Corona Renderer delivers high quality, physically-based shading in production rendering. All its features are tightly integrated into Autodesk 3ds Max.
Adjust color and intensity of lights, during and after rendering
Single–click set up (by instances, groups or individual lights, with memory requirements reported)
Supports multiple suns and multiple environments for different times of day from one render
Manual set up if required
Controlled from the VFB
Results can be pushed to the scene
Can be used for anything from subtle adjustments, to turning day into night, without re–rendering
Each light select pass can be denoised independently (this can be enabled during automatic setup)
LightMix result can be saved to a CXR file and then adjusted in the Corona Image Editor, or saved for compositing in other post–processing software
Lights can be selected in the scene from the LightMix tab
Corona Virtual Frame Buffer
An optional, feature–rich replacement of the 3ds Max native VFB
Integrated Interactive LightMix, allows changing color and intensity of lights without re–rendering
Integrated lens effects effects offering a high degree of realism and creativity for bloom & glare effects affected by lens scratches, dirt, etc.
Integrated post–production effects, including vignette, sharpening/blurring, histogram, curves, etc.
Integrated color mapping controls, including exposure, filmic tone mapping, LUTs, green–magenta tint, etc.
Save and load post–processing configurations, and exchange those to and from the Corona Image Editor and Corona Cameras
Save and load LightMix configurations, and exchange those to and from the Corona Image Editor
Pick objects directly in the VFB
Set DOF focus point directly in the VFB (for Corona Cameras)
VFB History and Comparison, with the ability to toggle between using the current post–processing, or the post–processing used at the time of saving the image to history
Statistics: render time, remaining time, performance, polycount, tooltip explanations…
Displaying/saving render elements
Pixel color probe on right mouse button
Controls: start render/stop render, resume last render, resume rendering from file, save/clone/copy image, …
Optional stamp with scene info at the bottom of rendered image
Customizable information in the title bar
Interactive and Multiple Render Regions
Render Regions scale with the VFB, are saved with the 3ds Max scene file, and can be globally enabled or disabled
Fuzzy render regions
Zoom buttons for use when accessing a machine remotely
Post–processing effects
Controlled from render settings, Corona Camera, or VFB
All settings are adjustable during/after rendering
Image updated in real time
Bloom & Glare
Both controlled independently
Threshold
Color intensity & shift to adjust colors
Glare ray count, blurriness and rotation
Lens Effects for scratches, dirt, etc.
Camera Effects
High quality (raytraced) depth of field and motion blur effects
Photographic controls (optional): shutter speed + ISO + f–stop
Fisheye lens effects
Bokeh shape
Circular
N–gonal (bladed aperture)
Custom image
Center Bias
Vignetting
Anisotropy
Multi–segment (curved) motion blur
3ds Max 2016 Physical Camera support
Virtual Reality Camera
CoronaCameraMod
Legacy Camera object modifier for backwards compatibility
Allows setting Corona exposure/DOF/motion blur/bloom & glare/color mapping on any camera
Lights
CoronaSun
Standalone object or part of 3ds Max daylight assembly
Uses the New Improved model of emission, with option to use the old (pre-v6) Hošek & Wilkie model for legacy scenes
Non–physical settings: disabling shadows, includes/excludes, disabling visibility in reflections, preventing black appearance for lights with directionality
Corona Light Material
Turns any object into a light
No render time differences compared to using a CoronaLight
Adaptive displacement, with low memory requirements
All displacement features and settings that are available in CoronaMaterial
Advanced “Render Selected”
Render mask by an include list, object ID, or viewport selection
Improved Color Picker
Can be set to replace default 3ds Max color picker
sRGB mode for ease of use with Photoshop and similar; can be disabled for a linear workflow
Perceptually uniform color gradients in both modes
Color selection by Temperature
Adjustable averaging of neighboring pixels
Inverse color picker allows setting of white balance in combination with the Color Tint parameter in the VFB
Error reporting with online help
Error messages linked to a support page with more info and possible solutions
Automatic selection of the offending object
Automatic correction of certain errors
Error message forwarding from render slaves in DR
Corona Converter
One–click solution to convert materials, lights, and maps from other renderers
Improved material editor scene
More representative previews
Override material option (with excludes/includes, and options to preserve displacement, light materials, glass materials, portals, and unsupported materials)
Comprehensive support for file formats
CoronaBitmap supports Kodak Cineon, SGI file, RLA image file, Adobe PSD Reader, and DDS image file formats, as well as all the more common formats (JPG, PNG, etc.)
CoronaVFB supports saving to the most common formats, including .TIF with specified output color depth, alpha channel, etc.
Save and resume
Ability to save VFB and resume rendering later (even on a different computer)
Render only elements
Computes render elements in seconds without doing shading
Autosave
Optionally saving the VFB every few minutes and after rendering. Rendering can be resumed from these backups
Bundled LUTs
Over 70 LUTs included with the install
Bundled IES profiles
Sample IES files included
UI supports HiDPI monitors
Interactive rendering
100% the same render engine as for the final frame
All final frame rendering features supported, including Interactive LightMix, post–production effects such as bloom & glare, LUTs, etc.
NVIDIA AI GPU–based denoising, for denoising during Interactive Rendering (requires a compatible NVIDIA GPU)
Pick objects directly in the docked viewport
Set DOF focus point directly in the docked viewport (for Corona Cameras)
Image upscaling factor to allow rendering to a smaller resolution and upscaling (ideal for HighDPI displays)
While zooming–in in the IR, rendering is focused on visible area only
Subsampling lowers initial resolution at the beginning of rendering, for virtually real–time performance
Blue Noise Dithering to give visually pleasing results in the first few passes, for quick assessment of a scene when using Interactive Rendering
Results shown in 3ds Max viewport or Corona VFB
Corona Image Editor
Runs outside of any 3D software
All the familiar controls from the Corona VFB
Adjust lighting in the renderer image using the full range of LightMix controls (on Corona EXRs)
Apply Denoising (on Corona EXRs)
Apply all the Corona post–processing options (on any EXR)
Save and load post–processing configurations, and exchange those to and from the Corona VFB and Corona Cameras
Save and load LightMix configurations, and exchange those to and from the Corona VFB
Bloom & Glare virtual element which can be viewed or saved separately
Save to EXR, PNG, JPG and BMP
Exposure and Color mapping
Controlled from render settings, Corona Camera, or VFB
All settings are adjustable during/after rendering
Image updated in real time
Two exposure control modes
Photographic exposure: shutter speed + ISO + f–stop
Simple exposure: single EV value
Additional settings
Contrast
Highlight compression
Filmic Highlights
Filmic Shadows
Color tint
Saturation
White balance
Green–magenta tint
LUT with opacity adjustment
Custom curves for overall brightness, and individual RGB
Sharpening/Blurring (both can be used at the same time, to reduce “pixel perfect” noise)
Distributed rendering
Slaves can join or quit the render session after it has started
Auto discovery of slaves on local network
Auto sending of assets to all machines (only if required)
Pass, Time and Noise Level limits can be used
Can be enabled / disabled during rendering
Corona Camera
Dedicated Corona camera offering all standard camera controls plus all Corona controls such as exposure, DOF, motion blur, LUTs etc.
Set focus distance using a static or animated target object
Per–camera object includes / excludes
Customizable viewport appearance
Save and load post–processing configurations, and exchange those to and from the Corona VFB and Corona Cameras
Tone mapping parameters respond immediately in Interactive Rendering without restarts
Render to fisheye, orthographic, perspective, spherical, cylindrical or cubemap projections
Geometry
Corona Proxy
Cross–platform proxy format: .cgeo
Faster save/load/display of large scenes
Compressed format to save disk space
Supports animated meshes
CoronaScatter
Fast and simple scattering tool
Supports multiple distribution and scattered objects
Supports scattering on splines
Supports scattering in regular patterns
Random translation/rotation/scaling of instances, with optional discrete stepped values
Different modes for using maps to control scatter scale, including RGB mode to define x, y and z scaling independently in one map
Supports aligning instances to local normal
Supports millions of instances
Textured density, scale
Vertex paint support
Optionally avoids objects intersections, with tweakable inter–object spacing
Fast generation and viewport preview using multiple threads
Included Unified Lister plugin to easily access and control all scatters in a scene
CoronaVolumeGrid
Allows loading and rendering of OpenVDB files
Useful for importing simulations such as clouds, smoke, fire, liquids, etc.
Corona Official Toolbar
Provides one–click access to many Corona Renderer functions, such as creating a Corona Camera from the current perspective view, opening the VFB, opening the Material Library, creating Corona Scatters, Proxies and Lights, etc.
Environment
Drag and drop any texture into the 3ds Max environment slot
No dome object required
Adaptive Environment Sampler ensures fast and accurate sampling of HDRI and SKy environments, without the need for portals
Importance sampling speeds up rendering
Direct/Reflect/Refract overrides
Global material (for volumetric effects – fog)
Texmaps
CoronaAO
Ambient occlusion shader
Supports textures
Includes/Excludes
Additional controls: spread, directionality, inverted mode, etc.
CoronaDistance
Gradient based on distance to other objects
Supports textures
List of objects to calculate distance from
Can be used in Corona Scatter density map to control placement of objects
Wide range of other creative uses, e.g. ripples on water around objects, controlling light intensity and color, etc.
Supports all geometry including Corona Proxy, Corona Scatter, and 3ds Max particle objects
Works as an input to bump mapping
CoronaFrontBack
Shows different colors/texmaps on front/back sides of a material
CoronaColorCorrect
Adjust brightness, saturation, etc. of a texture map (and still have it affected by VFB post–processing)
Unique tone mapping capabilities (not present on other output nodes), including LUTs, gamma, curves, etc.
Mode available so that one CoronaColorCorrect controls multiple other CoronaColorCorrects, allowing you to apply the
same adjustments to multiple maps and adjust those from one location
CoronaTonemapControl
Specify whether a texture map should be affected by VFB Exposure, Tone Mapping, etc.
CoronaOutput
Legacy only, used in scenes created before Corona Renderer 2. Replaced by CoronaColorCorrect and CoronaTonemapControl
CoronaMix
Advanced mix shader
Texture or color inputs, different blending modes
Works as an input to bump mapping
CoronaRaySwitch
Same as RaySwitch material, but on texmap instead of material level
CoronaSky
Implements latest Hošek & Wilkie realistic sky model
Allows changing ground color and turbidity
CoronaColor
Allows to input single constant color using a color picker
HDR numerical values, Kelvin temperature, web hex input
CoronaWire
Wire shader
Allows to set edge/vertex size in world or screen coordinates
Falloff between Base and Edges/Vertices color
Can be used as an input to bump mapping
CoronaBitmap
Works similarly to 3ds Max bitmap, but faster (10–20%)
Spherical, Dome, Cross and Mirrorball modes for use as an Environment
Rotation via degrees or U Offset (for environments)
CoronaRoundEdge
Rounded corners shader
Works as an input to bump mapping and other material slots
Fast mode for faster rendering and no noise, with no parameters needed
Precise mode for blending across other objects / elements / materials
CoronaMultiMap
Randomly assigns colors/maps to instances or mesh elements
Frequency spinners
Hue and Gamma randomization
Features advanced blending modes
Global blur multiplier to affect all multimaps elements
Supports up to 25 inputs directly, with another 75 accessible via MAXScript
Can be used with just one input, applying gamma and hue randomization
CoronaTriplanar
Apply textures without explicit UV mapping, with no stretching or seams thanks to the in–built blending
CoronaSelect
Store multiple maps in a material, and select between them via radio buttons
Radio buttons can be keyframed, and accessed via MAXScript
CoronaNormal
Automatic detection of incorrect input gamma
CoronaBumpConverter
Converts RGB maps to be compatible with the Bump channel (e.g. 3ds Max native Marble, Wood, ColorCorrect, etc.)
CoronaUvwRandomizer
Apply random offset / rotation / scale to textures and maps by instance, material id, etc.
Options to allow randomization of seamless textures, e.g. to avoid visibly obvious tiling
CoronaUserProperty
Assign a numeric value to a node, for use with MAXScript
Render Elements
Arbitrary number of render elements
Optional render elements anti–aliasing
Optional render elements Denoising (where relevant)