Messages

1

[Max] Previews (Daily Builds) / Re: Chaos Corona 14 for 3ds Max - Previews (Daily Builds) Discussion

« on: 2025-09-11, 11:41:25 »

With CIE every time I try to do a 'save all' to jpeg I get an instant crash.

Known problem? I can provide crash report if this is new?

Edit: CIE seems to be all types of messed up? Is this all known? See example below of how a lightmix pass looks in CIE vs how it is saved as jpg. What's going on?

2

General CG Discussion / Re: Help with Max scripting

« on: 2025-09-03, 08:41:43 »

Another option is to use parameter wiring. I linked the seed ta a custom slider in my example, but you can wire it to almost anything in Max - height of a cube primitive, movement of teapot, etc. Any parameters that has numeric values can be "wired" together. Don't know how robust this method is, e.g. if you'll make significant changes in your material, the wiring might brake, but it takes only few seconds to rewire everything again.

Damn, that's amazing! And pretty helpful.

A quick search gave me limited help - any idea where I might be able to find good tutorials on how best to use this feature?

Does it work in reverse? So for instance; I have a slider; I change it and the geometry z scale changes). But if I manually change the z-scale of the same object, the slider responds?

Such a cool feature, wish I had more time to play around with it...

3

General CG Discussion / Re: Help with Max scripting

« on: 2025-09-03, 08:39:52 »

Any idea how I can change the "randomSeed" value of a CoronaMultiMap (or any node) with a script?

Ideally I can +1 the existing value, or toggle between 0/1.

Any help MUCH appreciated :)

Hi,

I would give slightly off-topic advice - do not try to "automate" everything through script, or at least see if it is worth it.
Changing multimap's seed depends on how exactly the map is going to be found - it is not a straight forwards thing, unfortunately. You either need to get/select an object, then find the corresponding multimap (can be many) and then change the seed. On the other hand, you can open material editor, locate the multimap visually and change the seed. Or you can use a controller (e.g. bezier float) to quickly change it, if opening material settings is an extra click for you. The same controller workflow would apply also for multiple CoronaMultiMaps for multiple objects and materials.

Ironically, if you want to change the seed parameter for all CoronaMultiMaps, that is a rather easy and quick line of code:

Code: [Select]

maps = getClassInstances CoronaMultiMap
for map in maps do (map.seed = 42)


Thanks. What if the texture node/material name is known and hard-coded in? Does that help?

Are there any API/docs available for this sort of scripting in Corona? I found general settings but nothing specific to materials and textures.

4

[Max] I need help! / Re: Create a material not affected by light?

« on: 2025-09-03, 08:38:40 »

Thanks, will try that also!

P.S. My system described above does also do a pretty good job. :)

5

Gallery / Re: Chalets animation

« on: 2025-09-02, 13:18:00 »

Yeah, it was impressive - to say the least - how long you guys stuck with Rhino.

I was a massive Rhino fan going back to 2005, considered myself a Rhino expert and found a lot of job opportunities in the Architecture business thanks to it.

I even started my professional archViz career in Rhino+Vray...So I was very familiar with you guys and your offerings.

I made the switch, out of necessity and for the same reasons you stated in about 2018 and although the first month or two were painful it was the smartest decision I ever made in my business/workflow.

Funnily enough, recently I've got back into Rhino life after 7 or so years barely touching it. Thanks for chatGPT helping me build me a ton of custom scripts I'm finding new ways to speed up my workflow reverting back to Rhino for the painful modelling stuff, with some GH help, and exporting + importing it cleanly and cleverly into Max... so I'm falling in love with Rhino all over again recently :)

6

[Max] I need help! / Create a material not affected by light?

« on: 2025-09-01, 20:58:55 »

Hi all,

I have a bit of a strange situation: I need to create a material (as part of a multi-sub AND a layered material) which does not receive shadows/light.

Or, at least as little as possible.

I can't simply put the material on an object which doesn't receive light/cast shadows etc, as the material will be part of a multi-sub object where the rest of the materials possess normal lighting behavior.

I'm baking a unwrapped texture - one portion of the texture should appear to be without physical light interacting on it.

Making the material self-emissive isn't working quite right either.

The best result so far has been to give it the properties as shown below.

If this is the best I can do, so be it, but I'm wondering if there's anything else I'm missing?

Many thanks!

7

Gallery / Re: Chalets animation

« on: 2025-09-01, 20:12:18 »

You guys were my knights in shining armor for sticking with Rhino + Vray for such a long time... shocked to see you here. Do you now use Corona too?

Nice work!

8

General CG Discussion / Re: Help with Max scripting

« on: 2025-09-01, 17:00:06 »

Any idea how I can change the "randomSeed" value of a CoronaMultiMap (or any node) with a script?

Ideally I can +1 the existing value, or toggle between 0/1.

Any help MUCH appreciated :)

9

[Max] Previews (Daily Builds) / Re: Chaos Corona 14 for 3ds Max - Previews (Daily Builds) Discussion

« on: 2025-08-28, 20:56:58 »

Something odd is happening when using CIE;

- Render a scene (with latest daily)
- Open the *.cxr file
- Load a *.conf file for LightMix (the conf file was saved from a Corona 13 version of CIE)
- Save the image
- Image lighting is saved wrong (in my case, too bright).

If I copy the image from CIE and paste it into photoshop, the image/lighting looks correct.

Not sure if this is replicable or not, but figured I should share my experience today after installing the daily.

P.S. Amazing work with the new features thus far. Absolutely thrilled to have splats in Corona (hoping the color fix is coming soon).

Cheers!

10

General CG Discussion / Re: Help with Max scripting

« on: 2025-08-27, 19:58:53 »

Hi clemens_at

That seems to have helped enormously! Thanks mate, really appreciate it :)

11

General CG Discussion / Re: Help with Max scripting

« on: 2025-08-25, 17:50:26 »

Hello all again,

I'm wondering if someone smarter than me can help figure this one out...

I'm trying to automate 'Unwrap UVW' to a default "Flatten: Custom" workflow. (See the picture)

I got a pretty good result with vibe coding (chatGPT) but it can't quite figure out the final, and most important component. It does everything right but doesn't get the right result (or at least not the same result as if I manually press that button).

Please see the code below and offer a suggestion if possible. Many, many thanks!

Code: [Select]

/* ===========================================================
   HELPER – unwrap one object, set channel, run Pack-Custom
   =========================================================== */
fn addUnwrapPackSingle obj mapChannel:2 =
(
    local prevSel = selection as array
    select obj

    -- Add temporary Edit Poly modifier to force full poly selection
    local epMod = Edit_Poly()
    addModifier obj epMod
    epMod.SetSelection #Face #{1..(getNumFaces obj)}
   
    -- Add the unwrap modifier
    local uMod = Unwrap_UVW()
    addModifier obj uMod
    uMod.unwrap.setMapChannel mapChannel
   
    -- Ensure full polygon selection for Unwrap as well
    uMod.unwrap.selectPolygons #{1..(uMod.unwrap.numberPolygons())}

   
    -- Set current modifier to Unwrap
    modPanel.setCurrentObject uMod
   
    -- Run Pack ► Custom
    if isProperty uMod #packNoParams then
    (
        uMod.packNoParams()
    )
    else if isProperty uMod.unwrap #packNoParams then
    (
        uMod.unwrap.packNoParams()
    )
   
    -- Optionally remove the Edit Poly modifier to clean up
    -- deleteModifier obj epMod
   
    -- Restore selection
    select prevSel
)


/* ===========================================================
   BATCH – loop through initial selection one-by-one
   =========================================================== */
fn batchUnwrapPack mapChannel:2 =
(
    local workList = for o in selection where isKindOf o GeometryClass collect o
   
    if workList.count == 0 then
    (
        messageBox "Select one or more geometry objects first!"
        return undefined
    )
   
    with undo off
    (
        for o in workList do
        (
            format ">> Unwrapping & packing : %\n" o.name
            addUnwrapPackSingle o mapChannel:mapChannel
        )
    )
   
    format "=== Finished : processed % objects ===\n" workList.count
)

/* ===========================================================
   RUN   (change the channel if you like)
   =========================================================== */
batchUnwrapPack mapChannel:2


12

General CG Discussion / Re: Anima actors get invisible after re-opening the scene

« on: 2025-06-09, 11:48:25 »

Hi,

I try to avoid using Anima standalone at all costs, so I can't answer these questions sorry.

13

General CG Discussion / Re: Anima actors get invisible after re-opening the scene

« on: 2025-06-06, 20:40:53 »

I don't have a solution to your problem, unfortunately.

But I am also a big user of Anima.

I only come here to say that it is a horrible plug-in to ever try to do any debugging on. It has so many issues, performs so unpredictably, causes so many headaches, and yes, there is no community to speak of to turn to.

But it has become a completely necessary part of my workflow, unfortunately.

I was hopeful that Chaos would improve it, but it only seems to have got worse since.

Good luck with solving the issue!

14

[Max] Bug Reporting / Scatter edge trimming with texture baking

« on: 2025-06-04, 14:38:36 »

So I'm using Bake To Texture a lot lately, and I've just discovered a limitation on the scatter edge trimming;

I know this is a slightly odd use case, but let's say I have some grass scattered on a landscape plane with edge trimming selected, it all works fine.

But when I use bake to texture on a flat 100% transparent surface hovering above the landscape the edge trimming isn't applied and I can now see the 'rough' edges.

Any workarounds you can think of to force the trimming? Thanks

You can probably ignore this report. On closer inspection, multiple things seemed to have been going wrong to cause such an issue for me.

15

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona Slicer

« on: 2025-05-27, 19:48:26 »

As far as I know, I don't think so.

Would be a great feature to have though!