Corona to VRay

[^Lele^]

Nobody wants that corona become a clone of vray. You can leave vray feature gaps "as is". At the first place, the customers want more consistent workflow between two engines at first. And proper converter plays a huge role here.

The converter does a great job, provided the user follows guidelines, which are restrictive compared to freeform scene setup and material creation (f.e.: PBR standards, no custom maps, etc.).

Again, converters job is to convert. It must be smart and intelligent. Of course, it can not 100% be identical, but simply cut out all what is behind unsupported nodes is not a good solution. You can skip unsupported maps, but it is necessary to keep all the main nodes behind them

What would you propose? That we left the non converted nodes in the scene, and then attempted rendering them to possibly crash?

Currently, the converter has the same problematics as TX conversion.

What would the shared issues be?

The goal of conversion is to save the time. When converter destroy the shaders and delete a lot of stuff without any warning messages, then it is simply no reason to use it.

Conversion is *always* lossy, the user needs to be aware they need to keep their original files.
The listener will print out a wholesome set of info, one just needs to bother going through it.
You are right, however: expecting the converter to convert just anything is not reasonable.

Let's look even at latest official converter webpage:
https://docs.chaos.com/display/VMAX/V-Ray+Scene+Converter

What we have here ?
- it has completely chaotic order and look not like in 3ds max. Why ?

A list built over many years, in order of support.
We'll reorder it alphabetically, if it's easier for you to read.

- some materials and a lot of nodes description are simply missing. Why ?

It's a "supported features" list: meaning what isn't there is not supported.

- there is no information about coronaLegacy material. Not all users know that it is pervious CoronaMaterial.

Not all users are planning on converting current Corona version scenes. We'll add the name in brackets.

- unsupported, but listed nodes are converted as vray color. First question of all users is why and what is happening with child nodes? Threre is zero information about it.

Which would these be?

02. There is zero information about current bugs and limitations. You expect that it will work fine, but it is not.

It's always going to be trial and error, you -or anyone else- wouldn't read forty-three pages of technical limitations if we had them written in the docs.
The only suggestion is to be sensible, and stick to minimum common denominator setup, if conversion is of paramount importance.

03. Does vray converter have any version number? how can we know that it got updated?

It's as current as the V-Ray version you're running.
The newer the V-Ray version, the newer the converter.
Minor caveat: some feature may be back-ported to previous V-Ray version.

Sorry, but right now it looks as a technical table of facts without any descriptions, counterintuitive and user unfriendly.

That is the spirit of translation.
A dictionary hardly provides for entertainment, after all.

I hope you can understand my comments and critics, and please don't take it personally.

I think i do understand you, and i definitely do not take it personally (i haven't written the converters that have been giving you issues, either.)

We just want to have a better products and workflows.

On this in particular we are wholly aligned.

Best regards.

Likewise

[Dart_Design]

Hello Lele,

The converter does a great job, provided the user follows guidelines, which are restrictive compared to freeform scene setup and material creation (f.e.: PBR standards, no custom maps, etc.).

yes, if the shaders are completely simple it works of course. But in MOST of the cases the scenes are more complex.

What would you propose? That we left the non converted nodes in the scene, and then attempted rendering them to possibly crash?

If it impossible to SKIP the unsupported nodes and LEAVE all that nodes which was behind of UNSUPPORTED node CONVERTED , then yes, it is better to leave them unconverted.
Because right now vray converter simply ignores and then deletes completely all nodes which was behind of unsupported one. Only in my simple example I have damaged about 30% of shaders and lost the textures, corrections and so on.

What would the shared issues be?

It converts, but there are the same UI/UX issues as in vrayConverter: almost no options, menus and warnings.

A list built over many years, in order of support. We'll reorder it alphabetically, if it's easier for you to read.

Yes, please! Arrange them as they arranged in 3ds max and like the users remembered it via visual memory.

It's a "supported features" list: meaning what isn't there is not supported.

It will be great to have the same table as you have now but 3ds max vise arranged with all the corona mats and nodes. You can simply grey out or leave result empty with note that some things are not supported yet.
Currently converted result of CoronaFrontBack and CoronaRaySwitch is vrayColor.(please, look at my attachments) Sorry, but this not a conversion. Only logical reason I see here is to somehow indicate problematic nodes. But like I said, all the stuff behind this nodes get simply deleted.

Not all users are planning on converting current Corona version scenes. We'll add the name in brackets.

thx !

Which would these be?

Please, look at my attachment. I have lost all the stuff behind of CoronaFrontBack, CoronaRaySwitch nodes.

It's always going to be trial and error, you -or anyone else- wouldn't read forty-three pages of technical limitations if we had them written in the docs.
The only suggestion is to be sensible, and stick to minimum common denominator setup, if conversion is of paramount importance.

It is always good to mix the styles to be understandable for wider range of audience. Look at corona's alternative. They describe it well.
https://support.chaos.com/hc/en-us/a...a-7-and-newer-

It's as current as the V-Ray version you're running.
The newer the V-Ray version, the newer the converter.
Minor caveat: some feature may be back-ported to previous V-Ray version.

Yes, I understand. But vray has endless versions of nightly builds. Because of that it's hard to follow the versions. You need always to check the logs manually if something get improved in converter or not.


Best regards

[Dart_Design]

Hello, lele

today I have tested the conversion of the same objects with maxtools converter. This converter has a tons of settings- nothing is touched, just clicked "convert".

Please, look at the attachments - there is directly comparison between Vray6 converter and maxtools converter.

I hope now you can open support tickets for this.

Best regards.

[^Lele^]

As i said, we will fix the bugs, and try and improve it.
We will *not*, ever, leave unconverted stuff laying around, and we will strive to *not* make one such mess of nodes for mix modes that are photoshop bound.
We have strong opinions, and stronger constraints still, on the way conversions should happen.
Feel free to use what you see best fit to your workflow, we won't take offence.

[Dart_Design]

Hello Lele,

As i said, we will fix the bugs, and try and improve it.

just to clarify to make sure that we understand each other :

01. converter fatal errors :
- Unknown property: "mode" in Map #(mapname): CoronaMultiMap.
- Unknown property: "overrideToneMapping".
- Argument count error: convertFrom_CoronaPhysicalMtl wanted 3, got 2
//you said ok to this

02.technical documentation on https://docs.chaos.com/display/VMAX/...cene+Converter page:
- rearranging the list of corona materials and maps to match 3ds max lists //you said ok to this
- same time, adding all Material types and nodes of corona in the table. If something is currently not supported-> note info in notes column. //not sure if you told something about this
- adding the name of CoronaLegacyMateial //you said ok to this
- current state of CoronaFrontBack,CoronaRaySwitch-> vray color is wrong, It needs to be improved //not sure if you told something about this

03. converter does shader corruption
- if there is something behind of CoronaFrontBack,CoronaRaySwitch (and probably other unsupported nodes), it just got ignored and deleted. But we need this child nodes to be also converted. This is critical issue (shown comparison between current state of vray converter and how maxtools converer works) //not sure if you told something about this

We will *not*, ever, leave unconverted stuff laying around,

no problem, if all issues will be resolved, then its fine.

and we will strive to *not* make one such mess of nodes for mix modes that are photoshop bound.

sorry, but I do not understand what you mean, were there such examples from my side ?

We have strong opinions, and stronger constraints still, on the way conversions should happen.
Feel free to use what you see best fit to your workflow, we won't take offence.

because of that, I made this clarifying post at first.

Best regards.

[^Lele^]

You are correct, yes.

[Dart_Design]

You are correct, yes.

okay, maybe it is a right time to do this?
Please, just take my post number 20 and comment the "//not sure if you told something about this" positions

[baille_thierry]

Hello Dart_Design,

I also have a conversion problem. I bought 3D model 3dsmax+Corana and I want to convert to Vray.
I have a "CoranaMultiMap" error. And the conversion stops.
I only have a Vray license.
Am I more likely that it works with MAXtools?
Thank you.

Best regards.

[baille_thierry]

Finally I bought the MAXTools software.
It's extremely effective !
I was able to convert all the materials and proxies included in the file.

It's a shame that the tool offered by Chaos is not as effective knowing that they own both rendering engines.

[Oleg_Budeanu]

I was sent here from the "VRay Wishlist" forum. I am just really upset that even after Corona was bought - the converter tool sucks. It can do simple conversions, but it just fails on everything else more complex. Corona Legacy materials are converted almost always incorrect. The fog color almost 100% black after conversion. Corona bitmap is not converting.
Guys, really, do some more effort, please. We need this for Vantage, we need this for Chaos Cloud. This tool should be 100% reliable. It should be smart, allowing you to choose what to do with unsupported features. Not just crash. Please, we really need that.

[baille_thierry]

Chaos should buy MAXTools Company ...

[Dart_Design]

baille_thierry sorry for the late reply. I am glad that you found proper solution

lele can you please give the answers to the "//not sure if you told something about this" positions in my post # 20 ?

[theo_vanoostrom]

I can't get it to work. Do you have to have Corona in order to convert a Corona scene to VRay?

[Vizioen]

I can't get it to work. Do you have to have Corona in order to convert a Corona scene to VRay?

Yes. You can install a trial. That will suffice.

[phill_moris]

Finally I bought the MAXTools software.
It's extremely effective !
I was able to convert all the materials and proxies included in the file.

It's a shame that the tool offered by Chaos is not as effective knowing that they own both rendering engines.

Thanks for the tip about the MAXTools software!
Previously, I only worked in corona, and now I decided to switch to vray.
I have a lot of old scenes made in corona that I would like to convert to vray, but unfortunately the built-in V-Ray Scene Converter converts many materials and maps very poorly and some do not convert at all.
Now, thanks to you, I found a really great and effective converter from Maxtools V-RayMax Converter Pro! It's not free, but definitely worth the money.