D5 Render 1.8 by Dimension 5

Originally released at the end of May 2020, D5 Render, a new rendering program, has been updated to version 1.8. The engine combines ray tracing and rasterization techniques.

Update 1.8 adds quite a few new features, including a handy option that allows the software to automatically set the angle of the sunlight based on the position of the brightest spot on the HDRI scene map.

Other changes include support for ambient occlusion maps in many key materials, a new post glare effect, and new camera animation controls for camera speed and Z-axis rotation.

DCC integration plugins have also been updated to support direct binding of models, materials, camera positions and V-Ray light sources.

Dimension 5 also added a new built-in dynamic particle material library that simulates fire, smoke and dust. There was also a separate announcement of 279 new 3D plant models.

D5 Render is available for Windows 10. It requires a current generation NVidia RTX GPU or a compatible GeForce GTX card (GeForce GTX 1060 or higher is recommended).

The D5 converter plugin for Max is compatible with 3ds Max 2017 and above, and it also requires V-Ray 3.6 and above. The other plugins, however, support ArchiCAD 21 and above, Blender 2.82 and above, Revit 2017 and above, Rhino 6.5+, and SketchUp 2017+.

The cost of the Pro version is $480. The software is free for personal and educational use.