Sneak peek: Corona Renderer 4 for 3ds Max
Render Legion has posted a preview video showing the new caustics system and improved denoising in Corona Renderer 4 for 3ds Max, the next major update to the renderer, along with object picking in the VFB.
The release is currently due to ship in May 2019.
Support for Intel’s CPU-based render denoiser
One interesting new feature in Corona Renderer 4 is Intel’s CPU-based Open Image Denoise render denoising system, the source code for which was released in January.
It isn’t fast enough to use in interactive renders, but it is much faster than Corona’s native High Quality denoiser: over 5x faster in the interior scene shown in the demo.
Render Legion describes it as an alternative to Nvidia’s GPU-based OptiX denoiser for users who don’t have Nvidia GPUs, or for scenes too large to fit into GPU memory.
Other changes to denoising include the option to denoise the Rest (unassigned) light select layer, and to toggle denoising on and off in the Corona Image Editor, making it easier to assess the results.
New Pick mode in the VFB and improved caustics
The video also shows a new Pick mode for the Virtual Frame Buffer (VFB), enabling users to select objects or to set them as focal points for renders.
Similar functionality has been added to the Corona Interactive rendering viewport.
Corona’s handling of caustics has also been updated, making set-up a one-click process rather than the rather fiddly current workflow, and improving the quality of the rendered images.
Other upcoming features not shown in the video but listed on Render Legion’s online roadmap include a new “grounds-up” PBR material, new fisheye camera and new edge texture, and improvements to LightMix.
Pricing and system requirements
Corona Renderer 4 for 3ds Max is due to ship at Render Legion parent company Chaos Group’s Total Chaos conference in May 2019. Render Legion hasn’t announced any pricing changes.
The current version, Corona Renderer 3 for 3ds Max, is available for 64-bit 3ds Max 2013+ on Windows 7+.
Users have a choice between a perpetual ‘Box’ licence, which costs €449 (around $510), and a ‘Fair SaaS’ rental model, which costs between €24.99 and €44.99 a month ($28-50). You can find more details here.
See a full list of upcoming features in Corona Renderer for 3ds Max in the online roadmap