Corona Renderer 1.1 for 3ds Max ships

Corona Renderer 1.1 for 3ds Max overhauls the render engine’s support for 3ds Max’s native Particle Flow system, enabling particles to be used to scatter instances across a landscape, as in the image above.

Render Legion has released Corona Renderer 1.1 for 3ds Max, the first update to the popular CPU-based biased/unbiased render engine since its commercial release in February.

Improved render speed and particle handling
The update adds a new Bitmap shader that “works similarly to 3ds Max, but faster”. Converting native 3ds Max materials is a one-click process for an entire scene, and Render Legion claims speed boosts of 9-30%.

Support for 3ds Max’s native Particle Flow toolset has also been reworked, meaning that particle systems can be used to scatter instances within Corona, and that parsing times for scenes are reduced.

Other than that, it’s mainly bugfixes and smaller changes, including adapting the UI to HiDPI displays.

Pricing and availability
Corona Renderer 1.1 for 3ds Max is available for 3ds Max 2011+, on Windows Vista and above. New perpetual licences start at €449 (around $510); rental starts at €24.99/month. The update is free to users on contracts.

Read a full list of new features in Corona Renderer 1.1 for 3ds Max