New VFB Skin and functionality

[Dalton Watts]

Hello guys,

Can you elaborate on what is being planned for the new VFB skin and functionality? Are we moving towards a more vray-ish VFB? I would love that! With VFB editing capabilities like Cryptomate masks along with shadow/highlight clipping warnings, and a more flexible and dynamic VFB regarding window sizes.

Thanks!

[TomG]

We can't elaborate yet, sorry. What I can say is there are no plans for cryptomatte masks inside the VFB, certainly not for 12 anyway. Beyond that, we have a long list, and we are aiming to see how far (very far, not far at all?)  we get through it, so we don't want to over or under state things by giving a set of plans for now. The main focus is on the UI rework, streamlining, better performance, and then we'll see what features make it in. This will be a "watch the daily builds" scenario by and large. Hope this helps!

[CharlyRT]

:(
I was really hoping that the new VFB could handle cryptomatte masks in Corona 12.
And what about render history? This tool really needs more presence, its practically unusable right now.

[TomG]

As mentioned, we're not giving a feature list just yet, and will mostly reveal what features are being included when they come out in a daily. This is to save under or over stating what will / will not be included.

[CharlyRT]

Understood, thanks for answering, its really to soon to talk about it anyway, keep up the hard work

[Tom]

:(
I was really hoping that the new VFB could handle cryptomatte masks in Corona 12.
And what about render history? This tool really needs more presence, its practically unusable right now.

100% agree with cryptomatte masks and a revamped render history.
Thanks for the update TomG,
All the best to you guys,

[TomG]

TY RTstudio and Tom! We will indeed keep on working hard, and we'll let you know as soon as we can on features to expect / hope for! Meantime ty for the feedback on what you are most looking forward to, or wanting to see.

[Dalton Watts]

Yes, Cryptomatte masks would save us a lot of time. Although in Vray, and from my limited time testing it 2 days ago, I think there's a problem with color bleed not being taken into account.

This is what I would like to see in the new VFB:

- Cryptomatte masks (if this could work also for selective denoising, even better)
- Allow creation of folders in the main layer stack in VFB
- Add the ability to select and move multiple layers into a folder in VFB
- Post chromatic aberration in the VFB
- Highlight/Shadow clipping warning

But I agree with TomG. VFB performance and streamlining should be the priority, and then build upon that.

[lupaz]

- Cryptomatte masks (if this could work also for selective denoising, even better)
- Allow creation of folders in the main layer stack in VFB
- Add the ability to select and move multiple layers into a folder in VFB
- Post chromatic aberration in the VFB
- Highlight/Shadow clipping warning

I like all these.

I just want to say that you guys did a really good job with the Corona Lister and I'm hoping to see more of that UI design in the new VFB.

[romullus]

I just want to say that you guys did a really good job with the Corona Lister and I'm hoping to see more of that UI design in the new VFB.

I hope the team will do much better job on the new VFB than they did on the lister. I think that tool is unfinished and lacks basic functionality. Not inviting to use at all.

[arqrenderz]

I agree with the half baked corona lister, the thing is not usable at all.

[Tom]

I hope the team will do much better job on the new VFB than they did on the lister. I think that tool is unfinished and lacks basic functionality. Not inviting to use at all.

The lister is one of the best new recent features to me. I use it all the time to tweak my lights, I find it really convenient.
Not sure what lack of basic functionalities you're talking about, I find it very comprehensive.
It'd be even better if it could list non Corona ligths as well though.

[romullus]

I didn't touch the lister for a few months and i can't use Corona right now, but from what i remember there's plenty serious issues that makes this tool much less useful than it could/should be. Like the ridiculous items selection system, no option for editing multiple items at once and many others, which i don't recall, but they were reported/requested many times by many users here on the forum. It feels like half baked, barely functioning tool and i see no signs that the team is intended to finish the job in the immediate future.

[shortcirkuit]

For me, this biggest time waster over the years is the UI (material editor) - i know its not a corona thing (or it could have an impact?) - however the material editor, becomes slow and sluggish, mainly in heavier scenes (not really that heavy, fairly detailed interior scenes.  2-3 seconds for things to open.... and i do have the most of the latest hardware/software.... again, not sure if this is solely a autodesk thing or a combination between autodesk and corona materials, however its just so sloowwww and it kills my patience... it sometimes feels like im using a intel pentium from the early 2000's..... its 2024, UI, all of them, should be zipppy and we shouldnt be held back by such nuances.

[Tom]

For me, this biggest time waster over the years is the UI (material editor) - i know its not a corona thing (or it could have an impact?) - however the material editor, becomes slow and sluggish, mainly in heavier scenes (not really that heavy, fairly detailed interior scenes.  2-3 seconds for things to open.... and i do have the most of the latest hardware/software.... again, not sure if this is solely a autodesk thing or a combination between autodesk and corona materials, however its just so sloowwww and it kills my patience... it sometimes feels like im using a intel pentium from the early 2000's..... its 2024, UI, all of them, should be zipppy and we shouldnt be held back by such nuances.

I get that too: the material editor becomes really so slow sometimes, especially when IPR is running, up to the point that I have to stop the IPR, only then I'm able to tweak my materials in the SME, and only then I start the IPR again to see the results. This isn't how things should be: ideally I wouldn't have to stop the IPR in order to be able to tweak the materials, but if I don't the SME UI is just sooooo slow, it's unbearable.

[magmatik]

We can't elaborate yet, sorry. What I can say is there are no plans for cryptomatte masks inside the VFB, certainly not for 12 anyway. Beyond that, we have a long list, and we are aiming to see how far (very far, not far at all?)  we get through it, so we don't want to over or under state things by giving a set of plans for now. The main focus is on the UI rework, streamlining, better performance, and then we'll see what features make it in. This will be a "watch the daily builds" scenario by and large. Hope this helps!

Some good things to come!
Can't wait to know more!

[shortcirkuit]

glad im not the only one - ive even spent thousands on updated hardware thinking it would fix the problem.  Its literally been like this since i started using max over 10 years ago.  In fact, i think its gotten a little worse.
@CoronaDevs - i think this needs to be looked at for sure.

For me, this biggest time waster over the years is the UI (material editor) - i know its not a corona thing (or it could have an impact?) - however the material editor, becomes slow and sluggish, mainly in heavier scenes (not really that heavy, fairly detailed interior scenes.  2-3 seconds for things to open.... and i do have the most of the latest hardware/software.... again, not sure if this is solely a autodesk thing or a combination between autodesk and corona materials, however its just so sloowwww and it kills my patience... it sometimes feels like im using a intel pentium from the early 2000's..... its 2024, UI, all of them, should be zipppy and we shouldnt be held back by such nuances.

I get that too: the material editor becomes really so slow sometimes, especially when IPR is running, up to the point that I have to stop the IPR, only then I'm able to tweak my materials in the SME, and only then I start the IPR again to see the results. This isn't how things should be: ideally I wouldn't have to stop the IPR in order to be able to tweak the materials, but if I don't the SME UI is just sooooo slow, it's unbearable.

[pokoy]

If I had a wish, for me it's how the denoiser workflow is implemented:
1. Let us denoise *during* a final render, with whatever the denoiser is set to. I'd love to see if the noise level is good enough while i'm rendering. Sometimes I'll set way too many passes and having a way to preview the denoiser without stopping/cancelling the render would be great.
2. Currently, a denoised render will save to the history only if it was a final render, IR will save to history without the denoiser... This is inconsistent and makes it impossible to compare IR vs final renders since you can't save/view the denoised version from IR.
3. Denoiser checkbox in the VFB is inconsistent - for final rendering it will work only after a render is stopped/finished. For IR it can't be disabled without re-rendering (and has no function there), plus, it has to be disabled in a different place. It just doesn't do what it implies the way it's designed now.

For me it's the small things and consistency between final/IR rendering is not where it should/could be wrt to denoising.

[michaltimko]

I always set IR it to force PT and set some pass limit like 5-7 (depends on the scne). That way you are lag free when it comes to mat editor or max ui. Another option is to use IR in the viewport. Not sure if its just for me but its way more snappy than having it in separate VFB window.

glad im not the only one - ive even spent thousands on updated hardware thinking it would fix the problem.  Its literally been like this since i started using max over 10 years ago.  In fact, i think its gotten a little worse.
@CoronaDevs - i think this needs to be looked at for sure.

For me, this biggest time waster over the years is the UI (material editor) - i know its not a corona thing (or it could have an impact?) - however the material editor, becomes slow and sluggish, mainly in heavier scenes (not really that heavy, fairly detailed interior scenes.  2-3 seconds for things to open.... and i do have the most of the latest hardware/software.... again, not sure if this is solely a autodesk thing or a combination between autodesk and corona materials, however its just so sloowwww and it kills my patience... it sometimes feels like im using a intel pentium from the early 2000's..... its 2024, UI, all of them, should be zipppy and we shouldnt be held back by such nuances.

I get that too: the material editor becomes really so slow sometimes, especially when IPR is running, up to the point that I have to stop the IPR, only then I'm able to tweak my materials in the SME, and only then I start the IPR again to see the results. This isn't how things should be: ideally I wouldn't have to stop the IPR in order to be able to tweak the materials, but if I don't the SME UI is just sooooo slow, it's unbearable.

[Tom]

Thanks for the IR advice @michaltimko, I never paid attention to these settings, but indeed it makes things more responsive.

[zaar]

Can we put suggestions in this thread?

I'm here to raise a hand for custom background or reference image overlay, that maybe works like A/B history so you can compare your render to any image of your choice. Color management here is of course priority otherwise the feature is completely useless.

I want to A/B my current render to either my own renders of the same scene/product or reference images.

[shortcirkuit]

could we PLEASE add a function to FLIP the image horizontally - just to refresh the eyes to look at the render from a new perspective.

[lupaz]

could we PLEASE add a function to FLIP the image horizontally - just to refresh the eyes to look at the render from a new perspective.

+1

[lupaz]

And composition lines please

[Tom]

could we PLEASE add a function to FLIP the image horizontally - just to refresh the eyes to look at the render from a new perspective.

+1

[brr]

It would also be nice to have an option to change the VFB background color in Corona Renderer.
This was discussed previously here: https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=28172.0

It really helps a lot when you need to adjust the overall brightness level of the rendering, because with the current linear RGB 4/4/4 background color, it is easy to miss it.

[maru]

They are logged.
Flip/rotate the VFB content: (Report ID=CMAX-862)
Change VFB background color: (Report ID=CMAX-861)

[Place]

Am I the only one who would like to draw hand free the region zone?
Is it possible to implement?

Thank you,
Manuel

[lupaz]

Am I the only one who would like to draw hand free the region zone?
Is it possible to implement?

Thank you,
Manuel

Since you're bringing this up, it would be great to be able to mark the region in either the viewport or the VFB, not just the VFB.

But yes, a freehand region selection wouldn't be bad if not hard to implement.

[dzintas]

Since you're bringing this up, it would be great to be able to mark the region in either the viewport or the VFB, not just the VFB.

You can already define render region in viewport, or native one from max aren't sufficient enough? 

[dzintas]

Now when I think about it. Will new vfb brake batch exporter script, or it will work with new image editor?
Or even better, do you have plans for inbuilt tools in image editor itself?