Blender To Corona bugs

[ohsnapitsjoel]

Please post bugs you encounter to the issue tracker on bitbucket:  https://bitbucket.org/ohsnapitsjoel/render_corona/issues

It'll be hard to keep up with them here. 

[EmNem]

Hello Joel!

I found some:

- Smoothing doesn't apply at all (1.7.6)
- Bump strength is not identical to Blender Internal bump strength (maybe with dedicated normal maps it works properly, I haven't tried it yet, because I think it should work with 'classic' bump mapping)
- Error messages are not too informative. They should tell what the problems is exactly (the name of the mesh/texture, etc.). Several times I just see that render is halted; I check the console, but it doesn't really help. Sometimes I have to realize that something has changed, but I have no idea what. So I have to start over.
- Memory management: with 8 GB of RAM I have to feel that it is not enough, while I rendered 50-60 times bigger scenes with the 4 GB of it using Vray (no flame, just information).
Sometimes I have the feeling that restarting Blender speeds up rendering and helps in memory usage.

[ohsnapitsjoel]

I'm not sure what you mean by smoothing doesn't apply at all.  Can you post a screenshot of the problem?

I'll work on more informative error messages.  :)  What, in particular, are you needing more information about?  Which meshes are breaking rendering, or materials, or something else?

Bump strength from BI isn't taken into account at all.  There is a new normal map strength parameter in the newest release of Corona Standalone, but I dont have the syntax for it yet, so I can't implement it at the moment.  By the way, only normal mapping is supported for the time being, bump may be supported later on. 

In terms of memory management, are you referring to the way Corona handles huge scenes when it launches? 

[EmNem]

Hello!

Smoohing problem:

The same mesh renders in BI with correct smoothing and in Corona without any smoothing. I will try to reproduce.

Error messages:

What brokes rendering (which mesh, which material/texture, lack of RAM, etc.). Now it is a slow process to find the source of the problem.

Bump maps:

- I see, then we wait.

Memory management:

Yes, but not just when it launches; it uses all my memory during the render and sometimes gives me error windows (not enough memory). In VRay it could be set how much memory the renderer could access (I think the default is about half gig) and operates well.

THX

[ohsnapitsjoel]

I've added some error messages about unsupported textures, a nonexistent scene "world", and a few other things.  Unsupported textures are simply skipped now, with an error message in the console to let you know that it's unsupported and is being skipped. 

The meshes that break rendering are usually reported by the Corona application itself, in the console.  I've disabled the writing of edges to .obj files, since loose edges break rendering.  I don't know if I've uploaded that change yet.  At the moment, I cant even seem to get any geometry to break rendering at the moment.  So maybe the new changes will at least help you in that regard :)

Occasionally I'll get an error about a mesh/material pairing, if I assign a material to a mesh, export the mesh, then change the material and try to render again without re-exporting the mesh.  It gives a "Missing material" error.  One way to fix this is to simply write EVERY material in the scene to the .mtl file, instead of only the ones that are being used by renderable objects.  I'll go ahead and do that, so that it doesn't break rendering.  The mesh will still need to be re-exported with the new material to give the expected results, though.

[EmNem]

Hello Joel, cool. Instead of automatic skipping may I suggest a pop-up with the error, a checkbox (do not display it again in this workflow) and a 'Continue rendering' button? Big THX.

[Asticles]

Hi all,

Just testing corona and seen a couple of things:

Hdr environment is not working, I get an error:

Code: [Select]

ERROR: Fatal error in mtl-XML file: 'Scene.scn': Texture with file name: 'C:/Users/pc5/Desktop/Work/Corona/Textures/partial_eclipse_1k.hdr' not found/not accesible
Have tried relative and absolute path, packed and unpacked the image and with other hdr files.

Also, the array of elements is not displayed properly, only went well when they not share mesh (one different mesh per array).

Best regards!

[Asticles]

Hi another time :p

Render region is rendeing well in the buffer, but it is not returned to blender correctly, ti seems to be an offset.

Regards!

[Asticles]

Hi,

Mix shader node does work when mixing, but with multiply and the others, Amount is ignored. I'm using it with textures (is it correct using with them?).

Thanks.

[burnin]

Please, for every problem you stumble upon, describe steps to reproduce, your OS, HW and SW specs. Also Images & scene files are most welcome.

ie.
Blender 2.78c, CoronaSA 1.6 (jan2017), corona exporter v. 5.3.0
w7 x64 pro,

- IBL/HDR lighting works here
- multiple Arrays work
- render border works as you described: result gets offset on the import*

*/// temporal solutions:

• save from Corona's VFB
• find the result in your Export Path location
• render again without border/region: previous result (from Export Path) will get temporarily imported, save before closing Corona's VFB

eg

[Asticles]

Hi,

Lets see. For the array problem I attach the result and the blend file.

Only you have to make an array of an instance (alt+d) and change the values of the array modifier in one of the two objects.

Regards

[Asticles]

In the case of the HDRI, I create a new scene, set an environment texture, the output, save the scene and when hitting f12 I get the error.

Thanks

[burnin]

Hey,
Thanks for the file.
I see what you mean now.

Modifiers used with object A get applied to an original mesh which is then used for an instance with object B, on which modifiers do not work (are not applied/exported).

About hdr texture error, did you check for permissions or any blockers, move to another location, strange characters...?
Can't reproduce here.

[Asticles]

Yes, I've tested all of this. Also changing the hdr name, the scene location, the hdr location...

[miko]

Hi,

I am new to testing out Corona renderer in blender, and looks really good with a ease of setting up a scene, materials, and rendering works great.

BUT I have one problem i can not seem to find a solution for:

My material preview is not working. I have tried everything that i could think of, also can not find anything online. Looks like it is not writing a prev image and that is a reason for getting a error and stopping prev? Tried older versions, and same error.
Temp directory in blender prefs is a default one. Tried changing that...

Im using latest blender exporter 5.3.0
And latest standalone renderer from the link :
https://bitbucket.org/coronablender/render_corona

Blender ver. 2.78c

Image of error attached.