New standalone build, new XML format

[Ondra]

We have updated the standalone format to use more powerful XML scene description. The new documentation is here: https://corona-renderer.com/wiki/standalone

Here is the build: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kgzu0cqy903ygmb/AAC0ENWTln7wrygel7qmHrF7a/!Standalone/2016-01-12%20new%20format%20%28exported%20from%201.4%20daily%29?dl=0 Link outdated

Any scene from 3ds Max can be exported by new daily builds to be used with this format, and the results look very similar. The export uses .cgeo (a.k.a. Corona proxy format), resulting in small export sizes. Most of 3ds Max shaders/maps are supported. The export gathers and relinks all bitmaps to single folder (similar to the "archive" function).

Joel is working on updating the blender exporter to use this new improved format.

Some limitations:

• some maps are not exported - for example cellular bump, speckle, ...
• 3dsmax native atmospheric effects and native lights are not exported
• Noise map has different seed in standalone than in 3ds Max

Attached is an example. Notice that standalone is 30% faster

[elnino]

As a blender user following corona progress for the last two years, i'm happy to read this!
I've used blender+corona a lot before the exporter development stopped so now i'm looking forward to the next exporter.
Thanks Ondra, thanks Joel ;)

[Juraj]

Notice that standalone is 30% faster

Damn : / What is the main showstopper on 3dsMax's side ?

[Ondra]

Notice that standalone is 30% faster

Damn : / What is the main showstopper on 3dsMax's side ?

3ds Max

[burnin]

You can make a scene in Max and run the final render on standalone ;)

Everything renders faster, uses less memory... without GUI or an App altogether, just pure simulation.

[Frood]

I wonder if it would be possible using Corona standalone to implement a mental ray satellite like distributed rendering solution. No max overhead or long loading times...

Do I need Max/Corona latest daily to export scenes properly for the new built? I tried in a haste to export a scene and render it in standalone a few days ago but it did not work.

Good Luck!

[Ondra]

yes, you need latest versions, and yes, it would be possible (in fact, we may add the feature in the future in the official build). The problem is still, that you cannot use some shaders

[Frood]

The problem is still, that you cannot use some shaders

It´s of course beyond my knowledge to estimate if this is solvable. But if somehow yes, it´s quite tempting. Especially when thinking of only one slave-side Corona implementation for all ports.

Tnx and Good Luck

[Ondra]

it would be great if you could do some tests with real scenes to determine how exactly feasible is the current version. If it turns out to be doable, that would be a huge motivation for us to push it further

[Frood]

Wanted to do this anyway out of curiosity in the next spare time slot.

Good Luck

[jKLman]

I guess, the change is more towards streamlining what the 3dsmax corona can do can now be done also with the standalone in the future with XML format. This means standalone could be way even powerful and faster in the future.

Thanks Ondra and team, appreciate Joel' big effort as well.
Loooking forward on the progress...

[Ondra]

Glad to hear that. I am also hoping for some tests and feedback, so we can keep this thing moving forward ;)

[tomislavn]

Hmm, how's that there is only 16 passes and almost zero noise on those two renders? Was that with denoiser active? :)

[Frood]

[...] and feedback,[...]

Question is: Where and what? The usual "report all" into the Corona-3dsmax section of Mantis as most issues will address the max export?

Good Luck

[Ondra]

sure, throw it in the usual mantis place for now

[johan belmans]

I did not touch the standalone version yet. But I can imagine it can be a time saver for animations.
But, is there a way it can be used on a local render farm?

[Ludvik Koutny]

I get the differences in colors because of different noise seed and probably multimap seed as well. But there's something strange going on with metallic materials, as they seem to shine a bit more in standalone :|

[jKLman]

Tried it with Joel's 1.9.4DEV render_corona addon from the blenderartists forum,not fully supported yet but it's working.
Though I got an issue of long GI computation inside Blender, using command line and rendering the scenes generated by Blender
works perfectly.

[johan belmans]

I did not touch the standalone version yet. But I can imagine it can be a time saver for animations.
But, is there a way it can be used on a local render farm?

Anyone tried?