Recap - Chaos Connect Day '24

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Chaos office in Sofia, Bulgaria, to attend #ChaosConnectDay 2024.

keep reading to learn more...

What is Chaos Connect Day?

Here is how Chaos described it:

An invitation-only event filled with networking, presentations, and discussions. 

Chaos Connect Day aims to inspire innovation by exchanging ideas and best 

practices, showcase our latest products to gather insights, and foster a vibrant community by connecting industry professionals. 

I arrived the night before with Chaos CEO Christian Lang and longtime Enscape partner and reseller Phil Read from Read|Thomas. We popped up out of the subway system right in front of the high-rise building with the Chaos sign, so we had to take this selfie!

The lobby and reception desk area are very cool. In the lobby, casually sitting on a shelf, was their 2021 Emmy Award!

Introduction

Christian kicked off the series of presentations highlighting the amazing growth and product developments over the last few years.

Enscape 4.1 Features On the Horizon

There are several things presented at this event that the attendees cannot discuss yet, but we got great presentations on these features from the developers so we will all be ready to share in-depth details once the restrictions are lifted.

Regarding the forthcoming Enscape 4.1 features, many of which are already available for testing via the current Enscape preview release.

Enscape 4.1 Features:

• AI Enhancer
• Enscape Impact - Public Preview
• Artistic Visual Modes
• Support for integrated Intel GPUs
• and more

My friend Roderick Bates, presented on the building performance workflows they are integrating through a partnership with IES. One amazing part of this workflow is it works in Enscape without regard for which BIM/CAD platform it came from. 

By the way, Rod and I have known each other for several years... back when I worked at LHB in Minnesota where State-funded projects are required to perform an LCA, and Rod was a principal at KieranTimberlake and oversaw the Tally tool.

Chaos also has several exciting things in the works related to the Chaos Cloud and collaboration! Kalina Maneva, Director of Product Management at Chaos, presented on this topic. I think most of the topics here are not something I can discuss yet, but they range from enhancing/expanding some current features, cross-pollinating some powerful features between V-Ray and Enscape, and a few exciting new features.

Vladimir Koylazov, Chief Technical Officer at Chaos (and the "V" in V-Ray) presented on Chaos Project Arena. This is a product developed for the media and entertainment industry that aims to reduce or eliminate the need for post-production by enabling in-camera visual effects while filming!

We saw this live demo I recorded and posted on YouTube showing water being poured into a glass... if the camera moves the background image responds to maintain the proper perspective, and there are realistic reflections and lighting on the real-world elements... amazing!

Many powerful computers were involved, using NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation GPUs and NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), an AI-powered denoiser. By the way, back in 2022, I wrote the Enscape blog post on Enscape's implementation of NVIDIA DLSS: Enscape Leverages NVIDIA DLSS for Improved Performance and Quality.

Of course, I had to post this while still in Bulgaria!

The Lab

We had several opportunities to test some the of alpha and beta products in a lab that was set up adjacent to the space we were gathered in most of the day. So much fun to test, and to watch other experts test!!!

Bulgaria Walking Tour

After a packed day of presentations, networking, and hands-on demos we were treated to a guided walking tour of the center of Sofia, Bulgaria. Some amazing history, most of which I was not privy to. It was very hot out (upper 90s F, similar to Texas) but it was still a blast.

Rooftop Dinner

Finally, we were treated to a nice dinner at the top of a building in the downtown area. There were great people, food, and views! The first photo in this blog post is also from this location.

Joseph Kim... doing his thing:)

Finally, here is a photo of the fun swag we received for the event. The water bottle was a must, given the upper 90 F temps in Sofia that day!

So much fun... be sure to stay tuned for more details on new features and products in the coming months!

Thanks, Chaos!

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