Messages

1

[Max] I need help! / Re: how to soften shadow in corona

« on: 2015-09-30, 08:50:08 »

Instead of posting a new topic, i thought I'd continue off this one...

I'm having a similar problem, my shadows are too dark and need to be softened.

This setting above didn't work. It just increases the symbolic size of the sun.

Has anyone got a solution?

I was thinking there would be a scroll bar like in revit to just soften shadow darkness (Excellent feature that corona should incorporate!)

The only fudge option I can think of is adding a second sun and then turning off second shadows for items, but I have a feeling I'll end up with two shadows or no shadows if I do this...

Looking forward to a solution!

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[Max] I need help! / DOF SET UP FILE.

« on: 2015-03-03, 08:20:52 »

Hi all,

I was wondering if someone has a Depth of Field example set up file I can use to reverse engineer? I can't get it to work, and its the one thing I'm missing from my renders in Corona.

I've tried the tutorial to my best understanding, without luck. I'm trying to achieve the same results as 2.2 in the link below.
https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000516203-how-to-enable-and-control-depth-of-field-dof-in-corona-

I am happy to email my current set up file to anyone who is willing to give it a look and try and fix up the settings for me so I can better understand it?

Thanks in advance.

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[Max] I need help! / Re: Purple tips of tress with HDR Skies

« on: 2015-03-02, 23:13:51 »

I honestly think you're making your life much more difficult by using Max's exposure control. Use the exposure in Corona VFB or render setup - it's interactive, so you can see your changes while rendering.

Regarding your alpha channel/cut out mask, then don't convert the colored image itself in PS, but use the alpha channel to make a black & white mask image.

NB - "Premultiplied Alpha" is part of Max standard, and therefore it has been present in mr for ages. Nothing related to Corona

Hope it helps

Thanks for that reply.

The thing is, How do I control the ratio of brightness to the foreground and the background, at the moment the VFB is awesome and great for setting mood etc, BUT...

The background needs to be balanced and to do this I need to adjust the exposure of the background HDRI image / or tiff.

I'll attach an example.

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[Max] I need help! / Re: DOF in new version

« on: 2015-03-02, 23:06:18 »

I can't get DOF to work very easily either.

Is there a tutorial?

I've checked on all the right boxes, and put my target in the right position, played with f-stop etc.

I did an exaggerated render and set F-stop to 0.01 and that did show results but finding the right number is painfully tricky.

Is there a way to incorporate a real time DOF so what you see is what you get?

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[Max] I need help! / Re: Purple tips of tress with HDR Skies

« on: 2015-03-02, 22:55:50 »

Hi Prom,

What is the best workflow then?

I have been using the exposure tools in the realtime renderer, however by the time I get the HDRI background to be the right brightness the foreground scene is completely whited out.

So why I need to play with the exposure is to get the the ratio of background to foreground ratio correct.

Or do you suggest I just lower the sun brightness?

Could you share with me a starter file with recommended settings for exposure with a sun and hdr background?

Thanks.

6

[Max] I need help! / Re: Purple tips of tress with HDR Skies

« on: 2015-03-02, 22:52:46 »

Awesome the Script works! Thank you Sir.

I found a reason why this is happening if people are reluctant to use the script and want a quick easy fix.

1. Convert the Opacity map into a black and white map (usually named *_a.tif) for Xfrog.
2. Goto output for the map and click invert. As the black bits need to be white and visa versa.

This will fix it, and perhaps the real problem is xfrog got lazy when making opacity maps and should have used the _a.tiff map instead of the same as the diffuse!

Anyway, Excellent job guys, you have all the solutions even before I have the problems :)

Corona has finally won me over.

Now all I need is a better material library instead of making glass from scratch each time.

*** For some reason I can't reply to you PROH as a new message so I'll respond with an edit:

The problem is the background to foreground brighness ratio is wrong and i'm getting a very white foreground when the background is at a good exposure, and visa versa.

So to create a good balance of the HDRI / TIFF landscape backgrounds I'm using, I need to use the environment exposure to create this balance.

I've attached a screenshot for you to comment.

How do you suggest I get the background brighter without messing around with environment exposure? (Which is how i've been doing it for mental ray for 9 years, using MR exposure).

Do you suggest I set it to <no exposure>?

7

[Max] I need help! / Re: Purple tips of tress with HDR Skies

« on: 2015-03-02, 22:17:44 »

Version 1, still having purple trees.

I have tried to use corona mix and I can't get it to work.

Is there a script you could make that converts all xfrog trees opacity maps into black and white? I have a feeling its because its a coloured opacity map its causing half transparency...

I'm going to photoshop the tiff file myself and convert it into black and white and see if that fixes it.

Please see attachement.

Also my background contrast is so much darker than my exposure. Is there a faster way determine the correct balance (also I am using automatic exposure now - under exposure) which one should I be using for corona?

Thanks.

8

[Max] I need help! / Re: Purple tips of tress with HDR Skies

« on: 2015-02-24, 17:17:51 »

Thanks for your reply,

I tried A and B to no change at all.

Do you think its possible the HDRI Environment I have as a background (with a purple sunset) is influencing this? Because I have turned off the Environment map and the trees work fine.

So theres someting to do with the Environment.

Unfortunately C isn't really feasible as I do a lot of Urban Design and need to have accurate plant species specified by Landscape Architects and theres no room for error or time consuming remapping. I could have over 10-20 species in a render and the focus is not really on the tips of trees lol.

I'll try C anyway and hope for a fix in the future.

Thanks for your tips.

Do you know what the artifacts are as well?

Also does anyone have any tips for standards for outdoor renders?

I'm using Mental ray Exposure (this is what I'm most comfortable using) As theres no Corona Exclusive tool for exposure I'd love for there to be some kind of way to understand lighting settings.

At the moment I've chosen 10.5 on MR exposure, with a 0.3 light setting for daytime renders, and a setting of .15 for night renders.
But I am getting a fair bit of bleed on the wall textures which are super high res but not showing quite pixelated.

Last question. Is there a script to convert Photometric lights into Corona Lights?

Thank you!

9

[Max] I need help! / Re: Purple tips of trees with HDR Skies & Artifacts

« on: 2015-02-24, 16:45:41 »

Hi mate,

thanks for your comments, I appreciate it.

It seems all in order, however I've noticed a checkbox which I'm not familiar with in MR, a "Premultiplied Alpha" set to on by default.

Is this the checkbox you're referring to?

I have attached a screenshot of my opacity map settings, let me know if anything here seems to be the culprit.

Thank you.

10

[Max] I need help! / Re: Purple tips of tress with HDR Skies

« on: 2015-02-24, 15:19:55 »

Its nothing special, just a diffuse map set to 1 (TIF) with an opacity Map set to 1 (Greyscale TIF cutout of leaves) with Bump map (TIF) Set to 0.05.

I also have rendered off at 4000px 13 hours straight and I'm noticing not only am I seeing a transparency on the leaves with the same Purple Tint but I also have these odd white artifacts. I've used the Script to convert all materials from Standard to CoronaMTL's still with these odd artifacts.

I'm assuming they are reflections from Vegetation. I'll re-render tonight without Vegetation and see if it produces the same image. I have a feeling Its incompatible with my Trees and grass.

I've also been checking the render and I compared a screen shot at 9 hours to the 13 hours render and I can't see a difference, same amount of artifacts and still same semi transparent leaves.

Any ideas? Is this a bug or have do I need to switch over to a different engine?

Thanks.

11

[Max] I need help! / Re: Purple tips of tress with HDR Skies

« on: 2015-02-22, 10:34:05 »

Thanks Romullus.

Is there also a fix for version 1 regarding the purple tips on the trees?

12

[Max] I need help! / Purple tips of tress with HDR Skies

« on: 2015-02-22, 05:15:21 »

Hi all,

New to the forums, I wanted to ask and comment on an issue i'm having with trees in Corona.

I'd like to address 2 main issues and also request for Mental Ray Textures conversion of some type. (I have so many questions like how to make realistic water with caustics, and tiles with different coloured grout etc...)

1. Tops of trees Presenting as purple around the Alpha foreground of Skymaps. Also the Gum Leaves are also purple so it looks like a Euro Renders instead of Australian.
2. Background modelled grass seems to be coming in front of foreground. Very Strange.

Requests:

Mental Ray conversion / backwards support of some kind. (Most Architectural Practices workflow in Australia is Revit to Max with the Revit Textures shared.)

Other things I've noticed:

I've noticed Civil View for vehicles doesn't render as they are not CoronaMTL's which really is a logistical nightmare for everyone using 3DS max as we have to manually make car textures or convert the mental ray ones into corona ones - this cannot be I will never be able to do an urban visualisation with this workflow.

Similarly with Populated scenes, People and various "entourage" come up as blank unless I retexture them in corona. We need a mental ray conversion thats automated.

Positively, I must say this engine has pushed my renders forward in realism, however having to start again from mental ray materials is a pain, I WISH IT SUPPORTED OR CONVERTED MENTAL RAY TEXTURES!

I have attached the image for you to see. Please let me know.

Thank you.

Scott