Corona Image Editor feedback

[pokoy]

...another one:

- can we have a visual cue when B&G is being calculated? It can take a while for high res images and currently the only hint is that zooming/panning is slower but something similar to the denoiser progress bar would be fantastic
- can we get a way to save B&G separately? Maybe with a save dialog for any filetype where user can specify what to inlcude in the output file: beauty, alpha, B&G...

[mike288]

After trying to use CIE in production I see two major gaps:

- none of the LDR files I saved out had an alpha channel included. When inspecting a pixel, I can see there's alpha information so it's included in CXRs. In any case, we need alpha to be included in any format we save out, too.
- it looks like we have no way to save 16 bit images - we absolutely need this! Would it be possible to add TIFF files to the Save dialog with the common options like in PS (Alpha, LZW compression, 8/16/32 bits)? Saving to EXR would be sufficient IF PS could correctly convert 32 bits to 16 bits (which it unfortunately doesn't because it always shifts tones). Without TIFF with 16 bits, we miss a way to get 16 bits files out of CIE that match exactly what we see in Max VFB and CIE.

Other thoughts:
- when loading CXR images, I can only display the Beauty pass. What about displaying all the channels that are saved in the CXR? At least displaying alpha should be possible.
- could we have more steps when zooming in/out? Maybe in 1/4 steps instead of 1/2 like now?
- zooming seems to somewhat respect mouse pointer so it zooms into the area under it, but often it jumps either a bit or a lot. Not sure why this is but I feel this could improve, best would be the same behavior like in PS.

Thanks in advance!

...another one:

- can we have a visual cue when B&G is being calculated? It can take a while for high res images and currently the only hint is that zooming/panning is slower but something similar to the denoiser progress bar would be fantastic
- can we get a way to save B&G separately? Maybe with a save dialog for any filetype where user can specify what to inlcude in the output file: beauty, alpha, B&G...

Thank you for your feedback!

• alpha in LDR: Not saving alpha channel to PNG files is a bug and should be fixed in 1.6 hotfix.
• TIFF: Support for saving to the TIFF format + some compression dialog will be considered for 1.7. CIE operates in 32-bit depth. Saving to 16-bit files always loses information (simply because there is not enough depth to represent all possible 32-bit pixel values). It is actually kind of compression. Probably that is why PS "shifts tones" - they are shifted already in the saving phase. There is nothing we can do about it.
• displayable elements: CIE shows all non-internal elements. But you are right that the alpha channel is missing. I will open a feature request for it.
• zooming steps: Currently it behaves the same way is in VFB. I will discuss it with Ondra.
• zooming & mouse cursor: This seems to be a bug. I will look into it. It is a bug and will be fixed in 1.6 hotfix!
• B&G indication: This is something which is planned for 1.7.
• separate B&G: Already added to a nice to have list. See https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php/topic,15660.msg100281.html#msg100281.

[pokoy]

Thanks for the feedback!

About 16 bit TIFFs: I know about the 32 bits > 16 bits data loss, that's not the problem. In fact, many people still save out to TIF since 32 bits require 'special' treatment in post, support from both the post prod package and plugins. What we need is something that saves 16 bits as all current LDR formats support 8 bits only. TIFF is the best candidate here because it supports 8/16/32 bits, additional compression and is an industry standard, much more than BMP or PNG.
If you're worried about HDR values being clamped with 16 bits, no worries here, what we need is the exact same result as if we save out a 16 bits from Max cVFB to a 16 bits TIFF (which naturally clamps values, too).

As long as we have no 16 bits file output support, CIE is useless for me, and believe me I'd really love to use it in production.

[mike288]

as Ondra has said https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php/topic,16024.msg101710.html#msg101710, 16bit save format won't make it to 1.6 hotfix, will come in daily builds later

[pokoy]

Yes, saw the post - many thanks!

[Flavius]

Hi guys,

I have a pretty annoying issues here. While denoising an image in CIE, my computere completely freezes for 5-10 seconds, randomly. I am not running out of RAM, I have 64 GB, CIE only using 10 GB or so. CPU = 2x E2670. I've set the priority to "below normal" and it still freezes, completely. Not even the mouse pointer moves.

Image is 5300 by 3000 px, and I have 7 lightmix elements/passes

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

P.S. -> It does NOT freeze like this while denoising in Corona VFB in 3dsmax.

Thanks!

[mike288]

Hi guys,

I have a pretty annoying issues here. While denoising an image in CIE, my computere completely freezes for 5-10 seconds, randomly. I am not running out of RAM, I have 64 GB, CIE only using 10 GB or so. CPU = 2x E2670. I've set the priority to "below normal" and it still freezes, completely. Not even the mouse pointer moves.

Image is 5300 by 3000 px, and I have 7 lightmix elements/passes

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

P.S. -> It does NOT freeze like this while denoising in Corona VFB in 3dsmax.

Thanks!

Hi Flavius, thank you, could you please write down some additional info?

• Is it happening only for some particular image?
• Could you share the image? That could be very helpful ...
• Is the denoising progress bar still moving during the lags?
• Is CIE the only piece of software where you experience such behavior?
• Do you run some other performance demanding process while you are denoising in CIE?

[Flavius]

Hi Flavius, thank you, could you please write down some additional info?

• Is it happening only for some particular image?
• Could you share the image? That could be very helpful ...
• Is the denoising progress bar still moving during the lags?
• Is CIE the only piece of software where you experience such behavior?
• Do you run some other performance demanding process while you are denoising in CIE?

Hi there!
It happens mostly on high res images, not only one.
I can share the image, but all privately (client work, very sensitive)
I haven't checked the denoiser bar, well I can't even because everything freezes completely.
Yes, CIE is the only one, Corona VFB in Max seems to run properly
No, I only had Microsoft Edge opened, and some photos.

How can I safely share the image with you? WeTransfer + PM with the link?

Thanks for looking into this.

[mike288]

Thank you for your reply. Please use our private uploader at https://corona-renderer.com/upload/. This way it will be shared only with Corona dev team for debugging purposes. After uploading please send me the name of the uploaded file via PM (just for sure).

[mike288]

And Flavius, do you use some kind of anti-spyware or anti-virus software? I yes, could you turn it off (or kill it in the process tab) for a while and try to denoise the image again in CIE? Sometimes this sort of protection may slow down things.

[Flavius]

And Flavius, do you use some kind of anti-spyware or anti-virus software? I yes, could you turn it off (or kill it in the process tab) for a while and try to denoise the image again in CIE? Sometimes this sort of protection may slow down things.

Hehe, nice timing of your question. I had Mcafee Installed untill 2 days ago which was a PLAGUE for my system, (that windows refreshing when the IR was opened was because of it) so no, at the moment I have nothing but windows 10 built in stuff. I will upload the scene +.cxr shortly

[ihabkal]

Mcafee sucks, stick with Avast, even though last two releases Avast was acting funny during installation and running DR, it wanted to check things out.

[pokoy]

I did some extreme postprocessing in Max and opening the saved cxr doesn't give me the exact same result. It looks like the vignette, curve editor or LUT order is different. Most likely the vignette is processed before LUT/curves in Max but not in CIE... Not sure what it is but it doesn't look the same for some reason.
Sorry, I have no examples right now but will try to follow up with a comparison later today.

[mike288]

I did some extreme postprocessing in Max and opening the saved cxr doesn't give me the exact same result. It looks like the vignette, curve editor or LUT order is different. Most likely the vignette is processed before LUT/curves in Max but not in CIE... Not sure what it is but it doesn't look the same for some reason.
Sorry, I have no examples right now but will try to follow up with a comparison later today.

That sounds strange. Could you please upload some example and some screenshot may be ( https://corona-renderer.com/upload/ )? About which version of Corona Max plugin and CIE are you talking about?
EDIT: OK, you are right. It behaves differently, I will look into it.
EDIT2: Will be fixed in next release.

[romullus]

Latest DB (may 23) installed with warnings - failed to associate CXR extension. My OS is win10.