Today, Chaos Czech releases its second major update in two weeks, bringing the power of one-click caustics to Cinema 4D. Now, artists and designers can render lighting effects from surfaces like glass and water with even more speed and accuracy, filling a major void in stills and animations.
“Caustics are a missing link of photorealism, holding us back from achieving natural looks in some of our most common environments,” said Adam Hotový, Vice President at Chaos Czech. “With one-click caustics, the Cinema 4D community can now start fooling viewers with less effort, achieving a level of photorealism that was inaccessible before.”
Caustics focus on the patterns of reflected and refracted light commonly found in examples like pool water, diamonds and wine glasses. While important, caustics have traditionally been costly to render, which has led many developers to ignore them for faster render speeds. Using a one-click solution, Chaos Czech has accelerated a process that will mainstream caustics, making them as normal as global illumination is today to artists and designers.
Caustics will work alongside all Corona Renderer features, including LightMix, which will allow artists to adjust caustics, color and light intensity simultaneously. This breakthrough was made thanks to the help of Chaos Research, a newly announced division of Chaos Group, led by Chaos Czech co-founder Jaroslav Křivánek, that is focused on reinventing the ways computer graphics are created today.
Other New Features Include:
- Interactive Viewport Enhancements – Artists can now start using Corona IR in any Cinema 4D viewport. Once there, they can select objects; move, scale or rotate objects; or even use camera/perspective movement controls from within the viewport.
- Fisheye Camera – The Corona Camera Tag has been updated with a new fisheye projection mode with all the controls needed to create eye-catching interior and exterior shots.
- Intel AI Denoising – The new Intel AI denoiser is primed for any CPU and final renders. This completes a pipeline that pairs well with the NVIDIA AI Denoiser, previously announced for interactive rendering.
- Layered Displacements – Cinema 4D-only feature lets users blend displacements within layered materials with ease.
- True 3D Volume Materials – “Inside Mode” within the Corona Volume Material now allows for the creation of true 3D volumes and non-heterogeneous materials such as fog and mist.
- Multiple Corona Suns – Artists can now create as many Corona Sun light sources as they wish. This is especially effective for creating noon, evening and night images in Corona’s LightMix, as artists can depict multiple times of the day, all from one render.
“Corona has allowed me to take my visuals to a whole new level, doing things that I could have only dreamt of before,” said David Turfitt, CGI Artist & Animator. “With the addition of caustics, I feel like I am now able to capture what my eye has been seeing, but hasn’t been able to express.”
To try Corona Renderer 4 now, please visit the Chaos Czech website.
Pricing/Availability
Corona Renderer 4 is available now for the Mac OS and Windows versions of Cinema 4D, R14-R20. Pricing is subscription-based, with monthly rates set at $28.50 and yearly rates at $330. A free 45-day commercial trial is also available at: https://corona-renderer.com/download.
About Chaos Czech
Chaos Czech (previously Render Legion) are the creators of Corona Renderer, a high-performance photorealistic rendering engine. Chaos Czech is a leader in architectural visualization software, where it offers a simple, yet powerful approach for professional artists. Chaos Czech continues to bring this approach to its development of new tools and technologies for architectural visualization, VFX and broadcast. Chaos Czech, a Chaos Group company, are headquartered in Prague.
About Chaos Group
Chaos Group is a worldwide leader in computer graphics technology, helping artists and designers create photorealistic imagery and animation for architecture, design, and visual effects. Chaos Group’s award-winning physically-based rendering and simulation software is used daily by top design studios, architectural firms, advertising agencies, and visual effects companies around the globe. Today, the company's research and development in ray-traced rendering, cloud computing and real-time ray tracing is shaping the future of creative storytelling and digital design. Founded in 1997, Chaos Group is privately owned with offices in Sofia, Los Angeles, Prague, Seoul, and Tokyo. For more information, visit: chaosgroup.com.
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