Chaos Corona for 3ds Max

Overview

Corona's reputation was built on a simple proposition: fewer settings, better defaults, and an interactive render that updates while you work. Most renderers give you a hundred controls and the knowledge that ninety of them will make the image worse. This one gives you a handful that matter and spends its engineering on making the default result correct, which for architectural visualisation is exactly the right trade.

This build is the full plug-in for 3ds Max with the license already handled, the complete material library installed locally, and the standalone image editor included. It integrates into the host as a renderer with its own materials, lights, cameras and proxy system, and it coexists with other renderers in the same installation.

Interactive rendering as the working method

The interactive render sits in a window and updates continuously as you move objects, change materials or adjust lights, refining progressively rather than restarting. In practice this changes how you work: lighting and material decisions are made by looking at the actual result instead of by imagining it and waiting. The interactive session can render in the viewport or in a separate window on a second monitor.

Progressive refinement means there is no fixed render time. The image is viewable immediately and keeps improving, and you stop when it looks good enough. That removes the entire category of settings other renderers use to guess how long the picture needs, which is where most of the simplicity comes from.

Materials, lighting and the library

The physical material covers metals, dielectrics, glass, liquids, coated surfaces, translucency and emission in one node, with layered clear coat and sheen for the surfaces that need them. The included library holds several hundred ready materials that are correct rather than approximate, which is worth more than the same number of arbitrary presets.

Lighting uses physical units throughout, with the sun and sky model, image based environment lighting, and light objects that can be any geometry. The light mix feature renders every light source into a separate channel so relative intensities and colours can be changed after the render finishes, without rendering again. That single feature saves more time on a real project than anything else in the program.

Output, denoising and post work

Denoising is available in several strengths, and the machine learning denoiser produces a usable image from a very short render, which makes draft output nearly instant. Full render elements are available for compositing, and the light mix channels can be exported alongside.

The bundled image editor opens the render with its full data intact, so exposure, white balance, bloom, glare, curves, tone mapping and the light mix can all be adjusted afterwards. Interior and exterior work benefits from this enormously, since the decision about how bright a lamp should be is made looking at the finished picture rather than before starting.

What you get

• Interactive progressive rendering that updates while you work
• Physical material covering metal, glass, liquid, coating, translucency and emission
• Several hundred physically correct library materials installed locally
• Physical units throughout with sun, sky and image based environment lighting
• Light mix rendering every source to a separate adjustable channel
• Machine learning denoising for near instant draft output
• Full render element set for compositing
• Bundled image editor with full data tone mapping and post adjustment
• Proxy system for very high polygon scenes

Inside the archive

• Corona plug-in installer for 3ds Max
• Complete material library, installed locally
• Standalone image editor
• Sample scenes demonstrating light mix and interior lighting
• Install notes covering host version compatibility

System requirements

Installing it

1. Close 3ds Max completely before starting.
2. Unpack the archive and run the plug-in installer as administrator.
3. Let it detect the host version. Installing against an unsupported host is refused rather than half completed.
4. Install the material library when prompted, since it is what makes the first hour productive.
5. Open the host, set Corona as the active renderer and start an interactive session on a sample scene.

Mirrors

Release history

Questions about this release

Comments

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