Corona Renderer delivers high quality, physically-based shading in production rendering. All its features are tightly integrated into Autodesk 3ds Max.
Bidir/VCM: experimental unbiased engine with faster/more precise caustics
Proudly CPU based
Interactive LightMix
Adjust color and intensity of lights, during and after rendering
Supports multiple suns and multiple environments (Corona Sky objects) for different times of day from one render
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
Can select the light objects in a scene for a particular LightSelect layer, directly from the LightMix tab in the VFB
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
Corona Virtual Frame Buffer
An optional, feature–rich replacement of the Cinema 4D Picture Viewer
Can be set to use the same color space as the native Cinema 4D Picture Viewer
Integrated Interactive LightMix, allows changing color and intensity of lights without re–rendering
Integrated lens 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.
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 Multi–Pass layers
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
Fuzzy render regions
Zoom buttons for use when accessing a machine remotely
Corona Node Material Editor
Global/World view of shaders and materials and how they are connected
Use views to organize materials and shaders by type, category, etc.
Handles all Corona and most Cinema 4D shaders and materials; also works with Substance shaders
Connect one shader to any number of channels, or materials
Works with native Cinema 4D Layer shader
Switch at any time between the Corona Node Material Editor, or the native Cinema 4D editor
Select by selection box
CTRL + Drag to copy selected nodes
Option to turn Corona Shared Shaders into regular shaders on saving the scene
Indepedent of Cinema 4D version – works in all versions of Cinema 4D supported by Corona Renderer (R14-R23)
Initial implementation of OpenGL previews in the Cinema 4D viewport
Misc
2.5D Displacement
New default displacement calculation method, which saves significant memory and parsing times
Material and light conversion
Cinema 4D lights and basic materials are rendered out–of–the–box using implicit conversion inside Corona without user interaction
Basic implicit support for V–Ray Advanced, Standard, Displacement and 2–Sided materials
Basic implicit support for V–Ray Physical Sun + Sky light and Area lights
Other V–Ray lights which use Cinema 4D objects as their base are rendered using the Cinema 4D light's properties
Explicit user–initiated conversion, which converts the supported Cinema 4D materials, V–Ray lights and V–Ray materials to their Corona counterparts to allow further tweaking and changes in Corona
Hair support
Cinema 4D native Hair Object
Cinema 4D native Hair Material in the Cinema 4D Hair Tag
Corona Hair Material can be used in addition to Cinema 4D Hair Material for realistic hair appearance
Advanced “Render Selected”
Render mask by an include/exclude list or viewport selection
Improved material editor scene
More representative previews
Stacked materials work as expected with displacement
Override material option (with excludes/includes for objects and/or materials, option to preserve displacement, and works with complex generators e.g. Extrude)
Save and resume
Ability to save VFB and resume rendering later (even on a different computer)
Render only masks
Computes render masks 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, and use the standard Cinema 4D transform widgets on them
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 Corona VFB or docked viewport
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 LightMix and post–processing configurations, and exchange those to and from the Corona VFB
Bloom & Glare virtual element which can be viewed or saved separately
Save up to eleven formats (EXR, PNG, JPG, BMP …)
Corona Camera
Corona Camera is a tag allowing to use all the standard Cinema 4D camera controls plus all Corona controls such as exposure, DOF, LUTs etc.
Focus distance can be set using the native Cinema 4D Focus Object functionality
Tone mapping parameters respond immediately in Interactive Rendering without restarts
Render to fisheye, orthographic, perspective, spherical, cylindrical or cubemap projections
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
Virtual Reality Camera
Post–processing effects
Controlled from render settings, Corona Camera, VFB or Picture Viewer
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.
Exposure and Color mapping
Controlled from render settings, Corona Camera, VFB or Picture Viewer
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)
Shaders
Corona Distance Shader
Gradient based on distance to other objects
Supports textures
List of objects to calculate distance from
Can be used with Cinema 4D Effectors to control placement of scattered objects
Wide range of other creative uses, e.g. ripples on water around objects, controlling light intensity and color, etc.
Supports splines
Works as an input to bump mapping, displacement, etc.
Corona Multi Shader
Randomly assigns colors/shaders to instances or mesh elements
Frequency spinners
Hue and Gamma randomization
Features advanced blending modes
Global blur multiplier to affect all multi shader elements
Supports up to 100 inputs
Can be used with just one input, applying gamma and hue randomization
Corona UVW Randomizer
Apply random offset / rotation / scale to shaders by instance, material id, etc.
Options to allow randomization of seamless textures, e.g. to avoid visibly obvious tiling
Corona Select Shader
Store multiple shaders, and select between them via radio buttons
Current Index paramater can be keyframed
Corona Sky
Implements New Improved model as well as older (pre-v6) Hošek & Wilkie model of emission
Allows changing ground color and turbidity
Corona AO
Ambient occlusion shader
Supports textures
Includes/Excludes
Additional controls: spread, directionality, inverted mode, etc.
Cinema 4D Normal Direction
This supported native Cinema 4D shader fully replaces the CoronaFrontBack texmap from the 3ds Max version
Corona Color Correct
Adjust brightness, saturation, etc. of a shader (and still have it affected by VFB post–processing)
Tone mapping using LUT files
Cinema 4D Filter Shader is supported and can be used as an equivalent for other tone mapping capabilities such as gamma, curves, etc.
Corona Tonemap Control
Specify whether a shader should be affected by VFB Exposure, Tone Mapping, etc.
Corona Color Mix
Adds the Cinema 4D native color mixing settings to the shaders which normally don't have them
Corona Ray Switch
Same as RaySwitch material, but on shader instead of material level
Cinema 4D Color
This supported native Cinema 4D shader fully replaces the 3ds Max version's CoronaColor texmap
Corona Wire
Wire shader
Allows to set edge/vertex size in world or screen coordinates
Can be used as an input to bump mapping
Corona Bitmap
UV Tiling, Crop / Placement, Channel outputs
Corona RoundEdges
Rounded corners shader
Works as an input to bump mapping and other material slots
Cinema 4D Variation
This supported native Cinema 4D shader fully replaces the CoronaMultiMap known from the 3ds Max version
Corona Triplanar
Apply shaders without explicit UV mapping, with no stretching or seams thanks to the in–built blending
Corona Normal
Automatic correction of incorrect input gamma
Environment
Use a Corona Sky Object, or drag and drop a Corona Light Material with any shader or an environment map into the Scene environment slot in the Scene environment tab in Render Settings
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 in Render Settings
Global volume material (for volumetric effects – fog)
Geometry
Corona Proxy
Cross–platform proxy format: .cgeo
Faster save/load/display of large scenes
Compressed format to save disk space
Supports animated meshes
Lights
Corona Sun
Standalone object that can be combined with the Corona Sky Object for complete realistic outdoor lighting
Uses the New Improved model of emission, with option to use the old (pre-v6) Hošek & Wilkie model for legacy scenes
Can be combined with Corona Sun for complete realistic outdoor lighting
Multiple skies are supported, and each one can be paired with specific Corona Suns, for use in LightMix
Can be simple color, physical, or HDRI
New Improved model gives more accurate results, and supports dawn/twilight with the Corona Sun as low as -2.85 degrees (approximately 5.4 sun diameters) below the horizon
Also supports Hošek & Wilkie and Rawa-fake models of emission
Allows changing ground color and turbidity
In-built controls for Visible directly, in reflections, etc.
Corona Sky Tag (for compatibility only)
Tag that can be applied onto Cinema 4D Sky Object for procedural sky light emission
For compatibility with old scenes only; the Corona Sky Object should be used in Corona Renderer 5 and newer
Corona Light
Shapes: sphere, rectangle, disk, cylinder, cube
IES profiles
Directionality
Physical units
Color (RGB input, Kelvin temperature)
Non–physical settings: 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 Corona Light
Cinema 4D native lights
Distributed rendering
Support for Cinema 4D Team Render of both animations and single frame
Pass, Time and Noise Level limits can be used
VR
Corona Camera can render to spherical or cubemap format, supporting a wide range of VR apps
Easy set up, with default settings handling 99% of cases