Corona Renderer dev team post first Cinema 4D build
The Corona Renderer development team have released the first public alpha build of the software for Cinema 4D. The alpha is not feature-limited or watermarked, and is free for commercial use.
Previously available as a standalone app and 3ds Max plugin, Corona is a fast, production-capable CPU-based biased/unbiased renderer (by default, it’s ‘very slightly biased’). A Maya version is also in development.
Basic support for native C4D lights and materials
The Cinema 4D version is still a work in progress, but a reasonable number of features are supported, including instancing and “basic” or “experimental” support for Cinema 4D’s native materials and lights.
There’s also an option to use C4D sky textures with the Corona Sky system.
No Mac version yet
The announcement has prompted a lot of interesting comments in the release thread (link below) debating the merits of Corona as an alternative to VRAYforC4D.
The biggest stumbling block for many Cinema users will be the lack of a Mac version: the dev team say that they’re working on an OS X release, but that the “really early alphas” will be Windows-only.
Pricing and availability
The first alpha build of Corona Renderer for Cinema 4D is available now, and remains free for commercial use until 31 December 2014. As noted above, it’s Windows-only.
We’re told by a colleague who spoke to the developers last week that pricing for the full version of Corona Renderer will be announced at Academy Days in Venice next month, with a release due by the end of the year.
Read a full list of features in Corona Renderer for Cinema 4D Alpha 1
(Developers’ original blog post: includes download link and a user comment thread)