Corona Renderer 8 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Changelog

[Ryuu]

corona-8-3dsmax-daily-2022-02-18.exe

Added configurable tone mapping pipeline

• The tonemapping pipeline is no longer fixed and is composed of multiple independent operators which can be added/removed/reordered in the VFB UI. Any operator can be added multiple times if needed/wanted (e.g. to apply multiple LUTs at the same time, or to save 3 LUTS in one set up to easily turn them on and off for different looks).
• The default pipeline in new scenes now contains only the most essential operators.
• Note that the operators are applied from top to bottom, the topmost operator is the first one to be applied to produce the tonemapped image.
• Added 3 new operators:
  • Advanced Filmic operator - Similar to the legacy Filmic operator, but with more parameters for greated flexibility.
  • Tone curve operator - enhances or suppresses colors based on their intensity (e.g. enhance shadows).
  • ACES RRT (Reference Rendering Transform) operator - suppresses red colors and modifies glow and saturation to make the image a bit more film-like. The RRT operation is normally fixed in the ACES specification, but we have made it configurable for greater flexibility.
• There are also few presets to show how the tonemapping pipeline can be used to get some interesting results. Few examples of these are attached.
• Camera overrides are now replaced by the possibility for the camera to have a completely separate tonemapping pipeline. When rendering from a camera that has its own pipeline, the controls in the VFB can be used to modify the camera tonemapping pipeline (previously camera-overriden parts of the tonemapping were just locked-out in VFB).
• This change makes the tonemapping much more flexible for you as the users as well as internally for us as programmers. This will allow us to easily add more different operators in future releases. Some functionality like bloom & glare or blurring/sharpening remains fixed for now, but will also be moved into the configurable pipeline as additional operators in the future.
• In legacy tonemapping when the tonemapping was disabled, the exposure was still applied. In the new tonemapping pipeline, the exposure operator is not special in any way, so if the tonemapping is disabled, the exposure will not be applied.

Other changes

• Added new buttons to the render settings that open license server, my chaos webpage and external utility for setting alternate licensing server addresses and ports.
• Fixed Corona viewport display filters. There are now both Corona and Non-Corona filters (Command panel -> Display -> Hide by Category)

[rowmanns]

corona-8-3dsmax-daily-2022-02-23.exe

Note: Remember that we are using the Chaos licensing now, here is how to activate: https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=33839.msg194990#msg194990

Cryptomatte

• Added warning about using cryptomatte render element in Max to the Cryptomatte render element "Warning: This element displays only a preview in the VFB, for proper use the whole frame needs to be saved in CXR format and then loaded in a cryptomatte-enabled external application as EXR"
• Removed propagation through reflection/refraction - it did not work previously and there is no clear way how this should work.

General

• tyFlow now always renders with instancing, even when its “Enable Particle Interface” is turned off
• The error message shown when the Cosmos browser cannot be open now includes a link to a help page with more information.
• Fixed mismatch in naming of single-channel float render elements stored in CXR in Corona and their parsing in CIE which previously caused "LEGION STOP" errors
• Updated visuals in the Corona installer
• Added new log file, CoronaMax20xx_geometry_parsing.txt, which logs events and objects that took too long (over 3 seconds) to prepare for rendering, parse, displace, etc.
• Added new button in devel/debug render settings rollout, that shows the memory usage breakdown of Corona, including the objects that take the most RAM in Corona, if currently rendering.
• Fixed random colors being sometimes produced from grayscale colors by increasing saturation in tonemapping.
• Fixed IR restarting when tonemapping pipeline is reordered or when operators are added/removed

Scatter

• Fixed animatable parameters to correctly show in 3ds Max's Track View dialog
• Reviewed&unified parameters in MAXScript. It breaks backward script compatibility so your scripts will need to be updated for this. This is part of transition from Corona Scatter to Chaos Scatter and is the best time to do so because the transition is not backward compatible anyway.

[rowmanns]

Please check this article covering the risks of using daily builds: Daily Builds FAQ
If you are familiar with the daily builds and know how to use them, download the newest one here: corona-8-3dsmax-daily-2022-03-03.exe

Note: Remember that we are using the Chaos licensing now, here is how to activate: https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=33839.msg194990#msg194990

Cosmos

• Added drag&drop support
• Fixed crash when importing certain objects from Cosmos (e.g. Lounger 001)
• Meshes imported from Cosmos no longer have scaling transformation applied

General

• DR server no longer consumes a render license when waiting for render
• Fixed DR server not releasing license after finishing the render
• Fixed DR slowdowns which sometimes caused DR to be slower than rendering on a single machine
• Fixed crash caused by plugging slicer into direct visibility override of RaySwitch
• Fixed crash when curves editor is open in ColorCorrect map

[Ryuu]

corona-8-3dsmax-rc1.exe

Chaos Scatter

• Added 5 scatter presets into Chaos Cosmos platform (into 3D Models > Presets, or search for 'scatter'), 2 for spline scattering and 3 for surface scattering.
  
  • Can be drag & dropped on target (distribute-on) object or into an empty space (target object gets created then) in the scene.
  • Can be also imported with the Import button, when having the target object selected in the scene.
  • Must be downloaded first, like other assets in the Chaos Cosmos browser.
• Added camera clipping (optimization) feature supporting various camera types (native, Corona, V-Ray, perspective, orthogonal, fisheye) and also viewport views.
  
  • Provides 2 modes - Active render camera and Selected camera.
  • In our real-world test scenes, Camera clipping on average lowered parsing time by 25% and reduced Corona memory usage by 17%. Renders cleared faster for the same amount of passes.
• Added instance editing feature - individual instances can be moved, rotated, scaled, or deleted using a sub-object mode. There is new button for that in Scatter UI too. Should be used for final scatter touches.
• Removed blank parameters from Track View. Can break backward compatibility.

Corona Converter

• LegacyMtl->PhysicalMtl conversion is now optional
• It is now possible to force all converted materials to be either metal or non-metal, instead of relying on the autodetection.

Material library

• Added 13 new Glass materials
• Added 33 new Nature materials
• Added 9 new Plastics materials

Toolbar

• Toolbar will now reset to an official state once in a while when we make any changes to it. The previous system where we tried to keep the custom user changes by merging them with the official changes unfortunately never worked properly and cost too much to maintain and constantly bugfix, for the little benefit that it actually brought.
• Added decal icon.
• Added Cosmos browser icon.

Licensing improvements

• Implemented trial license activation
• When no active license is found, we now replace the Corona controls in render settings with a “no license” info text, instead of just hiding them without explanation.
• Fixed issue where switching tabs in render settings without an active license may take a few seconds.
• Added more info to the messages in the licensing dialog which pops up on any licensing problem.

Miscellaneous Improvements

• Added viewport display for triplanar map in both Standard viewport mode (first submap is displayed) and "High Quality" (accurate preview of the shader is used). Unfortunately the "High Quality" mode currently does not work with Corona materials, only standard Autodesk ones. We will fix this in future release
• Replaced the old Corona color picker with the new one everywhere (e.g. light lister, light mix, etc.)
• Added saturation randomization to MultiMap
• Max Improved error message: "unknown/internal error"
• Make undo / redo work when importing assets from Chaos Cosmos.

Bugfixes

• Fixed crash when comparing two VFB history images with “Show with original postprocessing” enabled
• Fixed Advanced Filmic tonemapping operator changing the color even when it is disabled
• Fixed crash in tonemapping when an operator is dragged below the + button
• [ColorPicker] Fixed issue where a new color is set to different color slot, when opening another color picker
• Fixed anisotropy values being set incorrectly on materials imported from Cosmos
• Fixed issue where rendering material editor while running IR caused licensing problems, and the IR to stop rendering.
• Fixed NaNs being produced in some very specific cases.
• Fixed crash when clicking middle/right mouse button while dragging tone mapping operators
• Fixed IR being restarted when modifying CoronaCamera tonemapping pipeline
• Fixed tonemapping parameters being reset to their default values when ENTER is pressed while entering the value, when the pipeline was reset previously
• Fixed randomization of 2-Sided Materials imported from Chaos Cosmos
• BitmapTex - Fixed crash when adjusting crop parameters linked to linear float controllers
• Fixed issue where cosmos browser randomly opens up in loaded scenes

[rowmanns]

Please check this article covering the risks of using daily builds: Daily Builds FAQ
If you are familiar with the daily builds and know how to use them, download the newest one here:
corona-8-3dsmax-RC2.exe

Chaos Scatter

• Fixed length-based parameters, like spline spacing in 1D scattering, to correctly handle scene units. Note scenes created/saved in RC1 remain unfixed, as values of those parameters are corrupted. We are sorry for that. You will need to download scatter presets in Comos browser again too.
• Fixed editing instances not to clear on changes of materials assigned to target (distribute-on) objects.
• Fixed the viewport icon being two times smaller during placing.
• Fixed Include/Exclude spline checkboxes to update properly in animations.
• Added help button to scatter toolbar.
• Changed default rotation in Z axis (only) to 360 degrees (in everyday use number of cases where randomized rotation in Z is required is vastly greater than number of cases when it needs to be fixed).

Corona Converter

• Fixed Corona Converter converting LegacyMtl with black refraction color and non-zero refraction amount into refractive PhysicalMtl

Tonemapping

• Improved post processing UI in Render Setup (removed Tone mapping group and left only the button there)
• Fixed issue where right-click during dragging of tonemapping spinner reset the value to the default value. Now it resets to the value before dragging started.
• Fixed tonemapping operators sometimes changing order when clicking the mouse around the VFB
• Fixed two LUT tonemapping operators swapping their paths when their positions are swapped
• Fixed tonemapping pipeline in VFB not being updated when switching cameras while IR is running
• Fixed tonemapping not being properly updated when a new camera with override is created while IR is running
• Remapped the glow parameter of the ACES RRT tonemapping operator to make it more linear in the UI
• Removed check for black tint
• Returned loading of exposure type from legacy scenes (cca 2015 and older)

Cosmos

• If you open the Cosmos browser while Corona is not set as the active renderer you will be prompted to switch the active renderer to Corona.
• Fixed Cosmos Browser complaining about unknown / invalid importer after update of Cosmos Service
• We now use HTTPS protocol when connecting to Cosmos Server from Cosmos Browser
• Fixed bug where triplanar was repeatedly applied and was using wrong scaling in real world scale

Bugfixes

• Fixed crash and asserts in lightsolver
• Fixed 3ds Max crashes after 2nd workspace change when Corona is installed
• 4KCache - Fixed rare issues with NANs
• CoronaBitmap - Fixed crash when UV tiling or offset were set to extremely high values.
• Fixed light exclusion not properly working for media
• Camera shutter controls are enabled even if motion blur is not used
• Fixed freeze after changing Corona Camera to perspective viewport during IR
• Fixed Corona proxy reporting number of vertices vs number of faces/polygons to 3ds Max statistics in reverse
• Fixed issue where zdepth render element could have NANs
• Removed normals fixing of Corona Proxy
• Fixed issue where installer did not remember non-selected components from previous custom installation.
• Fixed NaNs caused by certain object modifier combinations
• Fixed "non-corona" display filter hiding also targeted corona camera and light

Rebranding

• Changed application icons
• Changed logo in the about rollout of render settings
• Changed colors of various links
• Renamed "Corona Renderer" -> "Chaos Corona"

[rowmanns]

Please check this article covering the risks of using daily builds: Daily Builds FAQ
If you are familiar with the daily builds and know how to use them, download the newest one here:
corona-8-3dsmax-RC3.exe

Chaos Scatter

• To fix some internal issues, we broke backwards compatibility of Scatter with previous Corona RCs. Make sure you have installed the newest versions of both..
• Unified behavior of importing presets (from Chaos Cosmos) w.r.t. target (distribute-on) objects. Multiple target objects can be used at once (with Drag&Drop or via the Import button).
• Scatter can now activate Corona trial, if Corona is set as current renderer in 3ds Max.
• Include/Exclude spline list no longer offers the [...] button, as that standard 3ds Max dialog cannot select splines.
• Fixed Near and Far falloffs of Include/Exclude splines to respect display units set in 3ds Max.
• Fixed edited instances not to clear on scene load when the scene uses a density map.
• Fixed freezing dialog about too many selected instances.
• Fixed incorrect number of polygons displayed in the Info rollout for model objects with modifiers.
• Selecting particular clipping camera automatically switches to appropriate clipping mode.
• Changed label of the normal alignment spinner in scatter UI to 'Normal vs. Z'.

Tonemapping

• Collapseable operators no longer remain expanded even after reset
• Improved tooltips of tonemapping parameters
• Tonemapping now asks for confirmation when the RESET button is clicked
• Fixed tone mapping LUT file format filter (now it displays both .cube and .3dl formats)
• Optimized UI update after tone mapping operator re-ordering
• Improved formatting of the tooltips in the new UI (tone mapping, color picker)
• Fixed Advanced Filmic operator unmapping function

Cosmos

• Cosmos assets with more than 500k polygons are now imported with visualization set to wireframe box
• Fixed an issue with drag and drop of Scatter assets from Chaos Cosmos to an existing geometry
• Fixed issue where some 3D models with metal materials import incorrectly from Cosmos

General/Bugfixes

• Fixed crash when opening a new scene after exporting scene to standalone with DR enabled
• Fixed IR not updating with camera translation
• Added support for TexOutput map used by some Cosmos assets in Cosmos importer
• Fixed dialog title of Corona color picker
• Corona logo displayed when docked IR is not running replaced with the rebranded one
• Improved Color Picker performance in Light Mix
• When a Corona license is active, the “Activate License” button in the About rollout of render settings is replaced with a button that opens online helpdesk
• Fixed occasional crash when using displacement
• Added flipping of green normal channel on normal maps imported from VRMat to get results consistent with V-Ray
• Fixed freeze during parsing of animated xref'd camera with motionblur in IR
• Fixed incorrect link to contact support in Corona converter error messages
• Fixed issue where using scene heavier than 4GB would freeze distributed rendering
• Improved parsing times of scenes with large number of instances with displacement
• Fixed LightMix auto-setup failing to detect hidden lights as instanced
• Improved error message shown when displacement wants to create an extreme number of vertices
• Fixed viewport issues caused by combination of CoronaDecal and 3dsMax helpers
• Added option to make decals visible in the masking element. Note that while this is enabled by default, decals in existing scenes will have this disabled by default
• Fixed artifacts caused by Curvature map in certain cases
• Fixed artifacts with certain Phoenix scenes
• Renderer name was changed from ChaosCorona to Corona
• From now on, the not yet released versions of 3ds Max are not available in installers of final Corona releases anymore
• General Installer UI tweaks
• Updated & improved EULA
  updated EULA text, license file converted to 60-character line width to avoid text wrapping in UI, installer displays the text as non-ASCII

[rowmanns]

Please check this article covering the risks of using daily builds: Daily Builds FAQ
If you are familiar with the daily builds and know how to use them, download the newest one here:
corona-8-3dsmax-RC4.exe

Chaos Scatter

• Fixed message dialogs to show Scatter icon instead of Corona icon.
• Fixed switching radio buttons in Surface Scattering rollout.
• Fixed crash when deleting Scatter through Scene Explorer's context menu in 3ds Max 2022, when the Scatter is switched to WireBox Previz Type.
• Added initial deselection of non-scatter objects at start of the Scatter Lister.

Tonemapping

• Tonemapping - ACES RRT operator replaced with new ACES OT operator. This one is less configurable, but with much better effect.
• Note: Loading saved .conf files containing the old ACES RRT operator does not work and will throw an error on loading. We are sorry for this and are looking at ways to fix it, but it may not be possible.
Some examples:

• ACES vs no operator at all - https://corona-renderer.com/comparer/SHKcLV
• ACES vs Reinhard highlight compression - https://corona-renderer.com/comparer/muavrb
• ACES vs no operator at all - https://corona-renderer.com/comparer/TyAiwJ
• Fixed changing camera tonemapping override operators cause the IR to restart
• Tonemapping operators are visually split into categories
• Fixed difference in color when curves operator is first in the pipeline
• Fixed issue where pressing up arrow key when LUT dropdown has focus enabled 3ds Max walkthrough mode
• Added note to LUT's tooltip that it is not easily invertible in CoronaTonemapControl

General/Bugfixes

• Fixed freeze of the viewport when deleting targeted Corona Camera through Scene Explorer's context menu in 3ds Max 2022.
• Fixed Phoenix particles being clipped in some cases due to NaN issues
• Added option to create ortho camera from view with camera origin set to infinity.
• Removed trial activation button in CIE and Standalone, as it is not possible to activate trial from there.

[rowmanns]

Please check this article covering the risks of using daily builds: Daily Builds FAQ
If you are familiar with the daily builds and know how to use them, download the newest one here:
corona-8-3dsmax-RC5.exe

Chaos Scatter

• Renamed Scatter toolbar to the correct name, the Chaos Scatter toolbar will reset because of this

Tonemapping

• Improved speed of tonemapping and lightmix controls in CIE
• Added warning that Curve can only be edited from VFB (Curve editor requires VFB to function)
• .conf files of saved tonemapping pipeline with the removed ACES operators can now be correctly loaded, auto-removing the ACES operator on loading
• Improved the way the camera name is displayed in tonemapping
• LUTs in tonemapping can now again be changing by scrolling the mouse wheel on top of the LUT selection dropdown

Cosmos

• Detection of Cosmos Browser window is now more robust
• This fixes issues when more 3ds Max instances are running and each has its own Cosmos Browser.
• It also fixes issue where Cosmos Browser is closed when 3ds Max is minimized
• Fixed problems with importing from Cosmos when switching renderers
• Fixed cosmos browser asking for sync & accept cookies every time it is launched. Now it happens only on first launch.

General/Bugfixes

• DR slaves no longer write UHD/4K cache files. Note that this applies only to Corona DR, not any other distributed rendering solutions.
• Fixed UI lags when using large HDRI maps in CoronaBitmap
• Fixed various cases of NaNs and crashes caused by displacement and light solver
• Fixed proxy still loading the old version of a cgeo file when overwriting it during a proxy export
• All corona actions now offer the possibility of switching to Corona as the active renderer, not just complaining about it