Messages

841

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: In Render Hidden Lights, to add an Exclude list

« on: 2021-07-11, 15:23:09 »

If I understand your workflow correctly, you mostly have Sun+Environment light, as physical as possible (not using fakes such as big lights in front of windows), some inner lights in different places of interior, you work and adjust the whole scene from views/cameras for which the exposure is adjusted accordingly (through VFB or overrides for CoronaCamera), e.g. -2EV, and you want to isolate an object to work on it separately, yet you get a high exposure (with -2EV) for the isolated object in open air. As I understand the point/problem here is the exposure, seen picture and not specific lights contributing to it.

What you suggest is
• Having "Render hidden lights" enabled, so you see your isolated object with (some) interior lighting when Isolated, yet the Sun and Sky are excluded.
• Having a list named maybe "Isolation mode include/exclude list) next to it
• In the list you want to exclude Sun and Sky and maybe other lights also, so they are not visible/rendered when in Isolation mode.
 
I believe this is not a very good solution to the "problem", more precisely the situation, and the points I mentioned earlier will come in to play.
Here is why:
• Let say you are working on a table in the scene's living room, with no isolation mode, there are both the sun, environment, interior lights which contribute to the whole lighting and you make the adjustments on it.
You isolate the table, your suggested solution is used, in this case you see the isolated table lit by only the interior lights, Sun and/or Sky are excluded. This will bring almost completely different lighting and inconsistency in table's shading, modeling workflow, I believe.
• Let say you are working on a table in the scene's living room, the lights are in the "render hidden lights" include/exclude list and the isolation mode is working as you want, then you decide to isolate and work on a chair in bedroom. Bedroom and living room are lit differently from environment light (e.g. living room has bigger windows and hence more lighting from outside), the walls, floor plan and other elements also contribute to this difference and you get into isolation mode with chair, where again the Sun and/or environment lighting are excluded. This in my opinion will bring the need to adjust the lights in the list again for the chair. And even if you manage to tweak it the way you like, you exit from isolation mode and the environment and sun get back and contribute to the lighting to the chair in a way, different from the table in living room (you are not "visually" sure what exiting isolation mode will bring in different cases). I hope you get my point of inconsistency and confusion.

Here I think the best thing is to just adjust, well, the exposure, e.g. I have -4.5 for exterior when isolating and revert back to the interior exposure after isolation. I worked like this a lot and it was never a problem. This exposure thing can even be solved easily if you have CoronaCameras in the interior with their per-camera exposure override and having a separate EV for VFB when isolating, so no changing is needed.
Or another tip from me: I generally create selection sets for isolation purposes or just name the interior cage (main blocks of interior, floor, ceiling, walls etc.), which is the main thing affecting the exposure of the interior in general, in a way that it's easily selected (or just grouping its components if needed), select it and then select the object I want to isolate it with and isolate. That's it. It brings both the "Render hidden lights" option's and lighting consistency's benefit for the objects' shading/modeling.
In general, if your scene is not too heavy and you can quickly see updates in IR for the object you are working on, with all the objects being visible, having a good control in viewport movement, panning, zooming, virtual walkthrough etc. is the best option to go with. I would recommend getting deft with it, if you are not already.

Regards,
Aram

842

[Max] I need help! / Re: Dichroic Laminated Glass?

« on: 2021-07-01, 11:37:51 »

I know this is an old topic, but I'm hoping someone can help me with a current issue using Siger's Thin Film plugin with Corona.

I have a client that wants to showcase a lot of Dichroic film panels in the 3D visuals I'm creating for them. They shared the attached reference images, one used on a transparent substrate (Dichroic_Transparent) and the other on a white opaque substrate (Dichroic_Opaque). I've attempted to replicate it using Siger's Thin Film but I'm getting solid banding (Dichroic_Thin Film), where, in reality, it looks to be a more gentle fade between colours. I have also attempted to replicate it manually by layering falloff maps with the CoronaMix Map, but ended up coming back to Thin Film. My Dichroic material settings are attached.

Does anybody have any recommendations on how to best replicate the real world look of this material? Is there any way to smooth out the colours in the Thin Film shader?

TIA

Here some planning of the shot and scene should be done as this is something not easily rendered and can cause huge render times possibly, so try to look for optimizations.
Mainly you have two things to control
• The surface color of the glass panels and/or
• The color of their shadow or the real physical effect of a colored glass.
If going for full physicality, i.e. colored shadows, caustics shall be enabled. Then you control the shadow color only by volumetric absorption. Here simple gradient or any other map alike would do.
Why do I mentioned this. You may look at the glass panel from different angles and it may appear colored differently but the shadows it creates are constant, not dependent on any angle.
So for maximum physicality use volumetric absorption for glass panels and for diffuse/base color any falloff (even in Light/Shadow mode which I tested and it gave interesting results) which fits your needs/taste can be used. Mainly simple falloff with two colors you choose will do fine. The rest e.g. cells or so can be achieved with refraction/reflection glossiness and even with diffuse.
See attached some examples I got. Everything is a simple CoronaMtl/CoronaPhysicalMtl with general falloffs, mapped differently.

843

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: Include/exclude list for Corona camera clipping

« on: 2021-06-26, 09:38:08 »

This indeed can be helpful.
The idea will be logged for further consideration. Thank you

Regards,
Aram

844

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: In Render Hidden Lights, to add an Exclude list

« on: 2021-06-26, 09:15:13 »

It'd be very helpful to be able to exclude some lights from the "render hidden lights" checkbox, like the sun and environment.
This would be helpful when working on interior scenes with a sun. When you isolate the object IR shows an over bright image, obviously. If we could exclude certain lights from the "render hidden lights" checkbox in render overrides, we would avoid the need of changing the exposure when isolating objects.

Thank you.

This is not a scenario you would face a lot and it may bring more confusion. Having some lights hidden to not show/light up but having them in the mentioned include/exclude list will just make it more time consuming and confusing. Currently the best way to do it, I think, is to turn off the sun directly from Corona Lister when having an isolated object (requires the same amount of tweak/clicks as adding it to an include/exclude list) or through Select by name, filtering non-light objects and controlling them or having a selection set for the specific light you want to be on with the isolate mode, selecting them first then the object(s) you want and isolating.
For checking materials, lighting etc. for specific objects some workarounds can be found or made directly in the scene e.g. having a temporary box with some lighting for quick studio check for the object.

Regards,
Aram

845

[Max] I need help! / Re: Displacement reflection issue

« on: 2021-06-20, 12:18:08 »

Bringing this back from the dead...

Is there anyway to partially extend the displacement calculation? I have a huge body of water so I don't need all of it displaced, but camera only is not enough either. I'd need some extra 20-30%. Is there a way to control this?

Thanks!

This will bring further difficulty and confusion in usage. It is optimal to keep it either enabled completely - with string option, either off or find a scene dependent workaround/optimization.

Thanks,
Aram

846

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: Specify horizontal field of view on cylindrical camera projection

« on: 2021-06-20, 12:15:44 »

Hi all,

First post.

Please could I request to be able to specify horizontal field of view on cylindrical camera projection as well as vertical. This would be great so that I can produce verified views.

At the minute I have to keep using an old version of vray but would like to be able to use corona - as lets face it, it's 10x better than vray. He he.

Please please please.

Thanks in advance

Rob

Hi!
Thanks for the post and for the idea.
We will have this discussed for possible future development.
Meanwhile, you can cast your vote for the most wanted features here, if you haven't done already:
https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=96.0

Thanks,
Aram

847

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: Denoiser Exclude List

« on: 2021-06-20, 12:02:29 »

Is it possible to have an exclude list for Denoising?

When i render automotive stuff, i very often would like to exclude the carpaint from any denoise opperation since it kills the metallic flakes.
I'm currently doing it by saving different beauty's with and without denoiser.

It would be just amazing to have something like a internal masking with exclusion.

Thank you.

We currently have this in discussion for tentative roadmap, ideas for masking workflow which can be used for your case as well. We will for sure inform you when there will be updates.
Meanwhile, you can cast your vote for the most wanted features here, if you haven't done yet:
https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=96.0

Thanks,
Aram

848

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Corona Renderer 7 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2021-06-11, 13:26:16 »

Thank you. I hope to see this have been fixed very soon.
I cannot continue work with my project (with corona 7). Will try with Corona 6

Update.
Max 2021 corona 6 hf2 seems broken too

We double checked this for Corona 6 Hotfix 2 in both Max 2020 (Render to Texture) and Max 2021 (Bake to Texture) and it works as expected. Make sure the UV Channels and Unwraps are done properly. Also please try with Render to Texture instead of Bake to Texture if you can.

Regards,
Aram

849

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Corona Renderer 7 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2021-06-10, 13:33:42 »

Is Render to Texture broken with Corona?

Hi,
Please can you provide some more info? For example; what exactly is broken, Corona Version, 3ds Max version and if possible a scene demonstrating the issue.

3ds Max 2022, corona-7-3dsmax-daily-2021-05-20
It doesn't work with any simple scene

please see the link 

Thanks

We confirm this not working and currently have it logged. Thank you.

850

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Corona Renderer 7 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2021-06-08, 12:30:05 »

Installed the latest build.
I opened a scene with a few V-ray bushes and grass (the scene was moved from a different HDD where texture paths were not set yet).

When an old corona converter is used, the converter keeps the bitmap nodes (even empty) and has the file name and last path.

When the same is converted with the latest converter - all empty bitmap nodes are replaced with a color map node.

This is the way converter handles maps, mixing with some color for consistency.
You must find the Bitmap node (even empty) way down below, the Bottom node for the Left Mix map.

Aram

851

[Max] I need help! / Re: Bending light through prism

« on: 2021-04-16, 09:37:10 »

The thing with dispersion/caustics for a specific scene or effect you are trying to achieve, the cover of Dark side of the moon album in this case, needs a bit of planning ahead to get what you want with reasonable times and optimized scene.
Here is a result I got.
If you use volumetrics alongside with caustics and dispersion, chances are you will never get a clean render.
The light you see in the render below is not "in the air" or "in a volume". The light source is casting light on a plane on which the prism is set. The render is kind a plan view of everything going on.
There are alos other subtleties to consider while creating this, like light source intensity and its rotation, another auxiliary light source for composition, abbe number of the material etc.

852

[Max] I need help! / Re: Max freezes after rendering

« on: 2021-04-09, 09:26:15 »

Hi Tom and Sailor.
Thing like this happened to me, not often but I can recall few times when this happened. I don't think it's something connected with Corona nor Wacom tablet. If Max or any other program freezes, it's mostly a heavy workload of a hardware which just causes to not get any info from the software anymore. Keyword is freezes, it does not crash but freezes.
If you go to Photoshop and then come back to Max and see it frozen, that kinda hints to GPU (I remember sometimes stress tests or games freezing, not crashing).
I cannot recall nor cue to some specific troubleshooting for this, as it may vary from scratch disk parameters to windows update but here are some general steps I would suggest to further understand what causes the freeze and how to get rid of it.

1. In any case, please try to fully update Windows, and then update the graphics card driver. If Nvidia, try using the Studio Driver.
2. Try rendering a very small and simple scene in Max (15sec to 2 minutes). Save the rendered image, see if Max frozen. If not, try opening other software, like Photoshop, play around and then get back to Max, see if it is frozen.
3. Try getting info from Task Manager about Max's process, attach it so we can get better info. The CPU, Memory, Even disk drive and GPU load preferably.
4. Do you use any kind of overclocking, XMP, core boost etc.? If so, turn off the XMP, it is known to cause freezes, which then lead to a crash.
5. Fun thing. When frozen, try opening Task Manager and double clicking on the frozen process. Few times that got the app back for me, try it, why not :)
6. Do the freezes happen only with Max or other applications as well? Try stress testing your PC and see if it leads to freezes.
7. Try using another version of Max. If freezes still happen, then its probably something hardware connected.

Give us also the full specifications of your PC, as detailed as possible.
This seems a general freeze, not something Corona related. And so you better make sure you troubleshoot it in whole, from PC configurations to updates and hardware.

Cheers and happy troubleshooting!

853

[Max] I need help! / Re: Terminator Shading Fix causing shading issues

« on: 2021-04-05, 06:55:20 »

Hi Alex,

I took a look at the file and here are my investigations. Maybe you will find them helpful. Of course, some of the points mentioned below may had been already tried by you.

• Anything >0.5 for the terminator shadow shift seemed to fix shading artifacts on the model.
• I noticed that the XForm for the model was 1000%. Resetting it and welding vertecies with 0.05mm threshold did fix the problem. Rendered as expected with 0.0 shadow shift.
• There has to be something with the way it was imported/generated/converted in 3ds max, as dashed (hidden) edges are visible in Editable Poly, and for basic shapes, dashed line appear only when retriangulating/turning the edges and then they disappear. For the model you provided, they seemed to not go away/turn invisible in any case (even when converting to Editable Mesh, making some of them visible and some of them not and then converting to Editable poly) and it would be interesting to know how that happened.
• An interesting solution/workaround I found, was turning on NURMS subdivision (just checking it in in Editable Poly) for the model. It does show up bad in the viewport but renders completely fine. Shadow shift is 0.0 in this case as well. If there is a quick/one click solution (like terminator shadow shifting) you are looking for, maybe this can be one.

854

[Max] Resolved Bugs / Re: Visibility Affecting All Material Attributes

« on: 2021-03-30, 13:39:58 »

We confirm the issue. Visibility from object properties does not affect the volumetrics/SSS part of the material.
This has been reported as a bug.

(Internal ID=323891067)

855

[Max] I need help! / Re: Can Corona shadow catcher be used for interior scenes with Corona sun & Sky?

« on: 2021-03-29, 18:02:08 »

Hi Techtrooper,

Shadowcatcher material has a pretty straightforward usage. Though there are some intuitive and logical steps in the points you described, I think you made it more complicated that it needs to be.
And by the way, you can perspective match with CoronaCamera and it does have more functionality than a regular one which can relate to matching. Important thing is to have a not "Targeted" camera (untick in CoronaCamera) and you are ready to go. Just from my personal experience, which is most likely a 3Ds Max thing rather than a Corona related, sometimes it gets weird and just does not respond.

I have downloaded the scene and tested with your materials and maps.
Regarding, of course, what exactly you try to achieve, the solutions may vary. But here are some screenshots of renders and the scene, so you can see:
1. A simple shadowcatcher on the floor, no room boundaries
2. Shadowcatcher applied to the whole cage, Visible to camera enabled from object properties, no shell for the cage
3. Same with cage
4. Bonus with Torust knot
5. The material setup
Sun is being used in all the cases with CoronaSky.
Both the shadowcatcher and Direct visibility overrride have the CoronaToneMap applied as you see, to better link the background image and the scene (easier control).

You will find that the 2nd and 3rd versions are not that optimal, as it took long time to calculate the UHD Cache and it renders slowly because of the lighting.
The option with a plane of course works and renders much faster.

Hope this helps with what you want to do. In general, no faking or very little non-physical faking is required for compositing while using the Corona materials/maps.
If any questions are still left, feel free to post.