Hi everyone!
I’d like to share a tool I’ve been developing for my own architectural visualization workflow.
After many years working with 3ds Max and Corona Renderer, I started moving my production workflow to Blender. The biggest challenge was not learning Blender itself — it was bringing years of existing production assets into a new environment.
This is why I started developing NodeFlow.
NodeFlow is a conversion pipeline designed to transfer architectural visualization scenes, materials and assets from 3ds Max + Corona Renderer into Blender.
The current workflow:
3ds Max plugin → NodeFlow processing pipeline → Blender addon → Cycles-ready scene
The system uses an automated headless workflow, allowing conversion tasks to be processed without requiring manual interaction with 3ds Max.
Current supported Corona workflows
Materials
NodeFlow currently supports conversion of:
- CoronaMtl → Principled BSDF
- CoronaLegacyMtl → Principled BSDF
- CoronaPhysicalMtl → Principled BSDF
- CoronaLightMtl → Emission shaders
- CoronaSkinMtl → Principled BSDF + Subsurface Scattering
- CoronaLayeredMtl → Blender Mix Shader workflow
- CoronaBlendMtl → Blender Mix Shader workflow
- CoronaRaySwitchMtl → Light Path based shader mixing
- CoronaFrontBack → Facing based shader mixing
- Standard 3ds Max Blend material
Texture and shader nodes
Supported texture workflows include:
Bitmap and color processing
- CoronaBitmap
- Standard Bitmap textures
- CoronaColor
- CoronaColorTex
- Color correction workflows
- RGB multiplication
Mixing and compositing
- CoronaMixTex
- CoronaMix
- Composite textures
- Output processing
Procedural textures and mapping
- CoronaNormal
- CoronaBumpTex
- CoronaAO
- CoronaRoundEdges
- CoronaTriplanar
- Noise
- Cellular
- Gradient
- Gradient Ramp
- Falloff
Randomized textures
- MultiTexture
- CoronaMultiMap
Lighting support
NodeFlow also supports:
- CoronaLight conversion
- CoronaSun conversion
- Light position and orientation transfer
- Kelvin temperature support
Current development status
NodeFlow is actively being developed and tested with real architectural visualization projects.
The goal is not to replace native Blender workflows, but to provide a practical migration path for artists and studios with existing 3ds Max + Corona libraries.
I’m especially interested in feedback from:
- Blender developers
- Technical artists
- Architectural visualization users
- Artists transitioning from 3ds Max to Blender
Recent update:
We have also added direct asset archive upload support from Blender. This allows users to submit 3ds Max asset libraries directly through the Blender addon and run the conversion pipeline without manually preparing files outside the application.
What features would you consider essential for a tool like this?
NodeFlow is currently in beta, and we’re working hard toward the public launch. The idea is to preserve as much information as possible when transferring assets from 3ds Max to Blender, including geometry, materials, lights, cameras, and more.