Corona vs other render engines

[soso]

Here's the comparison between Corona, V-Ray, Redshift, Octane, and Arnold Render. Tried my best to get the identical result & minimize the difference between the renderer engines. The hardware specs: i7 4790k with GTX 780.

Corona


V-Ray


Redshift


Octane Render


MAXtoA (Arnold Render)


From the result render of this emissive material scene, here's what I've got:

a. Corona build 2017-11-10
The indirect lighting from Corona is the best of all in the terms of the best quality of image output from GI WITH less noise level OR less render time.

b. V-Ray adv 3.60.03
Definitely slower than Corona for the same quality output image. Btw, I don't wanna use it anymore, but I still need some essential feature from it and because of more freedom in the settings.

c. Redshift 2.5.40
Redshift actually can be the fastest than others in the term of less noise level OR less render time "IF" I change the GI & tweak some settings, but it sacrifice the quality of the image output from GI. Since the indirect lighting is the big problem for render time in Redshift, the only solution is to use the mesh light to clear up the noise faster.

d. Octane Render 3.06.4 - 4.41
It's pretty fast, but still can't beat corona in this scene.
Btw, out of this topic, if you read some advantage and disadvantage of this GPU renderer:
https://www.ronenbekerman.com/unbaised-gpu-rendering-what-is-the-big-deal/

And this for another:
https://www.ronenbekerman.com/unbiased-gpu-rendering-octanerender-vs-fstormrender/

In my opinion, I don't see any bright future in the near future for this renderer, cause of the major development is realy slow and maybe because of it's dark history...

e. MAXtoA 1.1.880 (Arnold Render)
The render time is the slowest in this scene compared to the other 4 render engines. Arnold Render is really slow when handling indirect lighting from the diffuse ray like Redshift. The solution is to use the mesh light like redshift too. Btw, monte carlo have some trouble to denoise the render sample for now. So, maybe Arnold Render can't have denoise feature in the near future.


*Here's my request list to make Corona be a better render engine:

A. Near future version:

1. Please fix this:
Corona can't handle indirect lighting from PhoenixFD fire properly. The result is the overwhelming noise in the indirect diffuse pass stays like forever. The example scene (fireplace) attached below. Cache the simulation first using PhoenixFD, then go to frame 300 and render it.

2. Shadow/Light mode of Falloff map.
Corona doesn't support it.

3. Mesh Light.
Other renderer engine could be much faster using this light for that scene. I believe corona can be more faster too with this.

4. Bucket render.
Bucket render seems can handle more sample in the same time than progressive render. The result is less noise OR less render time.

5. Roughness settings in CoronaMtl.
Many render engine have it, like V-Ray, Redshift, Octane, Arnold Render.


B. Future version:

Corona RT or fully support GPU engine like Redshift or Octane, but must be with out of core GPU memory like Redshift. Is there any chance to recruit the ex-developer from Octane or Redshift ;)


Personally, Corona is and still the best renderer engine for me. I'm sorry if I'm wrong, cos I'm still very young and not the expert in rendering.

[maru]

Thanks for the tests and glad that you are enjoying Corona. Just quick answers to your points:

1. Please fix this:
Corona can't handle indirect lighting from PhoenixFD fire properly. The result is the overwhelming noise in the indirect diffuse pass stays like forever. The example scene (fireplace) attached below. Cache the simulation first using PhoenixFD, then go to frame 300 and render it.

PhoenixFD is not officially supported yet, so it cannot be expected to work 100% correctly. It should be added in the next version: https://trello.com/b/EfPE4kPx/corona-road-map-3ds-max

2. Shadow/Light mode of Falloff map.
Corona doesn't support it.

Requested many times. There are plans to add it.

3. Mesh Light.
Other renderer engine could be much faster using this light for that scene. I believe corona can be more faster too with this.

Not sure what you mean. An object with a Corona Light Mtl is basically a mesh light.

4. Bucket render.
Bucket render seems can handle more sample in the same time than progressive render. The result is less noise OR less render time.

This should not be the case, and also buckets would be against Corona philosophy (fast feedback of the whole render). Probably not going to happen (at least in foreseeable future).

5. Roughness settings in CoronaMtl.
Many render engine have it, like V-Ray, Redshift, Octane, Arnold Render.

Material UI/features overhaul is planned.

Corona RT or fully support GPU engine like Redshift or Octane, but must be with out of core GPU memory like Redshift. Is there any chance to recruit the ex-developer from Octane or Redshift ;)

There is interactive rendering already.
GPU rendering may be possible in the future. At least to some degree.

Personally, Corona is and still the best renderer engine for me. I'm sorry if I'm wrong, cos I'm still very young and not the expert in rendering.

You cannot be wrong about your own opinion. ;)
Thanks!

[soso]

Thanks for the info!

3. Mesh Light.
Other renderer engine could be much faster using this light for that scene. I believe corona can be more faster too with this.

Not sure what you mean. An object with a Corona Light Mtl is basically a mesh light.

Corona Light Mtl basically only an emissive material. VRay also have Vray Light Mtl just like Corona. Mesh light is a kind of light. You can pick an object/mesh to be the light source when using mesh light. Many other renderer engine have it. Here's the screenshot from VRay mesh light:

Corona RT or fully support GPU engine like Redshift or Octane, but must be with out of core GPU memory like Redshift. Is there any chance to recruit the ex-developer from Octane or Redshift ;)

There is interactive rendering already.
GPU rendering may be possible in the future. At least to some degree.

I know about IPR, but what I mean, just like VRay RT engine. It's different.

[Ice_Juice]

Arnold is very slow and generally sad, but it has the total advantage over almost all other renderers, namely the light blockers and the adjustment of each component of the light separately, like the diffuse, specular, SSS, volume part of lighting.

[maru]

Corona Light Mtl basically only an emissive material. VRay also have Vray Light Mtl just like Corona. Mesh light is a kind of light. You can pick an object/mesh to be the light source when using mesh light. Many other renderer engine have it. Here's the screenshot from VRay mesh light:

Are there any advantages of this compared to an object with Corona Light Mtl?

[Nejc Kilar]

@soso

I think you need to forget about the Corona Light Mtl being a physical light in your scene. The functionality is pretty much the same between V-Ray light and Corona Light Mtl but the workflow is a tad different. Don't let that confuse you.

With Corona you apply a material to the mesh while with the V-Ray Light you actually need to place the light in your scene first and treat it like an object not a material.

So basically, functionality is more or less the same but a Corona "mesh" light is a material that gets applied to scene objects while a V-Ray light is a light object in your scene and not a material.

Its a super quick post but I hope I am making some sense here :)

[soso]

Corona Light Mtl basically only an emissive material. VRay also have Vray Light Mtl just like Corona. Mesh light is a kind of light. You can pick an object/mesh to be the light source when using mesh light. Many other renderer engine have it. Here's the screenshot from VRay mesh light:

Are there any advantages of this compared to an object with Corona Light Mtl?

Yes, it's gotta speed up the rendering process like a rocket :)
I already tried it in other renderers, and it always speed up the rendering process, even some can be more than 5 times speed up. It's because of emissive light only affects indirect light only, but only mesh light can affects direct and indirect light. So, it make sense to speed up the rendering process...

[soso]

@soso

I think you need to forget about the Corona Light Mtl being a physical light in your scene. The functionality is pretty much the same between V-Ray light and Corona Light Mtl but the workflow is a tad different. Don't let that confuse you.

With Corona you apply a material to the mesh while with the V-Ray Light you actually need to place the light in your scene first and treat it like an object not a material.

So basically, functionality is more or less the same but a Corona "mesh" light is a material that gets applied to scene objects while a V-Ray light is a light object in your scene and not a material.

Its a super quick post but I hope I am making some sense here :)

Yes, I notice it. It can be a replacement for corona light mtl. That's why I request it. It's very useful in my other real scene project.

[scionik]

Corona Light Mtl basically only an emissive material. VRay also have Vray Light Mtl just like Corona. Mesh light is a kind of light. You can pick an object/mesh to be the light source when using mesh light. Many other renderer engine have it. Here's the screenshot from VRay mesh light:

Are there any advantages of this compared to an object with Corona Light Mtl?

A lot of!
1) light source is a light source. (for instance object filtering in the scene)
2) more options for type units for emission (W, lux...)
3) targeting
4) switching between types (sphere, disk, rectangle, MESH)
5) including in light list (I hope to see this tool in Corona 2)

By the way... for what reason to put any light sources CoronaLight in the scene if you can just apply LhtMaterials to whole scene and illuminate it ))))

[soso]

Arnold is very slow and generally sad, but it has the total advantage over almost all other renderers, namely the light blockers and the adjustment of each component of the light separately, like the diffuse, specular, SSS, volume part of lighting.

I know about it too. I hope Corona team would implement it too ;)

[soso]

By the way... for what reason to put any light sources CoronaLight in the scene if you can just apply LhtMaterials to whole scene and illuminate it ))))

Like I said, It's gotta speed up the rendering process like a rocket :)

[Ondra]

Sorry, CoronaLightMtl and CoronaLight are both parsed into the same internal representation. There is no speedup to gain here - all speedups are already there

[soso]

Sorry, CoronaLightMtl and CoronaLight are both parsed into the same internal representation. There is no speedup to gain here - all speedups are already there

I see, only emissive material in corona (CoronaLightMtl) affects direct and indirect light. Vray also have this feature, but not enabled by default.


Still, corona is faster than vray when I enabled this option. Other renderer don't have this feature and thats why they are so slow when handling this scene.

[Ondra]

corona also has emit light off, it might do something very similar