Chaos Brings Real-Time Ray Tracing to Corona 12 Users

Corona-to-Vantage Export Produces Renders in Seconds; Revamped Virtual Frame Buffer to Further Accelerate Archviz Process

KARLSRUHE, Germany — July 2, 2024 — Today, Chaos launches Corona 12, bringing the power of real-time GPU rendering to projects built in the most intuitive renderer in archviz. With a new connection to Chaos Vantage, designers can now explore, render and animate scenes in real time, opening up a much faster workflow.

With powerful GPUs becoming commonplace, archviz artists and designers are benefiting from real-time technology like never before. Now, Corona users can access it with a push of a button, bringing a new range of animation, real-time ray tracing and GPU rendering tools to their visualization projects. Whether used for rapid rendering or wider scene exploration, Vantage can easily spark ideas that users can continue crafting with full photorealism in Corona.

“Speed and quality should always go hand in hand, especially in the visualization world where compelling visualizations play a big role in winning people over,” said Phillip Miller, Vice President Product, Solutions for Artists at Chaos. “With this new support, Corona 12 users with Vantage can fulfill both needs at once, utilizing real-time ray tracing to help them do more in the moment.”

Corona 12 users can also now tie multiple LightMix setups to a single render with the new Virtual Frame Buffer 2 (VFB), making it easier to save their day, noon, night and other key configurations in one place. Other VFB updates include A/B comparison tools, a more intuitive UI, bloom/glare calculation deferment, the ability to instantly edit .cxr files in the VFB and many more.

Corona 12 adds a new level of functionality to Corona for 3ds Max by unlocking new tools for refining procedural scatter results. Chaos Scatter is designed to be flexible and useful across landscapes, interiors and more. Now, users can refine the scatter results using a brush to add or erase instances, whether those are rocks, trees, textile fibers or any other type of randomly scattered option.

Additional features include:

Curved Decals — Labels can now be fully bent up to 360 degrees to map a pattern around an object without distortions. A second axis has been included to add decals to objects with compound curvatures.

Corona Pattern Improvements — Geometric objects can now be used to define the shape of the crop box, allowing designers to employ snapping tools and more to get the perfect pattern.

Improvements to Corona Sky — Support for lower angles of the sun below the horizon, makes day/night animations and still images more realistic and immersive.

Density Parameter — Cloud density can be adjusted to make thin wisps or heavy storm clouds.

Corona Material Library Accessibility — The full Corona Material Library is now available in Chaos Cosmos.

To try the new Corona-Vantage connection yourself, please visit the Chaos Corona and Chaos Vantage trial pages today.

Pricing and Availability

Chaos Corona 12 is available now for 3ds Max 2016-2025 (64 bit) on Windows and for Cinema 4D R17-2024 (64 bit) on Windows and Mac. Pricing is subscription-based, with monthly and yearly rates available. More information can be found here.

About Chaos

Founded in 1997, Chaos is a leading global visualization technology company. Chaos is defining visualization by offering accessible tools, simplifying and accelerating workflows, and empowering visual storytelling for artists, architects, designers, and other creative professionals.

Chaos’ portfolio of visualization technologies for architecture and design, media and entertainment, and product e-commerce includes:

V-Ray, a physically based renderer that has been honored with an Academy Award and an Engineering Emmy
Enscape, a high-quality real-time rendering and virtual reality plugin
Corona, an artist-friendly photorealistic renderer
Cylindo, a 3D furniture product visualization platform for e-commerce
Anima, a 3D/4D animation software to add realistic people and crowds to visualizations

Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, Chaos has nearly 800 employees and offices in 11 cities worldwide. For more information, visit chaos.com, chaos-enscape.com, chaos-cylindo.com and axyz-design.com.