LuxCoreRender 2.0

All NEW LuxCoreRender 2.0, new code, new site, new forum. :yes:

https://luxcorerender.org/

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Quote from official announcement in the old Luxrender forum:

Introduction

After 8 alpha releases and 1 beta during the (not so close) “family & friend” test phase, LuxRender team is proud to present the first public release of LuxRender re-birth project.

     [![http://www.luxrender.net/forum/download/file.php?id=26284&t=1](http://www.luxrender.net/forum/download/file.php?id=26284&t=1)](http://www.luxrender.net/forum/download/file.php?id=26284&mode=view)         

A new web site, wiki and forums

The new release includes a totally new web site, wiki and forums:

A new rendering core

Lux(Core)Render v2.0 includes only LuxCore code and drops all other code (aka classic LuxRender). The new code includes many new features compared to the last officiale LuxCore release included in LuxRender v1.6: https://wiki.luxcorerender.org/LuxCoreR … Notes_v2.0

A new blender plugin

BlendLuxCore is the new plugin for Blender written totally from scratch and only to work with LuxCore. Just check how fast it is http://www.luxrender.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif

A new source repository

All the sources of the v2.0 are now hosted at: https://github.com/LuxCoreRender

Why Lux(Core)Render v2.0 ?

Because LuxRender project was dying under the weight of a lot of old abandoned code. All active developers had the strong feeling a fresh start was required. The “Core” between “Lux” and “Render” is there to highlight the new project focus. However the “v2.0” is there to re-mark the continuity with 10 years of development and experience.

Enjoy !

It was a lot work, enjoy http://www.luxrender.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

     [![http://www.luxrender.net/forum/download/file.php?id=26285&t=1](http://www.luxrender.net/forum/download/file.php?id=26285&t=1)](http://www.luxrender.net/forum/download/file.php?id=26285&mode=view)         

P.S. We are moving to the new forums now on, posts on the old forums may go unread for a long time and/or not receive an answer at all.

I being testing it and I can say that this new and improved Lux(Core)Render was a big surprise! I’m really having fun rendering with it.



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Wow, I haven’t looked at the site for ages, what an improvement!

Agreed, the project in general looks to be on a much better foundation now (since it appears it has all of the shading features of the old engine, but now with much better sampling).

Now what they need is good quality SSS shading (as seen in most engines) and a full suite of node-based features such as being able to use vertex color channels and multiple UV maps (for mask creation and other purposes). Now I haven’t used the engine in several years, so I’m not sure if they were already added when Luxblend brought in the node-based editing.

I’m testing it and it’s fast very fast, well integrated with Blender, definitely better this new core.

Oh wow, what a nice surprise. looking forward to checking it out

Please Ace, yes, do your homework.
:eyebrowlift:
SSS random walk is in Lux since classical times (it’s just a different paradigm for shading workflow).
Yup, now is just done with nodes. Yes, even vertex color (color, grey (R, G, B) modes) node also. It’s beta so lots of stuff is still missing. Made by volunteers (3 regular & some occasional, more are welcome - especially helping with OSX side as there’s no build still). BTW, it’s fast, BiDir too, even if only CPU is used.

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Hi, looking forward to trying it out. Having issues on Windows though. A bug? Thanks for the endeavour anyway.

File "C:\etc\blah\Blender\279b\2.79\scripts\modules\addon_utils.py", line 331, in enable
    mod = __import__(module_name)
  File "C:\etc\blah\Blender\279b\2.79\scripts\addons\BlendLuxCore\__init__.py", line 2, in <module>
    from .bin import pyluxcore
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

The bin folder contains pyluxcore.pyd but BlendLuxCore throws the above error when trying to enable it.
Buildbots 279_8d73ba5 (pre 279a) and 279_d59c2d1 (latest / post 279b) do the same too.

Made a copy of pyluxcore.pyd and changed the extension to .dll causing Blender to hang upon enabling.
Left .dll copy and erased .pyd version resulting in:

lines_as_above_etc...

    from .bin import pyluxcore
ImportError: cannot import name 'pyluxcore'

Most tests done on a Win7 x64 Intel GPU system with the OpenCL build, tried non OpenCL to same effect. As Admin and not. On a Win8 x64 with discrete GPU. Tried the most recent Alphas prior too. All behave as above.

Anyone on Windows having better luck, or similar errors?

It sounds very interesting, looking forward for OSX builds.

paolo

You have to use Blender official builds v2.79a or v2.79b.

Blender versions before v2.79a have a bug not allowing the plugin to work (it was fixed by B.Y.O.B., the same author of LuxCoreRender plugin).

Blender v2.8 uses Python v3.6 (instead of the v3.5 used in blender v2.79+) so it can not work with libraries compiled for Python v3.5 (this limitation is applicable only to Windows). Note: Builbot is apparently using Blender compilation environment even for v2.79.

So you have just to use the latest official stable Blender release from Blender Foundation (aka v2.79a/b).

P.S. remember also to disable/uninstall the old LuxRender v1.6 plugin before install the new one (just in case you have an older version installed).

Sounds promising! Got some random crashes, but i have to admit that gaves fast and good results. Would be great an Uber shader also, like Principled. This new version is really great

That’s the thing, I tried 2.79b too (zip file, not msi if it matters). No old versions / conflicts here.

I’m amazed!! Lux in low samples has a small advantage in render speed compared to Cycles (but is more noisy), and with 500 samples with equivalent settings (at least as hard as I could match settings) is a tad faster than cycles, maybe a 2-3% but with a more realistic render specially in caustics calculations (and with reduced noise). Here is a comparison with 500 samples each.

Cycles Render


LuxCoreRendered 2.0


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wow!
good work guys ! :smiley:

I just discovered their current SSS tutorialand it’s just as I suspected, it’s actually a volumetric shader combined with a translucent surface shader.

The point I want to make with a good SSS implementation is that in Cycles, Arnold, Mental Ray, Renderman, and many other engines, you can control properties such as the density using a surface texture. Controlling the density in a true volume requires a volumetric texture, and there’s no tool in Blender that makes making such a thing straightforward (outside of point density or smoke/flame effects).

What would be nice is a volume that can be controlled using surface data (so you essentially get Random-Walk like scattering that would actually see light leave the mesh and illuminate nearby surfaces).

fine :slight_smile: just show a reference image of a real thing

Holy shit? Whats happening here?

it’s great to see this new release, looks extremely promising! Great work guys!

Compared to old versions in a quick test…
Easier to install. Easier to configure. Stable and faster preview in Blender viewport. Faster than previous versions…
Very good work guys! Thank you.