Blender Exporter v3 released

[blanchg]

The latest release of the exporter is available: https://bitbucket.org/coronablender/render_corona/overview

It requires the latest Corona Standalone too (link available from the above page)

This brings some of the newest features to the standalone thanks to Ondra and the team!

Lookup Tables now work better as does the UHD Cache.

There are new settings for the sun, now the color can be calculated for you based on angle which is awesome!  If your scenes are too bright then turning down the Color Multiplier is required.  The default multiplier will likely change in a new release shortly.

Please raise any bugs you find and I will see what I can do.

[novena]

awesome blanchg!

will give it a try as soon as possible, thanks for your hard Word!
best
V

[burnin]

Lovely, thanks.

Here 's What's New:

Update 11th Jan 2017 v3.0.0

    New sun settings, first try turning down the Color Multiplier
    LUT's work correctly (fixes Issue #55)
    UHD Cache works a bit better
    Compatible with the latest corona standalone release

Setting Sun Color Multiplier, Value to 0.1 conforms to previous results ;)

& Few Corona VFB problems:
- Denoising doesn't work (calculates but nothing shows up)
- Curves don't work (can be checked but no Editor available)

UHD calculates faster.
Resulting image has less noise with same level sampling.
:D ... basically as shown on a YT Preview: 1.6 Daily Builds

[Ondra]

I released new standalone with fixed denoising

[blanchg]

Thanks @Ondra it works great! with path tracing and uhdcache there seems to be a lot less noise from the raw renders

And thanks to @burnin too for helping out both here and at blender-artists!

[Rp2]

@Ondra Sir please.. Legacy standalone !!

[warlock]

Thank you guys...

[menfius]

It's Great, thanks!
Is there the PBR Shading like on this video?

[blanchg]

Most of the options in that video are supported though differences between 3DS and Blender mean some tweaking might be required.

[menfius]

Ok, I supose that it is not that simple. Are you planning to add this features? Do you now tutorials for corona node materials in blender? I followed the tutorial for 3ds something is different.

[blanchg]

chocofur.com has some excellent tutorials they are for a previous version but most of it is the same

[melviso]

Great work, blanchg and thanks for the hard work :-)

[menfius]

Thank you for the support, It is a Great work!

[maru]

Here is an irrefutable proof that the plugin does work. ;)

[blanchg]

Nice work, for some reason it reminded me of this poster https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/Twelve_monkeysmp.jpg

[Zorian]

Hey, i ve got some question and I am not sure if that is good topic to ask it. Anyway I would like to know if there any plans to bring into exporter multitexture node - just like this one https://corona-renderer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/MultiMap_GIF6.gif

[SreckoM]

Will there be Linux build soon? I saw that is one of 2 things left from TODO list.

[maru]

blanchg, please update the links at https://bitbucket.org/coronablender/render_corona/overview - some of them lead to 404
the new daily builds location can be found at https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000570015

[blanchg]

Thanks Maru, are there going to be more standalone releases?

[maru]

I think they should be updated once in a while.

[Ondra]

they are part of every daily build release

[Asticles]

I have read that now the standalone is paid, what will be the future of blender with corona?

Regards.

[spenrobert]

Does anyone know if there are any updates on this working for 2.79? I've never been able to get it to work...on Mac or Windows and I've tried on both sides. It just renders nothing. Maybe I'm doing something else wrong? I really love Corona and want to get it to work since I've used it previously in a different program.

[blanchg]

It doesn't work with 2.9 yet.

[burnin]

Did a quick test:
7.4.13 is working with Blender 2.79b.

[Binke]

I can also confirm it works with 2.79b

Now that Redshift is in the works to get a plugin for Blender, maybe there will be a bigger interest to make a real commercial corona plugin
for Blender? :) One could dream.
I can not justify to pay for c4d just to use corona :( Happy we can play around with this at least.

[burnin]

you can use C4D demo
register for 42 days full or don't, then it doesn't allow you to save and shows watermark in renders
but Corona, Centileo & Indigo (indigo after 30 days lets you still render up to 1mp resolution without nasty watermarks)
so everything works fine ;) more than enough for fun & joy

PS
and if you're good enough, buy either Prime or Bodypaint along MSA so next year you get it much cheaper... quite nice opportunities

[spenrobert]

Okay, well if it's working it must be something I'm doing. I would appreciate any help. Can somebody quickly explain the steps to get this running (just very brief) here? Maybe like 1) get this, 2) get this, 3) activate this here, etc etc. I guess the Mac version won't ever work?

Maybe it's the version I'm using... I purchased Corona for 3DS Max so I own it. I'm a student as well, so I got the student license for Corona for now. Getting this working in Blender would change my life and be so helpful! Please please somebody help!

[blanchg]

@spenrobert, can you provide any logs for what is going on?  http://www.chocofur.com/corona-renderer-and-blender-introduction.html has a very good step by step tutorial

[spenrobert]

Thanks for that tutorial and your quick reply. I will go back over to my Windows side (bootcamp on Mac) and give it a try following that tutorial. I will report back with errors if I encounter them this time.

[spenrobert]

Here is the error I get. Still not working. It just never renders anything. So confusing....

[blanchg]

Basically the path in the settings isn't pointing to the corona renderer executable

[spenrobert]

Oh my god, thanks!! Now I feel dumb...I realized just now that there was a tiny typo in my Windows instance. IT WORKS!!!! I guess I didn't try very hard in Windows since I tried mainly on the Mac side. For sure it doesn't work on my mac side, but this is good.

I do get one error upon rendering:

Error in.conf file 'Io::TextInputStream' (line 20) : Unknown type: string.
 Whole line : string system.randomSampler = HighDim5D

Is that normal? Seems like it's working but this error comes up every time. Thanks so much!!!

[burnin]

Yeah, that error appears with the use of later Corona SA builds supplied for Max/Cinema.

With the one advised to use on the Bitbucket page (Corona Build 2017-01-17) there's no such issue.

Note that you might also be unable to render lights with IES files. Probably even more errors might appear... since bridge is stagnating for the past half a year or more (since Aug./Sept. 2017)

[monkriss]

Do we know how support is going to continue in the future? It would be great if there was an update soon to fix some issues that are mentioned on this forum :)

[blanchg]

I would love to keep working on this but am stuck with no way to add more features now without dual booting my Mac and buying a full Corona license.

[Zorian]

I would love to keep working on this but am stuck with no way to add more features now without dual booting my Mac and buying a full Corona license.

Is it possible to support you by patreon or something like this? Have you been spoken to Corona management about giving you an acces to licensed Corona? Currently I'm using licensed Corona for my work, because it's give me better quality of interior renders than using Cycles. So because of your addon they have got a new clients:) Inmo a really nice exporter can bring more blender users to this render engine.
 

[spenrobert]

I agree. I would support this financially as well. It was going so well and you had developed one of the most promising extensions for Blender there is. It's so close to working...Corona is SO good, that even a professional renderer who I know personally that charges high prices to architecture firms uses it and switched from V-Ray. It's blazing fast and I'm sorry but Cycles is usually painfully slow, grainy for most cases, and is the main reason that I keep getting away from Blender. Blender itself is great, but without people developing dependable stuff like this, it won't work for me. Corona is a very special rendering engine. I really hope we can help to further this.

The extension is no longer usable to me, as I also get errors every time I upload any texture of any kind. It says it can't find the texture.

[spenrobert]

I would also definitely send them a quick email simply asking for a license to support your development. It makes sense for them to provide this because it opens a whole new platform for them. I really hope we're able to get you back on board!

[Ondra]

I didnt know this was an issue, I reached out to blanchg to set him up with a license

[blanchg]

Thanks Ondra! Your support for the blender exporter is outstanding.

[melviso]

Thanks Ondra. Happy to know Blanchg can now continue with Corona development for Blender.

@blanchg  If you are using a Mac, will development be possible for Windows version? :- )

[burnin]

Yes, thank you very much Ondra, for continuous support & motivation :)

[spenrobert]

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but thanks from me too! Thanks for supporting further development of this great plugin so that we can continue to use the amazing Corona renderer :) Let us know how we can help further, as I'm sure the whole Blender community would be highly interested in this.

[monkriss]

From my side too, if you set up a patreon or something I'm sure I could contribute. As above, Corona is incredible and I love what you've done with Corona and Blender! thanks :)))

[blanchg]

@melviso Yes, I can confirm my changes on windows easy enough but developing on it was impossible.
With the new license I can ensure that using the plugin under Mac or Windows will work as intended.

If you really want to provide support, details will be on the bitbucket page shortly.

[melviso]

@blanchg Thanks so much.

[spenrobert]

Guys - I have a paid Corona license as a 3DS Max plugin, but I have a different Corona version downloaded to work in this plugin for Blender (Build 2017-01-17) since the latest one doesn't work. I thought that it was using my paid license, but when I looked at the system console it says I'm using a "demo" which I'm assuming will expire? How do we connect this plugin with FairSaaS? I can't find any information here?

[blanchg]

I am updating it to work with the latest version as we speak :)

[spenrobert]

You're the best!!! One more thing and then I promise I'll let you get onto your good work:

I noticed that I have no control over the strength of my sun. I am only able to control it via highlight compression. When I look at Chocofur's tutorials it seems to show an "energy multiplier", which I assume was to control this...but I might be wrong.

I'm assuming there's no way right now to tie the sun position to the HDR rotation, but seems like an easy fix to be able to control the sun brightness again so thought I'd mention it. The size multiplier only effects the shadow softness, not the light intensity itself.

Thanks again guys and any suggestions are appreciated!

Images attached of my interface and Chocofur's.

[blanchg]

The sun multiplier doesn't exist, it is the brightness of the sun color that should have the most effect.  If you really need values > white, I can see about adding that though in every scene I have white is far too bright.

[spenrobert]

Oh I see, so I make it less white. I’ll try that thanks! I tried to adjust in the light mix too in the standalone and that didn’t seem to have an effect. Maybe that’s why.

[burnin]

Just consider color values simply as numerical values (are numbers, are colors, are even vectors) and you'll be fine. Basically, it depends on what you need. ;)

[melviso]

I have been wondering what about texture baking for lightmaps ? Is this planned for a future release?

Thanks.

[blanchg]

Does the standalone support texture baking?

[melviso]

I am not sure tbh. I know texture baking with Corona is supported in 3dsmax. I was hoping maybe the devs might provide some info if it is even possible with Blender at all.

[burnin]

was told some time ago, along the line: "if it's not mentioned on the standalone wiki site, then it's not supported"

[Sanekum]

Is there a way to realise enviroment override in plugin? sometimes this is a real issue

[blanchg]

Using v8.0.8 and the new Use World Nodes option hook up a ray switch node. See https://bitbucket.org/coronablender/render_corona/issues/176/ray-switch-environment not sure if that is the same Method used in the video.  Use black for direct maybe.

[melviso]

was told some time ago, along the line: "if it's not mentioned on the standalone wiki site, then it's not supported"

Okay. Thanks for the info.

[Ondra]

Does the standalone support texture baking?

It does not. It is possible to do though, we just need to define new camera format. Let us first solve some issues with the current 3dsmax texture baking implementation.

[melviso]

Does the standalone support texture baking?

It does not. It is possible to do though, we just need to define new camera format. Let us first solve some issues with the current 3dsmax texture baking implementation.

Thanks Ondra. :- )

[Zorian]

Hi there, Any way to speed up the exporter speed? Currently I'm working on quite big scene with water simulation, made using Flip Fliuds for Blender and I love to render it external on render farm. Anyway as I see while exporting the blender use only 10% of my CPU. Is there any chance t ospeed it up? I've got "Binary Mesh Export" and  "Corona Multi Threaded" checked. Corona Verbose is unchecked. I'm also using Corona3.0  from Monday and Bledner 2.78c

[blanchg]

Do you have a smaller sample scene? I might be able to optimise for your scene.

[Zorian]

Do you have a smaller sample scene? I might be able to optimise for your scene.

Not really - the mesh is made using FlipFluid addon and it's payed- The addon generates a lot of particles like foam and bubbles in the water. so I'm not abble to make smaller scene using it. You can download demo addon with demo scenes and remake the simulation on your computer, that will be faster. Without particles, using only fluid mesh, I didn't had any issues. With particles I gave up after 48h of exporting. The same scene was exported in 5 minutes using Vrayaddon, but I'd love to render this scene using Corona - even only stills without any animation.

Here is flip fluids demo:
https://github.com/rlguy/Blender-FLIP-Fluids/wiki/FLIP-Fluids-Demo-Addon

[blanchg]

After playing around with that, the instances are what is killing it.  Unfortunately instances are still quite verbose (xml).  On the invisible box frame demo scene frame 57 it goes from 18,000 instanced objects with no particles to 144,000 instanced objects with all the particles.  whitewater foam being the largest number by far.  I imagine in your scene the particles would be in the millions...

You can speed it up by turning off corona debug messages as a few lines of output are currently displayed per instance which is less than ideal :)

I could possibly speed it up more by letting you adjust the matrix precision currently hardcoded to 8 decimal points.

I might be able to greatly speed it up if I can setup a repeated template and reuse it over and over.  It might take a few days but leave it with me.

[Zorian]

Thanks a lot!

Thanks a lot! yes, indeed there is a lot of particle settings and I hope that worth it! Currently I've made one shot using V-ray but I love Corona:) As I spoke with the guy from Garagefarm, there can be option to render the whole animation even using Corona. But it depends on exporter speed.

I'm waiting in patience:)

[blanchg]

He Zorian,

Check out the latest release.  On one of the sample scenes with foam it went from 34 second export time down to 0.8 seconds.

I doubt without spending a great more time on it I can get it much faster.

Thanks for suggesting it using dupli's are now much much more efficient.

[Zorian]

Thanks. It's faster but not fast enough to try it on my scene:p I was exporting the scene in two hours but it didn't succes So i had to come back to commited projects. Anyway I see two issues - cannot use corona 1.7 and above and window to choose the materials disappeared.


Edit:
Version 8.0.11 Works fine with Corona 3.0 I don't know which version causes the problems earlier. I think that archive called coronablender-render_corona-dfbd7e3196cb but I'm not sure which version ii was, cuz i changed version txt to 9.0.0 :D

[blanchg]

When you say works and doesn't work what do you mean exactly?  This was a minimal change but unless the new scene format isn't compatible with older versions it should work.

No idea why the material window would disappear, that is displayed by blender itself.

[Zorian]

the first part of my post was written quicker than I downloaded the official release from bitbucket - it was updated using updater settings and cause problem with downloading a version called 9.0.0

After downloading version 8.0.11 and installing it manually- it works, but only with Corona 1.6 in case with flip fluids. with newer versions of Corona still works but with smaller files i think.

Summary:
Flip fluids works with Corona 1.6.3 and exporter 8.0.11
small scenes works with Corona 1.6.3. - 3.0.0 on exprter 8.0.11

[jorari71]

Where can I download the standalone files?.
I found a link at bitbucket which redirected me to a dropbox folder but there's nothing here.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kgzu0cqy903ygmb/AADkxxFBu1eemh8Hkioh2bP1a/!Standalone?dl=0
Please could you provide me a link from where I can download the standalone version?.
Thank you very much in advance.
Best regards.

[blanchg]

I don't think they are available anymore.

[blanchg]

There is a standalone in the 3Ds MAX version and C4D version as well though

[jorari71]

But, is it necessary a standalone version to work with Blender's Corona addon?.

[maru]

Yes, it is necessary. Corona Standalone is included in our universal installers (3ds Max and C4D ones): https://corona-renderer.com/download

[Sanekum]

Yes, it is necessary. Corona Standalone is included in our universal installers (3ds Max and C4D ones): https://corona-renderer.com/download

But textures are broken in Corona 1.7

[maru]

Yes, it is necessary. Corona Standalone is included in our universal installers (3ds Max and C4D ones): https://corona-renderer.com/download

But textures are broken in Corona 1.7

And what exactly do you mean by broken textures?

[blanchg]

The material preview doesn't work with the latest windows or Mac standalones if they use textures or IES profiles. This has been ongoing for a year or more.

[rHebKo]

if you download one of the other packages, it should come with a copy of standalone if i remember correctly.

[LoveToBlend]

i assume this version doesn't support viewport rendering..
When it could be available for blender?

[monkriss]

I saw in a recent update that corona displacement might available. Is that true? If so is there an optimal to way to make it work?
Is this similar to Blenders displacement node set up then?

[blanchg]

i assume this version doesn't support viewport rendering..
When it could be available for blender?

It requires support from the standalone and the blender plugin, not in the short term.

I saw in a recent update that corona displacement might available. Is that true? If so is there an optimal to way to make it work?
Is this similar to Blenders displacement node set up then?

This is correct it is supported now, there are a few tuning settings that aren't available in the UI but it seems to work well with the settings that are there.

[monkriss]

Amazing ill check it out tomorrow! I did have a quick look but nothing was happening. Does it require subdivision or solely the node set up and Corona 1.7?

Sorry slight side note. I wanted to see if corona 3.0 and AIDenoising works as it looks.... breathtakingly fast. However it doesn't look like the denoising while rendering works, I'm guessing that's an issue with Corona Standalone?
i know you're not actively working with 3.0, but I thought id see if you knew anything :)

[blanchg]

Have a look here, https://bitbucket.org/coronablender/render_corona/issues/205/displace-issue  I didn't play with displacement too much yet.

Not sure if it is included with the standalone or it is a new option that needs to be added.  Will have a look.

[monkriss]

Will do thank you!

And I just saw that the "denoise while rendering" is an option the users need to tick inside 3DS. So that's why its not working here. Maybe its a tick option Blender can include?

Oh man im so excited for that. If anyone is wondering you can see it in action here. It takes a couple of seconds and then you can see the denoising getting to work straight away. VERY cool

t=600s

[blanchg]

There isn't an option in the v3 standalone I am running, you can see the available options by running

Code: [Select]

CoronaStandalon -confHelp

[LoveToBlend]

It requires support from the standalone and the blender plugin, not in the short term.

Thanks for feedback, I wouldn't mind if viewport rendering would requires support from the standalone, but it doesn't seems to work as viewport rendering, more like standard manual full render with long export time to get results...
Need support for viewport rendering and for lamps..
I hope i misunderstood something, if so can you please explain, how does it work..?

[blanchg]

Can't get around the export times really, that data needs to be transformed from blender's format to corona's format.

Any very slow examples please let me know as sometimes I can improve it.

[LoveToBlend]

I hope category - "Overwrite Geometry: Only Modified" will be improved, so it would update all small changes and would be fast viewport updates in future with quick exporting time.

Otherwise, without quick viewport render, is impossible to use corona render for blender.

Looking forward!

[monitorhero]

Hey blanchg,

thank you very much for the work you put into the exporter. I really love Corona after testing it for two weeks now. Its so fast and the image quality is great.

Are you working on intergrating triplanar mapping? For Archviz this essential to me and it's the only thing holding me back right now. So if you would intergrate it that would be greatly appreciated.

Let me know. Thank you.

[blanchg]

Hi there, not sure if the standalone supports this I will have a look

[blanchg]

I can't find support for triplanar mapping here, https://corona-renderer.com/wiki/standalone

[monitorhero]

Thank you for the quick answer blanchg. I wasn't aware that there are differences between standalone and 3dsmax e.g.
That is unfortunate. Maybe a developer could give us insight?

But thank you for checking it out.

[Ondra]

noted, will be implemented

[monitorhero]

noted, will be implemented

Love you guys.

[schelkov]

any news for blender 2.8?

[blanchg]

It is in progress but there are still some items that are missing  that is preventing it from working.

[Luis Seyfer]

Hi all here,

I am looking arround for the right rendering solution and my had is already steaming.
So, I kindly ask for some clarification and excuse, if I didn't collect all that from different threads.

Could I get a summary of the lacks of the Blender-exporter-Corona System?

How much of this is due to a free Corona version and could be solved with official payed one?

[burnin]

Limitations basically come with using the Stand Alone version: https://corona-renderer.com/wiki/standalone

[rial]

Any news for blender 2.8? :)

[blanchg]

Work has started but it is slow going. I have a massive backlog of work to get through.

[johan belmans]

Work has started but it is slow going. I have a massive backlog of work to get through.

thumbs up!

[jarekhell1]

Any news for 2.8 ? ;)

[blanchg]

Still lots of work but the 2.80 version doesn't crash when installed in 2.80.  Blender is still changing lots too

[Sanekum]

Still hope for IPR in Corona 2.80 :D

[monkriss]

I believe for interactive rendering Corona will need to make their own modified version of Blender which talks directly with the Standalone Corona, like Vray - https://www.chaosgroup.com/vray/blender & Octane - https://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=72241

But I think that will be a long way off happening. Having it work with 2.8 would be amazing still though

[blanchg]

It could be done without that but it requires changes to the standalone and the exporter. Using your own version of blender is lots of work and has licensing constraints.

[monkriss]

Ah, so I thought that there were licensing constraints in editing the standalone to work with Blender currently, because that would mean the code for Corona Standalone would need to be made freely available? I thought that's why Vray and Octane made their own version of Blender because of this too?

[blanchg]

Any changes to blender or libraries compiled into it require it to have its source available.

[Ondra]

Good news is that we are now working more on standalone and formats compatibility, because we have many different applications we would like to work together (vray, corona, 3dsmax, C4D, material library, cloud, ...). While blender exporter is not part of this directly, it will profit indirectly (improved standalone, more maps supported, faster parsing, ...).

I am expecting the new improved standalone to hit public in about 2 release cycles (1 year)

edit: we have significant improvements right now in nonpublic builds, I mean 2 release cycles for fully stable public version

[blanchg]

Excellent news indeed 😁

[romullus]

Maybe Corona team could reconsider their plans towards Blender? Its popularity only rising and supposedly even Autodesk starting to see it as a major threat. If Corona devs would start to work on Blender exporter officially, that would be great news.

[Ondra]

We are monitoring blender, but again it is tricky decision, since it is binary from us (do it/not do it), while the popularity/features grow in slow but steady way. Similar to e.g. GPU rendering

Thinking about his, depending on state of codebase and willingness of blanchg, we might have our interns commit opensource improvements to his exporter, for starters

[blanchg]

Absolutely on Bitbucket it is under is own org so anyone can join or have ownership

[Sanekum]

There is a lot of big players jumped on the 2.80 hype train, Octane free tier(it's buggy now but damn fast), Redshift, Vray and Arnold are coming too
With awesome Corona devs and our champ Blanchg I think blender addon is in the right hands

[Ondra]

I mean mostly if the code is not a big mess, but reasonably structured and documented :D. We cannot throw an intern into code equivalent of stalingrad winter, and expect them to survive ;)

[blanchg]

Wait till I sort out the 2.8 stuff it will require a rewrite of much of the code anyway to more of a standard python.

[Ondra]

sure, will contact you when we have somebody specific in mind

[bkjernisted]

If you can export from Blender to Corona 3, can you export the blender scene from Corona 3 to Corona 4? Does the Blender exporter to Corona 3 work out of 2.79 and 2.80? I am new to Corona and the blender exporter. How does the exporter work? Thanks

[blanchg]

The latest tutorial that I have seen is here: https://tutorials.chocofur.com/introduction-to-corona-renderer-in-blender

[bkjernisted]

That is a scene file on the Chocofur site. Unless their is a video or tutorial in the scene download. Can someone answer by question more specifically? Thanks

[blanchg]

https://tutorials.chocofur.com/corona-renderer-for-blender-resources

[bkjernisted]

Thanks Blanchg for the quick reply. I will install it and test it out.

[Zorian]

Hi guys I would like to write, that the latest Corona 5.0 Standalone works fine with latest exporter for Belnder. What is the most important that the previous proxy made using Corona 3.0 standalone works fine with Corona 5.0 There is no need to recreate proxies to use it with it.

However material preview still doesnt work :p

[rial]

What changes compared to version 3?

[Zorian]

What changes compared to version 3?

As far as I saw, loading scene into Standalone after exporting is somehow longer than in 3.0 but rendering itself is faster, except this I see no difference.

[rial]

Still without denoising in Lightmix? :)

[Zorian]

Still without denoising in Lightmix? :)

OH i didn't checked that feautre because simply i am not using Lightmix at all. However you can add normal and difuse passes to your render chanels and thgan combine them in Blender 2.81 with Intel denoiser. 3 months ago i used this workflow to get rid of noise while using lightimx.

[rial]

Oh, that's a good idea, thanks!

[leandro_cs]

Hi guys,

There is any news about the Corona exporter being updated for Blender 2.8 or even if this project still going on?
I checked the pages on patreon and bitbucket but it's been a while since they've been updated.

I've used V-Ray for Blender for many years but its development was apparently discontinued earlier this year.
So now I'm looking for a replacement for it and Corona seems to be the natural move. =)

[blanchg]

Hey I am working on the 2.80 compatible version but it is slow going. Not sure how long until it is ready. I have objects rendering from 2.80 but there are no node based materials working.

[leandro_cs]

Thanks!
There is a channel where we can support your work? (patreon or whatever...)

[blanchg]

There is from the blender corona link in the footer and many fine people over the years have contributed, however this is only a hobby so I don't expect anything :)

[leandro_cs]

There is from the blender corona link in the footer...

Thanks!

[rial]

Any news for blender 2.8? :)

[blanchg]

I have made a lot of progress modifiers export but having trouble with UV map textures.

There are likely a few other problems. If you want to test download the latest .zip of the blender280 branch from the link in my sig

[PetrT]

nodes is still not work?

[blanchg]

Some of them do I haven't tested them all or tried the ever shaders

[PetrT]

what is partucular problem with nodes
sockets don`t work?

[blanchg]

2.80 changes the way it loads completely so I have to fix the nodes as well as the sockets one by one. Looks like I haven't fixed them all yet.

[PetrT]

Blender 2.8 has template for custom nodes
May be it helps

[blanchg]

Unfortunately it doesn't that template is very basic. I know what to do but haven't had the time to fix each and every change.

[monkriss]

This is great to see :D

Do let me know when it's in a more public state and we would love to make some iMeshh tutorial videos about how it works!

[blanchg]

If anyone would like to try again, more nodes work and more geometry work now.  Again not 100% ready for public there is still much to improve on.

[blanchg]

To test the download can be found here: https://bitbucket.org/coronablender/render_corona/downloads/?tab=branches

Note that you shouldn't probably shouldn't use this on any important work.  You should be able to swap this in and out again I haven't had any issues with this but I can't absolutely guarantee that it won't break a .blend file :)

[andreimd87]

glad to see that the development is alive. i'm watching now

[burnin]

To test the download can be found here: https://bitbucket.org/coronablender/render_corona/downloads/?tab=branches

Note that you shouldn't probably shouldn't use this on any important work.  You should be able to swap this in and out again I haven't had any issues with this but I can't absolutely guarantee that it won't break a .blend file :)

Where to go with issues? Same old place?

Addon activated. All set as usual w/ 2.79b.
- No material preview.
- No Color wheel w/ nodes.
- Doesn't render.
When f12 to render, I just get an empty screen & the report:

Code: [Select]

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\309\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.81\scripts\addons\corona3alpha\engine.py", line 620, in render
    render_start( self, depsgraph)
  File "C:\Users\309\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.81\scripts\addons\corona3alpha\engine.py", line 180, in render_start
    render_scene( engine, depsgraph)
  File "C:\Users\309\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.81\scripts\addons\corona3alpha\engine.py", line 479, in render_scene
    process = subprocess.Popen( cmd, cwd=export_path, shell=False, bufsize=1, universal_newlines=True, **args)
  File "C:\programi\b281a\2.81\python\lib\subprocess.py", line 775, in __init__
    restore_signals, start_new_session)
  File "C:\programi\b281a\2.81\python\lib\subprocess.py", line 1178, in _execute_child
    startupinfo)
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified

location: <unknown location>:-1
& Thanks for keeping it up :)

[blanchg]

Yeah same place for issues, though i expect there to be lots :)

Material preview is still broken with latest versions of Corona Renderer.

Looks like your path to the corona standalone might be wrong?

[burnin]

Yeah same place for issues, though i expect there to be lots :)

Material preview is still broken with latest versions of Corona Renderer.

Looks like your path to the corona standalone might be wrong?

OK!
Copied everything from 2.79b & it's fine.

Do you have any roadmap or a plan written down?
I beleive it would ease the process of troubleshooting and let users/ testers know what to expect.

[blanchg]

At the moment it is just getting a few sample scenes exporting correctly. Ideally I would like a few scenes that tests all nodes then another few that tests lights/meshes/modifiers. I can then include them in the tests I already run

[PetrT]

Make some changes for main node UI.
Offer this variant for Blender 2.83

[burnin]

oh, I totally forgot...

At the moment it is just getting a few sample scenes exporting correctly. Ideally I would like a few scenes that tests all nodes then another few that tests lights/meshes/modifiers. I can then include them in the tests I already run

Well,
- modifiers don't work yet...
- not all nodes are available in Shader editor at the moment...
- sometimes Node tree (in Shader editor) goes "dumb" & stops accepting all changes. The only solution then is to start a new & click that "Add Corona Material Node Tree"

About those scenes: Would ready-set to render w/ Cycles/EEVEE suffice?


How are things otherwise?
Do you develop on your machine and push after you're OK with it?
Cuz I don't see any commits or changes on bitbucket & IMHO, it would be better to move on in small steps (occasional commits, just like w/ BlendLuxCore), otherwise any single larger commit is overwhelming and takes quite some time... First to get back on track and then to recognize and test the new stuff. 
So I can assume there's  no to-do list ready yet (nobody else is making one?) and you simply "come as you are..."
cheers
;)

[blanchg]

Thanks for the list of things that don't work.  I am not actively using blender at the moment (too many other things happening) so any info on what doesn't work is great.

Ideally scenes that are as simple as possible that demonstrate it broken work best. I can then include them in the tests once it is fixed so we don't see the same issue come up again later.

So far I have been the only developer really so yeah I have been just working locally.  Once another dev is working if we each work on a branch per feature it makes merging keeping track of everything a lot easier.

Feel free to add a todo list to the current doco, I think I can add you as a member to the blender project.  Unfortunately my time is limited to less than 5 hours per week at the moment.

[pilipim]

Почему не создается полноценная интеграция? Я не готов платить за КоронаРендер для 3д макс. И не готов изучать ещё и Синема 4д. Но готов заплатить за корону для блендер.

Видимо проще освоить cycles для интерьеров, чем пытаться засунуть туда Корону :?

Why is not full integration created? I am not ready to pay for Corona Render for 3D max. And I’m not ready to study Cinema 4d. But ready to pay for the crown for the blender.

Apparently easier to master cycles for interiors than trying to put the Corona Render in blender :?

[deanvduist]

When can we expect a fully integrated version for blender 2.8x? The blender community is full of Archi-Viz people waiting to get their hands on it :( 

[burnin]

When can we expect a fully integrated version for blender 2.8x? The blender community is full of Archi-Viz people waiting to get their hands on it :(

If you would take a moment of your precious time and read posts above, all your questions would likely be answered and a thought might flow by passing through your mind: "Who is really waiting, doing nothing... but just staying locked at home, dreaming, imagining what memories had left for mind to construct..."

Right? What is left?
Well, game on!

;)

& BTW - New Standalone version is in works, supposedly to hit us in upcoming Chaos Days.

[deanvduist]

I've read the whole forum and been following eagerly for the last 8 months. Didn't think it was an invalid question especially now. I understand the whole issue with blender and open source. I also appreciate blanchg's time very much. You saying standalone might come soon is news to me so at least I got something from my question >:). Also I think a lot of people are just staying at home....dreaming, imagining.....what blender and corona could be :)  Cheers

[blanchg]

Let's see what the new standalone brings.

[Zorian]

Would you like consider to ask for help with bringing exporter to 2.8 on blender artist forum? Maybe we could make some chip in for you guys to speed up the whole process?

[Omnimorphic]

Following with interest.

[leandro_cs]

Let's see what the new standalone brings.

Hi Glen, hope you're fine.
Any news about the new standalone?
Do you still working on porting Corona to Blender 2.8?

[burnin]

New standalone comes with v6 release.

Also, a bit off-beat...
since I'm observing devs time getting scarcer by the day...
I believe this global "mental lockdown" is taking largest byte of devs time - for real, they're getting the hardest beating. Novel Virus is a blamage. Just revise your history to see how a century ago Industry 1.0, with new organisms (bacteria), cures, machines and ideas that were about to change everything, were dismantling hyped society through ignorance - birth of nations, futurism & populism... now going for the Ind. v4.0 upgrade. ;)

[K34]

So no news no info about any update for Blender 2.8...It's basicaly dead at this point!

[mirokurcik]

https://blog.corona-renderer.com/behind-the-scenes-what-now-after-corona-renderer-6/

The improved standalone format opens up the potential for it to be utilized with exporters from other platforms such as Blender (we are thinking about helping the development of the third-party open source Corona Exporter from Blender).

[Zorian]

I am dreaming about good Corona and Blender implementation !:) Looking forward for more information.

[Tok_Tok]

Please make this happen!

I'm sooooo done with 3ds max and all it's flaws and crashes... When corona is available for blender like it is in Max, I'm switching!

So +1000

[Sportler]

Please make this happen!

I'm sooooo done with 3ds max and all it's flaws and crashes... When corona is available for blender like it is in Max, I'm switching!

So +1000

What this guy said.

[MArtur]

This would be awesome. New possibilities that blender 2.8+ gives could be finally used with great Corona engine. It will bring more new users of Corona.

[hsa013]

Absolutely!
3dsmax is good, but proper Blender integration with interactive viewport render would be a dream coming true.
Please please make it happen.

[Andreamacor]

I am changing from 3dmax to blender, I am sorry that there is no crown because I would also pay double to have it integrated in blender. I am now using cycles but for old projects or big jobs still crown

[yiggy]

Hey guys i wanna ask something like i am a blender user for modelling but i was thinkin like modelling in blender then export it to 3dsmax to use corona renderer 6 for archviz
Now i saw this and my mind confused. If i use the exporter with corona standalone(i dont know much about this) would that mean i dont have to use 3dsmax or something like that? Can you give me information about that and the versions i need to try?

and please make corona renderer for blender too

[Basshunter]

Here's another frustrated 3ds Max user just revisiting these threads from time to time, hoping to find at least one sign that tells me this Blender+Corona dream will come true one day...

[henk95]

True...

[kpulka]

I'm also frustrated ex-3dsmax user and would love to see corona in Blender finally. Loved corona and fstorm in 3dsmax.
Any update with it's exporter?

[rial]

Any news about the new exporter?

[TYO_79]

Like Tok_tok i'm so down with 3ds Max, that takes 2 miniutes to save files, always have the impression its is saving but it is just that white arrows isn't able to reach anything because Max try to find his brain back.
I discovered a new world in blender, much more accurate powerfull and friendly.  however Corona is the best rendering engine i've ever seen and used, i'm ready to pay Twice my licence every year if Corona team find a solution with GNU General Public License!!!

Still praying everyday it will comes true:)

[juang3d]

There is no such problem with the GPL, and there is proof out there, like Octane or RedShift, that explanation is not reasonable and besides Chaos has enough Legal power behind it's back to be sure there is not a single problem, way more power than RedShift.

[illanima_perspectives]

Thanks for your work, Blender and Corona would be a perfect duo! I hope all the improvements with 2.9 and above will permit a better integration of Corona in the future.