# Open VDB and Nano VDB Rendering **URL:** \ **Category:** Feedback & Requests\ **Tags:** unreal-engine, FeatureRequest\ **Created:** [September 17, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807 "2020-09-17T17:21:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![totallyfrmearth](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@totallyfrmearth](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/totallyfrmearth)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/1 "2020-09-17T17:21:58Z")
One limitation of using Unreal for Film/TV/Cinematics is it’s lack of (open source) vdb volume rendering. This is the industry standard for storing volumetric data. If this was introduced, I can see it being widely adopted for high end film rendering and FX work. Right now the workflow is to render externally for flipbooks and that is time consuming and 2d cards are hard to sell for film quality. Something similar to Embergen’s viewport display would be amazing and a huge game changer. And it looks like the new NanoVDB is RTX accelerated - > **[Accelerating OpenVDB on GPUs with NanoVDB | NVIDIA Technical Blog](https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/accelerating-openvdb-on-gpus-with-nanovdb/)** > > OpenVDB is the Academy Award–winning, industry standard library for sparse dynamic volumes. It is used throughout the visual effects industry for simulation and rendering of water, fire, smoke, clouds… [![](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/0/5/5/055e08bc5f7eec72112a564277cde9e2f705ac6a.jpeg "Open Source at NVIDIA") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ6mTg3BEVg) Please add this feature! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![\_Janson](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@\_Janson](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/_Janson)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 12:09pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/2 "2020-11-09T12:09:01Z")
Agree, this feature is very important to us. ---
**Author:** ![polygon](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@polygon](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/polygon)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 11:55pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/3 "2020-11-13T23:55:15Z")
Absolutely agree! I think we really need VDB support (with raytracing) for UE4 when it comes to cinematic productions. The possibility to stream VDB’s from disk into the project would be a fantastic feature and a complete game change in my opinion. I’m really curious if there’s something planned for any version in the near future? Best regards, Daniel ---
**Author:** ![jperrigo](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@jperrigo](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/jperrigo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 3:54am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/4 "2020-11-14T03:54:44Z")
100% this is one of the biggest things missing right now, NanoVDB was a great innovation NVIDIA put forward so we can now read VDB files at fast enough speeds, just need to get even some basic rendering support in engine!!! Please EPIC make this a priority, many projects in the works desperately needs this!! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Distiller](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@The\_Distiller](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/The_Distiller)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/5 "2020-11-14T04:38:48Z")
+1 Native VDB support would be huge! ---
**Author:** ![\_Janson](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@\_Janson](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/_Janson)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 8:08am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/6 "2021-01-05T08:08:48Z")
+2 Native VDB support would be huge! ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_f34233dd](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_f34233dd](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_f34233dd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 3:21am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/7 "2021-01-14T03:21:16Z")
+3 Native VDB support would be huge! ---
**Author:** ![OptimisticMonkey](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/optimisticmonkey/32/906571_2.png) [@OptimisticMonkey](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/OptimisticMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/8 "2021-01-28T13:19:08Z")
+4 Native VDB support would be hugely huge! ---
**Author:** ![undentifiedz](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@undentifiedz](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/undentifiedz)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:04pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/9 "2021-01-29T13:04:27Z")
+5 Native VDB support would be gargantuanly huge! ---
**Author:** ![dschertenleib](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@dschertenleib](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/dschertenleib)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/10 "2021-01-29T19:00:08Z")
+6 Agree on this! ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_ca21f3a6](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_ca21f3a6](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_ca21f3a6)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 11:43am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/11 "2021-02-27T11:43:03Z")
+7 we need that ---
**Author:** ![\_Janson](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@\_Janson](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/_Janson)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 8:04am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/12 "2021-03-08T08:04:31Z")
+8 we need that ---
**Author:** ![JustGiovanni](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@JustGiovanni](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/JustGiovanni)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/13 "2021-04-01T15:08:41Z")
+9 Native VDB support is tight! ---
**Author:** ![OptimisticMonkey](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/optimisticmonkey/32/906571_2.png) [@OptimisticMonkey](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/OptimisticMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/14 "2021-04-12T14:02:00Z")
So it looks like OpenVDB is used by the built-in ProxyLOD plugin and is already included in source - if anyone is interested in digging around that might be a good place to start… ---
**Author:** ![MladenPajdic](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@MladenPajdic](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MladenPajdic)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/15 "2021-05-18T19:51:35Z")
+10 Agree on this! ---
**Author:** ![Wolfnimations](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/wolfnimations/32/733775_2.png) [@Wolfnimations](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Wolfnimations)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/16 "2021-05-27T13:27:33Z")
+11 This would be a great feature for Unreal 5. VDBs for clouds or volumetrics is something that would help the cinematic productions a lot. ---
**Author:** ![IhaohaoI](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@IhaohaoI](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/IhaohaoI)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/17 "2021-05-27T13:27:38Z")
+11 this is the only reason that I not move to ue for my animation ---
**Author:** ![form\_and\_focus](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@form\_and\_focus](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/form_and_focus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/18 "2021-06-01T21:20:29Z")
This would be astronomically intense! ---
**Author:** ![SGRuleZ](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/sgrulez/32/720082_2.png) [@SGRuleZ](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SGRuleZ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 9:52am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/19 "2021-06-24T09:52:32Z")
+12 this is a very necessary function for all of us) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Distiller](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@The\_Distiller](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/The_Distiller)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 1:46am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807/20 "2021-06-27T01:46:03Z")
@VictorLerp Since this is a highly requested feature, especially from the VFX community. Can we get official word on whether this is being worked on? Thanks! [Next page](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/open-vdb-and-nano-vdb-rendering/150807.md?page=2)