Elevate your work to new levels of creativity and realism with Corona 11.  Enjoy faster and easier scene creation and detailing with a powerful set of new tools at your fingertips.

NEW FEATURES VIDEO

Here’s a quick overview of the new main features:

QUICK FACTS

• Easily create stunning bathrooms, kitchens, walls, and floors with procedural tiles thanks to Corona Tile Map
• Define upper and lower limits for scattering, creating more realistic nature scenes with Scatter Altitude
• Fast and easy way to have scattered items look in the same direction using Scatter Look At 
• Easily apply effects like weathering and staining to the edges of objects with Edge Map/Edge shader
• Add an extra layer of action to your scenes with Pyro simulations of smoke, fire, and more in Corona 11 for Cinema 4D
• Corona Power Tools allowing you to speed up the design process in Corona 11 for 3ds Max
• And more!

DOWNLOAD

 Don’t miss out on Corona 11!

Trial Refresh: All users (even on a trial) get a full 30-day trial refresh to try out the new features. Simply download and install Corona 11 from the link above.

LIVE WEBINAR

Watch our webinar to see the new features in action.

MAJOR FEATURES

All these features apply to Corona for 3ds Max and Cinema 4D (with a few exceptions that are explicitly mentioned), so we’ll only talk about them once, and demo images may be from either host software. In case you are not familiar with both 3ds Max and Cinema 4D, be aware that what 3ds Max calls “Maps”, Cinema 4D calls “Shaders” 🙂

Corona Tile Map

Easily create stunning bathrooms, kitchens, walls, and floors with procedural tiles thanks to the Corona Tile Map. 

You can now use bitmaps or procedural maps to define the colors of the tiles and repeat, randomize, or even tessellate an image onto the tiles, depending on your needs. The Corona MappingRandomizer and MultiMap now come with “by tile id” modes, so that you can randomize results by each tile if desired. 

Corona Tile Map also lets you create multiple inputs and outputs, which means one tile map can be used to control results for color, glossiness, bump, displacement, and more, rather than having to keep several different tile maps in sync.

Scatter Altitude

Define upper and lower limits for scattering, creating more realistic and captivating nature scenes with Scatter Altitude.  For example, you can set upper and lower limits for treeline, and waterline, and scatter some clouds around mountain tops without affecting the lower part of the scene. 

Scatter Look At

You can now have scattered items look in the same direction quickly and easily using Scatter Look At. 

A prime example would be scattered people looking at a stage, or fish in a tank swimming in the same direction.

Edge Map/Edge Shader

Easily apply effects like weathering and staining to the edges of objects with Edge Map/Edge Shader. This is particularly useful for objects with no thickness like leaves, photos, maps, paper, etc. 

The new Edge Map/Edge Shader creates a color gradient based on how far away a point is from a geometric edge.

Pyro (Cinema 4D)

Add an extra layer of action to your scenes with smoke, fire, and other simulations thanks to Pyro. With our new Pyro support, you no longer need to run the simulation, export it to OpenVDB, and then load it back into the scene. Everything is done seamlessly directly in Corona for Cinema 4D.

Corona Power Tools

Corona 11 for 3ds Max comes with a set of handy scripts called Corona Power Tools, designed to speed up and replace repetitive and tedious design adjustments. 

For example, the Object Replacer tool allows you to easily swap a selected set of objects with different ones (e.g. replace all chairs in a room with a different model of chair). 

Object Replacer

Replaces the selected objects with the objects that were added to the table of replacing objects.

For basic use, open the Object Replacer and, select at least one object in the scene, then click Add in the Replacer. These are the objects that will replace others in the scene. Now select the objects you want to be replaced. Clicking Start Preview will let you see the result without applying it. You can now either close the Replacer to cancel the operation or click Apply for the replacement to become permanent.

Pivot Placer

This has the following modes:

• Bounding Box: shifts the pivot of the selected objects via modifying the offset of their axes.
• Point Selection: places the pivot of the selected object to the selected point on that object.

Transform Randomizer

Transforms the chosen objects based on their axes and variation range. Types of transformations are translation, rotation, and scaling.

Scene Cleaner

Cleans the scene from the options that are provided as checkboxes, such as removing animation keys or layers, clearing the Undo / Redo stack, and more.

Selection Randomizer

Randomizes the current selection of objects, based on the percentage/count of the selected objects. For basic use, select some objects in the scene (this would normally be a large number of objects, as smaller selections could be done manually), and then set the percentage or the count of objects you want to remain selected. Using Start Preview will let you see what the remaining selection would be. You can then adjust the settings to get another selection or close the Randomizer to cancel the effect, or Apply. A typical use case would be to delete 40% of some large number of objects, to thin out the scene.

Other features

Experience enhanced results with the new Intel Denoiser. This has been updated to version 2, and can now run on the CPU or compatible GPU.

When selecting the Intel denoising for final rendering, Corona will use the GPU if it is compatible/available, or default to CPU otherwise. Also, in the Performance tab, you can choose to use the Intel Denoiser during rendering so that it will be used during IR.

Please note that for this implementation, the Intel Denoiser requires an NVIDIA GPU – if no compatible GPU is found, it will default to CPU.

SMALLER IMPROVEMENTS

These also apply to 3ds Max and Cinema 4D, unless otherwise noted.

Scatter

• Improved scatter warning/error message texts

Scatter (3ds Max)

• When converting scatter to geometry, the resulting geometry is automatically set to be visible in rendering
• When an instance is moved directly by the user when Edit instance is enabled, new instances no longer appear at its original location when collision avoidance is enabled
• Added support for groups and hierarchies scattering
• Scatter is now installed as an application plugin for 3ds Max 2022 and newer
• Scatter UI has been rearranged (note that removing RollupOrder.cfg from Max UI settings might be necessary for this change to take full effect. It can be found in: “C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\20XX – 64bit\ENU\en-US\UI\RollupOrder.cfg”)
• Edge trimming now works for Corona proxies with non “Full mesh” display mode
• Improved tooltips and UI

Scatter (Cinema 4D)

• Improved performance in Cinema 4D 2024

Lister (3ds Max)

• Added “Make unique” action for instances
• Added texmap editors for Corona Lights and Corona Light Materials
• Added tracking of nested materials

Lister (Cinema 4D)

• Lister dialog now also displays Displacement tags
• Lister columns visibility setting is now preserved between Cinema 4D sessions
• Lister now includes a list of instances, cloners and generators under each object
• Added “on” column in Lister for Corona Proxy

Converter (Cinema 4D)

• Moved Camera, Light and Sun conversion to new system
• Support for explicit C4D Area Light and Sun conversion
• V-Ray physical Sun & Sky is now converted to Corona Sky in physical mode (instead of Corona Sky with V-Ray physical shader)
• Support conversion of latest V-Ray Sun and Sky (DomeLight)
• Added support for VRayScannedMtl
• Changes to the conversion of Hair material
• Converter now creates one single UNDO action (instead of separate UNDO for each converted node)

Improved Normal / Bump filtering reduces the loss of detail in those channels that can come with using a smaller render resolution or moving an object further away from the camera. 

In the image above, we have zoomed in to a set of drawers that are toward the back of an image. The top version shows the “old” filtering, and we can see that the reflections look quite glossy and sharp. Yet, there is a normal map that should be causing the surface to look a little rough. The lower image shows the new Roughness modulation being used, and the reflections are noticeably more blurred and less glossy, which is what we’d expect.

For comparison, below is an image of the same material with the object close to the camera, with Linear filtering (the default before Corona 11), where we can see the blurring of the reflections:

Color management

• Added option to select the input color space to Corona Color
• Added option to pick a color in current rendering space to Corona color picker
• Added option to set input color space of Corona Bitmap. Uses OCIO config selected in 3ds Max for automatic detection of bitmap input space and for transforming between color spaces.

Some things to note when working with the OCIO workflow in 3ds Max 2024:

• Corona rendering space is overridden by the parameter set in the OCIO workflow settings
• The Material tree is evaluated in the rendering space, instead of linear sRGB
• “Color Swatch”, “Material Editor” and “Viewport Default” parameters in “Displays and Views” category in OCIO workflow settings are now used when rendering viewport/material editor or displaying color swatches

Some things to note when working with the OCIO workflow in Cinema 4D:

• Currently, rendering space configured in OCIO is ignored and Corona continues to use Adobe Wide RGB space as before. It is possible to change this in Development/Experimental settings, however, it is currently not supported in Team Render and for batch rendering.

It is recommended that users stay with the defaults and only move to using other color spaces and/or an OCIO workflow if they already fully understand what effects that will have and how it works.

Other Smaller Improvements

• Corona Image Editor, Command Line Interface: Added “–batch” parameter for faster processing of multiple files. An updated script can be found here
• Corona Image Editor, Command Line Interface: Added back the processing information
• AO, RoundedEdges, Curvature shaders now work with MappingRandomizer
• Updated version of Cosmos shipped in installer to the latest version
• Updated version of licensing server shipped in installer to the latest version

Other Smaller Improvements (3ds Max)

• Improved the opening time of scenes that contain CoronaVolumeGrid, CoronaProxy or CoronaFumeFxMod in Max 2024 and newer
• Added option to the Corona Convertor for switching normal filtering mode for all materials in the scene
• Added Real World Scale UVW mapping to CoronaDecal
• Improved conversion of V-Ray metal materials to Corona Physical material when importing Cosmos assets
• Setup LightMix button in Multiple Environment Maps Setup dialog is greyed out when rendering is running
• Added warning when baking LightMix where multiple LightSelect elements share the same LightMtl
• Reintroduced warning shown when there is black tint in Tone mapping
• Bucket rendering – improved decision on when to revert to random pixel rendering based on Render Regions and Rendering Mask
• Added maxscript alias “excludeMode” for “occlusionFrom” in CoronaAO map to support older scripts

Other Smaller Improvements (Cinema 4D)

• Viewport selection filters now recognize Corona Light and Sun as lights and Corona Pattern modifier as deformer (S26+ only)
• Color mode in Corona Light is now selected using dropdown instead of individual checkboxes
• Save dialog in Corona VFB now remembers file format used for saving previous renders

Rendering and worker threads on Apple Silicon now use default QOS:
This is mostly internal change that might improve rendering
performance on some M1/M2/M3 CPUs

BUG FIXES, SHARED

These bug fixes apply to both 3ds Max and Cinema 4D

Crash and NaN Fixes

• Fixed rare NAN that could appear when using Caustic solver

Other Fixes

• Improved rendering speed of Triplanar texmap (up to 3x in extreme cases)
• Fixed VFB history not showing Bloom & Glare, and not saving the enabled state of Tone Mapping
• Fixed Curves tone mapping operator slowing down the whole tone mapping UI
• Fixed issue where MappingRandomizer/Multi shader options Polygon and Mesh Element did not work with displacement
• Fixed issue where Camera Physical Size did not work with Render selected (pixel mask)
• Fixed issue where VolumeGrid intersecting glass material led to artifacts

BUG FIXES, 3DS MAX

Crash and NaN Fixes (3ds Max)

• Fixed freeze occurring when parsing ForestPack scatter with objects that use animation mode
• Fixed rare crash which occurred when loading scene using the ForestPack plugin
• Fixed rare crash that occurred when rendering scene with global medium and DOF highlights solver
• Fixed rare crash when loading pattern modifier with “Use pattern material” on in Max 2024
• Fixed crash that occurred when additional output of multiple output map (e.g. CoronaMappingRandomizer) was used as input of a scene object (e.g. Scatter)
• Fixed crash when creating toolbar button from MaxScript code
• Fixed rare NAN when using DOF solver
• Fixed CTD when showing incompatible maps in SME in Max 2024 Update 2
• Fixed possible crash in DR
• Fixed issue where GRPC will crash when Cosmos service is not running

Lister Fixes (3ds Max)

• Fixed inconsistency between labels in the Lister and the 3ds Max Displacement mod.

Other Fixes (3ds Max)

• Significantly improved loading times of scenes (up to 3x)
• Fixed rare issue where the rendering could get stuck and consume large amounts of RAM
• Fixed sampling for maps with ObjectXYZ mapping
• Fixed issue where Corona Camera physical size box was wrongly transformed in the Max viewport
• Fixed blurring of text in menu for adding tone mapping operators in VFB
• Fixed CoronaLight in versions of 3dsMax older than 2022 showing the mesh of the light in the viewport, even after setting its radius/width to 0
• Fixed issue where the Corona Bitmap gamma radio button lost its state when the “browse images” dialog is reopened in 3ds Max 2024
• Fixed issue where Corona ColorPicker was not saving colors in Max 2024 Update 2

BUG FIXES, CINEMA 4D

Crash and NaN Fixes (Cinema 4D)

• Fixed crash of TeamRender client when thread limit is overridden using string options (system.numThreads) to a value higher than set in TR client preferences
• Fixed crash in Chaos Scatter in Cinema 4D 2024 when scattered objects contain Cycle in instances
• Fixed crash caused by instancing objects with Corona Pattern modifier
• Fixed crash when using Corona Bitmap with UDIM pattern containing all 10 tiles in a row
• Fixed crash when stopping IR in some scenes when “Adjust render resolution to VFB” is enabled
• Fixed crash when rendering scene with some 3rd-party lights (e.g. Redshift)
• Fixed crash in TeamRender client reproducible in some specific scenes

Lister Fixes (Cinema 4D)

• Fixed issue in Lister where enabling/disabling displacement for all materials with displacement caused an update of material previews even for materials without displacement
• Fixed issue where animation parameters in Proxy Lister were not enabled when an animated proxy was loaded from within Lister
• Fixed issue with scroll-down lists in the Color picker in the Lister dialog being opened in the wrong position

Other Fixes (Cinema 4D)

• Rendering of takes with multiple cameras now uses tone mapping from the correct camera selected for take
• Fixed Reflectance in material conversion of Cinema 4D materials
• Fixed problem with Corona Bitmap and Corona Proxy not correctly loading paths from C4D Asset browser
• Fixed issue with noise shader not working in bump slot when used inside layer shader
• Fixed issue with include/exclude list in in C4D Lights being ignored
• IR no longer restarts when white balance on active camera changes
• Fixed issue with some Pyro simulations flickering when rendered using Corona Volume Grid
• Fixed issues with incorrect blurring with Corona Bitmap, especially in scenes with large units
• Fixed problem with decals not visible to Mask pass in Multi-pass
• Fixed problem with clouds being sometimes visible in viewport preview of Corona Sky even when set to simple color
• Fixed issue with Displacement override tag not working when original displacement is set to zero
• Fixed incorrect glossiness value for default preset of Physical material when using glossiness mode
• Fixed incorrect value specular value for presets in Physical material when using Disney specular mode
• Fixed issue with incorrectly detected topology changes in deformation motion blur leading to render artifacts
• Fixed rendering artifacts in animated VolumeGrid when used in a scene with geometric motion blur enabled
• Fixed rendering artifacts in pattern modifier caused by aligning pattern bounding box with front plane of some specific pattern geometries
• Fixed issue with Hair materials imported from Corona material library not rendering in masks
• Fixed Material ID in Skin material not working
• Fixed issue with perfect sphere with Corona pattern modifier not rendering correctly in C4D 2024
• Corona help system now also works for Render settings, Multipass, and all shaders (previously, some of these did not open the correct web page)
• Fixed problem with the tone mapping panel in VFB having a different background color than the rest of VFB on macOS
• Fixes in the installation of Chaos Cosmos and Chaos licensing server on macOS

BUG FIXES, SCATTER

Scatter, 3ds Max fixes

• Fixed being able to select instances even though Edit Instances mode is disabled
• Fixed rendering of instances with surface color map for surfaces whose diffuse maps use ObjectXYZ mapping
• Fixed incorrect spline distribution for the rest-pose frame, when “temporal consistency” is enabled

Scatter, Cinema 4D fixes

• Fixed crash in Chaos Scatter when using edge trimming with Forester
• Fixed random scattered object instance rendered at zero position when an open spline was used as a distribution object in Chaos Scatter
• Fixed freeze in Chaos Scatter caused by scattering instances with zero size when collision avoidance is enabled

WHAT’S AHEAD?

We’re still finalizing the features we hope to include in Corona 12. We can give you a very quick overview for now, though!

Improved Compatibility

First will be a focus on compatibility and integration with other Chaos tools. For example, we want to improve Converters to and from Corona, and investigate things such as exporting a Corona scene to Vantage, and working with Cloud Collaboration, to see what is possible.

Migrating the Corona Material Library to Cosmos

We had hoped to release this with Corona 11, but we needed more time to confirm the quality of conversion of every material one-by-one, and to make improvements if any quality issues are found.

We do not plan to wait until Corona 12 to release this though, and a combination of things going live on Cosmos and a possible Corona Hotfix should see this live soon after the start of 2024.

For other details about what we will be working on, please check our 3ds Max and Cinema 4D roadmaps as these will be filled out as more decisions are made!

At this early stage, nothing is set in stone as guaranteed to make it into Corona 12, and neither is this everything we are considering. Don’t forget, you can also check in on the Chaos Scatter roadmap too, to see what’s coming up there.

DOWNLOAD CORONA 11

We care for your scroll wheel, and that’s why we added this Download section here so you don’t have to scroll up to the top of the page. 😉

And don’t forget to register for the live webinar!

That wraps it up for this release!

As the industry rapidly advances, we want to assure you that our commitment remains strong in creating solutions that enhance your capabilities and keep you ahead of the curve. Your ongoing feedback and support have consistently been crucial in defining the essence of Corona.

Looking back, it’s your valuable input, suggestions, and advice that have profoundly shaped the development of Corona 11. For this, everyone on the Corona team would like to express our sincere gratitude.

Thank you!

Tom and the whole Corona Crew