Important features

[no3l]

Hi!

First of all, Corona render is absolutely amazing and quick renderer! Corona/C4D workflow is easy to learn and soft is really stable, I love it! :D But it still need some absolutely fundamental features...

1.) Backplate image feature - Maybe there should be option in camera properties, where user can set backplate image. Or working implementation of Background feature of C4D.
2.) Shadowcacher material (like in Maxwell) or floating shadows (like in Keyshot) - Working with shadows and HDRI is uncomfortable. Creating multi-pass with shadow and with id and then working with them in post production is quite time consuming. There should be easier way.
3.) HDRI intensity option. - Now when You put Material with Diffuse HDRI on Sky object it's hard to change intensity of it. Of course You can use multilight feature, but it's uncomfortable to create multilight for it. There should be easier way.
4.) There should be easier way to save image with visible HDRI and without visible HDRI.
5.) C4D Corona live preview - Working without live preview is really time consuming...
6.) Easier way to save all passes at once (in psd or separate fiiles) from Corona VFB - Now You must select each pass and export it as exr. Of course You can work with C4D panel but it will be nice to have this feature...
7.) Why Bump is in % and Displacement in units? All of them should be in units like inch or cm...
8.) Full denoising option should be scaled to render resolution or to passes. In smaller render resolution or with less passes denoising works ugly... But this is really nice functionality! :)
9.) Noise level limit should be simply controlled by % from 100-1% like info in render stats. Now it's quite hard to use it precisely.
10.) What about Displacement option in Performance settings. It doesnt work well with material option. In my opinion it should be fully controlled from material settings, without this limitation option.
11.) It will be nice to have Node editor for materials...
12.) Function Refresh in Corona VFB shoul have option (like in save button) to restart all render. Now we must click stop and then one more time Render
13.) Mixing mode in Layered material for each material added, should be really usefull.
14.) Materials should be represented by files like in Maxwell render. MR have import option, and with it You can simply import material to Your scene (without opening project with material in it).

Minor bugs
1.) Sometimes there is a problem with Bloom and glare. You must put big Glare intensity to see it in some cases, but if You render shadow pass with it, in this pass Glare will be exaggerated. Or maybe it is a problem with Glare in shadow pass. Btw. why some one need visible light in shadow pass? :D

Thank You for great work!
All best!!!

[houska]

Hi there! In general, I'd recommend to check the feature request list here on the forums, because a lot of the questions are answered there. Also, have a look at the Corona for C4D Road Map. Some of your questions are answered there as well. Check my forum signature...

Now to your individual questions:

• Background is being planned. Also, when it's fixed, it will be possible to use Cinema Sky with the frontal projection
• Shadowcatcher is planned in one of the upcoming releases
• Use a Corona Light material or put the HDRI into the Self Illumination slot.
• I'd say use a ray-switch material on the Cinema Sky, but it doesn't work for me. Seems like a bug. But for now, you can use Environment overrides and toggle the Direct visibility override
• Interactive rendering is being worked on as of now
• I am not sure what you mean. It is possible to export the image to Corona .exr and you have all the layers inside. Of course, Corona .exr is backwards compatible with standard .exr
• It's because of the way bump-mapping and displacement work. I'd recommend to check Wikipedia or some other resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_mapping
• It's up to you to setup the parameters of the denoising if you want to use it. The "correct" setting is very subjective
• Yes, noise limit should be set in percent. We should change this.
• The displacement option is a performance optimization. You see, displacement is VERY memory intensive and some users will have displacement on all materials even in the distance. This setting then makes sure that Corona does not do displacement on the objects where it doesn't have any visual impact
• Node editor for materials is planned
• Corona VFB is a Core feature, so this is a request on the Core devs, but I can ask them. But maybe it's not needed if you have Interactive Rendering?
• Texture mixing mode in Layered material is planned
• It should be possible to use C4D's standard "Save materials" and "Load materials" functionality.

The glare bug is weird, could you give use a simple scene so that we can have a look at it?

Thanks for your suggestions!

[no3l]

Thank You for respond! First a big sorry, I did not notice the post "Read me first" :( It's an awesome news, it's good to know that team is so hardworking and quick to respond!

1. :)
2. :)
3. Yes with self illumination works correctly :) But I must use it with Diffuse with the same HDRI image, because it is important for C4D (without this You can''t easy set HDRI, because You do not have preview in C4D). But it's not a big problem, it's ok :)
4. Ok
5. :)
6. Saving with save button in Corona VFB window save only one layer exr. If I will use C4D window with list of last renders and in this place I will use save button it will be ok :)
7. Ok my fault
8. Writing correct I mean not so blurred. If I render this in higher passes it works perfect, but in lowest values... But ok I will try to use it only on high ended renders.
9. :)
10. Ok now I understand.
11. :)
12. Yes You have right, with live preview it doesn't make sens.
13. :)
14. It works! :) Sorry, my fault I tried to find this in corona dropdown menu in the top and in the bottom.

About multilight and glare. My scene is really heavy, but I will try to explain this.

First problem:
Corona VFB don't remember settings of multilight lights. I have 3 light sources:
1. HDRI Light
2. Corona Light object
3. Geometry with emmiter (material with emission value)
If I change some parameters (like color and intensity) for each of these lights and I will try to rerender it, because I wan't to change something, in some cases Corona forget this settings but they are still in menu. In another way, if I turn off emission in material on geometry (value to zero) and rerender it, sometimes corona still display this light but in menu it's value is 0. Then You must use arrows to refresh it. Same with color functionality. Sometimes Corona forget light color and display white default light and You must use color menu, change it without save it and when You click cancel it will display correctly.

Second problem:
Glare and bloom have some problems. I have rendered scene. To see Glare effect I must set it value to 30 (because it is weak light) and it's ok, but if You turn on Shadow pass, render Your scene and after render You will try to see render pass in Corona VFB (in the same place where is beauty pass), You will notice that this Glare is displayed in shadow pass and is enormous big. And if You want use save button You will save shadow pass with glare lights...

[no3l]

Ok, I made test scene for You. It absolutely doesn't make sens, but it's only test. Render it and then click "save all" in Corona VFB and You will see what I'm talking about ;) This files doesn't have HDRI background and there is some strange issue with layered material. Water layer has disappeared leaving holes :) You can do this correctly in native C4D render window. Click save select psd multi layer and it will be ok, all in one :) Of course You can save all light sources  by ctrl+c but it will create jpg, not 32/16bit psd or tiff or exr. So I think it should save all passes with HDRI background at once in Coron VFB, like in native C4D. Now You understand? :) (sorry for my language I only little speak english :))

If You want to reproduce shadow pass with glare problem, create shadow pass in multilight and then set Glare to maybe 10 or 20, only for test. You will see that glare exist in shadow pass, not only in light pass...

Sometimes problem is much bigger. Sometimes glare is more visible in shadow pass than in beauty pass, look into attachments to see this problem.

[houska]

Hi, I just tried saving the Corona .exr (.cxr) and if you open it in your favourite .exr viewer (you can change the suffix to .exr to make it easier), it has all the layers in it.

[houska]

I cannot reproduce the problem with the glares. Look at the attached image...

Maybe it's because you're using an older version of Corona? You can check the version under the "About..." menu option.

[no3l]

For sure I have 1.6, because I have another design of UI :( But I will check it later at home. Sorry :( When was 1.7 release? I downloaded my version 2 weeks ago...

[no3l]

I have even 1.5 :( Where I can find new version?

[TomG]

Daily builds are available here on the forum: https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php/board,40.0.html

[no3l]

Thank You!!! Now time for first test! :)

[no3l]

Whow, this new version is awesome! :) Great UI changes! This Daily build resolve some of my problems (from the list) and it is easier to use and more pleasing to the eye. But I had some problems with stability  (in comparison Corona 1.5, was perfectly stable for me, even in most hardcore scenarious).

I had in few hours of tests few crashes. Most of them was caused by multilight features I think. One of them I reproduced 2 times by this steps:
- Render image, then stop renderer with all Corona VFB functionality on (LUT, Glare etc. and with multipass with LightMix on), try to have fun with lights intesity, do not close Corona VFB.
- Open another project and open Corona VFB from C4D top menu, and click render to get preview of it and try to change some light settings in Multilight feature.
In my case it cause trouble with stability and it will turn off C4D.
I looks like, You should always close Corona VFB before open another project and render it...

I will try to reproduce more of them and if they will still exist I will post them here.

All best,
keep good work! :)

[houska]

Whow, this new version is awesome! :) Great UI changes! This Daily build resolve some of my problems (from the list) and it is easier to use and more pleasing to the eye. But I had some problems with stability  (in comparison Corona 1.5, was perfectly stable for me, even in most hardcore scenarious).

I had in few hours of tests few crashes. Most of them was caused by multilight features I think. One of them I reproduced 2 times by this steps:
- Render image, then stop renderer with all Corona VFB functionality on (LUT, Glare etc. and with multipass with LightMix on), try to have fun with lights intesity, do not close Corona VFB.
- Open another project and open Corona VFB from C4D top menu, and click render to get preview of it and try to change some light settings in Multilight feature.
In my case it cause trouble with stability and it will turn off C4D.
I looks like, You should always close Corona VFB before open another project and render it...

I will try to reproduce more of them and if they will still exist I will post them here.

All best,
keep good work! :)

Hi no3l and thanks for all the testing! It's highly appreciated.

I tried your steps to reproduce the crash in the latest daily build with a newly saved project from scratch (two cubes and two C4D pointlights) and was not successful... Maybe there's something in your setup that you forgot to say? Or maybe the scenes are important? Also, you write in 1.) that I should keep Corona VFB open, yet in 2.) you say "open Corona VFB from C4D top menu". How should I understand this?

[leo3d]

When can we play with last build cause 05/17 is far ;) ???

[no3l]

No problem, it's absolutely pleasure to test so great software! :)

"open Corona VFB from C4D top menu" - In the top of C4D You have Corona dropdown menu and in it You have link to Corona render window :)

I'm not writing here, because I don't want to spam the forum, but I'm still testing Corona and I'm really excited about it :) I still have sometimes problems with stability, but now I'm 100% sure, that they exist only when You work with multiple pass with LightMix and Light selections with minimum 2 types of light sources. You must work hard with light intensity "sliders" and try to turn on and then turn off many times diffrent lights. It's all I can say now, because I can't find one proper way to reproduce it :( It is so random, that it's hard to explain. I'm trying to keep my scene clean and simply, without to many filters etc. I'm working with proper worflow, so I think it is not a problem with the scene. I will tell more, I had these problems in 3 diffrent scenes. If I find another way to reproduce it, I will send scene with instruction to You to test :) These crashes don't exist in 1.5 I tested these scenes in this version and all was ok.

[houska]

No problem, it's absolutely pleasure to test so great software! :)

"open Corona VFB from C4D top menu" - In the top of C4D You have Corona dropdown menu and in it You have link to Corona render window :)

I'm not writing here, because I don't want to spam the forum, but I'm still testing Corona and I'm really excited about it :) I still have sometimes problems with stability, but now I'm 100% sure, that they exist only when You work with multiple pass with LightMix and Light selections with minimum 2 types of light sources. You must work hard with light intensity "sliders" and try to turn on and then turn off many times diffrent lights. It's all I can say now, because I can't find one proper way to reproduce it :( It is so random, that it's hard to explain. I'm trying to keep my scene clean and simply, without to many filters etc. I'm working with proper worflow, so I think it is not a problem with the scene. I will tell more, I had these problems in 3 diffrent scenes. If I find another way to reproduce it, I will send scene with instruction to You to test :) These crashes don't exist in 1.5 I tested these scenes in this version and all was ok.

Ok thanks. I tried again with a very simple scene and it dodn't happen :-( I might be missing somethign that you are doing and I am not. And you're not spamming. It's actually called "reporting bugs" :-)