Veras is an AI visualization tool that can take your existing model or sketches and provide you with multiple design ideas—very fast. It can produce high-quality visuals and animations. This article introduces Veras, its core features, and explains how it works.
What this article covers:
- What is Veras?
- What does Veras integrate with?
- How does Veras work?
- How does Veras support the design and visualization workflow?
- What are the key features of Veras?
- Veras is available in Enscape, V-Ray, and Corona
- How to access Veras
- Try Veras for free
What is Veras?
Chaos Veras is an AI-powered visualization tool for architects, designers, and visualizers that is integrated into your design tool, Enscape, V-Ray, and Corona. It takes sketches, floor plans, screenshots, and 3D models and quickly turns them into realistic images and animations.
It's ideal for ideation, testing ideas, and generating high-quality AI-rendered images and animations, which you can share with colleagues and clients for design feedback.
Left: Rendered in Enscape, using white mode. Right: AI-rendered in Veras.
What does Veras integrate with?
Veras plugs directly into your design authoring app - Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Vectorworks, Archicad, Autodesk Forma, and Allplan. It can also be used as a standalone web app.
Veras also integrates with Enscape, V-Ray (for SketchUp, Rhino, and 3ds Max), and Corona. This allows you to quickly generate AI renderings and short animation snippets from your model when in the earliest stages of design and at any time throughout the design process, without needing to leave your renderer or design tool.
Example of an AI-generated visualization using Veras
How does Veras work?
Veras is powered by Nano Banana 2. The plugin uses generative AI to take your model as a substrate and provide alternative design options and realistic conceptual renders. You can input descriptive prompts that guide Veras into applying specific styles, materials, lighting, and environmental settings to your model, or select from preconfigured presets.
Veras is very easy to control through a natural-language, text-based prompting system, intuitive sliders, and presets. Additionally, even more control is available through a selective generation mode, meaning that you can choose to edit/re-generate only certain parts of your image with a unique prompt.
One of the newer capabilities is image-to-video. Veras can transform a static render into a smooth animation. It can add camera movement, weather elements, seasonal changes, and a lot more based on what you prompt it to do. You can even stitch your first and final frames together to produce a more fluid animation of your design. It's a fantastic option for when presenting to clients and stakeholders.
Note: an active internet connection is required for both the Veras plugin and the standalone web app.
How does Veras support the design and visualization workflow?
From early sketches to client presentations, Veras supports the entire design and visualization workflow by helping you explore ideas faster, test alternatives, and communicate concepts more clearly at every stage of the process.
Starting from a sketch
Veras can quickly create visuals from initial sketches or design briefs. Simply upload your sketch and start seeing variations almost instantly.
Pre-design and ideation
Explore a wide range of model variations to shape your creative vision more efficiently. Get creative with your prompt instructions, and decide how high to push the level of creativity.
Design development
Test design options for the entire space or individual elements to compare alternatives before committing to final decisions.
Presentation
Enhance your images with richer details, mood, and atmosphere, then animate them to create engaging presentations. Ideal for when sharing early conceptual ideas with clients to get faster sign-off.
See an example of a V-Ray and Veras workflow in action in the video below. We walk you through how to design and render an office interior from sketch to final animation with the two tools.
What are the key features of Veras?
Veras is evolving rapidly, with new features released frequently. Here are a few of the key features. To see what's new and has been recently added, visit our website.
Render selection
Render selection is a core feature of Veras that allows you to make precise edits to a specific part of your image, instead of having to re-render the entire scene. You can either manually draw around the area you'd like to edit (more on integrated sketch tools below), or you can use Smart Selection. This AI feature allows you to simply click on an object, material, or space in your image (like a chair or a brick wall), and Veras will automatically select it for you, with no need for manual tracing. Once your selection is made, you can give Veras a new prompt, like 'change to a leather sofa' to modify only that selected part. This gives you incredible control to quickly and efficiently fine-tune your designs.
Integrated sketch tools
With Veras's integrated sketching tools so you can mark up an image and have the AI make specific changes. Simply draw directly on the part of the image you'd like to change, then type an instruction into the prompt box. For example, 'turn this into a stone wall' or 'add an extra window here'. Veras will then rengenerate that selected area and include the changes.
Reference images
Provide visual context with reference images to steer the output of your renders towards a specific look, material, or design element. Upload your reference images via manual upload, by using your modeling software preview, or a previously generated Veras render.
Upload a photo with the kind of mood, lighting, or aesthetic that you’re after, and Veras will match that visual language in your render. You can also share an image with a specific material or color, and even objects, which Veras will then add to your render.
Design lock
Design Lock is a feature in Veras that's designed to extract the architectural design language from a single reference image and apply it consistently across multiple renders. This means it can replicate details like trim profiles, railing patterns, molding proportions, and panel layouts without changing the underlying structure of your 3D model.
The workflow for using Design Lock is very straightforward:
1. Explore & select: First, you generate various design options until you find an image with the aesthetic you want to keep.
2. Lock the design: You then take that chosen image and set it as your "Design Reference," selecting the "Design Lock" reference type.
3. Render new views: After locking the design, you can change the camera angle of your model and render it again. Veras will apply the stylistic elements from the locked image to the new views, ensuring a consistent look.
Rotate image
Rotate Image is a render editing feature that lets you reorient any source image in 3D before generating a render. Adjust pitch, yaw, and roll using the interactive preview or fine-tune the view with slider controls, then generate a new render from a completely different perspective. It opens up new viewpoints from a single image—no 3D model required.
Image-to-video
The Image-to-Video feature in Veras can transform images into short animation snippets. You can pan, zoom, and add weather effects, time-of-day shifts, or even moving elements like people, cars, and water. All this can be done directly within your design environment.
First & last frame video
With the First & Last Frame mode, you can create a quick video from just your start and end frames. Once you have selected these, Veras will generate the transition in between. This is a major step forward for design storytelling and presentation workflows. Kate Vera shows how it works in the video below.
Video combine
With Video Combine, you can select multiple video renders and Veras will combine them into a single video. Multi-select videos with Shift/Ctrl click, and hit the “Combine” button to stitch them together. This is perfect for assembling design walkthroughs or presentation sequences from individual clips.
See how these video features work in the video below.
Out-of-the-box presets
Veras comes with a range of pre-designed presets, enabling you to implement set styles and visual effects to your renders quickly. These default presets allow you to create AI-generated renderings more efficiently, translating your ideas into reality with minimal effort. There is also a search function for added convenience.
Web app
Upload your image, sketch, or 3D model to the web-based version of Veras, and you can see it transform into a realistic render and easily explore further design ideas. The web app provides access to the same functions and tools that are available with the regular plugin. No CAD/BIM software or installations required!
Left: Sketch uploaded into the Veras web app. Right: Prompt and AI-rendered ideas
Veras is available in Enscape, V-Ray, and Corona
If you're exploring how to bring AI directly into your design workflow, Veras offers a way to do just that. With Veras integrated into the Enscape, V-Ray, and Corona renderers, you can benefit from faster design exploration and visual iteration directly within your CAD, BIM, or design environment. It’s a fast and practical option for individuals and teams looking to integrate AI-assisted creativity into their design workflow.
Read more:
👉 Veras is now available in V-Ray: AI ideation & photorealism in one workflow
👉 V-Ray + Veras: 6 use cases for your visualization workflow
👉 6 ways to use Corona + Veras AI ideation in your workflow
👉 Designing a Future-Ready Medical Center with Enscape and Veras
Chaos Credits
Veras image generation and image-to-video, as well as other Chaos AI services and AI-powered features, consume Chaos Credits. A monthly allowance of credits is included with your product subscription. Additional credits can be purchased at any time. Visit our support site for more information.
How to access Veras
There are a few ways to access Veras.
1. Through the Enscape, V-Ray, or Corona integration: If you're on the latest versions of Enscape, you will see Veras integrated into the toolbar itself. No separate installation is needed.
In the latest versions of V-Ray and Corona, you can access Veras via the toolbar in the Virtual Frame Buffer (VFB).
2. Via the Veras Web App: You can also access Veras as a standalone tool directly in your web browser. Launch Web App
3. Download and install Veras: To use Veras locally on your machine, you can download it for your host application (you will need to be logged into your Chaos account first). Download Veras.
Try Veras for free
Veras provides architects, designers, and visualizers with a fast and simple way to explore, experiment, and present diverse design options during the early conceptual phase and throughout the visualization process.
Learn more about the exciting opportunities and workflow enhancements that come with AI-rendering in Veras, and give it a try for free.
FAQs
How much control do I really have over AI-generated results in Veras?
You have significant control through natural-language prompts, intuitive sliders (e.g., geometry override, material strength), and selective regeneration of parts of the image. This lets you guide styles, materials, and lighting, and even retain geometry if you choose.
Can Veras help me explore design options without changing my BIM model?
Yes, Veras uses your existing model as a substrate and generates alternative visual ideas without altering the underlying BIM geometry, enabling iteration without committing changes to the actual model.
Is Veras suitable for client-facing visuals or only for internal ideation?
Veras can be used to generate compelling visual concepts quickly that are suitable for sharing with clients for early feedback, although it is primarily positioned as an ideation and concept exploration tool rather than a replacement for final product renders.
How do teams use Veras collaboratively during early design phases?
Teams can quickly generate and share multiple AI-rendered design options with colleagues and clients to facilitate discussion and decision-making in early phases, helping everyone align on style and direction before detailed modeling or final renders.
What types of projects benefit most from AI-assisted visualization with Veras?
Projects in early conceptual and schematic design stages benefit most, where rapid exploration of styles, materials, and design alternatives can inform direction and spark creative solutions. Its integration with CAD/BIM tools means it is useful for architectural and design visualization workflows broadly.
Can Veras fit into an established Enscape or V-ray workflow without disruption?
Yes, Veras integrates directly inside Enscape, V-Ray, and Corona. It also works with your existing BIM/CAD tools, letting you stay in your established workflow while adding rapid AI visual exploration.
How does Veras compare to other AI image generators for architectural design?
Veras is built to work natively with 3D models and design software like Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, and Vectorworks, offering more context-aware control over geometry, materials, and settings than generic AI image generators that start from scratch.