diff --git a/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/create/create_render.py b/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/create/create_render.py
index 5fe0ad7b5f..e936406710 100644
--- a/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/create/create_render.py
+++ b/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/create/create_render.py
@@ -475,12 +475,13 @@ class CreateRender(plugin.Creator):
         node = settings[0] if settings else cmds.createNode("VRaySettingsNode")
 
         # set separator
+        # set it in vray menu
+        cmds.optionMenuGrp("vrayRenderElementSeparator", v=self.aov_separator)
         cmds.setAttr(
             "{}.fileNameRenderElementSeparator".format(node),
             self.aov_separator,
             type="string"
         )
-
         # set format to exr
         cmds.setAttr(
             "{}.imageFormatStr".format(node), "exr", type="string")
diff --git a/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_rendersettings.py b/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_rendersettings.py
index d127dd3625..6079d34fbe 100644
--- a/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_rendersettings.py
+++ b/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_rendersettings.py
@@ -314,10 +314,13 @@ class ValidateRenderSettings(pyblish.api.InstancePlugin):
                 else:
                     node = vray_settings[0]
 
+                cmds.optionMenuGrp("vrayRenderElementSeparator",
+                                   v=instance.data.get("aovSeparator", "_"))
                 cmds.setAttr(
                     "{}.fileNameRenderElementSeparator".format(
                         node),
-                    instance.data.get("aovSeparator", "_")
+                    instance.data.get("aovSeparator", "_"),
+                    type="string"
                 )
 
             if renderer == "redshift":