лично я нового ниче не открыл. ну баги они пофиксили. вобщем-то я все-таки жду именно полный релиз, в этом ощущаю себя туристом. пришел, посмарел и ушел
по билдам вот че нарыл
Build 1.50.17 (26 Dec 2007)
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Bug fixes:
(*) Fixed potential divide-by-zero problems with glossy hilights because of the "Soften" BRDF parameter;
Build 1.50.16 (15 Dec 2007)
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Modified features:
(*) When the "Soften" BRDF parameter is 0.0, the VRayMtl behaves in the same way as pre-SP1 versions;
Build 1.50.15 (14 Dec 2007)
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Modified features:
(*) Added "Soften" parameter to the BRDF parameters of VRayMtl;
Build 1.50.14 (12 Dec 2007)
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Modified features:
(*) VRaySun target line is now dimmed in the viewports when the sun light is off;
(*) Branched main development into 1.6x versions - 1.5x is only for minor fixes/updates to V-Ray 1.5;
Bug fixes:
(*) Dynamic raycaster limit did not work properly for values above 4095;
(*) No reflections on VRayMtl if Fresnel reflections are enabled, the Fresnel IOR is locked to the refractive one, and the material has opacity map;
(*) Background seen through matte objects not sampled properly for AA (from 1.50.SP1 only);
(*) Objects with visibility<1.0 rendered brighter with GI than they should be;
(*) Fixed crashes with VRayMtl and DirectX with the "Show map in viewport" option on;
(*) MaxScript error using the V-Ray scene converter in 3ds Max 2008;
(*) The internal V-Ray replacement material for the 3ds Max multi/subobject material now matches the 3ds Max one when an ID is greater than specified in the material;
Build 1.50.13 (16 Nov 2007)
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Bug fixes:
(*) The mesh export to .vrscene file ignored mesh normals;
Build 1.50.12 (15 Nov 2007)
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Modified feature:
(*) VRayProxy objects have a new "point" display mode;
Bug fixes:
(*) Issues with VRayDirt when baking very dense meshes;
(*) Incorrect rendering progress bar display in DR mode;
)))))))))да без ГИ действительно было бы сложно работать... 
сори.... я по привычке .... даже не посмотрел, что все расфасовано по другому
