Corona to vray

[Crayox13]

Sometimes I have to download only Corona models from 3D sky. Since now it's the same company, isn't it a bit weird there is no conversion? I mean I know I can convert it if I get free version of Corona but why is that necessary? I think last time I tried it I had some issues with the activation of Corona of whatever...so it's a whole thing haha

[M.Max]

The need to install corona renderer is something that I need to keep remind my students of very often.
I don't think it is easy to fix tho, adding additional Dll from Corona to vray installer could make things messy quickly when you already have corona installed and you jump from one verson to another.
But of course VRay developers could have smart way to do it to please everyone, so I will keep it to them : ))
Just a small tip, you don't need an active Corona Render license, or a trial license in order for VRay to recognize and convert its materials, so just installing the renderer is enough.

[^Lele^]

The installation is necessary so that the classes of materials and nodes you want converted actually exist, and load with the scene to convert.
It's a dictionary, after all: without the source text, what is there to translate?
As mentioned, no license is needed: the scene built with Corona will stay built with Corona wheter the user has a license to render it or not.

Having two separate products is already optimal for distribution, and doesn't bug everyone else that won't need both and would rather not pay the loading price.
The Corona installer, further, can be extremely lightweight.

[ChuckRT]

Hi I wanted to bring this up, dont know if someone has already ask for this but....
I was wondering if you could integer corona plugins in the installer in order to use the converter without installing Corona itself
I have installed Corona latest daily and it includes some of the plugins, I think those are the necesary files in order to work with Vantage but it could be very practical if you could add them in the install

[hill_lam]

I highly recommend “V-RayMax Converter PRO” from Maxtools, It's cheap and converts very well.
This is a scene converted from Corona to VRay materials, and then rendered with Vantage: Vantage vs Corona - Chaos Forums

[ChuckRT]

Hi hill_lam
Thanks, I use that tool when vray converter cant do the job, its the most complete tool for convert scenes
But in order to use any converter tool, you need to have Corona (or whatever engine) installed, otherwise 3ds Max wont recognize the objects, lights, maps, materials, etc and you cant convert anything
What Im asking is a way that Vray could have all necesary plugins inside the installer, since Corona is part from Chaos and with latest daily Corona now support Vantage export options, and it comes with some vrayplugins so this coul be very benefical for Vray users too
Sometimes you wont be able to download and install it, many users doesnt know about this and this could solve some time

[bardo]

Hi hill_lam
Thanks, I use that tool when vray converter cant do the job, its the most complete tool for convert scenes
But in order to use any converter tool, you need to have Corona (or whatever engine) installed, otherwise 3ds Max wont recognize the objects, lights, maps, materials, etc and you cant convert anything
What Im asking is a way that Vray could have all necesary plugins inside the installer, since Corona is part from Chaos and with latest daily Corona now support Vantage export options, and it comes with some vrayplugins so this coul be very benefical for Vray users too
Sometimes you wont be able to download and install it, many users doesnt know about this and this could solve some time

I think that could be useful and, for people that don't want to install "uselessware", I think that could be added an installer option where you can choose to install the Corona plugins needed to convert scene.
this could be good as, for people that want to install later, will be enough to re launch the installer, modify the installation and set on the "Corona plugins" option.

[^Lele^]

Not for me to decide, ofc, but there is a counter argument:
if one *happens* to have to convert from Corona, one would understand the need to have the source renderer to convert from, if nothing else to check a base render of the provided scene before conversion.

Without Corona installed, after all, the scene would open with a swathe of missing plugin warnings, and there'd be nothing to convert from.

For Corona it's different, as it needs to talk to Vantage *by default*, so it needs the V-Ray Standalone libraries to write vrscene files with.
Those have nothing to do with the V-Ray for Max plugins, and won't work in the standard Max scene as if V-Ray was installed.

OTOH, growing the installer size -even optionally- would mean growing costs for us, and growing complexity for the average user, so the reason to do so has to be solid.
Given we already provide the Corona installer elsewhere on the same site, I can't see the issue, personally.
Perhaps we should be clearer about having Corona installed in the documentation.

[ChuckRT]

Woah, I didnt knew this could be that much problematic.
I think that its gonna need more than to be clear in the Documentation, not much of the people read it, most of the experimented users do and knows about it, but thinking about the new users that doesnt even know whats the meaning of the missing plugin warning, theres gonna need more, like maibe a note in the Vray Converter. Thanks for the answer ^Lele^

[^Lele^]

The stuff i mentioned above is standard Max behaviour, I am unsure it's down to us to educate people on that specifically.
But we'll make sure to put a note about it in the relevant section of the docs.