Terragen 4.4.60 (Frontier Build)

Started by Matt, April 14, 2020, 03:08:51 AM

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Matt

Terragen 4.4.60 is the latest Frontier Build for Windows and Linux (render node). If you're on Windows and you have a license of Terragen 4 Professional or Creative, use the Check for Updates feature in the application to get links to the latest 4.4 build.

This version is available to anyone whose maintenance includes v4.4.x builds. That means you can download it even if your maintenance expired as long ago as the 21st of March, 2019.

We're behind on the Mac builds as we're adjusting to new security requirements on macOS Catalina. Please be patient and we'll bring the Mac up to speed as soon as we can.

Here's the change log:

Build 4.4.60 (Frontier Build)

Overhauled the bump mapping and lighting system that's used on ray traced objects to improve image quality and accuracy. Recent 4.4 builds had some bugs that were caused by changes to address some long-standing issues. The new system in 4.4.60 fixes those bugs and also maintains solutions to some long-standing issues.

- Fixed some bump mapping and lighting bugs that were introduced in 4.4.46: incorrect lighting positions; incorrect normals on highly curved or highly displaced surfaces.
- Bump maps don't affect the lighting position anymore, because this was causing severely unrealistic distortion of shadows.
- Bump maps affect the data that shaders use for non-lighting. For example, altitude constraints work with bump mapped surfaces. This works with negative bump too.

"Smooth polygons at terminator." This is a new checkbox on the Surface Shaders tab of object readers, and it is enabled by default. It fixes self-shadow artifacts at the lighting terminator of polygonal objects where the smooth normals are inconsistent with the geometric normal.

"Darken bumps at terminator." This is a new checkbox on the Surface Shaders tab of object readers and non-displaceable object generators. It is enabled by default. It approximates self-shadow of bump maps at the lighting terminator to reduce the chance of seeing a sharp line where the surface falls into shadow.

Fixed a bug that occurred when "Ray trace objects" was off. Objects whose render method was "Default" were being rendered with both the rasteriser and the ray tracer. The correct behaviour in this case is to render with only the rasteriser. The bug may not have been noticed with objects that have positive displacement.

"Cloud base (min)" and "Cloud top (max)" readouts on the Atmosphere Node List are updated when a cloud layer's depth is changed.


Spot the Difference

incorrect-lighting-on-bump-mapped-wood-and-metal.jpg  smooth-polygon-terminator.jpg high-amplitude-high-frequency-bump-on-shaderball-v4460.jpg
Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.

WAS


Dune

Is this the same as 4.5.10 frontier?

WAS

Quote from: Dune on April 14, 2020, 07:02:00 AMIs this the same as 4.5.10 frontier?

Good question. Is the issue with DKCE resolved? I use it extensively.

Matt

Quote from: Dune on April 14, 2020, 07:02:00 AMIs this the same as 4.5.10 frontier?

4.4.60 is the latest update to 4.4, which is available to anyone whose maintenance includes 4.4.

4.5.10 is the latest update to 4.5, which is only available to alpha testers at the moment.

4.4.60 and 4.5.10 include the same set of bug fixes that you see above.
Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.

Matt

#5
Quote from: WAS on April 14, 2020, 02:34:16 PMGood question. Is the issue with DKCE resolved? I use it extensively.

4.4.xx doesn't have the DKCE issue, and 4.4.60 is also fine in this regard. The DKCE issue is only in 4.5.xx which is still in alpha testing, and this issue will be fixed before it goes public.
Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.

WAS


WAS

Quote from: 4.4.62 ChangelogsImproved stability on systems with a high number of detected CPU cores/threads.

Is this a fix to a bug, or is Frontier now NUMA aware?

Matt

Quote from: WAS on April 20, 2020, 04:57:15 PM
Quote from: 4.4.62 ChangelogsImproved stability on systems with a high number of detected CPU cores/threads.

Is this a fix to a bug, or is Frontier now NUMA aware?

Terragen has an upper limit on the number of parallel states that shaders use to help with multithreaded rendering. In versions up to and including 4.4.60, this limit is 256. If you open lots of preview windows you can hit this limit and Terragen starts showing errors. On computers with more cores you hit this limit sooner because each preview uses more threads.

It should be safe to hit this limit because I have put safety checks in place, but I was concerned that I might have overlooked something and it might affect stability. So beginning with 4.4.62 I have increased this to 16 x N, where N is the number of detected cores (including "threads"). So on a Threadripper 3990X with 64 cores and 128 threads, Terragen detects 128 "cores" and the upper limit on parallel states for shaders is 16 x 128 = 2048. On an 8-core CPU with HT (16 threads) it will be 16 x 16 = 256.

4.4 is still not NUMA aware.
Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.

raymoh

Quote from: Matt on April 14, 2020, 03:08:51 AMWe're behind on the Mac builds as we're adjusting to new security requirements on macOS Catalina. Please be patient and we'll bring the Mac up to speed as soon as we can.
Understandable, but nevertheless a shy question: When can Mac users expect the new version? Can you give us a time frame?
"I consider global warming much less dangerous than global dumbing down"   (Lisa Fitz, German comedian)

raymoh

Quote from: Matt on April 14, 2020, 03:08:51 AMWe're behind on the Mac builds as we're adjusting to new security requirements on macOS Catalina. Please be patient and we'll bring the Mac up to speed as soon as we can.

Meanwhile, 10 weeks have passed since the first announcement and there still seems to be no Mac update to the latest version.What about the development of Mac versions of Terragen? I'm afraid that sooner or later the development of Mac-versions will be stopped, not least because Apple is equipping itself with new processors (ARM), which will surely mean some extra work for the developers.
"I consider global warming much less dangerous than global dumbing down"   (Lisa Fitz, German comedian)

Alexn007

Hi, A little embarrassing, but I'm trying to download the latest linux render node, but I can't seem to find the download link. How do I find that?  The only time I every see this option is when I update my terragen version and I'm up to date now. Just don't know how to find this link.

Thanks for any help

WAS

Quote from: Alexn007 on July 01, 2020, 10:31:35 PMHi, A little embarrassing, but I'm trying to download the latest linux render node, but I can't seem to find the download link. How do I find that?  The only time I every see this option is when I update my terragen version and I'm up to date now. Just don't know how to find this link.

Thanks for any help

Email support [at] planetside.co.uk and they'll get you sorted out ASAP. It's sorta for security purposes that there is no download page from the website.

Matt

Quote from: raymoh on July 01, 2020, 10:25:36 AMMeanwhile, 10 weeks have passed since the first announcement and there still seems to be no Mac update to the latest version.What about the development of Mac versions of Terragen?

The Mac version is being tested for release. I have sent you a message with a link to the Release Candidate build.

Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.

Matt

#14
Quote from: Alexn007 on July 01, 2020, 10:31:35 PMHi, A little embarrassing, but I'm trying to download the latest linux render node, but I can't seem to find the download link. How do I find that?  The only time I every see this option is when I update my terragen version and I'm up to date now. Just don't know how to find this link.

If you log into the My Account page on our website you can get links to the downloads of products you have purchased. After logging in you should see the section "Purchase History." In the "Details" column there should be one or more links called "View Details and Downloads."
Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.