Hello,
I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the feature list for Terragen 2.3, which we expect to release in the next few weeks.
It's possible that some of this might change, as we wrap things up and do final testing, but we hope to keep all of these changes in. We're really looking forward to this release!
64 Bit
64 bit builds will be available for Windows and Mac.
The main advantage here is that Terragen can use more than 4 Gb of RAM on 64-bit computers, allowing you to render more complex scenes and larger images than before, as long as you have enough physical RAM in your computer to really take advantage of it.
Terragen 64-bit also runs slightly faster than previous 32-bit versions. If you don't have a computer capable of running 64-bit software, now is the time to upgrade!
32-bit builds will also be available. At the time of writing, 32-bit v2.3 on Windows is slightly slower than v2.2 due to a change in our compiler (we hope to fix that soon), but 64-bit builds are faster in most cases.
Rendering
Rendering with a larger number of threads is now much faster (up to twice as fast) on the Mac and also improved to a lesser degree on Windows. This improvement applies to both 32 bit and 64 bit.
Some aspects of the ray tracer which were previously limited to distances of 1e8 (one hundred thousand kilometres) are now theoretically limited to 1e16 (10 billion kilometres).
New Colour Picker and Node Palette
There is a new colour picker. You can still use the OS colour picker by clicking the Palette icon in the TG2 colour picker.
There is a new Node Palette window available from the View menu. It lets you browse the nodes by category or choosing favourites. You can create nodes by double clicking in the list or dragging and dropping from the list to a network view. You can open multiple node palette windows. Node palette windows are saved and restored across sessions by default. This can be controlled with a preference in the General prefs panel.
Node Network
A Note node is available to write notes in the network view. You might use these to document your work, provide useful reminders or draw attention to parts of your project. Notes are created from the "Create Other" submenu of the Network View's context menu.
Double clicking on a internal network icon (little "+" ) in the network view now takes you to the internal network.
Lots of other network view improvements.
Terrain Export
New node: Micro Exporter, to replace the LWO Micro Exporter. The Micro Exporter can output OBJ, LWO and TGO.
Removed the main cause of holes and missing triangles in exported geometry, by sending geometry to the micro exporters prior to the final stage of back-face culling and culling of invisible micro-triangles.
Animation
Object readers support sequences using %04d (for example) in the filename.
Some other improvements if you are using animation. Bigger changes are coming in v2.4, however.
Shaders
The Transform Shader can now apply rotation. It uses the same rotation convention as objects and cameras.
The Transform Shader has an option to "use world space (final position)". One possible use of this is for using shaders to vary the colour of plants in a population. Previously this was only possible with shaders that could bypass the texture coordinates, e.g. the Image Map Shader with "Camera Projection" mode.
The Heightfield load node now displays the size in metres and height range of the loaded heightfield.
3D Preview
The 3D Preview compass has changed. You can now choose between a compass which shows 0 degrees heading (which is what the old North-South compass was confusingly doing) and a set of 3D XYZ axes. You can switch between compass modes with shift-C. There is a preference to choose the default compass style in the Navigation prefs panel.
There is a new object node called Landmark. This can be used to place landmarks/points-of-interest in the 3D Preview. The Landmark objects only render in 3D Previews, not actual renders.
General
Lots of Undo improvements.
Lots of improvements to the Errors and Warnings window and how errors are reported.
Some changes have been made to the way progress windows are handled. Progress windows now only display after a short delay, which prevents situations where you get them flickering on and off the screen really quickly, as well as reducing the problem of them stealing focus when you're typing etc. A timer/wait cursor is shown for quick operations so you have an idea something is going on.
Most lists now support type selection, which means the list selection will update as you type while the list has focus.
Many things which are sorted alphabetically, certain menus for example, are now sorted using a natural order sort instead of a lexicographical sort. In short, the sorting will make a little more sense overall.
Made some optimisations which will improve opening of complex project files and working with the network view etc. when there are a lot of nodes.
The recently opened files items are now retained if TG2 crashes.
-Matt
Quote from: Matt on March 30, 2011, 12:45:17 AM
64 Bit
New node: Micro Exporter, to replace the LWO Micro Exporter. The Micro Exporter can output OBJ, LWO and TGO.
Removed the main cause of holes and missing triangles in exported geometry, by sending geometry to the micro exporters prior to the final stage of back-face culling and culling of invisible micro-triangles.
Animation
Object readers support sequences using %04d (for example) in the filename.
The Transform Shader has an option to "use world space (final position)". One possible use of this is for using shaders to vary the colour of plants in a population. Previously this was only possible with shaders that could bypass the texture coordinates, e.g. the Image Map Shader with "Camera Projection" mode.
There is a new object node called Landmark. This can be used to place landmarks/points-of-interest in the 3D Preview. The Landmark objects only render in 3D Previews, not actual renders.
Some changes have been made to the way progress windows are handled. Progress windows now only display after a short delay, which prevents situations where you get them flickering on and off the screen really quickly, as well as reducing the problem of them stealing focus when you're typing etc. A timer/wait cursor is shown for quick operations so you have an idea something is going on.
The recently opened files items are now retained if TG2 crashes.
Looks like one of the special updates, Especially 64 bit!
The other ones are very nice too maybe , but i really like this ones.
Looks like after someone complains here about memory problems , some pc dealer near them will get a little richer after learning how they can handle it :)
Thanks for the info, Matt! really looking forward to testing it out! :D :D :D
I was literally just about to post a feature request for an alternate color picker and a "notes" node ! Talk about timing :)
Sounds like a great update overall. Is it me or is TG2 really maturing lately ? ;)
Cool. Thanks for the information. It'll be a good update. ;D
yay!!!
this is quite exciting :)
sounds like a awesome update.
thanks for the info on some of the new features.
I read this about an hour and 1/2 ago. I was finally able to sit still long enough to say "Hurray!". Thanks for all your hard work Planetside!
Thanks for the preview! I'm really looking forward to it!
Thanks for the update. I've just switched to 64bit so I'm really looking forward to this one.
Mick
Great to know I'll be able to rotate things soon! Also 64-bit is just a dream come true. Plus the new exporters... oh... yes. ;) great stuff. Looking forward to using it.
cool, ce serai possible de savoir le temps qui faut faire pour un rendu, au moment du rendu de l'image ?
cool, this will be possible to know the time that takes to render, when rendering the image ?
Hi everyone,
Here are some screen shots showing two of the new features in TG2 v2.3.
The first is the new colour picker. In incorporates some of the things from the TG Classic colour picker such as Randomise, Pick Up and Drop and a Variations well, which you can pick colours from. It has three panels and also lets you use the OS colour picker if you wish. The first panel is the Sliders panel. It has three options - RGB, HSB and Greyscale:
(http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/sneak_peek_2.3/sliders.jpg)
The next panel is the Colour Wheel panel:
(http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/sneak_peek_2.3/colour_wheel.jpg)
The last panel is the Mixer. This panel lets you mix two colours together:
(http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/sneak_peek_2.3/mixer.jpg)
Another new feature is the Node Palette. This lets you easily create nodes, either by double clicking a node name or dragging and dropping to a network view. You can have multiple Node Palettes open at once. You can choose nodes to view by their kind/family, either using a popup list or a hierarchic list/tree view. This screenshot shows the popup list with the entire library of nodes selected:
(http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/sneak_peek_2.3/np_library.jpg)
Another new feature in v2.3 is type selection in lists, so you can start typing to select items on the list. This is a quick way to choose a node if you know its name.
This shows the Add family of Function nodes, using the hierarchic list to choose the nodes to show:
(http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/sneak_peek_2.3/np_list.jpg)
You can add nodes to your Favourites. The Favourites button is in the bottom left of the palette. Just select a node and click the button to add it to your favourites:
(http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/sneak_peek_2.3/np_favourites.jpg)
Regards,
Jo
All that is missing now is a color gradient that sends it's data to any shader. ;)
Quote from: ChrisC on March 31, 2011, 11:44:44 PM
All that is missing now is a color gradient that sends it's data to any shader. ;)
We will stop development after that. Terragen will have been perfected.
Quote from: Matt on April 01, 2011, 04:37:34 AM
Quote from: ChrisC on March 31, 2011, 11:44:44 PM
All that is missing now is a color gradient that sends it's data to any shader. ;)
We will stop development after that. Terragen will have been perfected.
hehehe.
Wow Nice just when i have fixed my computer hehe
cant wait:P
Good to hear. Not dropping off the end of the Earth is a good thing.
Glad you're back.
Quote from: wetbanana on April 01, 2011, 09:09:19 PM
Wow Nice just when i have fixed my computer hehe
cant wait:P
If I may ask, will the new Transform Shader support rotation around custom/arbitrary centers ?
nick
Quote from: nixx on April 06, 2011, 09:56:51 AM
If I may ask, will the new Transform Shader support rotation around custom/arbitrary centers ?
nick
No, although there are some additional options, including the choice to use World Space (final position).
- Oshyan
That's a fantastic update. Can't wait =p.
But I have a question regarding the improvements on the rendering. You say in many cases the rendering is twice as fast on cpu's with larger number of threads. Does this count if I only have 4 threads as well?
Regards,
Terje
just yeah !!! ...the best change log since tg2.0...can't wait for this
Hi Terje,
Quote from: sjefen on April 07, 2011, 07:36:04 AM
But I have a question regarding the improvements on the rendering. You say in many cases the rendering is twice as fast on cpu's with larger number of threads. Does this count if I only have 4 threads as well?
The specific case where it's much faster is on the Mac when you're using hyperthreading. For example my machine has 8 real cores and 8 virtual cores (hyperthreads). The big speed increase comes when you use more than the 8 real cores and move on to the virtual cores, more than 8 render threads basically. I usually use 16.
Rendering speed is improved a bit in general, on the Mac and Windows, when using more than one thread. You will very likely see an increase in rendering speeds with 4 threads but it won't be so dramatic as described in the specific situation above.
Regards,
Jo
Alright. I'm thinking of upgrading my cpu and now is probably a good time :)
Thanks for the answer Jo.
Regards,
Terje
Quote from: sjefen on April 07, 2011, 10:12:13 AM
Alright. I'm thinking of upgrading my cpu and now is probably a good time :)
Thanks for the answer Jo.
Regards,
Terje
i am thinking the same thing, an 64-bit TG2 and an i7 2600k sounds sweet.
Im so excited about the new micropoly export!
I mean 64 bit is awesome! but everyone has been talking about it for ages!
Some of the other new features are really significant!!
Thanks Planetside!
Jo , i forget to comment on the "colour picker" , "Node Palette" etc.
I think they are very nice fine additions that sometimes don't get the praise they deserve (in other software too).
This new version sounds all very interesting.
Unfortunatly times are getting tight on my belt and I am unable to buy myself a new pc to upgrade
my system to the newer 64bit machines. The world is in crisis! Perhaps maybe next year I have some extra money.
In the meantime version 2 still seems like its still super duper good. No need to upgrade just yet.
There is still lots to discover and create with it.
You don't need a 64 bit system to use 2.3. There is a 32 bit version you can download.