Messages

1

[Max] Bug Reporting / Re: Memory leak

« on: 2025-09-02, 22:20:58 »

huge rendering slowdown when max ray depth is higher than 50.

what happens when you set max ray depth back to default?

2

[Max] I need help! / Re: Any scene debugging tools/scripts out there?

« on: 2025-09-01, 19:16:59 »

Hmm that is an interesting idea. Sounds like something an ai might be able to code quite well too.

Yeah, I have built a parser in the past but its not fun, lots of regex. But certainly possible with AI and testing.

Cool thing about fbx is it has so much data you can lots with it, like build a bridge between 3dsmax/c4d, or max to blender etc since all its doing is looking at the data tree and then putting it into a json file, then you can rewire it on the other end so if its using a coronacolor in software A, change it to this node in software B, then copy the values etc. Simple concept, but lots of things to take into consideration.

3

[Max] I need help! / Re: Any scene debugging tools/scripts out there?

« on: 2025-08-30, 15:44:42 »

Ideally there would be a full scene memory report available from corona like the texture memory useage csv, but for materials and geometry.

Thats a good idea.

In the mean time I suppose the only thing I can think of is the old 50/50 way (remove 50%, hit render), do it again until the speed jumps up significantly, then you know which chunk to investigate.

Another idea which could give you more info (for geometry, and other info too), export one of those chunks as fbx (ascii not binary), then open the fbx with notepad. This will give you a tonne of info about the objects and its data but you would probably need a custom parser to get the data you want sufficiently, unless you dont mind scrolling though millions float values lol.

4

[Max] I need help! / Re: Any scene debugging tools/scripts out there?

« on: 2025-08-29, 19:46:10 »

have you tried sini tools (Forensic maybe)?

https://sinisoftware.com/Products

5

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Looking for clarity on Color Management in 3ds Max 2025+ with Corona 13

« on: 2025-08-07, 16:21:21 »

we'd love to make a simple button script that will load in the 2 x LUTs required to get it working on the selected camera(s).

If I understand you correctly you want to combine LUTs? If so have you heard of 3D LUT Creator? It might be worth looking into since its pretty powerful, among other features you can do your tonemapping then put both the original image and final image in then create a LUT based on the changed values.

I wrote a short article on it here if you are interested in a quick run down. Unless ive totally misinterpreted your post

edit:
A secondary option is stack the LUTs in vray, save out a small image, then you can use the command line ocio tools to build a .cube (LUT) for the current setup. GPT could build it for you but you need to test it and when its good you have a solid combined LUT moving forward. I did this recently for a client who needed all the layers in vray vfb as an LUT, worked out well.

6

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Looking for clarity on Color Management in 3ds Max 2025+ with Corona 13

« on: 2025-08-07, 16:03:16 »

not so far - just doing it the original old-school way with manually-loaded LUTS on cams.

Curious, if you are just using an LUT how is it more complex/cumbersome?

this looks great, cheers!

Dont thank me yet lol, using an LUT is the easiest method. @piotrus3333 Would know more than me about this stuff, I was just curious if you were using Agx through ocio.

7

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Looking for clarity on Color Management in 3ds Max 2025+ with Corona 13

« on: 2025-08-07, 15:17:46 »

Yep, ACES/OCIO is the default in Max 2025 and newer.

Ah k.

So for us it was a case in 2026 of having to switch back to legacy Gamma 2.2 workflow so we continue using AGX and having consistency with old projects.

Im confused, you are using the Gamma Workflow with AGX? Have you tried @piotrus3333 upload of the ocio for Agx (by Troy Sobotka) ?
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-color-management-forum/alternative-ocio-config-for-max-and-maya-because-there-is-more/m-p/13192991#M27

8

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Looking for clarity on Color Management in 3ds Max 2025+ with Corona 13

« on: 2025-08-07, 14:30:49 »

My main concern is more about why this isn't an advanced option that can be enabled and configured by those who actually need it—instead of being a default setting applied to everyone out of the box.

Odd, in max2024 the default option is Gamma Workflow, has this changed in 2025?

I’ve been using Corona since the beta days and have always appreciated how easy it is to use while still delivering great results. But small things like this can be frustrating. I can imagine how many new users might struggle to understand why their renders look off or incorrect.

Heh, reminds me of the fun we had back in 2009 when we switched to the Gamma Workflow. People have been requesting color management in 3dsmax for a long while, if you need to streamline your pipeline then ocio is a useful wrapper for and end to end workflow. This way the artist doesnt have to think about LUTs, transforms, color spaces, rules etc the project lead can set this up and the artists can just work - in theory.

If you dont need this then you can just go about your business as usual - the intent was to reduce frustration from my understanding.

9

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Looking for clarity on Color Management in 3ds Max 2025+ with Corona 13

« on: 2025-08-06, 16:38:40 »

The first question is - do you need to work in a color managed environment? If the answer is "I dont know" then you probably don't.

If you are working in a pipeline that is color managed then its useful since everything can be unified/delivered as expected. You will then need to understand how to use the transforms and workflow - or learn it from/with the studio that requires this (usually the fastest way since they have a workflow they can teach you - which gives you a way to connect the dots).

I’ve discovered something odd: if I add a JPG as a background using a Tonemap Control node, disable ACES in the tone mapping settings, and hit render — everything looks correct.

The ACES tone-mapper is just curve basically, its not recommended to use this in conjunction with color management.

Is there an official or recommended workflow for using the new Color Management system in 3ds Max 2025+ with Corona Renderer 13? I've looked around and find answers that conflict.

Try reading these first.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2026/ENU/?guid=GUID-DA8CE2F5-1400-45A9-BFCF-A4A8968175CF
https://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2026/ENU/?guid=GUID-9FDA8D1F-1285-49F4-B025-D505D40FD24D
https://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2026/ENU/?guid=GUID-2440635A-3E84-4215-AB09-9B3F4AB772D4

If you want to understand it more thoroughly at some point, test things for yourself etc read this by Chris:
https://chrisbrejon.com/cg-cinematography/chapter-1-5-academy-color-encoding-system-aces/

Example from Chris' page of a simplified view of the workflow:

10

Hardware / Re: Low benchmarks on Ryzen 9950X

« on: 2025-07-27, 14:04:50 »

Dont think a Windows reinstall would change anything.

Seems like the top performers (red box) have a much higher cpu frequency.

Yours sits about in line with the ones in the blue box so seems about right. Maybe the top scores are overclocking or something?



edit:
maybe share these details, this comparison shows faster ram, larger cache, higher cpu frequency.

11

[C4D] General Discussion / Re: transfering C4D Corona -> 3ds max Corona

« on: 2025-07-24, 12:25:28 »

I think c4dtomax won't fit your needs. The plugin c4dtomax needs to be updated in near future, the others supports animation (not complex rig)

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

In that case I would suggest doing a few tests with FBX (simple rigs or point cache), USD, and maybe alembic but not sure about the material process with alembic. Off the top of my head theoretically you should be able to take geometry back and forth with fbx/usd and do the materials in 3dsmax in this case, as long as you have some consistency along the way (potentially material names or some kind of object data to track things).

As an example when I worked in the tv/commercial industry the Animation team would use Maya and point cache out the mesh, then the Set team (us) would import that into the 3dsmax scene, run a small script that picks up the materials saved to a .mat file and apply it to the characters by material/object name. Not sure the extent of your situation but you could always do some proof of concept for your client in c4d - sign off, go to max for materials/light - sign off etc. Caveat is obviously animation changes and re-import/export at a later point so if this is an ongoing project, scripts will certainly be of good use. This could also be overkill for your situation but just some ideas to chew on.

12

[C4D] General Discussion / Re: transfering C4D Corona -> 3ds max Corona

« on: 2025-07-23, 13:05:41 »

Sounds like your best free options are FBX or USD. I havent tested USD in 3dsmax however.

I remember this plugin from a few years ago, maybe someone here has used it, or you can email them directly and ask some questions - if you do can you also post back here.
https://www.3dtoall.com/products/c4dtomax/

13

[Max] Corona Goodies - User Contributions / Re: Corona Randomizer

« on: 2025-06-27, 08:45:15 »

Hi James.

Thank you again. Still using it daily.

Glad to hear.

I have a couple of comments.

1- I just recently noticed that Vegetation: settings>Translucent color correct>Brighter leaves checkbox not only changes brightness but also saturation and gamma, which to me was unexpected since the checkbox mentions "brighter" only.
So I wanted to suggest adding the text "change in brightness, saturation and gamma" to make it more clear.

I mentioned this in v4.4, I think to keep the ui clean ill put this in the tooltip.

- A button just for Tom, well anyone really lol. "Brighter Leaves" in the Vegetation settings: brightness 0.3, saturation 0.3, gamma 1.5 - On/off. You can save these as your default so you dont need to check this button in the rollout or worry about it in future max sessions.

2- I checked your website to see if there was a newer version than the one I have and I was surprised to see that the one you have as the latest is 4.4 while mine says 4.5.

Thanks, updated.

14

General CG Discussion / Re: Render Managers

« on: 2025-06-12, 16:38:11 »

I use Deadline, its pretty solid. Not sure if they support the latest versions of max but I prefer it over anything else I've used. A little tricky to get going but after that you are golden.

I tested Pulze, was a good option, I still prefer Deadline though currently.

15

[Max] Bug Reporting / Re: Corona proxy scale issue

« on: 2025-06-10, 12:13:20 »

I have to say that's actually pretty neat feature. I often find that if you change units and then merge the object into another scene your object will have the incorrect scale.