Messages

1

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Path Tracing always as Secondary GI Solver

« on: 2025-07-08, 15:07:23 »

If time is not a concern I'd stick to PT/PT. Even on exteriors, caching might result in a less detailed GI. If you don't know the difference you might not notice but from all side-by-side tests I've done PT/PT just looked better.

On interiors, I had a few cases where both secondary cache solvers would result in splotchy areas no mater what I did. While the 4K cache always produced better results, last time I looked there was still no documentation for it available so if you need to to tweak something you really don't know what the parameters do.

2

[Max] I need help! / Re: The rendering results of projected textures vary with different resolutions.

« on: 2025-07-04, 15:31:08 »

Ah thanks - this reminds me of switching... sorry for the confusion then.

3

[Max] I need help! / Re: The rendering results of projected textures vary with different resolutions.

« on: 2025-07-01, 16:21:44 »

Just to add this: IF the issue is blocky shadows, I found a thread that reports this with some discussion on the topic and the solution (same one I posted above).

4

[Max] Bug Reporting / Re: BUG - ShadowCatcher + Env in Dome Mapping mode -> something's really wrong here

« on: 2025-07-01, 16:13:44 »

Bumping this as Dome mapping mode is too important to be left in a state where it produces wrong results... any update on this? Will there ever be?

5

[Max] I need help! / Re: The rendering results of projected textures vary with different resolutions.

« on: 2025-07-01, 15:23:51 »

If this is about map filtering, it is expected but certainly not the degree visible here.

However, it looks to me like this is about texture from a light (gobo), or shadows cast through some tree-like geometry above, right? Not a texture in a material on an object.

If that's the case, it's probably due to the fact that Corona resizes environment maps (both HDR maps and Corona's Sky&Sun) internally. The default value works for most cases, can however result in blocky artefacts from the sun which would look exactly like what's happening here.

The solution is to use this in the string options window in the render dialog window (development/experimental stuff), restart the render if you're updating this while in IR:
int lights.envResolution = 4000
 
AFAIK the default valuue is 1000, try 2000, 4000 or some other value that improves the shadows. Keep in mind it will take longer to render and might result in a noisier image.

6

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Chaos Corona 13 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2025-06-18, 14:00:18 »

I tested this and yes the result is better than the original. AA of finer details and highlights and bitmap filtering are obviously sharper due to downsampling.

There are limitations though which aren't obvious:
- Complicated shader trees tend to resolve detail (bump, procedural details in noise maps etc) at a later stage in the render progress. With only a few passes the result will be less surface details.
- Some of Corona's sampling-based maps like AO and Curvature will also refine at later stages. I got some heavy differences between the two images where AO was much less pronounced and detailed in the downsampled image (with less passes). If you're using those kind of maps, it's best to still allow more samples.
- Refraction details also tend to take a bit longer, so you trade sharper details (implying more detail) for less actual detail and accuracy.

However on simple scenes and simpler shader trees the workflow results in surprisingly more detail when compared 1:1.

Interestingly, in the first days of Corona there were no image pixel filters and this was exactly the way Corona did it - by rendering twice the resolution internally and displaying the downscaled image in the VFB. EDIT - Oh wait, this was already mentioned above...

7

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Chaos Corona 13 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2025-06-10, 16:42:58 »

This might by the wrong place to ask but... what happens with the image once it's uploaded? Is there anything a user might want/need to know, especially when it's a commissioned job and in probably all cases carrying some form of copyright, either by the artist or the client?

8

[Max] I need help! / Re: Odd Shading

« on: 2025-06-05, 09:17:54 »

Lol, turbosmooth the ultimate bandaid.

9

General CG Discussion / Re: Panel tool?

« on: 2025-06-04, 11:04:40 »

Just realized you could have meant this one here, featured recently over at cgpress:
https://cgpress.org/archives/pattern-engine-1-4-plugin-released-for-3ds-max.html

10

General CG Discussion / Re: Panel tool?

« on: 2025-06-03, 15:47:56 »

Is it this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a95fd5cWFs

There were several other doing the same, this one seems to be free.

11

[Max] I need help! / Re: Odd Shading

« on: 2025-06-02, 14:20:13 »

This could be a geometry issue, but it could also be a side effect of how geometry vs lighting normals are handled in Corona, one can be smoothed (similar to smoothing groups) while the other can't. It's why an improved shadow terminator handling was introduced way back but it's not fixable 100% iirc.

Also, this effect will be more visible whenever you use extreme values for bump/normal maps or SSS/volumetric effects in the material, in that case either remove or decrease those.
What also helps is to increase mesh resolution/subdivisions until the stepping is not noticeable anymore, but this might not be applicable in some cases.

If it's a exporting/importing issue, a quick fix would be to use an 'Edit normals' modifier on the mesh, and while in selection mode pressing ctrl+A to select all normals, then click the 'Reset' button in the modifier, this will reset all normals. Now use either a Smooth or Weighted Normals modifier and see if one of them helps with the effect. Still, it's possible that the effect will just be weaker but still noticeable.

12

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Chaos Corona 13 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2025-05-26, 10:58:23 »

Out of curiosity, what do you guys plan to use thin film for?

I'll just add this - for studio lighting environments it can really help to attenuate reflections on dark surfaces and make them more interesting. Also, I have to show metals that have some sort of heat treatment and it helps a lot since the coloring of the effect is realistic out of the box without having to tweak gradients to death.

Here's my +100 for a mapping that's more controllable and consistent, and I'd even support going a step further and suggest real thickness units. It's just so much more convenient and practical to know 'mapping 450-650 nm looked good in my last project, let's just use those values and work from there' than some greyscale map that you plug into a CC node, tweaking levels/gamma until you get the right nm range without ever knowing what the mapped final value is.

13

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Help activating Render Node please

« on: 2025-05-01, 19:05:13 »

Not sure if it applies in your case, but I can use Corona's DR on a node with a Max non-GUI version (that I'm using for backburner, too). Should be working with a Corona render node license I suppose. Max 2021 and Corona 9 hf1 in my case. However I'm on active subscription for Corona, not perpetual.

14

Off-Topic / Re: good anti virus

« on: 2025-04-24, 16:30:06 »

If you ask IT guys, many will tell you that antivirus apps are just another potential threat as they disable OS security stuff and offer system-level access. They will tell you to just trust the OS built-in threat detection and avoid browsing questionable sites (and always use ad blockers, ads are being used to inject trojans and no one's stopping it because of profit) or open stuff that you aren't sure about.
I'm using ESET and all the warnings I got so far were false positives. One threat that was probably serious was blocked by Windows before ESET could get to it.

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[Max] I need help! / Re: Problem; 3ds max Crashing on opening the compact material editor

« on: 2025-04-04, 11:09:10 »

Not sure if you ever shared a minidump with the team but when the mat-ed crashed for me, the minidump contained detailed info on which component/map led to the crash. I could isolate the map, replace it and continue working with the scene. Sharing the minidump might be a good step towards a solution.