VRED 2023.0

Learn about new features and improvements in this release of VRED. For technical details and bug fixes, see the 2023.0 release notes and recommended system requirements to ensure Autodesk VRED products are running to their potential.

What's New in 2023 and General Improvements

Important:

For Windows users, 2023.0 requires an NVIDIA RTX driver v.496.49 or above, due to the introduction of GPU Raytracing.

For Linux users, 2023.1 requires an NVIDIA driver 495.44 or above. Due to Linux dependency for Render Node, set your local directory to /var/opt/Autodesk with write access on the Linux machine that is running the VRED 2020 Render Node.

Material Editor Rework Video Captions: In VRED 2023, we completely reworked the Material Editor. Now with the decoupled Material Editor, it is possible to access all properties via the Python API. This is very helpful for automation and also for accessing material properties using VRED Core, for example.

See also the Python documentation here: Help > Python Documentation > VRED Python API v2 documentation to learn more about new services and classes. In the new Material Editor, it is now possible to select multiple materials at the same time and change values for the complete selection in one go. You can, for example, change the diffuse color for all selected materials at the same time. Or you set an override for multiple materials.

By the way, changing a value of multiple entities at the same time is also possible in the light editor, since quite a while.

We also have now a tree view available, similar to the Scenegraph, which gives you a faster and better overview of complex materials. If you want to expand a tree view, you can also use the new slider on the bottom.

Additionally, we implemented a so called “breadcrump” navigation. You can see the sub materials and its parents organized in these tabs, which makes the navigation between the sub materials and its parents much easier now.

Please see more features and workflows of the Material Editor on the second video.

Click the cards below for further information on new features and improvements found in 2023.

Decoupling the Material Editor

The decoupling of the Material Editor has made it possible to access all properties via the Python API. This is very helpful for automation and accessing material properties, using VRED Core, for example. You will find many improvements and new features added to the menus, filtering, Material Graph, context menu, Group Preview, Attributes, and the QuickActions Bar.

Menu Changes

Create/Convert has been split into two menus and the Scene menu was renamed to Selection, with many options added to it, as a result of the Material Editor decoupling project. See the sections that follow for a complete list of these changes.

Material Graph and Tags Changes

Improved filtering, new selection tools, and the ability to drag a tag into the Attributes Tag field, are just a few changes to the Material Graph and Tag Lister, as a result of the decoupling of the Material Editor.

Context Menu Changes

Edit All options, Asset sub menu, and selection options, were added as a result of the decoupling of the Material Editor project.

Group Preview Changes

Filtering Toggles were added to the Group Preview. They are automatically activated and deactivated, based on any search, filter, or selection in the Material Graph or Tag Lister. We also implemented multi selection and editing.

Material Attributes Changes

Multi selection editing, different material preview shapes, and breadcrumb navigation tabs are just some of the Attributes changes, as a result of the Material Editor decoupling project.

Substance Preference Change

Apply & Reset and Apply & Merge options were added to the Substance preference, Preset Behavior, for setting the behavior used when dealing with uncaptured Substance preset values. This enables the combining of presets, such as a double stitch and color value.

Variant Sets Preview

In 2023, we deprecated the Simple UI, but kept the Variant Sets thumbnail preview, adding a Switch Display Mode option to the Variant Sets module.

GPU Raytracing

We improved update performance for GPU raytracing by reducing the time to load and start GPU raytracing.

VR Laser Pointer

The laser pointer experience when near an object has improved. We added an option for setting the ideal size for the pointer ball and laser diameter.

Help Changes

Collapsible sections, the VRED Menus button, a reference landing page, and learn more lists to draw your attention to additional information, were added. The structure of the help also changed to make it easier to find the answers you need to get back to VRED.