How to Use Lightbeans Textures in V-Ray

What Is Lightbeans and Why Use It in V-Ray?

Lightbeans is a professional library of photorealistic PBR (Physically Based Rendering) textures used by architects, designers, and visualization artists. Every texture on Lightbeans is a seamless, tileable PBR material set (albedo, normal, roughness, displacement, AO) scanned directly from a physical brand product, so the finishes in your renders match a product your client can actually specify and order. Free downloads for commercial and educational use are funded by the brands.

V-Ray is a professional render engine by Chaos, available as a plugin for SketchUp, Rhino, 3ds Max, and other host applications. Its V-Ray Material supports the full PBR texture workflow, making it an excellent match for Lightbeans assets. This guide covers two workflows: the automatic integration via the Lightbeans SketchUp plugin for V-Ray users in SketchUp, and the manual PBR setup for V-Ray in Rhino and 3ds Max.

Using the Lightbeans SketchUp Plugin (Recommended for SketchUp Users)

If you use V-Ray with SketchUp, the Lightbeans SketchUp plugin is the fastest way to get textures into V-Ray. It automatically syncs all PBR maps directly into your scene with no manual file management.

1. Install the free Lightbeans extension from the SketchUp Extension Warehouse
2. Open the plugin in SketchUp and go to Settings
3. Select V-Ray as your renderer — this ensures the plugin downloads the correct maps and configures the material automatically for V-Ray
4. Browse the Lightbeans library from within the plugin and click to import any texture directly into your scene

All PBR maps are assigned automatically. Skip ahead to Step 5 to verify the scale.

Manual Workflow (Rhino, 3ds Max, Archicad, or without the plugin)

Follow the steps below if you are working in Rhino, 3ds Max, or prefer to manage files manually in SketchUp.

Step 1: Download Your Lightbeans Texture for V-Ray

1. Head over to lightbeans.com/textures
2. Click on a texture sphere
3. Click the Download 3D Texture button at the bottom right
4. In the popup, enable V-Ray as a target application, and also enable your host application (SketchUp, Rhino, Archicad or 3ds Max)
5. Hit the download button, then extract the .zip file

Your downloaded folder will contain all the PBR maps you need: Color, Roughness, Normal, Displacement, and AO.

Step 2: Create a V-Ray Material

1. In your host application, open the V-Ray Asset Editor
2. Navigate to the Materials section
3. Create a new V-Ray Material (VRayMtl)
4. Give it a descriptive name (e.g., "Lightbeans_Concrete_001")

Step 3: Assign the Diffuse (Color) Map

1. In the V-Ray Material, locate the Diffuse slot
2. Click the map button and select Bitmap
3. Navigate to your downloaded Lightbeans folder and select the Color (Albedo/Base Color) map file

Step 4: Assign the Roughness Map

1. Locate the Reflection Glossiness slot in the V-Ray Material
2. Assign the Roughness map from your Lightbeans folder
3. Enable the Use Roughness option if available, so the map is interpreted as roughness rather than glossiness

V-Ray's default workflow uses Glossiness. Enabling Use Roughness ensures the Lightbeans map is interpreted correctly without needing to invert it.

Step 5: Assign the Normal Map

1. Locate the Bump Map slot in the V-Ray Material
2. Add a VRayNormalMap texture node to the Bump slot
3. Inside the VRayNormalMap node, assign the Normal map from your Lightbeans folder

Lightbeans provides OpenGL-format normal maps. If your surface normals appear inverted in V-Ray, enable the Flip Green option in the VRayNormalMap node.

Step 6: Assign the Displacement Map

1. In the V-Ray Material settings, locate the Displacement slot or add a VRayDisplacementMod modifier to the object
2. Assign the Displacement map from your Lightbeans folder
3. Adjust the displacement amount to match the material's physical scale

Displacement adds real geometric detail at render time and is particularly effective for surfaces like stone, concrete, and brick seen at close range.

Step 7: Assign Real-World Scale

Ensure the texture is correctly scaled in your scene to maintain physical realism. Lightbeans provides the real-world dimensions for each texture in the productmetadata.txt file included in the downloaded package. Use this value to set the correct UV tiling on the object.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does V-Ray support PBR textures? Yes. V-Ray's VRayMtl supports full PBR texture input including Diffuse (Color), Reflection Glossiness (Roughness), Bump (Normal), Displacement, and Opacity maps. It is one of the most capable render engines for working with Lightbeans textures.

What Lightbeans maps work in V-Ray? Color (Albedo), Roughness, Normal, Displacement, and AO are all supported. The Normal map must be routed through a VRayNormalMap node before being connected to the Bump slot.

Does the Lightbeans SketchUp plugin work with V-Ray? Yes. The Lightbeans SketchUp plugin has native V-Ray support. Select V-Ray in the plugin settings and all PBR maps will be downloaded and assigned automatically when you import a texture.

Why must I use a VRayNormalMap node for the normal map? V-Ray requires normal maps to pass through a VRayNormalMap node to be interpreted correctly as normal maps rather than bump maps. Connecting a bitmap directly to the Bump slot treats it as a grayscale bump map.

Does V-Ray use Roughness or Glossiness by default? V-Ray defaults to Glossiness. Enable the Use Roughness option in the Reflection Glossiness slot to use Lightbeans' Roughness maps directly without inverting them.

Which host apps does this workflow apply to? The manual PBR workflow described in this guide applies to V-Ray for SketchUp, Rhino, and 3ds Max. The Lightbeans SketchUp plugin with automatic V-Ray sync is only available for the SketchUp version.

Tips for Best Results

• Use the Lightbeans SketchUp plugin if you work in SketchUp. It handles all map assignment automatically and eliminates manual file management entirely when using V-Ray with SketchUp.
• Enable Use Roughness. V-Ray defaults to Glossiness mode. Enabling Use Roughness saves you from having to invert the Lightbeans Roughness map.
• Always use a VRayNormalMap node. Connecting a normal map directly to the Bump slot without this node causes it to be interpreted as a grayscale bump map, losing all directional surface detail.
• Use VRayDisplacementMod for displacement in 3ds Max. In 3ds Max, displacement is applied as a modifier on the object rather than a slot in the material.
• Check real-world scale. Use the dimensions in productmetadata.txt to set the correct UV tiling. Incorrectly scaled textures are one of the most common reasons PBR materials look unconvincing in renders.

Summary

V-Ray supports the full Lightbeans PBR texture workflow across SketchUp, Rhino, and 3ds Max. SketchUp users can skip manual setup entirely by using the free Lightbeans SketchUp plugin with V-Ray selected as the renderer — all maps are assigned automatically. For Rhino and 3ds Max, the process involves creating a VRayMtl, assigning the Color map to the Diffuse slot, the Roughness map to the Reflection Glossiness slot with Use Roughness enabled, and routing the Normal map through a VRayNormalMap node into the Bump slot. The Displacement map is assigned to the Displacement slot or via a VRayDisplacementMod modifier. Lightbeans provides real-world scale in the productmetadata.txt file for correct UV tiling.

Need some help? Contact our team at info@lightbeans.com