Autodesk VRED Design
VRED Design is a real-time 3D visualization and virtual prototyping software tailored for automotive and product designers. It enables teams to evaluate design decisions, materials, and surfaces with stunning precision—supporting collaborative decision-making from concept to final review.
Interactive Design Visualization
Use VRED Design to create photorealistic product presentations and explore 3D models in real time. Designers can modify lighting, materials, and geometry on the fly—perfect for internal reviews, client presentations, or immersive digital showrooms.
Material and Surface Accuracy
Accurately replicate complex automotive materials, coatings, and lighting conditions using physically based shaders and HDR environments. VRED supports real-time ray tracing and NVIDIA RTX for high-quality reflections and refractions.
Collaboration and Variant Management
Collaborate across teams with variant sets, camera bookmarks, and section cuts. Designers and stakeholders can compare different configurations and make informed design choices—without physical prototypes.
Key Features
- Real-time rendering with GPU acceleration (OpenGL & RTX)
- Material and light editing with live updates
- High-quality shadows, reflections, and ambient occlusion
- Variant configuration and presentation modes
- Support for Alias, Maya, and other 3D CAD data formats
- Perfect for automotive design reviews and CMF workflows
Who Uses VRED Design?
VRED Design is used by automotive designers, industrial designers, CMF specialists, and visualization teams who require real-time, high-fidelity rendering for design decision-making. It bridges the gap between CAD modeling and emotional visual storytelling.
⚠️ CRITICAL HARDWARE NOTES:
Windows Only: VRED Design is a Windows (and Linux) application. There is no native macOS version.
GPU Dependent: VRED is a high-end visualization tool. Unlike CAD software (which relies on CPU), VRED relies almost entirely on the Graphics Card (GPU), especially for Real-Time Ray Tracing.
NVIDIA Preferred: While AMD cards work for basic OpenGL, NVIDIA RTX cards are strongly recommended to utilize GPU Ray Tracing, AI Denoising (DLSS), and VR features.
🏎️ Windows (VRED Design 2022–2025)
| Operating System (OS) |
2022-2023: Windows 10 (64-bit)<br>2024-2025: Windows 10 or Windows 11
|
Windows 10 or Windows 11<br>(Windows 11 is recommended for better thread scheduling on newer Intel CPUs)
|
| Processor (CPU) |
64-bit Intel or AMD multi-core |
Intel Core i7 / i9 or AMD Ryzen 9 / Threadripper<br>Speed: 3.0 GHz+<br>(CPU Core count is critical if you plan to use CPU Ray Tracing modes)
|
| Memory (RAM) |
8 GB (Not functional for production)
|
32 GB – 64 GB<br>(VRED loads uncompressed high-res textures into RAM. 16GB is often insufficient for automotive datasets.)
|
| Graphics (GPU) |
4 GB VRAM<br>OpenGL 4.6 compliant
|
12 GB – 24 GB+ VRAM<br>NVIDIA RTX A-Series / Ada / GeForce RTX 4090<br>(VRAM is the #1 bottleneck. If the scene exceeds VRAM, performance crashes.)
|
| Disk Space |
10 GB free space
|
NVMe SSD<br>(Required for fast loading of massive .VPB files)
|
| Display |
1920 x 1080 |
4K (3840 x 2160) or VR Headset<br>(VRED is designed for high-fidelity review on high-res screens)
|
| Driver |
Latest Manufacturer Driver |
NVIDIA Professional (Studio/Enterprise) Driver<br>(Do not use "Game Ready" drivers for stability)
|
| Framework |
.NET Framework 4.8 |
.NET 6 / .NET 8 (Depending on version) |
🍏 macOS (VRED Design)
Autodesk VRED Design does not run natively on macOS.
| Native Mac App |
❌ Not Supported
|
There is no installer for macOS. |
| Parallels Desktop |
❌ Not Recommended
|
VRED will likely fail to launch.<br>VRED requires OpenGL 4.6 and direct hardware access to the GPU for Ray Tracing. Virtual Machines cannot pass through this level of GPU functionality on macOS.
|
| Boot Camp |
⭐⭐⭐ (Usable) |
Intel Macs Only. Runs Windows natively. However, unless you have a Mac Pro with a high-end AMD GPU, performance will be poor compared to an NVIDIA PC.
|
| VRED Stream App |
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Workaround) |
You can run VRED on a Windows Server/PC and stream the viewport to a web browser on a Mac. This is the official Autodesk solution for Mac users who need to view content.
|
💡 Performance Advice for VRED Users
VRAM is King:
In VRED, your entire scene (geometry + textures + environments) must fit into the Graphics Card's memory (VRAM).
If you have an 8 GB card and your scene is 9 GB, VRED will swap data to the system RAM, reducing your FPS from 60 to 5 instantly.
Recommendation: For automotive/product visualization, aim for 12 GB VRAM minimum (RTX 4070 / RTX A4000). For full car interiors with 4K textures, you need 24 GB (RTX 3090/4090 or RTX A5000/6000).
GPU vs. CPU Ray Tracing:
CPU Ray Tracing: Uses the processor. Very accurate but slower. Benefits from massive core counts (e.g., AMD Threadripper 32-core).
GPU Ray Tracing: Uses the graphics card. Much faster (Real-time). Requires an NVIDIA RTX card. This is the modern standard for VRED workflows.
Cluster Rendering:
VRED Design allows for simple reviews, but if you upgrade to VRED Professional, you can link multiple computers together to render one image (Cluster).
VR (Virtual Reality):
If you plan to use HTC Vive or Varjo headsets with VRED, the hardware requirements double. You will need at least an NVIDIA RTX 4080 / RTX A5000 to maintain 90 FPS in VR.
