Corona 12 now supports scene export to Vantage, a high-quality real-time visualization environment enabling 3D artists to swiftly explore and showcase their work in a fully ray-traced setting. This integration allows Corona users with active Vantage licenses to explore their scenes quickly and render in real-time using GPU.
Tutorial: Real-time ray tracing with Corona for Cinema 4D and Chaos Vantage
System Requirements
Before installing Vantage, ensure that your system meets the minimum requirements. See: System Requirements at the Chaos Documentation Portal
Exporting Scenes from Corona to Vantage
A Corona scene rendered in Vantage
Starting from Corona 13, there are three ways to export your scenes to Vantage:
1. Start Vantage live link - Exports the scene data directly to Vantage and automatically starts rendering in Vantage, keeping a live link between both. This means if a scene updates in Cinema 4D, it instantly gets updated in Vantage as well. Using this option requires both software to remain open.
2. Export and open in Vantage... - This option exports the scene data directly to Vantage and automatically starts rendering in Vantage. A scene exported using this option does not require both software to remain open; you can safely close Cinema 4D once it's open in Vantage. In this case, the live link is not created, so the scene does not get updated automatically in Vantage.
3. Export scene - Exports the scene data for rendering in either Corona Standalone or Vantage.
| The "Chaos Vantage" sub-menu is in the Corona menu. | Exporting the scene from Cinema 4D to load it later in Vantage using the "Corona VrScene" file format. |
Vantage Live Link:
- Open your Corona scene in Cinema 4D.
- Go to the Corona menu, click on the Chaos Vantage sub-menu, and then on the Start Vantage live link.
- Your Corona scene will now be exported and loaded in Vantage, ready for real-time exploration and rendering. The live link is already enabled, so any update on your scene project will be automatically ported to Vantage.
Export and open in Vantage:
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Open your Corona scene in Cinema 4D.
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Go to the Corona menu, click on the Chaos Vantage sub-menu, and then on the Export and open in Vantage tool.
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Your Corona scene will now be exported and loaded in Vantage, ready for real-time exploration and rendering. Note: No real-time updates from the DCC app will be available when using this option. It is recommended to use the Vantage Live Link instead.
To export your scene:
- Open your Corona scene in Cinema 4D.
- Go to the File menu -> Export -> Corona VrScene (*.vrscene) option.
- Using the gear icon, you can access additional options for the exporting process, like the "Open exported scene in vantage" checkbox, which automatically launches Vantage and loads your scene after the export process completes.
Creating Animations
With Vantage, you can easily create animations using your exported Corona scenes. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you get started with camera animations using the Vantage Animation Editor:
- Set the camera position and properties according to your needs. Save the setup by clicking the "Create a camera from current view and camera settings" (
) button.
- Modify further the position and settings. Save the new setup by clicking the
- Expand the Animation Editor from the
button in the bottom toolbar. This will show you all the features of the animation editor.
- Select an editor mode from the Editor settings. In the video tutorial, the shot editor mode is selected for better visualization of the camera shots.
- Drag the first camera slot and drop it into the timeline of the Animation Editor. Then, drag the second camera slot there. A transition element is automatically generated when the Auto transition option is enabled (default). The first camera shot is the beginning of the animation, while the second is the ending shot. You can add other camera slots in between.
- Right-click on the transition element and select the Set Duration option from the context menu. Set the duration, frames, and framerate.
- Right-click on the transition element to open the context menu. Select an interpolation mode.
- Click Play
to preview the animation.
To see this process in action, please watch the following tutorial video:
For more detailed instructions on using Vantage's animation tools, including working with cameras and navigation, please refer to the official Chaos Vantage documentation.
Future Integration
The second stage of the Corona and Vantage integration will enable a live link between the two applications, allowing you to render animations created in 3ds Max and Cinema 4D in Vantage. This is expected with Corona 13, so stay tuned!
You can learn more about Vantage here: Chaos Vantage Getting Started.