FAQ Chaos Cosmos

Contents
What is Chaos Cosmos?
Who are the Chaos Cosmos asset creators?
Can I also download Cosmos Assets via the web browser?
Can I use the Cosmos Library offline?
Can I use Cosmos assets commercially?
Can I use the Cosmos Library in a shared network setup?
Which Chaos products support the Chaos Cosmos asset library?
Can I use Cosmos assets with third-party renderers?
What format are the Cosmos assets?
Do I need specific hardware to visualize the Cosmos assets in my viewport?
What does automatic level of detail (LOD) mean and is it that important?
Are Cosmos assets “to scale”?
What does render-ready mean?
Will I be able to organize my own library/assets?
Are Chaos Cosmos 3D models available in all render formats?
Are materials in Cosmos assets editable?
Are the Cosmos assets animated?
Do the assets come with light and studio setups?
Where can I find my downloaded assets?
Do I need to set up the V-Ray Proxy associations?
Can I assign different materials or even VRscans to Cosmos assets?
Are new Cosmos materials editable?
Why are some assets being discontinued from the Chaos Cosmos library?
What will happen if I have downloaded a discontinued asset?

What is Chaos Cosmos?

Chaos Cosmos Content System delivers an asset library of high-quality, render-ready 3D content carefully selected from the rich Chaos ecosystem. It allows Chaos users from their respective Chaos products to browse, place, and render 3D assets in their visualization projects. The asset categories span across vegetation, materials, furniture, accessories, lighting fixtures, vehicles, people, animals, architecture, presets (i.e. ready-to-use predefined sets of 3D models like grass and dandelion lawns, tree avenues, river bed, wild bushes, palm forest, hedges, group of people and more), enmesh-patterns and HDRI skies, organized in four main categories and nine spaces. 

 In addition, all assets go through a rigorous process of selection and Chaos quality checks to make sure that they work seamlessly in different Chaos renderers (V-Ray 5 and later, V-Ray GPU, Corona, Vision, as well as Chaos Vantage) and host apps (3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, Maya, Houdini, etc).

Who are the Chaos Cosmos asset creators?

Find “Brands” and “Vendors” asset creators under the ”Creators” category.

The Brands subcategory includes the digital twins of all brand manufacturers that produce and distribute physical products like furniture (for home and office, restaurant and café, retail, urban and country), interior and exterior fabrics, lamps, indoor or outdoor accessories, smart building technology with focus on sockets and switches, and more. The digital twins of our brand partners span across diverse styles and themes - organic, sustainable, modern, classic, trendy, Scandinavian, Asian, etc.

The Vendors subcategory includes 3D assets from the Chaos ecosystem as well as content, developed by external 3D asset creators.

Every vendor in this category has explored methods and technologies that meet the needs of 3D artists focused on creating realistic visualizations in architectural and interior design, product design, e-commerce, VFX, film and game design, VR and AR applications. The category includes 3D plants and vegetation (indoor and outdoor), 3D people (standing, sitting, cycling, groups, children, families and couples with Asian, European and African physical characteristics), animals, products (bottles, candles, cups, plates, etc), vehicles (cars, busses, trucks, trams, helicopters, ambulances, motorcycles, etc), HDRs (day, night and evening lighting), scenes and complete environments.

 There are two ways to identify a brand manufacturer or vendor:

By opening the detailed view of each 3D asset. Click on the name of the asset creator to find out more about its business and see the link to its website or webshop.

By clicking on the “Brands” or “Vendors” categories to see the list of all available asset creators, preview their asset collections, find out more about them and see the link to their website or webshop.

If you are a brand manufacturer or vendor that wants to provide digital twins or 3D assets for the Chaos Cosmos library, please contact the cosmos business team at cosmos.partners@chaos.com.

Can I also download Cosmos Assets via the web browser?

Yes, you can. As long as you are logged in, it does not matter whether you perform your download via a web browser or via the Cosmos browser window within your content creation application (e.g. SketchUp, 3DSMax, Revit, etc.). 

It also doesn't matter whether you perform your download from V-Ray, Vantage or another Chaos product. All products can recognize and load this download. NB you will still need to import the object in the package of your choice.

To download your Cosmos assets from the web page, go to: https://cosmos.chaos.com/

You can also view this web page without being logged in, but you will not be able to perform any downloads.

Can I use the Cosmos Library offline?

The Chaos Cosmos Browser requires an internet connection as it always shows you what is currently available. Downloaded Cosmos assets no longer require an internet connection.

Can I use Cosmos assets commercially?

You are free to use Cosmos assets commercially as long as your usage is within the rights of the EULA you accept when installing your Chaos product, which includes Cosmos. 

Can I use the Cosmos Library in a shared network setup?

The Chaos Cosmos Browser currently supports any form of network install, including mapped drives, UNC paths, and Google Drive/Dropbox/OneDrive. It also supports network setup.

Which Chaos products support the Chaos Cosmos asset library?

Chaos Cosmos is included in the products listed below, starting with version:

• V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max
• V-Ray 5 for SketchUp
• V-Ray 5 for Rhino, update 1.2
• V-Ray 5 for Revit, update 1
• V-Ray 5 for Maya, update 2
• V-Ray 5 for Cinema 4D
• V-Ray 6 for Houdini
• Chaos Vantage
• Corona 8 for 3ds Max
• Corona 8 for Cinema 4D
• Envision
• Soon: Enscape

Can I use Cosmos assets with third-party renderers?

Third-party renderers will work with Cosmos assets as well as their own support/conversion of V-Ray materials, lights, and proxies allow them to.

What format are the Cosmos assets?

Each Chaos product imports Cosmos assets as best suits their users. In the case of 3ds Max, an imported Cosmos asset is a V-RayProxy object that uses native V-Ray materials. In the case of SketchUp and Rhino, the Cosmos asset begins as a “black box” reference that can be merged to become a V-RayProxy for editing.

Do I need specific hardware to visualize the Cosmos assets in my viewport?

No. The Cosmos assets have three automatic levels of detail that adapt based on what viewport you use to visualize them in. The lowest level of detail ensures that Cosmos assets are clearly visible in the native viewport of your creation tool. 

What does automatic level of detail (LOD) mean and is it that important?

Cosmos assets include 2/3 levels of detail (low, mid, and high) that enable lightweight viewing in modeling viewports, medium detail in V-Ray Vision, and full detail in V-Ray. This approach keeps the host application nimble while modeling and sacrifices nothing for final rendering.

Are Cosmos assets “to scale”?

Yes. Cosmos assets respect the system unit set in your scene to deliver objects at the correct scale, and all Cosmos models are in proper scale to one another.

What does render-ready mean?

Render-ready for Chaos Cosmos assets means that no setup is required to render properly across V-Ray, V-Ray GPU, Chaos Vantage, and Corona. You will also obtain the same results across products that include Cosmos even though their material construction may vary to accommodate the application.

Will I be able to organize my own library/assets?

Not for now. The purpose of Chaos Cosmos is to deliver high-quality render-ready assets to V-Ray users. Chaos Cosmos is not a tool for internal organization. In V-Ray for SketchUp and V-Ray for Rhino you can fold out the left panel of the asset editor to organize your own assets.

Are Chaos Cosmos 3D models available in all render formats?

Cosmos assets are in user native V-Ray formats - .vrmesh for geometries and .vrmat formats for materials. On import, they are converted to V-Ray proxies with the appropriate materials associated.

In addition, Cosmos assets contain different LODs (or representations), suitable for display in different contexts. Each Cosmos integration uses these LODs to provide the best user experience. For example:

1. the highest asset LOD will be used for offline rendering
2. the medium asset LOD will be used in V-Ray Vision - either Medium or Low, depending on the asset
3. the lowest asset LOD will be used for Host app viewports

Are materials in Cosmos assets editable?

Yes, you can edit an asset’s materials. Depending on the creation tool, there are two forms of material editing. In V-Ray for 3ds Max, you can immediately edit the resulting VRayProxy object and its V-Ray materials. In V-Ray for SketchUp, Rhino, and Revit common characteristics of the Cosmos assets are editable such as material color, and the light intensity of lighting assets. You can then choose to do advanced editing by merging an asset to expose its full V-Ray material. If you do so, however, part of the functionality of the assets such as the automatic LODs might be lost.

Are the Cosmos assets animated?

Chaos Cosmos assets do not contain animation when Rendered with V-Ray. 

Cosmos Assets in Vantage, Envision and Enscape can contain animations. 

Animated Assets are marked with a symbol: 

Do the assets come with light and studio setups?

No. They are meant to be inserted in your own scenes.

Where can I find my downloaded assets?

Finding downloaded assets is easy by using the Chaos Cosmos Browser and switching to the Downloaded mode.

By default, the downloaded assets are saved locally at the following directory: C:\Users\[User]\Documents\Chaos Cosmos\Packages.

Do I need to set up the V-Ray Proxy associations?

No. The proxy associations are already made and ready for use when you insert your asset from Cosmos.

Can I assign different materials or even VRscans to Cosmos assets?

Yes. You can assign new materials to merged Cosmos assets as you can to a standard scene geometry.

Are new Cosmos materials editable?

Yes, you can edit parameters like color, gloss, bump, and others. The specific parameters vary depending on the native material format for the respective V-Ray integration. For products such as 3ds Max the proprietary material format parameters can be customized, while for SketchUp and Rhino the .vrmat standard variables are used. In any case, you can edit the Cosmos materials in the way you would edit any other material in the host app.

Note that imported Scans material require an additional Chaos Scans plugin license in order to be edited.

Why are some assets being discontinued from the Chaos Cosmos library?

In rare cases, an asset may be discontinued if the content partner who owns it specifically requests its removal.

What will happen if I have downloaded a discontinued asset?

If you have downloaded a discontinued asset, it will remain on your local/shared storage, and you will be able to continue using it. However, please note that once the asset is removed, it will no longer appear in the Online mode of the Cosmos Browser. To see and import it, you will need to switch to the Downloaded mode.