DAZ Studio Pro Beta 4.6.2.66 - NOW AVAILABLE!

DAZ_Brian

DAZ 3D is pleased to announce the next public version of the DAZ Studio Pro BETA - version 4.6.2.66!

What is a BETA?

Despite our best efforts, DAZ 3D cannot possibly test the software under all possible conditions. So, we are providing this version of the application to the general public in order to uncover problems that were not discovered during internal/private testing. We expect that there will still be problems and we hope that when users encounter any problems, they will report them to the Bug Tracker so that they can be validated, prioritized and fixed.

As with any software classified as being in the BETA phase of development, you should expect to encounter bugs. Any bugs you do encounter while using BETA software can vary in terms of severity, from minor features that do not work correctly to problems that cause your computer to crash. Before choosing to use BETA software for production purposes, you should decide whether the benefit of new features and bug fixes provided by the BETA version outweighs the risk of instability you may encounter.

Another Public Build, so soon?

Yes. We want to provide access to builds that fix issues you may have encountered in the General Release, earlier and more frequently. Obviously we realize that there are users who don't have an interest in using BETA software (see above). However, we also realize that there are many who are willing to use BETA software in order to gain access to fixes and/or new features, earlier.

Public Build, BETA, what is the difference?

Public Build is a release channel. BETA is a phase of development.

DAZ Studio is distributed through four separate channels; Production, Public Build, Private Build and Dev. The Production channel is where the General Release build is distributed and is open to the general public. The Public Build channel is where the builds that are not considered stable yet are provided for testing by the general public; this channel typically provides a build that is in the BETA phase of development, but technically can provide a build in the ALPHA phase. The Private Build channel is similar to the Public Build channel, except it is limited to a select group of individuals that serve as the "front line" or the "canary in a coal mine" for a time before the build is promoted to a less restricted channel; this channel is more likely to see an ALPHA build than the Public Build channel is. The Dev channel is for a much smaller group of individuals; this channel provides "bleeding edge" ALPHA builds; sometimes referred to as "nightly", although the builds are not limited to one per night nor to strictly occurring at night.

Will this Public Build replace the General Release?

While builds in the Public Build channel do eventually replace the build in the Production channel, the existence of a public build does not preclude builds that are currently in the Private Build channel from replacing the General Release before one in the Public Build channel does. One of the reasons we provide a Public Build channel is to gain broader coverage of the various fixes/additions. Sometimes fixes/additions in the Public Build channel are validated more quickly than others and can be integrated into the Production channel while the remaining, more risky, changes are allowed to "bake" a while longer.

What is new in this version? Do I need to update my copy?

The 4.6.2.66 version resolves several issues and implements many improvements since the 4.6.1.39 General Release. More detail on specific fixes/changes/improvements can be found in the Change Log, which can be viewed online within the Documentation Center portion of our site. All new downloads of the DAZ Studio Pro BETA product (SKU: 12000) will be of this version.

Public BETA 3 (4.6.2.66) highlights are:
1) Merged the changes from the 4.6.1.39 General Release
2) Added a "Favorites" filter to property group views; i.e. All, Favorites, Currently Used
3) Added support for saving/reading favorite properties; favorites are saved in user facing files; scene, subset, character, etc.
4) Added a Favorite icon/button to the header of property widgets; also added to card property widgets
5) Added the Favorite option to the Parameters Settings dialog
6) Added actions and menu entries for adding/removing favorite properties
7) Added favorite actions to default advanced menus; run Update and Merge Menus script
8) Fixed #DS-240: Bug with "Per Pixel Shading" and backdrops
9) Updated default interface files; account for the replacement of the Weight Map Brush with the Node Weight Map Brush; account for recent additions
10) Replaced the "Apply" button in the Layout, Style and Style Color dialogs with a "Preview" button; now behaves as a proper preview
11) Replaced property selection in various dialogs with a new popup consistent with the property view used in the Parameters pane
12) Fixed #DS-208: When rendering a small image, such as an icon, the name field was too small to edit
13) Fixed an issue where using IK on clothing that was fit to a figure caused unpredictable results
14) Fixed Node Weight Map Brush fill on local weights
15) Added and/or updated various script APIs; DzAction, DzComboBox, DzComboEdit, DzEnumSlider

Public BETA 2 (4.6.2.48) highlights are:
1) Merged the changes from the 4.6.1.33 General Release
2) Fixed #DS-190: Fixed UV Set generation to help minimize number of discontinuous vertices
3) Fixed a memory corruption bug when dealing with geometry containing discontinuous UVs that are >= 2x the number of vertices, such as the cube primitive
4) Replaced Weight Map Brush Tool with a Node Weight Map Brush Tool; see next highlight
5) Added DForm weight map support; requires Node Weight Map Brush to paint
6) Made optimizations to bone binding calculations; improves overall speed of weight painting

Public BETA 1 (4.6.2.23) highlights are:
1) Added a clear [DSON] cache button to the preferences dialog
2) Added functionality to Morph Loader Pro that allows splitting a GeoGrafted export into separate morphs for the individual mesh contributors
3) Added an option to restrict influence in the weight map smoothing dialog
4) Fixed a bug in the Hierarchical Material save filter to handle Geometry Shells
5) Fixed a bug in the Hierarchical Material save filter relating to the inclusion of parent data regardless of checked state
6) Fixed #DS-169/CS148257: Fixed delta save for legacy content when multiple figures of the same content are in the scene
7) Added a script to fix problematic legacy scene files with more than one of a given figure; available via this CS Knowledge Base article
8) Fixed #DS-143/CS145252: All textures where being converted to JPG during OBJ export; added an “Original Maps” option; “No Maps” option now prevents maps from being written; paths no longer write out using quotes
9) Fixed #DS-179/CS152340/CS152232: Fixed a crash in ERC Freeze when rigging or hidden properties were involved
10) Optimized ERC Freeze
11) Fixed #DS-174/CS152086: Fixed a crash related to the Scene Selection popup on Mac
12) Added support to content manager* for shortcuts (PC)/symlinks (Mac) of files; *used by the Content Library pane
13) Optimized the Content Library pane to better handle folders with many subfolders

Has the Genesis Starter Essentials, the Genesis 2 Starter Essentials (Male/Female), or the Default Lights and Shaders packages been updated too?

No, the Genesis Starter Essentials, Genesis 2 Starter Essentials or Default Lights and Shaders packages provided with the product have NOT been updated beyond what is currently available with the General Release.

*Note: Install Manager users are notified of product updates when they occur.

How do I get the latest version?

If you have previously added the DAZ Studio Pro BETA product to your account, launch Install Manager, log into your account and type "DAZ Studio 4.6 Public Beta" into the filter field to filter out anything else. Then simply download and install as you would normally.

Optionally, you can locate, download and install the BETA from the Product Library [once you are logged into your account] by entering "DAZ Studio Pro BETA" into the text field near the top left of the page and clicking the "Filter" button, or by clicking here. Then, simply click the "download & install" button.

If this is your first time downloading DAZ Studio Pro BETA, simply follow this link, click the "Add to Cart" button on the page and then follow the checkout process.

*Note: This BETA version is not available as a standalone installer. It must be downloaded and installed using Install Manager. This does not impact the General Release, which will be made available through Install Manager as well as a standalone installer.

Can I have the General Release and the BETA installed at the same time?

Yes! You can have both the General Release and a Public Build (as well as a Private Build, for those involved in that endeavor), of the same major version, installed at the same time. Please be aware that the settings for each of the builds are stored independent of each other. This includes mapped content directories, layout, style and style colors, among many others.

What about the plugins I have?

The DAZ Studio 4.5 SDK has not changed in any way that causes it to be binary incompatible, which means that any plugins created for a previous version of DAZ Studio (4.5.0.114+) should continue to load and function with this build. That said, as with any new release, there is always the possibility that a plugin has had bugs fixed or features added, so the latest versions should be downloaded and installed if they are provided.

Plugins that are currently built/produced by DAZ 3D will provide a separate package specifically intended for the Public Build. 3rd party plugins that DAZ 3D creates install packages for will be updated to allow simultaneous installation into the General Release and the Public/Private builds. These packages will display as "Product Updates" within Install Manager once they have been updated.

Is there any documentation?

Yes. Check out the User Guide and QuickStart Guide that we've recently posted in the DAZ Studio 4.x Documentation section.

CypherFOX

Greetings,
The heart is adorable, and a cool idea. I'll see how it plays out in practice.

One problem I ran across is a small problem, if I'm trying to lock or unlock all of the transforms (mainly for a camera) at a time, I can't aim my cursor at the lock icon, I have to aim it over to the left, because that's where it moves to when I move over the row. So if you lock something, the lock icon is visible, but not in the same location as when you hover.

I'm not sure there's a fix for it, because the heart does the same thing, so one of them is going to move...but I think it's more common to check/uncheck a bunch of locks than a bunch of favorites. But I'm whistling in the dark on that one.

I'm actually looking forward to favoriting a few of the more weirdly-named (and thus unsearchable) but useful morphs I've picked up, and being able to find them easier in the future.

-- Morgan