Wednesday, November 4th, 2015 Posted by Jim Thacker

Corona Renderer 1.3 for 3ds Max ships

Render Legion has released Corona Renderer 1.3 for 3ds Max, described as the biggest update to the popular CPU-based production render engine since the original 1.0 release.

The update adds an animated proxy system, a new multi-layered material, and support for vector displacement.

New layered material, improved proxies, anisotropy and displacement
The most universal of the new features is probably the new Layered material, which works like 3ds Max’s native Blend material, but combines multiple sub-materials rather than just two, enabling complex weathering effects

Existing systems also get major updates. Corona’s .cproxy format now supports animated as well as static proxies; and the displacement mapping system introduced in version 1.2 now supports vector displacement.

In addition, anisotropy is now in object space by default, which should mean highlights rotate correctly when rotating anisotropic surfaces like brushed metal; although UVW space can be enabled manually.

Finer control over interactive and final-quality renders
There are a number of rendering improvements, including new options to exclude objects by Object ID, masks, or according to visibility in the viewport. Excluded objects don’t render directly, but do show up in reflections.

The new system provides a quick way to fine-tune individual elements in a scene, and can also render isolated objects against a black background for use in compositing.

In addition, antialiasing can now be set individually for render elements; while interactive rendering now supports 3ds Max’s Region and Blowup rendering modes, and respects the aspect ratio selected.

Improved scattering and multi-threaded rendering
The Corona Scatter instancing system has also been updated, to generate tighter, more realistic-looking packing when Avoid Collisions is selected; and there are a number of smaller updates, listed at the link below.

Finally, if you’re running a very powerful system, Corona now natively supports over 64 threads.

Pricing and availability
Corona Renderer 1.3 for 3ds Max is available for 64-bit 3ds Max 2011 and above, running on Windows Vista and above. Users have a choice between a perpetual ‘Box’ licence and a ‘Fair SaaS’ rental model.

A Box licence costs €449 (around $490). It’s node-locked, and includes three fixed render nodes. Maintenance, which provides access to both major updates and monthly builds, costs a further €99 ($110) a year.

A Fair SaaS rental is a floating licence, and costs between €24.99 and €44.99 a month ($27-49) for between three and ten accompanying floating render nodes. It includes access to updates and monthly builds.

Render Legion is also currently offering a 10% discount to anyone buying issue 202 of 3D World, by means of a discount code printed in its ad in the magazine. You can buy print or digital copies here.

Read a full list of features in Corona Renderer 1.3 on Render Legion’s blog