Corona provides several types of lights that you can use in your 3ds Max scene. This article covers the different types of lights available, their applications, and also Corona compatibility with native 3ds Max lights.
Corona Light
Corona Light offers a lot of flexibility, as using this you can create different light object shapes which are as follows:
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Sphere: Imagine a glowing ball. This light shape sends rays in all directions, illuminating objects evenly:
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Rectangle: This shape provides a wide spread of light. It's great for soft shadows and even lighting:
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Disk: A flat, round shape that can concentrate light in one direction. You can use it to create spotlight effects:
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Cylinder: Think of this as a long tube of light. It's perfect for creating dramatic linear highlights or simulating neon lights:
These shapes give you a lot of options for creating the right look and feel for your scene.
Note: Corona Light also allows the use of IES profiles, enhancing realism by simulating real-world lighting conditions. More Information can be found here: How to use IES lights?
Corona Sun
Corona Sun enables you to simulate the sun's light. You can change the size, intensity, and even the color to mimic different times of the day. A larger size will give you softer shadows, creating a more realistic outdoor lighting effect.
More Information can be found here: How to add daylight to my scene?
Corona Light Material on Geometric Objects
You can use the Corona Light Material to turn any object into a light source. It allows you to emit light from any geometric shape.
You can find more information here: Corona Light Material
Environment Lighting Options
Environment lighting plays an important role in defining the appearance of a scene. Corona offers two main methods of setting up environment lighting:
1. Corona Sky
Corona Sky works with Corona Sun to give you a realistic outdoor lighting environment. The Sky's brightness and color are influenced by the sun's position, creating a natural look.
For more information, please see the Corona Sky Map at the Chaos Documentation Portal
2. HDRI Lighting
HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image) lighting offers an alternative approach to Corona Sun+Sky, it uses an image to define the light sources in your scene. This would add more complexity and richness to your lighting, creating more detailed reflections and shadows.
For more information on setting up an HDRI environment in Corona for 3ds Max, please see: How to set up HDRI environment?
Compatibility with Native 3ds Max Lights
Corona Integrates with the native 3ds Max lights. By simply changing the shadow type to "CoronaShadows" you can use 3ds Max's native lights using Corona. This gives you even more flexibility in your lighting setup:
Note: It is recommended to use Corona Lights rather than 3ds Max native lights. This is because Corona Lights are more physically accurate and produce much realistic renders while Max lights may appear artificial and render less efficiently.