Messages

1

News / Chaos Cosmos Update 12 — out now

« on: 2024-12-04, 18:00:55 »

Chaos Cosmos Update 12 is out now bringing 800+ new assets for Corona users, including materials, vegetation, furniture, and people.

631 materials from the Corona Material Library are now available as a Chaos Cosmos collection.

For more information on Chaos Cosmos visit: https://www.chaos.com/cosmos

2

News / Chaos Corona 12, update 1 — now available

« on: 2024-11-19, 15:23:06 »

Chaos Corona 12, update 1 released for both 3ds Max & Cinema 4D
Corona 12, update 1 introduces powerful new features to get you render-ready faster than ever. Unlock new levels of speed and collaboration, deliver immersive client experiences, and achieve stunning photorealism with greater ease.
Full details and download: chaos.com/blog/corona-12-update-1

What's new in Corona 12, update 1:

• Corona to Vantage Live Link. Take advantage of Vantage Live Link as an alternative to Interactive Rendering.
• Chaos Cloud Collaboration. Easily share images with your clients, sending them right from the VFB, then discuss changes via markup, send deliverables, set up Virtual Tours, and open the door to much more in the future.
• Faster Caustics. Caustics now look around twice as good in the same rendering time.
• Caustics Multiplier. Enjoy a quick and easy way to adjust how bright caustics are in your final render, controlling on surfaces and in volumes separately.
• Volumetric Caustics. See reflected and refracted rays generated by caustics as they pass through volume materials.
• Auto Exposure and White Balance. Have your exposure or white balance auto-adjust for a good starting point, or adapt to changing lighting during animations. White Balance has also been improved with a new algorithm for more pleasing results.
• Image Upscaling. Speed up creating test renders by around four times, and add extra responsiveness to IR.
• And much more!

Read about this release in detail at chaos.com/blog/corona-12-update-1

Webinar: Real-time scene exploration and collaboration with Corona 12, update 1
Join our live webinar to explore how the new Corona to Vantage Live Link enables real-time scene exploration and image rendering in seconds. Discover how to collaborate efficiently with clients and impress them with immersive virtual tours—all powered by Cloud Collaboration. We’ll also cover other exciting new features in update 1, including Caustics through volumes, automatic Exposure and White Balance, AI image upscaling, and more.

Sign up for the webinar: chaos.com/webinars/corona-12-update1
Try Chaos Vantage: chaos.com/try-vantage

3

News / Corona 12 (Hotfix 2) released for Cinema 4D

« on: 2024-09-25, 14:22:50 »

This hotfix brings support for Cinema 4D 2025 and addresses some specific issues. All Corona 12 users for Cinema 4D are recommended to download it.

Download now: https://www.chaos.com/corona/download

The issues are:

• Added support for Cinema 4D 2025.
• Replaced partially broken "Max samples" parameter in AO shader with "Quality" and added compatibility handling.
• Fixed issue with Look at in Chaos Scatter not using correct transformation of pointed object when placed in hierarchy.

There are no other changes.

4

News / Corona 12 (Hotfix 1) released for 3ds Max & Cinema 4D

« on: 2024-08-08, 11:59:03 »

This hotfix addresses specific issues, and all Corona 12 users, for both 3ds Max and Cinema 4D, are recommended to download it. Find more details below.
Download now: chaos.com/corona/download


Chaos Corona 12 for 3ds Max (Hotfix 1)
This release brings the following improvements and bug fixes:

Improvements

• Disabled history autosaving for sequences and for render nodes during distributed rendering. This is to avoid popping up a blocking confirmation dialog about history item deletion when the user is likely not around.
• Added bakeIthLightMix function to MAXScript to allow baking parameters of a specific light mix element.

VFB 2

• Fixed issue where several of the new parameters (Bloom&Glare compute after rendering, IR resolution lock, VFB history settings) could not be accessed via maxscript.
• Fixed issue where interactive rendering would disable denoising blending in VFB2 for the following production rendering.
• Fixed errors when switching color management mode while IR is running.
• Fixed crash when using "scene-linear Rec.709-sRGB" space in OCIO mode, when the scene contains dispersion.
• Fixed pick and region mode turning off after IR is started.
• Improved rendering speed of the Corona Tile Map on high core count machines.
• Fixed crash in Corona Pattern occurring when using a pattern object with degenerate triangles.
• Fixed issue where changing aperture parameters did not refresh VFB2.
• Fixed rare crash while switching from zoomed-in production rendering to interactive rendering.
• Light select names in VFB2 now update after renaming and re-rendering, also when editing a specific CXR loaded into the VFB.
• Fixed issue where VFB2 could crash when deleting a history item without using VFB2 controls.
• Fixed issue where light mix was reset when docked IR was started.
• Fixed dialog resizing on render start to adjust its size to contain as much of the rendered image as possible.
• Fixed locked IR resolution second dimension value being wrong on entering (due to upscaling factor).
• Fixed issue where VFB2 was not updated when render stamp was changed from MaxScript.
• Fixed issue in Corona Image Editor where tone mapping in rare cases could look different than tone mapping in Corona VFB.
• Improved frames per second in docked VFB.
• Fixed issue where NVidia denoiser was not applied during production rendering. Added missing refresh of VFB when denoising is done.
• Fixed issue where IR was restarted while VFB dialog size was changed even though its resolution should have remained unchanged.
• Fixed copying of colors between different color swatches in Lightmix tab.
• Fixed issue where 3ds Max would freeze when history item deletion dialog is shown after rendering finishes.
• Fixed saving of CXRs for light mix elements.
• Fixed bad_optional_access error when opening Render setup dialog during rendering.
• Light mix layers can now be toggled by clicking on their names, not just the checkbox, same as in the old VFB.
• GammaCorrectionOperator present in .conf files is now handled correctly - the operator is removed from the pipeline and the rest is loaded correctly.
• Fixed issue where real-world mapping was not applied on some materials imported from Cosmos.
• "Show VFB" now also raises the VFB2 above other 3dsMax's dialogs (as VFB1 did).
• Fixed IR restarting/changing appearance after Render Setup dialog is open.
• Fixed issue where VFB would show when updating a scene with docked IR running.
• Fixed color management update when loading a Corona scene with another renderer being set as default.
• Fixed issue where old V-ray materials could not be rendered/converted.
• Fixed incorrect position/scale of VFB2 after restore from previous session on multi dpi monitor setups
• Fixed issue where scatter edge trimming would in some cases incorrectly trim instances.
• Fixed issue where minimized VFB stays hidden when rendering starts.
• Fix of not updating VFB2 when option "Lock 3ds Max during render" is enabled.

Chaos Corona 12 for Cinema 4D (Hotfix 1)
This release brings the following bug fixes and improvements:

VFB 2

• Fixed issue where IR was still running when VFB2 was closed.
• Fixed setting of focus when VFB2 is first activated.
• Fixed dialog resizing on render start to adjust its size to contain as much of the rendered image as possible.
• Fixed issue where interactive rendering would disable denoising blending in VFB2 for the following production rendering.
• Fixed pick and region mode turning off after IR is started.
• Fixed crash in Corona Pattern occurring when using a pattern object with degenerate triangles.
• Fixed issue where changing aperture parameters did not refresh VFB2.
• Light select names in VFB2 now update after renaming and re-rendering, also when editing a specific CXR loaded into the VFB.
• Fixed issue where VFB2 could crash when deleting a history item without using VFB2 controls.
• Fixed issue in Corona Image Editor where tonemapping in rare cases could look different than tonemapping in Corona VFB.
• Fixed issue where NVidia denoiser was not applied during production rendering, added missing refresh of VFB when denoising is done.
• Light mix layers can now be toggled by clicking on their names, not just the checkbox, same as in the old VFB.
• VFB2 and lister dialog now supports drag&drop of colors, including drag&drop from/to Cinema 4D color parameters.

Scatter

• Fixed edge trimming when using Forester plugins in Chaos Scatter.
• Fixed crash when scattering instances referencing Forester plugins in Chaos Scatter (currently the instances are still not trimmed).
• Fixed issue with Cinema 4D showing error about broken Corona and Scatter libraries when starting without Internet connection.

Other

• Fixed position of solo button when node preview is minimized.
• Fixed incorrectly converting "Occlude other lights" for V-Ray Lights.
• Improved rendering speed of the Corona Tile Map on high core count machines.
• Fixed incorrect bump orientation in Corona Bitmap.
• Fixed slow manipulation with empty proxy objects in some setups with remote or big asset folders.

Download now: chaos.com/corona/download

5

News / Chaos Corona 12 for 3ds Max and Cinema 4D released!

« on: 2024-07-02, 13:25:22 »

Chaos Corona 12 for 3ds Max and Cinema 4D released!
We are excited to announce the release of Chaos Corona 12, which introduces eagerly anticipated features to help you create and explore beyond limits!
Full details and download: chaos.com/blog/corona-12

What's new in Corona 12:

• Corona to Vantage scene export. Import your Corona scenes into Chaos Vantage to render test images in seconds. Create animations in Vantage and enjoy the lightning-fast speed of GPU real-time rendering.
• Curved Decals. Easily bend labels around curved objects like bottles and spherical items without distortions.
• New Virtual Frame Buffer (VFB 2). Use the new VFB features like A/B image comparison, multiple LightMix setups within one render, and deferred bloom and glare calculations.
• Corona Pattern improvements. Create new and incredibly realistic materials with the help of Corona Pattern. Geometric objects can now be used to define the shape of the crop box, allowing designers to employ snapping tools and more to get the perfect pattern.
• Scatter Instance Brush (Corona for 3ds Max). Enjoy full creative control over the scattering process with a brush tool to refine procedural instances.
• Corona Sky improvements. Enhance day-to-night transitions with even lower sun angles adding an extra layer of realism.
• New Density parameter in Corona Sky. Customize your cloud density in one click.
• Corona Material Library is now available on Chaos Cosmos, which will save you time when switching between asset libraries.
• Enjoy a more streamlined workflow with the new Cryptomatte by material.

For this release, everyone gets a full 30-day trial period, even if you have used a trial before, to give you time to try out all the new features.
Remember, you can read about this release in detail over at chaos.com/blog/corona-12

Webinar: Explore beyond limits with Corona 12 & Chaos Vantage
Join our live webinar to learn about the integration between Corona 12 and Chaos Vantage, including its current capabilities and upcoming developments.
Our special guests from Narrativ, Luis Inciarte and Robin Walker, will present their latest project, showcasing how they experimented with Corona 12 and Vantage to achieve impressive results.

Sign up for the webinar: chaos.com/webinars/corona-12
Try Chaos Vantage: chaos.com/try-vantage

6

News / Chaos Corona 12 (Release Candidate 3) is out now for Cinema 4D!

« on: 2024-06-28, 11:21:20 »

Chaos Corona 12 (Release Candidate 3) is out now for Cinema 4D!
Everyone with an active license has access, and the downloads are in the usual locations. (RC 2 for 3ds Max is already out)

Downloads and Change logs:
Cinema 4D

A Release Candidate is close to being the final release, but we need your feedback to catch any remaining bugs or other issues from real-world testing. This is expected to be the final major RC before release, meaning this is the last opportunity to test and give feedback.
Here are some of the major features in Corona 12:

• Render test images in seconds with the new Corona to Vantage scene export. Import your Corona scene into Vantage to render still images and create Vantage animations, enjoying the lightning-fast speed of GPU rendering.
• Label round or curved objects perfectly using the new Curved Decals feature.
• Create new and incredibly realistic materials with the help of Corona Pattern. Geometric objects can now be used to define the shape of the crop box, allowing designers to employ snapping tools and more to get the perfect pattern.
• Enjoy a smoother workflow by having multiple LightMix elements with different settings and more new features and improved UI in the new and improved VFB 2.

Please test as much as possible and report your findings to us, so that we can make Corona 12 ready for release as quickly as we can! You can tell us about any issues by following the links below:

Cinema 4D
Start a new thread at https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?board=36.0

7

News / Chaos Corona 12 (Release Candidate 2) is out now for 3ds Max!

« on: 2024-06-24, 15:11:54 »

Chaos Corona 12 (Release Candidate 2) is out now for 3ds Max!
Everyone with an active license has access, and the downloads are in the usual locations. (RC 2 for Cinema 4D will be announced separately today or tomorrow)

Downloads and Change logs:
3ds Max

A Release Candidate is close to being the final release, but we need your feedback to catch any remaining bugs or other issues from real-world testing. This is expected to be the final major RC before release, meaning this is the last opportunity to test and give feedback.
Here are some of the major features in Corona 12:

• Render test images in seconds with the new Corona to Vantage scene export. Import your Corona scene into Vantage to render still images and create Vantage animations, enjoying the lightning-fast speed of GPU rendering.
• Label round or curved objects perfectly using the new Curved Decals feature.
• Create new and incredibly realistic materials with the help of Corona Pattern. Mix and match whether the maps follow the base object UV, the pattern object UV, or both, to get the exact patterns you want with no hassle.
• Get full creative control over the scattering process with the new Scatter Instance Brush. Refine your procedural scatter to the last detail, using a brush to paint in or delete procedural instances.
• Enjoy a smoother workflow by having multiple LightMix elements with different settings and more new features and improved UI in the new and improved VFB 2.

Please test as much as possible and report your findings to us, so that we can make Corona 12 ready for release as quickly as we can! You can tell us about any issues by following the links below:

3ds Max
Post your issue in this thread https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=41599.0

8

News / Chaos Corona 12 (Release Candidate 2) is out now for Cinema 4D!

« on: 2024-06-18, 16:04:36 »

Chaos Corona 12 (Release Candidate 2) is out now for Cinema 4D!
Everyone with an active license has access, and the downloads are in the usual locations. (RC 2 for 3ds Max is already out)

Downloads and Change logs:
Cinema 4D

A Release Candidate is close to being the final release, but we need your feedback to catch any remaining bugs or other issues from real-world testing.
Here are some of the major features in Corona 12:

• Render test images in seconds with the new Corona to Vantage scene export. Import your Corona scene into Vantage to render still images and create Vantage animations, enjoying the lightning-fast speed of GPU rendering.
• Label round or curved objects perfectly using the new Curved Decals feature.
• Create new and incredibly realistic materials with the help of Corona Pattern. Mix and match whether the maps follow the base object UV, the pattern object UV, or both, to get the exact patterns you want with no hassle.
• Enjoy a smoother workflow by having multiple LightMix elements with different settings and more new features and improved UI in the new and improved VFB 2.

Please test as much as possible and report your findings to us, so that we can make Corona 12 ready for release as quickly as we can! You can tell us about any issues by following the links below:

Cinema 4D
Start a new thread at https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?board=36.0

9

News / Chaos Corona 12 (Release Candidate 1) is out now for 3ds Max!

« on: 2024-06-18, 14:44:17 »

Chaos Corona 12 (Release Candidate 1) is out now for 3ds Max!
Everyone with an active license has access, and the downloads are in the usual locations. (RC 1 for Cinema 4D will be announced separately today or tomorrow)

Downloads and Change logs:
3ds Max

A Release Candidate is close to being the final release, but we need your feedback to catch any remaining bugs or other issues from real-world testing.
Here are some of the major features in Corona 12:

• Render test images in seconds with the new Corona to Vantage scene export. Import your Corona scene into Vantage to render still images and create Vantage animations, enjoying the lightning-fast speed of GPU rendering.
• Label round or curved objects perfectly using the new Curved Decals feature.
• Create new and incredibly realistic materials with the help of Corona Pattern. Mix and match whether the maps follow the base object UV, the pattern object UV, or both, to get the exact patterns you want with no hassle.
• Get full creative control over the scattering process with the new Scatter Instance Brush. Refine your procedural scatter to the last detail, using a brush to paint in or delete procedural instances.
• Enjoy a smoother workflow by having multiple LightMix elements with different settings and more new features and improved UI in the new and improved VFB 2.

Please test as much as possible and report your findings to us, so that we can make Corona 12 ready for release as quickly as we can! You can tell us about any issues by following the links below:

3ds Max
Start a new thread at https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?board=2

10

News / Corona 11 (Hotfix 2) released for Cinema 4D

« on: 2024-04-17, 16:00:16 »

This hotfix addresses some specific issues and all Corona 11 users for Cinema 4D are recommended to download it.
Download now: https://corona-renderer.com/download

The issues are:

• Fixed rare NAN in Caustics solver.
• Fixed rare NAN caused by an error in VFB.
• Fixed issue with all Scanned materials having the same color in ID pass.
• Fixed issue with visibility, masks propagation, and Material ID not working for Scanned material.
• Fixed issue where changing tone mapping after rendering finishes would reset the color profile of an image in Picture viewer.
• Updated distributed Chaos Cosmos installer to the latest version.

There are no other changes.

11

News / Corona 11 (Hotfix 2) released for 3ds Max

« on: 2024-04-15, 12:57:43 »

This hotfix addresses some specific issues and all Corona 11 users for 3ds Max are recommended to download it.
Download now: https://corona-renderer.com/download

The issues are:

• Compatibility with Autodesk 3ds Max 2025 version. (Improvement)
• Added a warning about Corona not fully supporting OCIO color management workflow. (Improvement)
• Fixed rare NAN in Caustics solver.
• Fixed rare NAN caused by an error in VFB.
• Fixed issue where some scenes with Chaos Scatter might never complete loading.
• Fixed issue where using Isolate would lead Scatter to recompute and thus slow down viewport interaction.
• Fixed an issue with improper display of the edge trimming tooltip.
• Fixed incorrect edge trimming for instances of hierarchical/group models.
• Fixed edge trimming map usage detection for the hierarchical/group models.
• Fixed include/exclude areas filtering for on-spline scattering.
• The Gamma Correction operator, added during the previous hotfix, is now removed. Corona will automatically apply the needed correction depending on 3ds Max color management settings.

There are no other changes.

12

General CG Discussion / Watch Corona's PM Tom Grimes on the CG Garage Podcast

« on: 2024-03-21, 16:20:54 »

Don't miss the latest episode of the CG Garage podcast with our product manager Tom Grimes who talks about Corona's product philosophy and reveals some of the features in the pipeline, including how it’s getting real-time functionality via Chaos Vantage.

00:00 CG Garage Intro
04:32 How "Half-Life" and 3D World inspired Tom's career
09:35 What Tom does as Corona product manager
12:10 How Corona is suited to archviz
17:55 Engaging with the community
20:23 The results of the Chaos/Corona merger
24:38 Corona, global illumination, and why it's important
29:27 Why defaults are often the best settings
35:53 Corona today and where it's heading
39:54 Interoperability standards for 3D software and renderers
45:22 How Corona approaches materials
51:39 Corona and caustics
55:17 Simplifying interoperability

CG Garage website: https://www.chaos.com/cg-garage

13

News / Corona 11 (Hotfix 1) released for Cinema 4D

« on: 2024-01-30, 16:45:52 »

This hotfix addresses some specific issues and all Corona 11 users for Cinema 4D are recommended to download it.
Download now: https://corona-renderer.com/download

The issues are:

• Fixed a rare crash in Scanned Material.
• Fixed freeze when updating material preview of Corona material with TilePro shader.
• Fixed crash when switching active camera via camera lister dialog.
• Fixed a typo in Tile shader tooltips.
• Fixed NaN warnings possibly happening in some scenes with small triangles.
• Fixed color picker dialog stuttering when changing values via HWB.
• Fixed incorrectly scaled UI controls in the color picker dialog on macOS.
• (Improvement) Conversion improvements when rendering native C4D materials.

There are no other changes.

14

News / Corona 11 (Hotfix 1) released for 3ds Max

« on: 2024-01-15, 10:29:36 »

This hotfix addresses some specific issues and all Corona 11 users for 3ds Max are recommended to download it.
Download now: https://corona-renderer.com/download

The issues are:

• Fixed a crash with the nodes group replacement in ObjectReplacer.
• Fixed issue where sun is disconnected from its target after loading a scene.
• Fixed DrServer crashing, when passing `--noGui` switch.
• Fixed color picker stuttering when changing values via HWB.
• Fixed crash when Chaos Scatter distributes empty Corona Proxy.
• Fixed issue where color picker was causing infinite restarts of IR and could display value with alpha < 1, when alpha was not being modified.
• Fixed rare crash in Scanned Material.
• Fixed issue where switching from one color swatch to another would change to color of the original color swatch.
• Fixed issue in DR where the values for 3ds Max version and maximum directory size were not remembered between sessions.
• (Scatter) Fixed issue where using Isolate would lead Scatter to recompute and thus slow down viewport interaction.
• (Scatter) Fixed an issue with the improper display of the edge trimming tip.
• (Scatter) Fixed incorrect edge trimming for instances of hierarchical/group models.
• (Scatter) Fixed edge trimming map usage detection for the hierarchical/group models.
• (Improvement) Added Gamma Correction tone mapping operator.

There are no other changes.

15

News / Corona 10 (Hotfix 3) released for 3ds Max

« on: 2023-12-06, 15:31:05 »

This hotfix addresses specific issues associated with the release of Autodesk 3ds Max 2024 Update 2. This hotfix is only intended for users who are in the middle of a project using Corona version 10.
Corona 10 for 3ds Max, hotfix 3: https://corona-renderer.com/download/old 

The issues are:

• Fixed CTD when showing incompatible maps in SME in 3ds Max 2024 Update 2.
• Fixed issue where Corona ColorPicker was not saving colors in 3ds Max 2024 Update 2.

There are no other changes.

We highly recommend that users update to Corona 11 where these issues have already been addressed: https://corona-renderer.com/download