All posts by Ondra Karlík

Corona 1.4 Release Candidate and Betatesting Giveaway

Corona 1.4 RC2

The long awaited release of Corona version 1.4 is getting closer! We’ve had a release candidate out for a few days, and we are just hunting the last remaining bugs. Once again, we need your help with that!

Just like for version 1.3, we are doing a little giveaway – we will reward the best three bug reports with a free 1 year Corona FairSaaS license (1WS + 3 NODES). All other meaningful bug reports will be rewarded with a 50% discount on a 1 year FairSaaS license.

Read more for full details…
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Corona Renderer for Cinema4D Alpha v5 Hotfix

We are following up on the recent release of new alpha build of Corona for Cinema4D with a quick hotfix update. It addresses these issues:

  • Fixed camera focus distance computed incorrectly
  • Added back the original color mapping dialog
  • Fixed some minor problems with color mapping
  • Fixed VFB getting stuck in rendering state in some situations
  • Fixed incorrect color profile being used in Team Render
  • Fixed problems with SLA shaders in mix mode of Blend material
  • Removed C4D material override and TR setting (use Corona settings)

You can download the build in the usual place. We will continue to monitor user feedback on this release and release more bugfixes if necessary.

Corona 1.3 Benchmark

Today we have finally updated our standalone benchmark. Download it and share your results now! Compared to the last benchmark we have updated the rendering core, made the scene more challenging, and added easy verification and sharing of render times. Everything is a one-click solution now, no manual copy/pasting required. All times you choose to publish are displayed in a table here. This comes handy especially when you are selecting a new hardware to run Corona.

benchmark

Corona Standalone Redesigned

From the technical standpoint, the most interesting thing is that the benchmark showcases the possibilities of our new standalone format, which is now much more powerful than ever before. It supports procedural maps, shader networks, and the compressed Corona proxy format for geometry. We are hoping the standalone application will become a viable alternative for distributed rendering some day.  You can try it yourself today if you are feeling lucky. Both export and import is a one-click solution, no 3ds Max is necessary, and speedups of up to 30% were reported compared to rendering inside 3ds Max. Some maps are still not supported, but we are working on that.

Conclusion

I would like to thank Robin, who was the primary developer of the benchmark application. That is it; everything left to do now is to download the benchmark and share its results with the community so we can build a comprehensive database of Corona Renderer performance with different CPUs. Stay tuned for the next blog post, in which we will talk about licensing and pricing improvements we have in mind for 2016.

Ondra

Corona for Cinema4D A4.1 hotfix

We are releasing a quick update of our Cinema 4D plugin to address the issues that emerged after the Alpha v4 release. They were caused by a massive internal changes due to the interactive rendering support. The plugin is still under development, in free testing phase, so more issues may arise. If you spot any problem, please do not hesitate to report it . The production (non-interactive) renderer should be stable now, and we will work on the interactive renderer stability for the A5 release. Here is the detailed changelog:

Continue reading Corona for Cinema4D A4.1 hotfix

Corona 1.3 Betatesting Giveaway Results

Few days after the release of Corona 1.3 for 3ds Max it seems there are no major bugs left in. We would like to thank everyone who tested the release candidate builds for making this possible. As we announced earlier, we will reward 5 most useful bug reports with a free 1 year FairSaaS license. We went through the reports and decided to reward these 5 users:

  1. User “noel20”: Objects with displacement randomly disappear in interactive rendering
  2. User “HT”:  Using extreme exposure in Physical camera crashes Corona if VFB tonemapping is adjusted
  3. User “jacobhutson”: A specific sequence of steps crashes interactive rendering
  4. User “Tanakov”: Self-intersection artifacts when rotating an object at exact scene center
  5. User “romullus” – Corona installer copies scripts with wrong case, resulting in init scripts not working

We will contact the winners to deliver the reward. We have also promised to reward other useful reports with a 50% discount for a yearly license. We won’t list all of them here, instead please contact us to claim the reward if you believe you made such report.

Thanks again for making the smooth launch possible.

Ondra

Corona 1.3 RC 1 and betatesting giveaway

Blog Banner - Corona 1.3RC1

We have just released the first release candidate (RC) build of Corona 1.3. This is a daily build that we intend to publish as version 1.3, unless some previously unknown bugs are discovered. And we need your help with searching for any hidden problems to make sure the 1.3 version is as stable as possible.

To reward our beta testers, we have decided to do a little giveaway – we will reward the best five bug reports with free 1 year Corona FairSaaS license (1WS + 3 NODES). All other meaningful bug reports will be rewarded with 50% discount for a 1 year FairSaaS license.

Continue reading Corona 1.3 RC 1 and betatesting giveaway

Corona for Cinema4D Alpha v4 released!

C4D

While we are finishing the new version 1.3 for 3ds Max, we are not forgetting about Cinema4D plugin – today we have the Alpha v4 version ready for you! Aside from the usual bugfixes and small features, it brings one major new feature: interactive rendering. You can download the installer for Cinema4D R14-R17 for Windows here.

Major New Features

  • Interactive rendering
  • Added C4D R17 support
  • Added Mask pass
  • Improved motion blur support
  • Improved layer shader support

Continue reading Corona for Cinema4D Alpha v4 released!

Corona Renderer in official „Panic! At The Disco“ music video!

São Paulo-based studio StratoStorm used Corona to produce over 50 CGI shots for an optical illusion-inspired Panic! At The Disco music video for their song “Hallelujah”. Check out StratoStorm’s impressions on working with Corona!

Continue reading Corona Renderer in official „Panic! At The Disco“ music video!

Corona Renderer 1.1 for 3ds Max – released

Blog Banner - Corona 1_1

Here comes the version 1.1 for 3ds Max!
We really wanted to release this version much earlier, but other business-related tasks (hiring new people, establishing new offices, first Coronaut baby delivery, …) kept us from it. This version is not a huge update, but it adds some sweet features which we plan to develop even further in next releases.

 

Quick Facts


  • Corona Render 1.1 is freely available to all customers on FairSaaS (monthly, yearly), Box with Subscription and Educational/Student license.
  • Supports Autodesk 3ds Max versions 2011-2016.
  • Road map for the future development will be published next week.
  • Yes, and it is faster again.

Continue reading Corona Renderer 1.1 for 3ds Max – released

Corona for C4D Alpha v3 is out

While we are finishing the Corona for 3ds Max 1.1 release, we have decided to publish another Cinema 4D plugin version.  This is a quick update that brings many small, but highly useful features, before some of the larger issues (interactive rendering, Mac support) are addressed. You can download the installer for Cinema4D R14/R15/R16 here

Major Changes

  • Added new Corona materials (advanced light emitter: LightMtl, advanced volumetric material: VolumeMtl)
  • Added new shaders (ambient occlusion: AoShader, geometry edge/vertex shader: WireShader)
  • Enhanced Corona Material (added SSS support, absorption shader)
  • IES light support
  • Improved standard C4D materials support
  • Added basic support for Non-Corona materials (e. g. Banzi, Cheen)
  • Added Corona VFB (experimental)

 

Continue reading Corona for C4D Alpha v3 is out