Topics

1

[Max] Bug Reporting / Linked controllers changing units on clone (Corona 11)

« on: 2023-12-18, 12:25:35 »

I just updated to Corona 11 this morning and found a potential bug that I don't recall having with 10.2.  I often create bezier and linear float controllers when making my materials, so if I need to enable real-world scale or change the UV scaling of all my bitmaps, I only need to change one node to affect them all, or as I have it laid out.  The issue I'm having is when I link the UVWscale to a Point3 XYZ controller and then I make a duplicate of that coronabitmap node so the controller links the two or more nodes together, it reduces the scale values I've input, almost like it's changing the internal scale of the node.

I'm using a System Scale of Metres, Display Units of Metres, 3ds Max 2020.3.6.

As an example, when I have a coronabitmap node set to 4.8m x 2.7m (A) and then I shift+drag to copy the bitmap node (B), those values drop to 0.2083m x 0.3704m. If I make another duplicate (C), the numbers go back to 4.8x2.7. If I duplicate again, it drops.

All in all its not terrible but there are times where I have specific values set and may forget them while making these duplications and setups.

2

[Max] Bug Reporting / SME Very Slow on Corona 10

« on: 2023-06-23, 18:42:32 »

I just updated to v10 for 3ds Max this morning, eager to take advantage of the MappingRand and Triplanar overhaul but it's gotten worse in terms of speed material editor speed. I noticed in the blog release that there were improvements to the material editor speed but it's slower now than it was with 9.2.

Even with Rendering disabled, if I have the MappingRandomizer with a bitmap plugged in, I have to wait tens of seconds between each input for the values.  Even plugging a map into the input or dragging from the output into a slot in another map or material locks up SME. It's not just MappingRand and Triplanar, it's connecting anything in SME that takes time now where it didn't before.

I'm using 3ds 2020.3.8, Corona 10, Windows 10 22H2, 128GB RAM, Quadro P3200 6GB.

3

[Max] Feature Requests / Save Material Rollouts

« on: 2023-02-23, 21:29:58 »

It would be nice if we could rearrange and save the rollouts in the materials. For example, I like to have the Advanced Options above the Basic Options rollout as it's easier to access up top than always scrolling down to access it for one or two changes (usually relating to self-illumination or tail).  I asked on the FB group but as Tom suggested, there likely isn't a way to do that currently.

I have, however, already tried saving out the Physical material to a custom library with the rollout order set the way I want but it resets every time a new material is loaded in SME.

4

[Max] Resolved Bugs / Round Edges Precise doesn't work with Front/Back

« on: 2023-02-01, 16:20:31 »

Hi all,

I recently modelled a waste receptacle with perforations in the metal skin. While I know its fake, to help with avoiding weird visual artifacts from two planes with perforations, I use the corona front/back node together with the bitmap in the opacity slot. It helps give the impression of a thick metal plate without seeing back holes (if that makes sense).

The issue I ran into, however, is that if I have a RoundEdges node in the base bump slot as well, the effect round edges effect doesn't happen when the RE is set to Precise-Same Mtl Only. If I set it to Fast, it works.

It's by no means a make-or-break situation but I was curious if the incompatibility with Precise Mode and Front/Back was by design.

5

[Max] Feature Requests / Instance Duplicate CoronaBitmaps

« on: 2023-01-10, 16:15:07 »

Hi all,

I don't know how many people know of the useful "Instance Duplicate Maps" button but it's a fantastic tool to reduce the number of bitmap nodes in SME. Companies like MaxTree and GlobePlants should take note of how many duplicate bitmaps make up their materials. Similarly with one-off objects and sets from 3dsky, cgmood, etc. You could say you get what you pay for but then you have Evermotion models that have 15 duplicates of every map with different filenames for each model (though the textures are all identical), exacerbating a file management and storage problem.

Anyway, my request would be the same tool (plus an option to follow) but to impact CoronaBitmaps (CB) and could be included in the CoronaConverter script under Bitmap > CB / CB > Bitmap.  The instancize would only work on CB that shares an identical path, transforms, and output settings (much like the native Bitmap Instance).

The added option would to look at if any Output transforms have been applied to the CB node and if all other settings (scale transforms, image path, rotation, etc.) are identical, automatically instance the CB and link an Output node with the correct settings automatically. I'm always amazed at how often artists apply Output transforms to the bitmap/CB nodes themselves rather than adding an Output node to the pipeline.

Cheers!
Tanner

6

[Max] Feature Requests / Clouds Improvements

« on: 2022-10-26, 15:34:37 »

Hi Forum,

I had some thoughts about the clouds feature and while it's a magnificent addition, I believe there is still room for improvement (these three could've been separate posts and I will make it 3 posts if that is preferred):

• A seed modifier for the cirrus formations. I assume that the amount value just increases and decreases a texture's opacity for these clouds, but if they could be procedural, I think that would help with randomness and animations in the future.
• A saturation modifier. Not necessarily colour saturation but water saturation. The darker the clouds, the more water they're holding and the harder for light to pass through. This may increase render times but could offer an easier solution for finding the right kind of overcast or stormy scenarios rather than finding an HDRI with the wrong time of day.
• Lastly, better fullness control of the clouds when amount is set to 1.0. Even at 1.0, its not fully covered with some gaps in the cloudcover. Like a previous point, I assume that with complete/overcast coverage, it would slow down the rendering as everything would be in shadow, so perhaps a warning or a checkbox to enable complete cloud coverage?

Cheers!

7

[Max] Feature Requests / Corona Converter to Complex Fresnel

« on: 2021-11-06, 17:11:38 »

When LegacyMtls are converted but have a Siger ComplexFresnel node in the Reflection Map slot, the Converter should address that, copy the settings to the internal PhysMtl and do away with the Siger node.  Or at least make it a checkbox in the converter window.

And I felt that because this still addresses the Complex IOR settings, I kept this in the same thread. There should be a drop-down menu like the Siger plugin to have say 12 common presets (StainlessSteel, Aluminum, Titanium, Chrome/Chromium, Copper, Bronze, Gold, Cobalt, Iron, Nickel, Silver, Platinum) and then have the custom option available too.  Right now, you need to pre-save a lot of PhysMtls to a library with your chosen Fresnel and to change it, it's more convoluted than just using the free Siger plugin.

8

[Max] Feature Requests / Corona Converter to Disney Specular

« on: 2021-11-06, 15:01:14 »

Unlike a very vocal group of people that have been incredibly against the Dev's push to the PhysMtl, I have developed an admiration for it and the Dev's persistence.  There will always be friction against change but if you really delve into it, the PhysMtl has been a great addition and I love using it more than the LegacyMtl now.

However, that isn't to say further developments can't be made.  Two items that I feel would really benefit the PhysicalMtl moving forward are changes to how the Corona Converter handles it. (Edit: Moved the other "wishes" into their own threads.)

For LegacyMtls that have ANYTHING plugged into the Reflection Map slot, the converter should default the IOR mode to Disney Specular.  Many vendors (Evermotion, Maxtree, etc) still release models with Reflection maps and the convoluted IOR conversion and resulting nodes in SME doesn't produce the correct result compared to its Legacy counterpart.

Anyway, I hope this can gain enough traction to be implemented.

Thanks,
Tanner

9

[Max] I need help! / CMasking_WireColor and Forest Pack

« on: 2019-01-23, 16:18:19 »

Has anyone else had an issue where - regardless of the Forest Objects' wire colour - when I save a "CMasking_WireColor", the forest pack objects are all various shades of yellow.  I can create separate black/white or RGB masks for certain things but I use Forest Pack for a lot in a scene, including trees, grass, shrubs, cars/buses, street furniture, and lighting.  I wish that if I set a forest object's wire colour to pink it would show up pink in the element, or respect the sub-object wire colours you can dictate in the plugin.

Is this a Forest Pack issue or Corona? And is there a workaround aside from creating separate CMasking_Mask for each group of objects?

10

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / CoronaBitmap UV controls like native Bitmap

« on: 2019-01-21, 20:04:05 »

Would it be possible to revert the CoronaBitmap UVW scaling controls to how 3ds' native bitmap controls UVW scale?  There's a lot of instances where I link both the U and V (width and height) scales to the same Bezier Float controller so that I only have to change one value and it will always keep the bitmap square.  Right now if I try to export the UVW scale to a different controller, I'm stuck with Bezier Point3 and it doesn't offer the same level of control.

11

[Max] Feature Requests / RaySwitchMtl Respect LightMtl in 3ds Max or Bloom/Glare multiplier in LightMtl

« on: 2019-01-03, 18:53:53 »

Not sure if this request belongs here or if someone knows a workaround but below is my issue.

In the past as well as currently, there are times where I need a CoronaLightMtl to be super bright to avoid changing lighting and exposure settings everywhere else.  But when this happens, the Bloom/Glare gets decimated by this material.  A workaround I tried to do was to use a RaySwitchMtl where the Global Illumination slot utilized the super bright material but the other three - Reflection, Refraction, Direct - would use a CoronaMtl or LightMtl at a much lower intensity but doesn't emit light.  Right now the Mtl in the GI slot is still acting as if the RaySwitchMtl is not there.

The other option would be a Bloom/Glare multiplier number in the material itself so that you can modify that specific light's bloom output. For example, say I want the Bloom for said light to be 0.25x to reduce it or if you're feeling crazy 8x for really dim lights to still show up in the Bloom pass.

12

[Max] Feature Requests / Light Lister Expanded Features

« on: 2018-12-23, 17:25:08 »

While the inclusion of a light lister with Corona 3 was nice to see, is there any chance of expanding its capabilities similar to ecXimer Dev's LightLister, with controls for not only Lights but CoronaSun, CoronaLightMtls, and Self-Illuminated CoronaMtls as well?

Seeing what lights are instanced or copied would help; if it's driven by a texture map, temperature, or direct colour; if it's driven by a map, can we get a button to select it and change it?; dimension spinners; keep IES shadows sharp checkbox; as well as accessing Include/Exclude lists from the Lister would be nice to have too. 

To make it easier, a direct clone of ecXimer's tool but integrated into Corona would be a good start.

13

[Max] Resolved Bugs / Passes total incorrect Corona 3

« on: 2018-11-30, 13:31:26 »

Has anyone else had an issue with Corona 3 where the Passes Total value is always lower or zero than actually calculated (especially when looking at the render stamp)?  I've been doing renderings this week for a client but it fails to recognize the main workstation passes properly but reads DR normally.  This happens when using DR only so far and regardless if it was submitted to backburner or activated normally in 3ds itself.

Thanks,
Tanner

14

[Max] I need help! / "lockEdge" in CoronaRoundEdges

« on: 2018-07-26, 15:48:03 »

Does anyone else have this issue where whenever I load the material editor, I get this error: '-- Unknown property: "lockEdge" in RE/Fast:CoronaRoundEdges'

"RE/Fast" is map preset I have saved with Fast toggled on and its used in countless saved materials.  This didn't happen before upgrading to Corona 2, and I recently reinstalled 3ds Max and all of my plugins after a system failure.

Does anyone know why this error happens? And is there a solution short of replacing the RoundEdges map in every saved material preset?

15

[Max] I need help! / Masking IOR for 2 different values in one CoronaMtl

« on: 2016-05-02, 19:11:31 »

Hi everyone,

I've created a model originally with mental ray and have since converted it for Corona.  Its a simpler model but with a complex series of diffuse, spec, gloss, opacity, bump, and emmisive maps.  There are parts that I would like to have an IOR value of 2.2 and other parts (metal, mirrors, highly reflective strips) to be 20.0 or more.  I've created a simple black and white mask to separate the different elements and plugged it into the mask slot of a mix map.  Using 2 falloff maps set to Fresnel (2.2 and 20.0), I tried plugging them into the two layer slots but 2.2 from a falloff map doesn't create the same effect as 2.2 using CoronaMtl's native value (Fresnel 20 works but not as well as the native 20.0 value).  Is there a way around this using a mask?  I can't separate elements of the model for two different IOR's and if it comes to that then I'll just stick to 2.2 across the whole model.

Thanks for any help with this!
Tanner