Hi everybody and Corona Developers,
I'm observing Corona for AC from the beginning and here are some of my thoughts in general:
1. I suggest getting from Graphisoft some precise data on how AC is used - mostly for interior or exteriors?
2. For me doing interiors in AC is a tricky one - the main "core" objects are of course done in AC (walls, windows, floors, wardrobe designs, kitchens etc.) but all "soft" objects just don't work in AC. The reason for that is the performance of the Morph object which can't handle more than around 100 000 faces or makes AC work so slow that further work doesn't make any sense.
All "soft" objects I have to add in other software (like Sketchup) and render there final renders.
So, if you ask me: Do I make interiors in AC? - "Yes" and "no" at the same time! Please watch out on that when asking how AC is used.
3. For me doing exterior renders in AC also does no work for the same reason as in interiors - trees, grass and cars can't be imported to AC mainly because of speed of work.
4. Interiors can't be done with proxy files (this will not make any sense), exterior can be but requires a library of such objects.
5. Architects usually don't have a library of proxy objects.
6. Architects want to put grass, trees and cars quickly into the model without bothering about technical aspects of those objects.
7. Quality of trees is essential. Trees from Twinmotion2020.1 are still so low quality that for me its below being acceptable - Because of that I'm not going to be using this program though its free for AC users now. I can't show to a client a tree looking like toy, even though it has 2-sided leaf material shining in sun.
Conclusions:
To get Corona for AC commercially successful:
1. Corona team should consider whether it should focus on interior renders or exterior - I think exterior, because interior will probably never work in AC in a production scale. Interior renders in AC in Corona are of course valuable in early design phase but I can't imagine paining for a render engine to use it only for "test renders".
2. I think AC is mainly used for designing buildings, not interiors. Probably number of potential customers for Corona is definitely bigger in exterior renders.
3. I think Corona team need to focus on a "some-sort-of-proxy-scatter" implementation in AC with a library of objects embedded in Corona. Proxy functionality itself will not work because no one will use it since no architects has proxy files (and probably they will not buy them just because of Corona ability to get them in AC).
Think wide: Give Archicad architects ability to make final renders with all assets, otherwise Corona will be just a tool for making "marvelous quality TEST renders".
Of course, there is going to be several architects and users that will use proxy and render interiors as it is now, but I'm not speaking about 30 indivduals but much more.
Making money for Corona is probably important. Selling 30 (thirty) subscriptions will be easy, selling 30 000 of them will be a huge challenge without a rich proxy library.
Without proxy and scatter for AC Corona is no more than just a next nice render engine for almost useless renders (withut foliage).
The point is that the main problem is not in Corona but in Archicads MORPH tool itself and Corona needs fix it or find a work-around for it to get sold.
PS. Maybe Corona-Mesh-Tool with ability to have millions of poligons in AC ?