for users to choose from.

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If you have any questions, please get in touch with me through email [email protected] or our 24/7 support team for a quick response.

Thank you for reading & Happy Lunar New Year!

Source: Puget Systems, Ms.Codes, Schädl Christoph, ScanlineVFX