Alpha 7 tests

[JeffPatton]

Here's my first A7 test exploring the new shadow catcher. 


Nice update to Corona!  I will upload more images as I continue to explore the new build.

7-3-14 - Added another render.  This was a conversion of an older VRay scene.  Render time was 40 minutes @ 4800x3200 (90 passes).


7-3-14 v2 - Added updated render with correct ShadowCatcher reflections.

8-7-14:  Added crystals test (Bidir/VCM)


8-9-14:  Added restaurant scene test (old mental ray scene converted to Corona).


12-14-14:  Added noEmotion01.jpg

[cecofuli]

Very nice test, Jeff!! Do you like the new shadow catcher? What don't you like of it?

[JeffPatton]

Overall it seems to work well (shadow catcher).  I haven't tested it in many different scenarios yet though.  At this point if I were to add anything it would be the ability of adding a bump map and glossiness map to break up the reflections when needed.

Another thing that kind of goes hand-in-hand with a shadow catcher is a hemispherical dome environment option ex: http://wolfsoull.com/tutorial/tutorial-to-enable-the-hemisphere-iray/ 
I'll often use the hemispherical environment in VRay and iray for previs work and on occasion even final images. 

NOTE:  It may be doing this already (or similar) with the projection mode options but I haven't learned my way around it completely yet.

[Ludvik Koutny]

If there is anything specific you are not sure about, just ask ahead.

And i am really sorry we weren't able to get mappable reflection amount, reflection glossiness and bump out in this release. I will try to push it up the priority list as AFAIK it should not be hard or take long time to implement ;)

Here are also some tutorials https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php/topic,3995.0.html

My spoken English is still a bit clumsy, but it should make things at least little bit more clear.

[JeffPatton]

Excellent, thanks for the links!

[artmaknev]

Beautiful work!

[Ondra]

I guess Jaguar is now the official car manufacturer of Corona ;)

[AdamHotovy]

I guess Jaguar is now the official car manufacturer of Corona ;)

YES!

Excellent work Jeff and thanks for the suggestions.

[foxid]

Great work and beautifull F! Can i get it on my wallpaper?

[zzubnik]

Excellent work, and great to see you using Corona, Jeff!
The only thing that lets it down is the fuzzy backplate.

[rockin]

Paint shader is absolutely amazing, refelections and color are spot on. I love the lighting as well. Indeed, the background suffers from the fact that you can't map reflections on the shadow catcher.

[Hdiab]

Hey jeff,
what do you think about Corona?
I know u are a king at mentalray and iray, now i see u here so can we have a brief comparison between lets say iray vs corona or mental ray vs corona?

[JeffPatton]

Added another test image (motion blur & vray conversion this time).  Both worked really well.  Only needed some minor adjustments to the materials from the conversion.

The more I dig into Corona, the more I like it.  Many common sense features like the CoronaLightMaterial having the various visibility options & exclusions built in all make it super easy to get started with and use.  For what I do (automotive renderings) just about any render engine handles that scenario pretty well.  With that in mind I need to spend more time with Corona to explore how it works under different scenarios other than what I typically do before comparing it to other engines though.  So far though it seems fairly bad@ss. :)

[racoonart]

Added another test image (motion blur & vray conversion this time).  Both worked really well.  Only needed some minor adjustments to the materials from the conversion.

So you were using the converter script? If so, let me know if there's something that can be done to make it better ;)

[Ludvik Koutny]

I would like to warn you about one ugly shadow catcher bug. It seems that use environment for off-screen rays feature is broken, and returns wierd distorted version of the environment map, so the geometry with ShadowCatcherMTL will show up weird things on places that are outside of camera's field of view. Those things then show up in the car reflections as well. :( I have suspicion that's what's happening on your recent render (which kicks ass btw!).

It will be fixed very soon, probably in a day or two, so i will let you know once build with the fix is available. For the time being, i use cut tool to precisely cut away all the off-screen parts of the ShadowCatcher plane.

Here's what i mean. Observe the reflection on the ground in that mirror box:


BTW it only happens if using HDRI + backplate workflow. Should not happen with HDRI only workflow.

[JeffPatton]

So you were using the converter script? If so, let me know if there's something that can be done to make it better ;)

Yes, good work on the script.  I used it for the conversion and as of right now I can't think of anything to improve it.  Will keep thrashing at it as time allows though.

I would like to warn you about one ugly shadow catcher bug.

Thank you!  I thought something looked out of sorts but I couldn't put my finger on what it was just yet.

[Ludvik Koutny]

Ok,

so Ondra has already fixed the off-screen bug. I've messaged you on FB regarding access to daily builds ;)

[JeffPatton]

Added another version of previous render with correct ShadowCatcher reflections.

[Lantrancy]

I wonder what settings you used to get such a clean and large(4800pix) result with just 90passes, please give some tips

[Ludvik Koutny]

Yep, the reflections look right. Finally :)

But to be honest, the previous one feels bit better to me in terms of color mood and grading :)

[Javadevil]

Nice renders Jeff,  the ferrari is my favourite.

I'd like to see some of your dusk shots with the nice glowing heads done in Corona :)

Do you miss metal flakes/metallic shader that MR has ??

Good to see you here

[JeffPatton]

I'd like to see some of your dusk shots with the nice glowing heads done in Corona :)

Good idea, I'll have to give that scenario a shot.

Do you miss metal flakes/metallic shader that MR has ??

I did use the flake option in the VRay paint (haven't used mental ray in several years).  Flake maps are a nice feature to have for those occasional up close shots or for other things like snow.  It can be faked with maps or grain/noise but is often a detail that's lost due to camera distance from vehicle.

[PhilippeCV]

Nice renders, your jaguar is my favorite! :) It would be nice when there is a skin shader, you could put a driver in it, I find its the only thing missing. Very good job!

[JeffPatton]

* Added a couple of images to first post.

[Ondra]

We require additional minerals!

[Javadevil]

I like the crystals, looks like the debris script :) one super cool script.
So what was the render times like ? and how did VCM/bidir stand up for this type of caustics, internal reflections / refractions ?? were you happy with it ?

[snakebox]

Yeah I too would love to hear more about the engine choice on the Crystals... is it not possible to get the same result using HDcache? and is it all lit using hdri ?

anyway nice work.

[yagi]

hi jeff, i remember the restaurant scene done with mental ray clearly but since you recreated your website you seem to have put away your old posts so i cant find that particular image to compare with. can you show us the mental ray version again?

[JeffPatton]

So what was the render times like ? and how did VCM/bidir stand up for this type of caustics, internal reflections / refractions ?? were you happy with it ?

I didn't pay attention to the render times.  I just let it run while I was out running errands.  In total it ran for about three hours but I'm not sure at what point it actually cleared because I just let it run.

Some features didn't work with the VCM/bidr mode like assigning a HDR to the environment but have a direct view background (solid color).  So I had to do that in post with an alpha mask.  Alpha also didn't work so I had to render it via a script/scanline engine.  So that was a "meh" moment but no biggie.

The refractions look pretty good to me.  I didn't have a ground plane to catch the caustics so I'm not real sure how those would have turned out.

Yeah I too would love to hear more about the engine choice on the Crystals... is it not possible to get the same result using HDcache? and is it all lit using hdri ?

Possibly, I had read somewhere on the forum here that the VCM/bidr mode handles caustics well so I just wanted to see what would happen...and in thinking about it I can't believe I didn't put a ground plane in or put this in a box with an overhead light or something so I could see the caustic effects!  I'll have to try that.  Yes, it was only HDRI.

hi jeff, i remember the restaurant scene done with mental ray clearly but since you recreated your website you seem to have put away your old posts so i cant find that particular image to compare with. can you show us the mental ray version again?

I've searched and apparently I no longer have the original mental ray image on my workstation or archives of my website.  I'm sure I have it here somewhere on a backup drive though, just need to find the time to go hunting for it.

[Ludvik Koutny]

I would be careful with VCM...  it doesn't support lots of things. It's just experimental now... and will probably backfire if attempted to be used in real production :) Only progressive and buckets are guaranteed to be production ready.

[JeffPatton]

Added a few more car comps to the first post.

[Ludvik Koutny]

Seems like you are really starting to like Corona :]

[johan belmans]

I like it, I guess I am not the only one   :-)