Sometimes, installing Corona manually may be the simplest solution to some installation issues. Here is how to do it:
Windows users:
1. Uninstall Corona and Scatter:
To avoid issues, it is best to uninstall Corona first. To do it, simply go to the Windows "Programs and Features" or "Add or remove programs" list, search for "Corona", find it, and uninstall it. Also search for "Scatter" and uninstall it as well.
2. Unpack the files:
- Run the Corona installer
- Select "Unpack files" option and specify the location where the files should be unpacked
- Proceed with the installation
- The folder with the unpacked files will automatically pop up once the installation is finished
- Optional: to save time, it is safe to Cancel the installation when material library is being downloaded (material library will be missing).
3. Install the plugin:
The unpack directory contains files and folders for all supported versions of 3ds Max/Cinema4D.
For 3ds Max, check the following folders:
- \Autodesk
- \Corona\Corona Renderer for 3ds Max
- \Chaos Group\Scatter
For example, "Autodesk" folder in the unpacked directory looks like this:
You can delete the folders of the versions you don't need. Keeping them is also ok but this may take up more space.
Go back to the root folder where the Corona installation files were unpacked, copy all the folders, and paste them into your Program Files folder. Usually it is: C:\Program Files\
You can also find your Program Files folder by typing %PROGRAMFILES% in Start menu or in the file explorer path.
After copy-pasting, Corona will appear on the list of available renderers once you start 3ds Max / Cinema4D.
Note #1: in some rare cases, Corona does not appear in 3ds Max even after manual installation. The solution is to copy the content of the Corona "plugins" folder (\Autodesk\3ds Max 20XX\plugins) into the 3ds Max 20XX\stdplugs directory instead of the default 3ds Max 20XX\plugins directory.
Note #2: the additional files (NVIDIA AI Denoiser and Material Library) do not have to be downloaded during the installation. You can also install them in offline mode. See:
- How to install the NVIDIA GPU AI Denoiser in offline mode?
- How to install the material library in offline mode?
Mac users:
1. Uninstall Corona:
To avoid any possible issues, please first remove the Corona following the instructions provided in the article How to remove an old Corona version.
2. Unpacking the files:
- Run the installer
- When prompted, choose the "Customize" option
- From the list, enable the appropriate C4D version and then change the destination folder using the "Other" option.
NOTE: We are using C4D S22 for this example.
- Create a folder where the files will be extracted (e.g., you can create a folder named "Corona" on the Desktop) and click on the Choose button.
- Click on the Install button to continue with files unpacking.
3. Installing the files:
- Once the unpacking process is complete, a new folder named "plugins" will appear inside the newly created folder (for this example, the "Corona" folder is located on the Desktop).
- Next, copy the contents of this "plugins" folder to the following path:
~/Applications/Maxon Cinema 4D R22/plugins/
- Run Cinema 4D, and If successful, you should now see Corona up in the main menu.
- Proceed with the activation process listed here if you're activating Corona 7, or if you're installing Chaos Corona 8 or newer, please activate the software as described here.