The story of Corona began in February 2009, when university student Ondřej Karlík's fascination with rendering led him to develop a render engine. The earliest Corona images—though not in 3D—but crucial first steps—can be found in Facebook archives and include a simple loop across all pixels, three stacked spheres, and an image exploring shadows and reflections. The first Corona render featuring lights was a snowman.
Joining forces with the original developer of Corona, two key individuals supported Ondra’s personal project with the ambition to grow it into something bigger. The trio came together and formed Render Legion:
This trio laid the foundations for what would become a widely respected rendering engine.
Corona took a non-corporate approach in its early days, often embracing memes and humor to engage the growing community. The forum existed before the website, with its first post appearing in 2012. Even back then, the quality of users’ renders was impressive. By 2014, Corona had made many public appearances at events, such as 3ds London. The last free alpha version (Alpha 6) remains available for historical interest, though it's far from suitable for modern commercial use.
The big day arrived in early 2015. Leading up to the release, the Corona offices doubled as living spaces for Adam and Ondra, who dedicated all their time to finalizing the launch. Financial limitations made the release an all-or-nothing event. After intense effort, Corona 1.0 was officially released on February 25, 2015, at 3:33 PM. The initial Corona website was acknowledged as quite basic, but improvements were quickly made.
Following the launch, Corona began appearing in magazines like 3D Artist in early 2015. The team also started a tradition of celebrating Corona’s birthdays with cakes. Education was a key focus, leading to the creation of Corona Academy, an in-person training program that has since evolved online into Cinema 4D and 3ds Max video tutorials that are central to supporting the community.
In 2017, Render Legion was acquired by Chaos. Ondra and Chaos founder Vlado had long-standing mutual respect, and discussions about coming together had been ongoing for years. The acquisition provided more financial and technical support for continued development.
In 2019, Corona for Cinema 4D had its first commercial release (Corona Renderer 3). Like the 3ds Max version, it was available for free during early development.
2019 also brought a tragic loss—Jaroslav passed away due to an accident. He was a brilliant researcher and a true gentleman. His contributions are still remembered today, with an annual rendathon event held in his honor.
In 2020, Adam left the company for health reasons, another significant loss. His personality and approach to community engagement were fundamental to Corona's identity. His legacy still influences how the team interacts with users.
From 2020 to 2025, Corona has continued developing in response to user needs. Some key facts:
A fun tradition is the Corona T-shirt, made for each release. Some highlights:
We asked you to submit your best work rendered in Corona, and you delivered some outstanding projects. Naturally, most of the Corona birthday submissions were archviz-themed, including hotels and residences, as well as commercial and public spaces. A few of you also submitted product visualizations, which really stood out from the rest! Check out the amazing renders below, and let’s celebrate Corona’s birthday together; looking forward to future developments ahead!