Chaos Group presented the new version of a popular CPU-based rendering engine Corona 9. This release adds new tools that have already been available to V-Ray users as well as general quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes.
Procedural clouds are now available to use with Corona Sun and Sky; previously, they only worked with an existing V-Ray installation. Corona Clouds is an alternative to keeping a large HDRI maps library. It is possible to create fully animatable environments for any weather scenario where the sky and clouds change color depending on the position of the sun. There are also options for adding contrails and turning off the shadows for clouds.
Corona Pattern introduces a new way of creating detailed surfaces. First introduced in V-Ray, Pattern is similar to a scatter tool: it takes base geometry and covers the surface with it. This is a less resource-consuming way of generating complex geometry than instances or even high-resolution textures. Examples of objects that can be created with Corona Pattern are fabrics, chains, fences, shingles, and so much more.
Smaller changes have been made to existing tools. Corona Scatter now supports edge trimming, which is useful for lawn edges and similar tasks. The option is crucial for scattering clumps of objects as opposed to singular objects (the former is a recommended way of using Corona Scatter). A new option was added to Corona Performance settings: “Automated out-of-core textures.” With this enabled, textures loaded through Corona Bitmap are allocated to the hard drive instead of RAM, which can save up to 70% of memory consumption in complex scenes. Motion Blur can now be finely tuned to replicate the way real camera shutters take time to close and open, influencing the final result.
A new licensing option has been added, called Premium subscription. With this, in addition to standard Corona tools, access to three new services is included. First is Corona Scans, a library of complex materials created from the 3D scanning of real-life objects. Second is Chaos Player, a light tool for combining sequences of frames into video files; it offers a range of tools for color grading and compositing, as well as basic editing. Finally, Premium subscription gives access to Chaos Phoenix, a powerful system for liquids and fire simulations.
A full list of new features is available in Chaos Corona 9 release blog. At Megarender, we’ve started testing the new version and will roll out Corona 9 support once we’ve made sure it is stable. You can find the list of supported software on our Corona render farm page. If you have any questions, reach out in the chat at the bottom right corner of the page.
