Author Topic: Arnold user here - Looking to switch to Corona - Have a few questions  (Read 2265 times)

2022-10-25, 04:30:48

ONeill

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Hi. I'm new here. I decided to sign up because I am considering moving over to Corona. I have been using Arnold (C4DtoA) for the last few years and I am growing weary with it. Too many problems, and it is becoming too slow.

I have downloaded the Corona trial and I plan to take some time to go through it, but I have a few questions, so I hope someone here can answer them. :)

1. What are the pro's for Corona compared to Arnold? Are there any big selling points that would make Corona stand out compared to Arnold?

Arnold is an unbiased engine (path tracing). I have never had any issues with flickering, but it does use sampling to control the quality. Lower samples result in a fast render, but the image is dirty and noisy. You have to increase sampling to get a clean image, but the render times go through the roof!

2. Does Corona have a GPU option? I was reading through some of the information online and it said that there was none. I'm assuming at least for now it's going to remain CPU?

3. How well does Corona handle large scene files with millions of polys and scattered objects?

Arnold has always handled large scenes incredibly well. I've never had any issues with that, so I wanted to ask about it. A lot of the files I work with are large with high res textures, millions of polys, and scattered objects (grass, trees, etc).

4. How well does Corona work with Mograph?

Arnold does not see certain Mograph objects and colors, so you have to use certain nodes and work-arounds to get things to work properly.

5. Does Corona have the ability to stack materials? I work a lot with objects that have multiple labels on them, and I always use flat projection when applying multiple labels with alpha channel to the object. Arnold can do this without any issues. Although at one time there appeared to be a limitation on how many materials could be stacked.

Those are the main questions I have at the moment. Thanks!

2022-10-25, 18:01:16
Reply #1

frv

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Corona has no GPU option.
I work with large files in Archviz, lots of vegetation, files over 2 or 3 Gb. No problem with Corona but you need a proper amount of ram. With less ram the files will render but a lot slower with a higher chance of crashes. Although I rarely crash these days even with very big files. I used to use Mograph a lot without problems with CR but now most scattering I do with Corona scatter.
OSX Mac Studio 20 cores, 128Gb ram.

2022-10-25, 18:51:24
Reply #2

johnnyswedish

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Hi, I work on a 64mb Aero17 laptop and same, render out hard core archviz scenes and I have never had memory problems. I as well use mograph and never had any problems, even when sending large projects to render farms. Stacking materials is no problem and you have layered material as well and not forgetting the super fun decal to ticker up whatever you want. I used to use VRay befor but was sooooo bloody touchy about materials and lots of crashes. I find Corona incredibly stable and fast. Give it a go :-) John

2022-10-26, 12:13:39
Reply #3

frv

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The recent features decalls, clouds, Chaos Cosmos & scatter and Lightmix really stand out compared to other renderengines.

See attachment. CR-Clouds, CR-decalls by Quixel for the white markings and zebra on the road and CR scatter for the leaves, Chaos Cosmos 3D people. The plants are by Maxtree.
This was a few hours work in C4D and CR with a very basic 3D model made with Vectorworks. I also recommend Lightroom for some post work and extra effects. Especially the brushes. Without Lightroom I feel lost.



« Last Edit: 2022-10-26, 12:22:12 by frv »

2022-10-26, 18:17:31
Reply #4

ONeill

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The recent features decalls, clouds, Chaos Cosmos & scatter and Lightmix really stand out compared to other renderengines.

See attachment. CR-Clouds, CR-decalls by Quixel for the white markings and zebra on the road and CR scatter for the leaves, Chaos Cosmos 3D people. The plants are by Maxtree.
This was a few hours work in C4D and CR with a very basic 3D model made with Vectorworks. I also recommend Lightroom for some post work and extra effects. Especially the brushes. Without Lightroom I feel lost.

That's pretty good!

Regarding the decals: Does it work with objects that are moving? Or does it only work with stationary objects?

2022-10-26, 18:22:07
Reply #5

BigAl3D

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Nice render. I think the Cosmos peeps are wearing anti-gravity shoes!  ;-)

I would assume Decals work with any object, moving or not. The interesting thing is, the decals work similar to a projection of the texture and you can include and exclude object. So without adding to existing materials, you can have a decal apply to an object, the simply by adding another object to the list, will also be applied to that one as well. Pretty neat.

I think there are some issues with decals and displacement? Not sure I'm remembering that correctly.

2022-10-26, 21:26:58
Reply #6

ONeill

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I would assume Decals work with any object, moving or not. The interesting thing is, the decals work similar to a projection of the texture and you can include and exclude object. So without adding to existing materials, you can have a decal apply to an object, the simply by adding another object to the list, will also be applied to that one as well. Pretty neat.

I think there are some issues with decals and displacement? Not sure I'm remembering that correctly.

I'll have to play around with it to see what it can do. I do a lot of animations with moving parts that have decals (textures) on them with alpha channel, so that is a big thing for me.

2022-10-26, 22:13:29
Reply #7

TomG

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So long as the Decal object is grouped so that it travels and animates with the object it is applied to, it should work fine.
Tom Grimes | chaos-corona.com
Product Manager | contact us

2022-10-27, 00:13:49
Reply #8

ONeill

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So long as the Decal object is grouped so that it travels and animates with the object it is applied to, it should work fine.

Ok, great! Normally I just apply multiple materials (stacked) onto the object.

How well does Corona work with 3rd party fluid/volumetric plugins? I use RealFlow sometimes for fluid, and I was considering X-Particles for fire/smoke.

2022-10-27, 13:59:35
Reply #9

TomG

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There is no particle rendering in Corona at present - it is on the roadmap, but currently for an unspecified time in the future and not currently in the Corona 10 plans (https://trello.com/c/LmDJ7juK/107-particles-rendering-support). This means to render, you'd have to get the simulation result into something like OpenVDB format and use the Corona Volume Grid to render it.
Tom Grimes | chaos-corona.com
Product Manager | contact us

2022-11-14, 21:22:06
Reply #10

ONeill

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I've been playing around with Corona and I have noticed a few issues. The interactive rendering window does not update when certain changes are made. Is there a way I can report these issues?

I'll give you an example of one of the issues: I have a corona light that is cloned along a spline using a cloner object. The cloner object has a shader effector that is used to drive the color of the lights. Whenever I make a change to the U or V length of the shader effector, the interactive render window does not update the change. I have to stop it, then turn it on again for the change to be seen.

I'd be happy to report issues like this if the developers would like to know.


2022-11-14, 22:55:55
Reply #11

BigAl3D

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@Oniel There is a dedicated Bugs forum. If it's a crash, then try to provide a file and any reports generated.