Cheetah3D 3.2 Beta 1 (with caustics)

Martin

Martin

0
Cheetah3D 3.2 Beta 1 (with caustics)

Hi,
here is the first public beta of 3.2. The biggest enhancement is probably caustic rendering via photon mapping. But also the UI saw quite serious enhancements.

A list of the other new features and bug fixes can be found here.

Code: 
    -Added Photon mapping
	-Caustics
	-Caustic tag
    -Added unified light source
	-All light types in one object (allows easy switching between different light sources)
	-possibility to chose between different axes
    -Added Intaglio ( www.purgatorydesign.com/Intaglio )  copy/paste support
    -Added FBX import/export to Intel version
    -Added bug reporter toolbar item
    -Added new render settings
	-reflection On/Off
	-refraction On/Off
	-textures On/Off
	-max ray depth (up to 8)
    -Enhanced Toolbar
	-popup menus
	-"small symols" works
	-"text mode" works
    -Enhanced properties editor
	-unavailable properties are disabled now (see new light object)
    -Crumple Tool now works in all modes
    -Enhanced Flip Normal tool
    -Adding a object automatically switches to object mode
    -Clicking into subview doesn't unselect objects
    -Added "Document::redrawAll()" Javascript function
    -Enhanced "Base::setParameter()" Javascript function
    -Fixed "Tool script" UI redraw bug
    -Fixed bug with 1bit tiff import
    -Fixed crashing bug in smart folders
    -HDRI and Displacement texture are correctly loaded again when opening files
    -3DS, 3DMF and H exporter now always exports UV coords
    -Removed "Knife" tools from context menu
    -Childs of camera object now redraw correctly
    -Double clicking files with fog tag won't crash
    -Many other small bug fixes

Download link:
http://cheetah3d.com/download/Cheetah3D3.2b1.dmg

But please be aware that this is beta software.

Please post all your experiences with this beta version in this forum thread.

Many thanks for your help.

By,
Martin
 
I don't know what I did, I guess just opening and rendering some examples. And then some icons turned upside down. :confused:

Peter

PS. It appears that the distant light doesn't create any shadow. Scene setup is a plane with a glass ball to try the caustics on.
PPS. There's also a problem with the Axis setting in the lightobject. Usually the Y axis shows the direction but for some reason you have to use the Z axis. When using Y axis the opengl preview shows the wrong direction.
 

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Inverted icons.

I've downloaded and played a while but my icons stay in the right place. I'll keep on testing.
PS. It appears that the distant light doesn't create any shadow. Scene setup is a plane with a glass ball to try the caustics on.
Click to expand...
Can you make the caustics work?

Andrew
 
Got Caustics working

I've got the caustics working I just needed to increase the strength in ->Caustics -> Properties.
:)
 
Hi Peter,
thanks for your bug reports.

peer said:
I don't know what I did, I guess just opening and rendering some examples. And then some icons turned upside down. :confused:
Click to expand...

That is very strange. I never encountered that problem and I wasn't able to reproduce it. But I think I found the code which could have possibly cause that bug and hope that I've fixed it.

peer said:
PS. It appears that the distant light doesn't create any shadow. Scene setup is a plane with a glass ball to try the caustics on.
Click to expand...

It works fine for me. Could you sent me your scene?

peer said:
PPS. There's also a problem with the Axis setting in the lightobject. Usually the Y axis shows the direction but for some reason you have to use the Z axis. When using Y axis the opengl preview shows the wrong direction.
Click to expand...

That was a bug. I've fixed it.

By,
Martin
 
Hi,
I finally found the bug. But it only appeared if you use "raytrace + trans" shadows. Normal shadows worked.

I've fixed that problem.

By,
Martin
 
Martin said:
Hi,
I finally found the bug. But it only appeared if you use "raytrace + trans" shadows. Normal shadows worked.

I've fixed that problem.

By,
Martin
Click to expand...

Yes I also found that. It also appears that the shadow sample is default to 1. Maybe you could set that to 32 or so. Arealight shadows look bad with 1 sample ;) Could you also explain the caustic settings a little bit more. What does the pure photonlight option in the light settings do? Also when I create a glass sphere with transparency, reflection and so on. I get white spots everywhere when turning on caustics. I know this is logic but maybe there's a workaround?

Regards,

Peter

PS. Great work by the way!!
 
uncle808us said:
I don't have any help files in the help folder is this due to it being a beta?
Click to expand...

Hi,
yes that's true. I haven't updated the documentation yet. But it will be in the final 3.2.

By,
Martin
 
Jake said:
My icons are upside down too. Caustics work great.
Click to expand...

Sorry. Do you have an idea how to reproduce that behaviour? Are your icons upside down from the start up? Or are they flipped during usage.

By,
Martin
 
peer said:
Yes I also found that. It also appears that the shadow sample is default to 1. Maybe you could set that to 32 or so. Arealight shadows look bad with 1 sample ;)
Click to expand...

That's right but I plan to add soft shadows to point light's too. That's why there is a radius parameter in the new light object. But most users will still use their point lights with just one sample. So I've set the default to 1. Setting it to 32 would require that you always have to set the samples property back to 1 if you want to use a simple point light.

peer said:
Could you also explain the caustic settings a little bit more. What does the pure photonlight option in the light settings do?
Click to expand...

It disables the direct lighting of a lightsource. It just shots photons. You can use that properties to more photons in areas where you need them. For example to get nice caustics when you render a big room.

peer said:
Also when I create a glass sphere with transparency, reflection and so on. I get white spots everywhere when turning on caustics. I know this is logic but maybe there's a workaround?
Click to expand...

Please mail me the file. It's always a lot of work to remodel scenes in the hope to recreate the same bahaviour. If you encouner such problems just mail me the .jas file.

By,
Martin
 
Martin, I found out what the problem was. I used the standard of 10000 photons. I increased it to 1 million and it looks great now!! The reflections work as well. The flipping of the icons occur during usage. It happens when opening a couple of files, rendering and switching windows using command-`. At least here.

Regards,

Peter
 

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Couldn't help posting this. A movie is rendering right now.

Regards,

Peter
 

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Martin said:
Sorry. Do you have an idea how to reproduce that behaviour? Are your icons upside down from the start up? Or are they flipped during usage.

By,
Martin
Click to expand...

I'll try to pin it down. It's the same as Peter. It happened when my back was turned – damn sneaky icons!
 
Jake, YES!!! That would be cool. You have my mail address.
Here's the movie. Use loop when playing.

Regards,

Peter

PS a nice glow/sparkle plugin would be nice :)
 

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