Daz Studio Pro 4.12 - Highlights

rbtwhiz · July 2019

Each new build of Daz Studio comes with its own set of bug fixes, new features, adjustments to existing features, etc. Since near the beginning of Daz Studio 4.x development (4.0.4.19 - according to the posted logs), a list of changes have been made available via the Change Log on the Documentation Center. In addition to the Change Log, we have also typically provided a forum thread wherein the first post highlights some of the changes in a given release (typically things that have the greatest potential to impact large cross-sections of the userbase). Periodically, as new builds have been made available and/or as time has allowed, the first post of the latest thread would be updated to provide more/new information on a given build. Unfortunately, these updates seemed to go unnoticed by many who didn't revisit the first post of the thread. This same information would also then be reposted when a Public Build was eventually promoted to General Release.

To address some of these issues and bring more visibility to the highlights for a given build, we now split these highlights off into their own thread. A separate discussion thread will remain available (linked below), but the highlights thread itself will be closed for comment so as to avoid the information being buried by the discussion and to provide notification through regular features of the forum software.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Public Build (Beta) Threads:

4.12.2.60 (October 23, 2020)
- 4.12.2.54 (October 16, 2020)
- 4.12.2.51 (October 13, 2020)
- 4.12.2.6 (May 12, 2020)
- 4.12.1.117 (April 28, 2020)
- 4.12.1.115 (April 24, 2020)
- 4.12.1.109 (April 17, 2020)
- 4.12.1.76 (February 18, 2020)
- 4.12.1.55 (January 20, 2020)
- 4.12.1.40 (November 25, 2019)
- 4.12.1.16 (October 15, 2019)
- 4.12.0.85 (September 24, 2019)
- 4.12.0.83 (September 20, 2019)
- 4.12.0.73 (September 11, 2019)
- 4.12.0.67 (August 30, 2019)
- 4.12.0.60 (August 23, 2019)
- 4.12.0.47 (August 5, 2019)
- 4.12.0.42 (July 30, 2019)
- 4.12.0.33 (July 22, 2019)

General Release Threads:

4.12.1.118 (June 29, 2020)

rbtwhiz · July 2019

4.12.0.33 (July 22, 2019)

NVIDIA Iray
- Integrated Iray RTX 2019.1.1 (317500.2554); see this thread for more detail
  - REQUIRES NVIDIA Driver 430.86 (or newer) on Windows; see NVIDIA Driver Downloads
  - Compatibility with Iray Server requires version 2.53 (or newer)
Timeline Pane
- Basic View (pane options > Advanced View action unchecked)
  - Functionally the same as previous versions
- Advanced View (pane options > Advanced View action checked)
  - Added a Dope Sheet view
    - This view is an integrated and improved version of the previously available "keyMate" plugin
    - The Interpolation Type of each key is graphically depicted by its shape/icon
      - TCB - Circle T
      - Linear - Diamond L
      - Constant - Square C
    - Keys in this view can be selected individually using left click
    - The Ctrl/Cmd keyboard modifier can be used to select multiple individual keys and/or toggle key selection
    - Marquee selection allows for ranges of keys, across multiple properties, to be selected
    - Selected keys can be acted upon in unison
      - Moved (horizontally in time), Interpolation Type set, Copied, Deleted, etc
    - Selection of keys in this view is automatically synchronized with key selection in the Key Graph view
    - Quick access to common key related functions is available via context menu (right click)
  - Added a Key Graph view
    - This view is an integrated and improved version of the previously available "graphMate" plugin
    - This view can be collapsed/expanded/resized using the dynamic divider that exists between the top of it and the bottom of the Dope Sheet view positioned directly above it
    - Selecting a property in the navigation column (left) of the Dope Sheet view causes the animation spline for that property to be displayed and become editable
    - Selection of multiple properties cause multiple animation splines to be displayed and become editable
    - Activating the "Monitor Parameters Pane" action in the Timeline pane option menu causes "selection" (mouseover) of properties in the Parameters pane to be interpreted as selection for this view
      - Note that when "Edit Mode" is active in the Parameters pane, "selection" is explicit and does not implicitly follow the cursor
    - The Interpolation Type of each key is graphically depicted by its shape/icon (in addition to the spline shape)
      - TCB - Circle T
      - Linear - Diamond L
      - Constant - Square C
    - Keys in this view can be selected individually using left click
    - The Ctrl/Cmd keyboard modifier can be used to select multiple individual keys and/or toggle key selection
    - Marquee selection allows for ranges of keys, across multiple properties, to be selected
    - Selected keys can be acted upon in unison
      - Moved (horizontally in time and vertically in value), Interpolation Type set, TCB parameters adjusted, Copied, Deleted, etc
    - Selection of keys in this view is automatically synchronized with key selection in the Dope Sheet view
    - Quick access to common key related functions is available via context menu (right click)
  - The Animation Range slider has been moved below the Key Graph
    - Dragging the frame number indicators on either end of the slider adjusts the Play Range
    - Clicking/Dragging the area of the slider between the start/end frame indicators shifts the Play Range within the Animation Range
    - Double clicking the area of the slider between the start/end frame indicators resets the Play Range to the Animation Range
  - The fields that provide view of, and manual numeric input into, Time/Frame have been consolidated into the left bottom corner
  - Added a Property Types selector
    - Allows users to choose which of the individual property types to display/edit in the Dope Sheet view
  - Added a Create Key Scope selector
    - Controls whether keys created by the Create Keys button are created on the listed properties of the selected node(s), the selected node(s) and their (respective) node hierarchy, or all nodes of the object
  - Added a Copy Selected Keys button/action
  - Added a Paste Keys button/action
  - Added a Interpolation Type selector
  - Added TCB parameter fields
  - Added dynamic showing/hiding of footer controls based on available width
  - Actions for most of the functions that move the position of the playhead and/or generally operate on keys are provided in the "Animation" group of the Actions list in the Customize dialog
    - An action can be bound to a keyboard shortcut that invokes the action and, as a result, accelerates workflow
Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- Added the ability to create IK Chain nodes that persist in the scene
  - A node that defines an IK Chain (i.e., specifies the "Chain Root" and the "Chain End", the type of pinning to perform, etc), and also serves as the target for the "Chain End" (i.e., the point in 3D space that the IK chain attempts to resolve to), can be created like other node types (e.g., Main Menu Bar > Create > New IK Chain...)
  - Because this node type does not belong to the node hierarchy of a figure, and because they can be parented to other nodes in the scene, they can be used to establish dependencies between separate objects (e.g., both hands of a figure gripping a bat, both hands of a figure holding on to handlebars, feet following the pedals of a bicycle, figures holding hands, etc)
- Added the ability for IK Chain nodes to be seen in scene views
  - Must activate the "Show > Show IK" action in the Scene pane option menu (this is currently off by default, but will default to on in future builds)
- Added the ability to create IK Chains for non-figure node hierarchies
  - IK chains can be created for node hierarchies (i.e., a sequence of nodes parented to one another) involving simple nodes that do not define a formal figure/skeleton (e.g., multiple tori primitives acting as the links of a chain)
    - The root node of the node hierarchy must be a Group Node
- Temporary IK Chains (i.e., those created by pinning a node with the Universal [or derived] tools) now persist across sessions
  - Pins set prior to saving a scene are now saved with the scene and restored when the scene is loaded
- Pressing the spacebar when the Universal (or derived) tool is active and IK is enabled now causes IK pinning to be toggled
  - If Translation or Rotation is pinned, the pin is cleared
  - If neither Translation or Rotation is pinned, both become pinned
- ...
Strand-Based Hair
- Updated the "New Strand-Based Hair..." action dialog to allow hiding the extended configuration options
- ...
dForce Hair
- ...
Geometry Editor
- Added support for selecting vertices on polylines using lasso/marques modes
Saving/Loading
- Fixed saving/loading of property favorites
- ...
Property Editing
- Fixed an issue where manually editing the value of a float/int slider that contained the percent symbol ("%") resulted in the value becoming 0%
- ...
Interface
- Several actions have been added and assigned to there default locations within menus
  - Clicking the Window > Workspace > Update and Merge Menus action is recommended
Preferences
- Interface > OpenGL > Display Optimization now defaults to "Best" when the user's card supports VBOs
  - This setting is reset for all users
...
Scripting API
- Made many additions in various areas; see the Change Log for more detail
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · July 2019

4.12.0.42 (July 30, 2019)

NVIDIA Iray
- Integrated Iray RTX 2019.1.3 (317500.3714); see this thread for more detail
  - REQUIRES NVIDIA Driver 430.86 (or newer) on Windows; see NVIDIA Driver Downloads
  - Iray Server compatibility requires a version that supports the "317500.3442" bridge protocol (Iray Server 2.54?)
- Improved progress/feedback when preparing a snapshot for Iray Server
- Improved progress/feedback when communicating with Iray Server via the bridge
- Formatting of Iray log messages has changed
Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- Fixed a crash that occurred when attempting to create an IK Chain for a selected node that it is not possible to create an IK chain for; i.e., a skeleton
- Added/Modified feedback provided when an IK Chain cannot be created
Scene Pane
- The "Show IK" action in the options menu has been relabled "Show IK Chains"
- "Show IK Chains" is now enabled by default
Strand-Based Hair
- Fixed a memory corruption/crash issue with text validators used in various Strand-Based Hair related dialogs
dForce Hair
- Fixed an issue with the facing direction of tessellated polylines
- Fixed an issue that prevented dForce Hair from being rendered via Iray Server
Scripting API
- Made additions in various areas; see the Change Log for more detail
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · August 2019

4.12.0.47 (August 5, 2019)

Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- Fixed a crash on close related to removing/deleting IK chains
- Fixed a crash caused by choosing "None" as the Chain Root or Chain End on an IK Chain node
- The IK solve is now applied during animation (as opposed to only during tool manipulation) based on the value of the Reach Translation and Reach Rotation properties on an IK Chain node
  - A value of 0 does not apply the IK contribution
  - A value of 1 fully applies the IK contribution
- Fixed an issue with loading (and then attempting to re-save) scenes that were saved with IK pins active prior to 4.12.x
  - IK pins were erroneously being saved (incompletely) in prior builds, causing recently added support for temporary/transient IK Chain saving/loading to be improperly defined and therefore crash during subsequent attempts to save
- Scenes saved with IK pins active prior to 4.12.x now (implicitly) have their IK pins restored on load
Timeline pane
- Dopesheet
  - Added a "Select Item Keys (Filtered)" action
    - Selects keys represented by the selected items (or the context item if no selection) in the dopesheet, within the visible playrange
    - Available from the context menu
  - Added a "Select All Item Keys (Filtered)" action
    - Selects keys represented by the selected items (or the context item if no selection) in the dopesheet, in the animation range
    - Available from the context menu
  - Added a "Deselect Item Keys (Filtered)" action
    - Deselects keys represented by the selected items (or the context item if no selection) in the dopesheet, within the visible playrange
    - Available from the context menu
  - Added a "Deselect All Item Keys (Filtered)" action
    - Deselects keys represented by the selected items (or the context item if no selection) in the dopesheet, in the animation range
    - Available from the context menu
  - The enabled/disabled state of the "Create Keys (Filtered)" action now depends on item selection
    - A node must be selected in order for the action to have a proper context
- Key Graph
  - Fixed an issue where modifying the playrange would cause left/right background drawing to be incorrectly sized
  - Now uses style colors (if defined) for drawing of transform property labels/curves
  - Now (left) elides Object: Property labels when the left background is not wide enough to support the full text
- Fixed issues relating to the enabled/disabled state of actions/buttons
  - Improved, not complete
- Placed node selection updates behind an event
  - Addresses an issue that caused expensive key caching/drawing updates to occur too frequently (e.g., for each node when selecting/deselecting many/all nodes vs as the event loop naturally allows) and ultimately resulted in degraded performance
dForce Hair
- Fixed a simulation issue with twist introduced into a given strand
  - Now considers the transform of the face at the root
- Fixed a crash caused by accessing the wrong rotation
- Fixed an issue that prevented polyline Dynamic Surface Add-Ons from working
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · August 2019

4.12.0.60 (August 23, 2019)

Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- Made improvements to efficiency
- Made improvements to node validation
- Added additional gaurds against potential crashes related to ownership and order of operation
- Fixed an issue with creating IK Chains from legacy data/files, where the Name/Label of the IK Chain node did not reflect the Name/Label specified by the data/file
- Fixed an issue with creating IK Chains for legacy figures where the Chain Root and Chain End properties of the node did not reflect the root/end of the chain
- The the Name/Label of IK Chain nodes now include the Name/Label of the figure as a prefix by default
  - Applies to IK Chain nodes created from legacy data/files, those created as temporary/transients through use of the pinning features of the Universal (and derivative) tools, as well as those created by the Create > "New IK Chain..." action
  - This change helps with quick identification of cross-object parenting relationships, where IK Chains that control one node hierarchy are parented to other nodes/objects in the scene
- IK Chain nodes now properly exclude themselves from Chain Root/End options
- The IK Chain node Reach Translation/Rotation properties are now displayed as percentages - as they represent the amount of the IK solve applied during animation
- Enabled the "Parent to Selected Item" option for Create > "New IK Chain…" action
  - The current behavior of IK Chain nodes that are parented to a node involved in the chain defined by that IK Chain node is indeterminate - this option is therefore considered [experimental]
Timeline pane
- Dopesheet
  - When the text of an item in the Name column is truncated/elided, a tooltip that contains the full text of the item will be displayed when the cursor is hovered over the item
  - Added a "Expand All" action
    - Expands all items in the dopesheet
    - Available from the Expand submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Expand Item" action
    - Expands the selected item in the dopesheet - same as clicking the right pointing arrow to the left of the item label/icon when an item with children is collapsed
    - Available from the Expand submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Expand from Item" action
    - Expands the selected item in the dopesheet, and all of its child items, recursively
    - Available from the Expand submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Collapse All" action
    - Collapses all items in the dopesheet
    - Available from the Collapse submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Collapse Item" action
    - Collapses the selected item in the dopesheet - same as clicking the down pointing arrow to the left of the item label/icon when an item with children is expanded
    - Available from the Collapse submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Collapse from Item" action
    - Collapses the selected item in the dopesheet, and all of its child items, recursively
    - Available from the Collapse submenu of the context menu
- Key Graph
  - Fixed an issue where changing which property(ies) to display would not disconnect listening to previously selected properties, ultimately leading to degregaded performance
- The enabled/disabled state of the "Create Keys (Filtered)" action/button now depends on item selection
  - A node must be selected in order for the action to have a proper context
- Added a "Properties" option to the Create Key Scope selector
  - When active and the Create Keys button/action is clicked/triggered, only the properties represented by the selected items in the dopesheet Name column will have keys created
- Fixed enabling/disabling the Paste Keys action/button
  - Enabled when keys have been copied, disabled otherwise
- Made styling adjustments to improve consistency with other areas of the application
Actions (and their Option Dialogs)
- The "Create New Item" dialog now contains a "Label" field
  - The "Name" field is used to specify the internal name of a given node
    - Among other things, this value plays into saving/applying certain types of presets
  - The "Label" field is used to specify the text typically displayed in the interface
- The Name (and Label) field in the "Create New Item" dialog now provide an option with the default value
  - This serves as an easily accessible way to restore the automatically determined unique Name/Label values
- The Name and Label fields in the "Create New Item" dialog now prevent illegal characters from being entered
- The Accept button of the "Create New Item" dialog is now disabled unless the Name and Label fields have a valid value
- The "Create New Item" dialog has been refactored - this impacts the following actions:
  - Create > "New Camera..."
  - Create > "New Distant Light..."
  - Create > "Spotlight..."
  - Create > "New Point Light..."
  - Create > "New Linear Point Light..."
  - Create > "New Null..."
  - Create > "New Group..."
  - Create > "New Node Instance..."
  - Create > "New Geometry Shell..."
  - Create > "New Push Modifier Weight Node..."
  - Create > "New Strand-Based Hair..."
  - Create > "New dForce Wind Node..."
  - Create > "New dForce Modifier Weight Node..."
  - Create > "New Iray Decal Node..."
  - Create > "New Iray Section Plane Node..."
  - Create > "New IK Chain..."
- The "Create a Persistent Point At Target (Null)" option is no longer displayed in the Create > "New Push Modifier Weight Node..." options dialog
  - This option served no meaningful purpose - it was only shown due to a limitation in the "Create New Item" dialog API that has since been addressed
- The "Create a Persistent Point At Target (Null)" option is no longer displayed in the Create > "New dForce Modifier Weight Node..." options dialog
  - This option served no meaningful purpose - it was only shown due to a limitation in the "Create New Item" dialog API that has since been addressed
- The Node Name/Label fields in the "Scene Identification" dialog now prevent illegal characters from being entered
- The Accept button of the "Scene Identification" dialog is now disabled unless the Node Name/Label fields have a valid value
- The Node Name/Label fields of the "Scene Identification" dialog now behave consistently - enabling/disabling, validators, value options, etc
- The "Rename Node..." action dialog is now consistent with the "Scene Identification" and "Create New Item" dialogs - enabling/disabling, validators, value options, etc
Property Behavior
- Node properties now respect the checked state of the Scene pane : Option Menu > Show > "Show Hidden Nodes" action when displaying its node selection dialog
  - Does not prevent the property from being assigned a hidden node value via SDK/scripting APIs, like excludeNode() does, only whether or not hidden nodes are listed in the editor
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · August 2019

4.12.0.67 (August 30, 2019) *UPDATES PENDING*

Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- ...
Timeline pane
- Dopesheet
  - Added an "Object" key creation scope action
    - Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Object"
      - Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for all properties listed in the view, for all nodes of the primary selected object
    - Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Node Recurse" key creation scope action
    - Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Node Recurse"
      - Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for all properties listed in the view, for the primary selected node and all of its decendants
    - Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
  - Added an "Node" key creation scope action
    - Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Node"
      - Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for all properties listed in the view, for the primary selected node
    - Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
  - Added an "Properties" key creation scope action
    - Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Properties"
      - Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for the selected properties listed in the view
    - Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
  - ...
- Key Graph
  - ...
- ...
dForce
- Dynamic Surface Add-On
  - ...
- ...
Actions (and their Option Dialogs)
- The "Create New Item" dialog
  - ...
- Convert Prop to Figure
  - ...
- Convert Figure to Prop
  - ...
- Joint Editor: Interactive Mode
  - ...
- Create Child Bone
  - ...
- Create Sibling Bone
  - ...
- Duplicate Bones
  - ...
- Split Bones
  - ...
Property Behavior
- ...
General Interface
- Updated default layout files
  - Recommend clicking Window > Workspace > Update and Merge menus
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · September 2019

4.12.0.73 (September 11, 2019)

NVIDIA Iray
- Fixed an issue with rendering canvases when using the Spot Render tool configured to render to a new window
Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- Fixed a crash that occured when an IK target node was placed outside of a figure's node hierarchy and the figure was deleted during weight map conversion
- Fixed an issue where removing an IK context node (e.g., a figure) from the scene did not also remove the associated IK nodes
  - Would leave orphaned IK target nodes that referenced nodes of the IK context that had been deleted from the scene (moved to the undo stack)
- Fixed an issue with loading of saved IK chains
  - IK node properties showed the correct Chain Root and Chain End values, but not all nodes in the chain were being included internally
- Fixed an issue where parenting an IK target node to a node in the the IK chain that it defines caused amplified movement while dragging the IK target
Timeline pane
- Dopesheet
  - The expanded state of items in the name/navigation column is now preserved when changing which property types are displayed and/or the key creation scope
  - Removed the move root item up/down buttons from the Name column
    - In preparation for adding a afiltering header similar to the Scene pane
  - Added a "Move Root Item to Top" action
    - Moves the the root of the selected item to the top of the Dopesheet
    - Available from the move Root item submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Move Root Item Up" action
    - Moves the the root of the selected item to the next higher position in the Dopesheet
    - Available from the move Root item submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Move Root Item Down" action
    - Moves the the root of the selected item to the next lower position in the Dopesheet
    - Available from the move Root item submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Move Root Item to Bottom" action
    - Moves the the root of the selected item to the bottom of the Dopesheet
    - Available from the move Root item submenu of the context menu
  - Added a "Refresh" action
    - Causes the hierarchy of nodes / property groups / properties to be rebuilt
      - Useful for when a property has been created and meets current filtering criteria, but is not displayed
    - Available from the context menu
- Fixed a crash when skipping to next key frame
Face Transfer pane
- Windows 64-bit only
- A new pane that allows selection of a source portrait photo to transfer to a Genesis 8 Male/Female
  - Lighting should be uniform, without shadows, and not too bright or dark
  - Face must be clearly visible, with no obstructions like glasses, hair blocking the forehead, etc.
  - Facial expression should be neutral
  - Facing direction should be straight ahead
- Requires latest update to Genesis 8 Starter Essentials Male/Female
- Generates a morph, associated facial bone adjustments/links, and a texture set
  - Texture set is based on default textures provided by Starter Essentials packages
  - Materials
- Uses a "trial usage" activation policy
  - Allows unlimited generated previews
    - Generated preview textures are watermarked and not preserved between transfers or sessions
  - Allows 3 saves via Face Transfer, per release channel, before requiring a valid serial number
  - Entering a valid serial number does the following:
    - Removes watermarking from generated previews
    - Enables unlimited Face Transfer save operations
- A Face Transfer save performs the following
  - Renames and/or relabels temporary morph, property, alias, and textures based on user-specified values
  - Generates a Scene Subset consisting of the figure, the generated morph and textures and any fitted/parented items
  - ...
- See in-pane Guide and Tip pages for more information
Database Driven Content Veiws
- Smart Content pane, Content Library pane, Posing pane, Shaping pane, Surfaces, pane, Lights pane, Cameras pane, Render Settings pane, Simulation Settings pane, etc...
- Fixed an occasional crash when search results are changed quickly in side navigation content views - was caused by issues related to multi-threading
- Fixed a crash on close when category roots are still being fetched in a separate thread
Scene pane
- Changing the label of a node (slow double-click) now validates the entered text and provides feedback where appropriate
  - Illegal characters, collisions, etc
- Fixed a crash that could occur in when building/rebuilding the view
  - When adding/removing nodes to/from the scene
- Improved performance of restoring expanded state
  - Occurs each time a new node is added to the scene
Measure Metrics pane
- Changing the label of a node (slow double-click) now validates the entered text and provides feedback where appropriate
  - Illegal characters, collisions, etc
Actions (and their Option Dialogs)
- The "Create New Item" dialog
  - Fixed an issue that caused Create > "New *..." actions that are set to prefer the "Parent to Selected Item" option to erroneously cause the "Parent Selected Item(s) to New *" option (which is typically hidden in those cases) to be selected
  - Relaxed the node label validator to allow non-consecutive dot (period) characters
- Create Child Bone
  - Relaxed the node label validator to allow non-consecutive dot (period) characters
- Relaxed the node label validator in the Scene Identification dialog to allow non-consecutive dot (period) characters
General Interface
- Updated default layout files
  - Recommend clicking Window > Workspace > Update and Merge menus
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · September 2019

4.12.0.83 (September 20, 2019)

NVIDIA Iray
- Fixed inconsistencies (with the OpenGL viewport and/or 3Delight) in the application of vertical offset (whether via texture modifier or UV tiling)
  - Can result in consistency issues with products that use the previously inconsistent (incorrect) behavior
- Fixed an issue where refreshed textures would not update until all active instances were shut down
Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- Fixed an issue where an IK target/goal node for a given IK chain that is parented and pinned to a node higher in the node hierarchy than its Chain Root, but still within the hierarchy that ascends to the context node (root), would erroneously translate when rotating a node between said higher node and the Chain Root
- Fixed erratic behavior ("popping") stemming from error during solve of IK in systems where an IK target/goal node is dragged past full extension of the explicit chain
Timeline pane
- Dopesheet
  - The selected state of items in the name/navigation column is now preserved when changing which property types are displayed and/or the key creation scope
  - The track/keys column for selected items is now highlighted if it is the lowest leaf (i.e., a property) or not expanded (i.e., node, property group, or intermediary)
  - Made styling adjustments to various elements - e.g., playhead size/positioning, track start/end markers, etc
  - Fixed a regression where moving a key would sometimes cause TCB parameters to be randomized to unexpected/large values
  - Auto-scrolling to an item representing the primary selected node now centers the item instead of just causing it to be visible within the top/bottom edge of the view
- Key Graph
  - Fixed an issue where moving two or more selected keys together horizontally in either direction and abruptly changing direction during the drag would cause the selected keys to randomize their times relative to one another
- Key selection state between the Dopesheet and Key Graph views are now synchronized
  - Actions/Buttons that enable/disable based on key selection should now update regardless of which view the key selection state changes in
Face Transfer pane
- Various tweaks/fixes to UI sizing/layout issues
- Modified source image navigation behavior
  - Defaults to OS defined pictures path
  - Records/Restores last path used for None and Browse
  - Uses the current selection where applicable
- Fixed issues with pollution of the undo stack
  - Face Transfer is not undoable
- Viewport redrawing is now blocked while processing/applying
- Optimized handling of scene selection
  - Now behaves as a better "citizen" of the overall environment
- Gender options now remain enabled regardless of scene selection
  - Options are presented when a gender mismatch is encountered during the generation process
- Gender selection now persists between sessions
- Saving a Scene Subset now generates a thumbnail
Scene pane
- Holding [Alt] while clicking the Visible (eye) icon will now restore the default visibility of the node
- Holding [Ctrl/Cmd] while clicking the Visible (eye) icon will now toggle visibility of the node and all of the node's children, recursively until/unless a Group node is encountered
- Holding [Ctrl/Cmd + Alt] while clicking the Visible (eye) icon will now restore the default visibility of the node and all of the node's children, recursively until/unless a Group node is encountered
- Holding [Alt] while clicking the Selectable (arrow + checkmark/X) icon will now restore the default viewport selectability of the node
- Holding [Ctrl/Cmd] while clicking the Selectable (arrow + checkmark/X) icon will now toggle viewport selectability of the node and all of the node's children, recursively until/unless a Group node is encountered
- Holding [Ctrl/Cmd + Alt] while clicking the Selectable (arrow + checkmark/X) icon will now restore the default viewport selectability of the node and all of the node's children, recursively until/unless a Group node is encountered
- Tooltips for the Visible (eye) and Selectable (arrow + checkmark/X) icons now indicate state in addition to node label
- When the label of a node is truncated/elided, a tooltip that contains the full label of the node will now be displayed
Render Settings pane / Render Window
- Fixed an issue that caused the text cursor in render filename properties/widgets to be moved while typing
Group Node
- Fixed an issue where, when nested, the state of properties such as Visible, Visible in Render, Visible in viewport, Visible in Simulation, Selectabe (in Viewport), etc were not being respected in nested group nodes
  - The state of properties on the top-most group node in a given node hierarchy were being respected, but the state of properties on the nested groups were not
Texture Refreshing (e.g., Surfaces pane Option Menu > Refresh Images & Automatically Refresh Images)
- Fixed an issue with permenantly ignoring updates when a texture was temporarily invalid (i.e., opened/locked by the OS or another application)
  - Testing for invalid is now temporary/momentary
- Fixed an issue with whether or not the modified timestamp was newer
  - Now based on modified timestamp being different, not newer
Push Modifiers
- Now allowed to exist before or after a smoothing modifier
  - Depends on whether or not a smoothing modifier exists when the push modifier is added
Actions (and their Option Dialogs)
- Rename Node
  - Made validation behaviors more consistent with the Scene pane, Scene Identification, and Create New Item dialogs
  - Improved validation of corner-cases
- Added Window > Workspace > "Off Screen Tool Bars..."
  - Similar in function to Window > Workspace > "Off Screen Pane (Tab) Groups..."
  - If a toolbar has been undocked and it has been positioned such that it is off the screen (any portion of it), the action's dialog will display a list of which toolbars are "off-screen" (and which screen they are "off" based on the screen that corresponds with the top left corner of the toolbar),
  - Whichever toolbars are checked when the action's dialog is accepted will be repositioned so that they are entirely "on-screen"
  - Basically provides a way to recover from (mistakenly?) dragging an undocked toolbar off of the visible portion of the desktop, without having to resort to (re)applying an entire layout
General Interface
- Fixed an issue in various panes that provide a scene selector, where choosing a long labeled node caused minimum size issues for the widget/column/pane
- Updated default layout files
  - Recommend clicking Window > Workspace > Update and Merge menus
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · September 2019

4.12.0.85 (September 24, 2019)

Face Transfer pane
- Added an icon to the pane action
  - Window > Panes (Tabs) > Face Transfer
General Interface
- Fixed an issue in text fields that validate user input (e.g., render filename properties/widgets) and ultimately prevented users from being able to type/insert words (a set of word characters encapsulated by spaces) mid-field based on whether or not the text cursor was positioned on the left (or right) side of an existing space character and the validator for the field is configured to consolidate consecutive space characters
  - If the text cursor was positioned on the right side of an existing space character, behavior was as expected
  - Consecutive spaces are temporarily allowed while editing, but are consolidated when editing is finished - i.e., when the text field loses focus or when the return/enter key is pressed
- Fixed an issue in the Highway and Main Street styles where the contrast of the value for properties in a property view (e.g., Parameters pane, Surface pane, etc) that are not at their default values was not significant enough to be distinguished from the view/item background when selected/hovered over
  - Fixes a regression resulting from optimizations made in a recent build to increase perfomance and decrease system resource usage
- Standard dialogs (i.e., with Help, Accept and Cancel buttons) now explicitly select the "Accept" button (where applicable) by default
  - Fixes a regression resulting from recent work on the Create New Item dialog that caused the 'Cancel" button to be selected by default
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · October 2019

Public Build Highlights:

4.12.1.16 (October 15, 2019)

macOS
- Removed semi-colons separating file extensions in file browser multi-extension filters
  - The presence of semi-colons within a single filter was causing macOS 10.15 (Catalina) to display files with all but the last file extension (the one NOT followed by a semi-colon) as "dimmed" (unavailable/unselectable)
Application Launch
- Only a single instance of the application, per release channel, is now allowed to run at a time (by default)
  - Attempts to load registered file types via double-click or "open with" commands (once promoted to General Release) will forward to a running instance (if any) instead of allowing concurrent instances that compete for resources and cause conflicts
  - ...
NVIDIA Iray
- Integrated Iray RTX 2019.1.4 (317500.5529); see this thread for more detail
  - REQUIRES NVIDIA Driver 430.86 (or newer) on Windows; see NVIDIA Driver Downloads
    - This requirement has not changed since the 4.12.0.33 build (above)
- Removed the "OptiX Prime Acceleration" option from the Advanced page of the Render Settings pane when NVIDIA Iray is set as the active renderer
  - The option is no longer supported by the integrated version of Iray RTX 2019
Face Transfer pane
- Fixed an issue with requisite libraries (on Windows) missing on some user's machines, causing the plugin to fail to load
  - "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019" is now included with the standard distribution
- Fixed an issue with option menu actions not properly enabling/disabling
- Unnecessary/Unused obj, mtl and json files are no longer generated in the application temp directory
Timeline pane
- Dopesheet
  - Added a "Translation (T)" action
    - Toggles availability of Translation properties in the Dopesheet
    - Available from the "Property Types" submenu of the context menu, the "Property Types" submenu of the pane options menu, and the "Types" selector in the footer of the pane
  - Added a "Rotation (R)" action
    - Toggles availability of Rotation properties in the Dopesheet
    - Available from the "Property Types" submenu of the context menu, the "Property Types" submenu of the pane options menu, and the "Types" selector in the footer of the pane
  - Added a "Scale (S)" action
    - Toggles availability of Scale properties in the Dopesheet
    - Available from the "Property Types" submenu of the context menu, the "Property Types" submenu of the pane options menu, and the "Types" selector in the footer of the pane
  - Added a "Other (O)" action
    - Toggles availability of "other" (e.g., morph, node, etc.) properties in the Dopesheet
    - Available from the "Property Types" submenu of the context menu, the "Property Types" submenu of the pane options menu, and the "Types" selector in the footer of the pane
  - Added a "Alias (A)" action
    - Toggles availability of property aliases in the Dopesheet
    - Available from the "Property Types" submenu of the context menu, the "Property Types" submenu of the pane options menu, and the "Types" selector in the footer of the pane
  - Added a "Hidden (H)" action
    - Toggles availability of hidden properties in the Dopesheet
    - Available from the "Property Types" submenu of the context menu, the "Property Types" submenu of the pane options menu, and the "Types" selector in the footer of the pane
  - Moved the "Select Item Keys (Filtered)" and "Select All Item Keys (Filtered)" actions into a "Select" submenu of the context menu
  - Moved the "Deselect Item Keys (Filtered)" and "Deselect All Item Keys (Filtered)" actions into a "Deselect" submenu of the context menu
  - Added cursor feedback
    - Name column
    - Keys
  - Drawing of marquee ("rubberband") selection is now consistent with other views in the application
  - Support for using the [Alt] keyboard modifier to deselect keys has been added
    - Single key deselection is accomplished by pressing and holding [Alt] and then clicking a selected key
    - Multi-key deselection is accomplished by pressing and holding [Alt] and then dragging a marquee ("rubberband") around the selected keys
    - Support for using the [Ctrl/Cmd] keyboard modifier to add to the existing selection also exists
  - Holding the [Ctrl] keyboard modifier while dragging a selection of keys will relax the frame snapping constraint
    - Allows keys to be places at sub-frames
  - Key frame snapping is now based on the context key (the key under the cursor when the press occurred)
    - Maintains sub-frame relative time differences between selected keys
  - Clicks in the keys column (right) no longer changes item selection
    - This allows the name column (left) to be used for manipulating item selection (for action context and populating the Key Graph) and the keys column (right) to be used for selecting/manipulating keys
  - Click and drag on an unselected key now causes the key to become selected and begin moving in a single operation
    - This is now consistent with the Key Graph
  - Fixed an issue where selecting a key in the Key Graph and then moving it in the Dopesheet would sometimes prevent moving the selected keys earlier in time
  - ...
- Key Graph
  - Added a "Frame Keys" action
    - Adjusts the pan/zoom of the view to fit the keys of the properties whose animation curves are being displayed
    - Available from the the context menu
  - Navigation controls on the right side of the view are now consistent with other (docked) view navigation controls
    - Icons, sizes, states, cursors, etc.
  - Mouse wheel event handling has been modified
    - Normal operation, with no modifier key pressed, zooms in/out
    - Pressing and holding the [Ctrl/Cmd] modifier (alone) while scrolling the wheel reduces the speed/scale of zoom
    - Pressing and holding the [Alt] modifier (alone) while scrolling the wheel pans up/down
    - Pressing and holding the [Alt] and [Ctrl/Cmd] modifier together while scrolling the wheel reduces the speed/scale of pan
  - Cursor feedback has been added
    - Keys
    - Playhead (vertical line)
  - Drawing of marquee ("rubberband") selection is now consistent with other views in the application
  - Support for using the [Alt] keyboard modifier to deselect keys has been added
    - Single key deselection is accomplished by pressing and holding [Alt] and then clicking a selected key
    - Multi-key deselection is accomplished by pressing and holding [Alt] and then dragging a marquee ("rubberband") around the selected keys
    - Support for using the [Ctrl/Cmd] keyboard modifier to add to the existing selection also exists
  - Support for pressing/holding the [Shift] keyboard modifier to constrain key movement has been added
    - When the vertical delta (change) is greater than the horizontal delta, only the value of keys being dragged will be changed
    - When the horizontal delta (change) is greater than vertical delta, only the time of keys being dragged will be changed
  - Holding the [Ctrl] keyboard modifier while dragging a selection of keys will relax the frame snapping constraint
    - Allows keys to be places at sub-frames
  - ...
- Play Range Slider
  - Added cursor feedback
    - Play Range Start Marker (left)
    - Play Range End Marker (right)
    - Play Range Slider (middle)
- Fixed an issue where the checked state of the "Hidden (H)" property type option would not persist between sessions
- Fixed an issue where the checked state of the "Properties" key creation scope option would not persist between sessions
- Added/Updated inline help descriptions for various widgets
- ...
Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- Fixed an issue with the IK solver where bones/nodes that define non-uniform scale were not being accounted for
  - This manifested as "jitter" or "popping" during IK drag where chains (to include pull nodes) that incorporated non-uniform scale were involved
- Implemented the heuristic IK solve algorithm used for figure node hierarchies, for non-figure node hierarchies
  - Helps smooth and stabilize solves of non-figure node hierarchies
- ...
Content Loading
- Fixed an issue where some legacy figures would cause a crash on load when IK chains are present
- Fixed a crash when a dForce hair item is not valid
General Interface
- Fixed an issue where making changes in the "Customize Interface Style" dialog (i.e., Window > Style > Customize Style...) would pollute the undo stack
  - Changes made in this dialog should not have an effect on the undo stack
  - [ALT] + click can be used to restore an individual property to its default value
  - The "Defaults" button can be clicked to restore all properties to their respective default values
- Fixed an issue where some dialogs would not select the preferred default button (e.g. "Accept") when shown
- Refactored the Help > Troubleshooting > "About Your Video Card..." action (Current Hardware Features) dialog
  - Descriptions previously displayed in the dialog now reside in Tool Tips
- Updated default menus
  - Recommend clicking the Window > Workspace > Update and Merge Menus action
- ...
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · November 2019

Public Build Highlights:

4.12.1.40 (November 25, 2019)

Application Launch
- Implemented a robust application instancing, settings/UI copying, settings cleaning mechanism
  - Addresses issues caused by running concurrent instances that cause conflicts
  - Launch Instance - Demo Script
    - Attached to the bottom of this post is a script (i.e., Launch Instance.dse) that demonstrates the use of each option outlined below
    - If the "Launch Process" option in the script's dialog is NOT checked, a message is displayed that contains an OS specific generated string that can be used to launch an instance of the application (and more specifically, the Public Build) from command line, a shortcut or an alias
      - This message contains a "Copy" button that will copy the generated string to the system clipboard, to ease its use for purposes where this is desired
      - This generated string is also written to the log (Help > Troubleshooting > View Log File...)
    - If the "Launch Process" option IS checked, a new instance of the application is launched, configured according to the active options and their respective values
    - If a scene is currently loaded, the "File" option will provide a menu that contains the path of the loaded scene
      - Selecting this option and choosing a file path allows another application instance to be launched and the specified asset to be automatically loaded
    - If an asset is selected in the Smart Content pane > Files page (and the page is visible), or in the Content Library pane (and the pane is visible), the "File" option will provide a menu that contains the path(s) of the selected asset(s)
      - Selecting this option and choosing a file path allows another application instance to be launched and the specified asset to be automatically loaded
    - ...
  - Makes use of the application's Command Line Interface (CLI) to configure options that provide flexibility for various workflows
    - Usage: <executable_path> [-option <value>] [filename]
    - -instanceName
      - Valid characters include any uppercase or lowercase ASCII characer in the A-Z range, as well as any number (integer), hyphen, underscore, in any sequence
        
        Any characters that are not supported (e.g., a space - if the value is quoted, special characters, non-ASCII characters) will be automatically stripped
      - Supports gap-filling automatic incrementation (Windows only - automatic incrementation does not currently occur on macOS)
        
        An application instance name containing the "#" (number sign, hash, pound) character will automatically have occurrences of the "#" character replaced by the 'next' available incremental integer value (e.g., if instances 1, 2, and 3 are running, instance 2 is closed and a new instance is launched, the new instance will be assigned 2 and the next would be assigned 4 - unless 1, 2 or 3 were closed before it launched)
        
        Cleaning of application settings and session UI files on launch is automatic by default
        
        Use the -cleanOnLaunch option to override this behavior
        
        Copying of root release channel application settings is automatic by default
        
        Use the -copyAppSettings option to override this behavior
        
        Copying of root release channel session UI files is automatic by default
        
        Use the -copySessionUI option to override this behavior
    - -cleanOnLaunch
      - If specified, this option is used to determine whether or not application settings/data are removed when the application is launched
      - A falsey value does not override the standard behavior of purging the application's temp directory on launch
      - Valid falsey values are 0, off, n, no, f, or false
      - Valid truthy valus are 1, on, y, yes, t, or true
    - -copyAppSettings
      - Referrencing - valid characters ...
        
        General Release ("~") ...
        
        Root Instance (".") ...
        
        Named Instance ...
    - -copySessionUI
      - Referrencing - valid characters ...
        
        General Release ("~") ...
        
        Root Instance (".") ...
        
        Named Instance ...
    - -cleanOnExit
      - If specified, this option is used to determine whether or not application settings/data are removed when the application exits
      - A falsey value does not override the standard behavior of purging the application's temp directory on exit
      - Valid falsey values are 0, off, n, no, f, or false
      - Valid truthy valus are 1, on, y, yes, t, or true
    - -scriptArg ...
    - The last argument that is not an option, or a valid argument to an option, is interpreted as the filename to open (if any)
      - Must be enclosed by quotes if the path contains any space characters
NVIDIA Iray
- Integrated Iray RTX 2019.1.5 (317500.7473); see this thread for more detail
  - REQUIRES NVIDIA Driver 430.86 (or newer) on Windows; see NVIDIA Driver Downloads
    - This requirement has not changed since the 4.12.0.33 build (above)
  - Works arround defects in 440 series drivers
- Removed the "Architectural Sampler" property from Render Settings
  - Support for this setting was removed from NVIDIA Iray as of 2017.1 beta (296300.616)
Timeline pane
- Fixed an issue where a value less than 2 in the Total (Frames) spinbox, even if only "momentarily" (e.g. an attempt to type "120", wherein a user must type "1" followed by "2" and then "0", and so is "less than 2" even if the intent is to type "120"), would cause the application to hang
- The minimum value for the Total (Frames) spinbox is now 1
Puppeteer pane
- Improved general performance
- Fixed (significant) memory leaks in key preview, record, mouse drag, and playback operations, as well as in context menus
- Removed dependencies on legacy support libraries
Figure Setup pane
- Improved performance
- Removed dependencies on legacy support libraries
OBJ Importer
- MTL texture map path parsing now handles non-quoted paths that contain spaces
- Improved performance of resolving texture map references in an MTL file, where the same path is referenced multiple times
- Made minor adjustments to layout in the options dialog
OBJ Exporter
- Made changes/additions to the options dialog
  - The "Write Groups" options for selecting the type of grouping to write are now presented as a single drop-down instead of multiple radio buttions
  - The "Write Material Library" options for selecting how to handle texture maps are now presented as a single drop-down instead of multiple radio buttions
  - The "Write Material Library" option is now a checkable group box
    - Added a "Quote Paths Containing Spaces" option (default on)
  - Added a "Filter Objects" checkable group box option
    - Added an "Objects" option
      - Allows for choosing whether to export only the "Primary Root" (the root of the primary selection), or the "Selected Roots" (the unique roots of each selected node)
    - Added an "Include Parented" option
      - Allows for including parented objects without having to first select them
  - The "Write Object Statements" option has been re-labeled "Write Separate Objects"
- MTL filename references are now quoted (by default) if the path contains a space (refer to option mentioned above)
  - Implements stricter adherence to standard tokenization used by the OBJ Importer parser
  - Allows a non-map-collected/non-map-converted export to be round-tripped with texture map assignments in tact
- Relative paths written to MTL now more strictly adhere to standard pathing conventions - e.g. they are prefixed by a dot (meaning "current directory" - of the MTL file)
Map Transfer
- Listed materials are now prefixed with the label of their respective root node
  - Addresses the case where the materials of multiple objects are listed, but which materials belonged to which object was not easily discernible
BVH Importer/Exporter
- Removed dependencies on legacy support libraries
Hexagon Bridge
- Removed dependencies on legacy support libraries
Bryce Bridge
- Removed dependencies on legacy support libraries
Content Loading
- Fixed an issue in where the order of similarly named mapped directories could affect which base directory would be found for a given path
  - A mapped directory earlier in the list that could be considered a prefix for a mapped directory that resided later in the list would be found instead of the later mapped directory
General Interface
- The splash screen now displays the full version number, bit architecture, release channel and instance name (if any) of the application
- ...
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · January 2020

Public Build Highlights:

4.12.1.55 (January 20, 2020)

Rendering - NVIDIA Iray
- Changed the timing of when information about the previous frame in a sequential frame render (i.e., an animation sequence) is released
  - This is an attempt at reducing resource consumption and address premature fallback from GPU to CPU
- The GPU options in Render Settings > Advanced > Hardware are now prefixed with their respective CUDA IDs
  - Improves the ability to associate log messages with the corresponding option in the interface
- Added options to Render Settings > Advanced > Hardware
  - On machines where compatible hardware and drivers are installed:
    - "Allow CPU Fallback"
      - If the enabled GPU(s) fail during initialization or during a render, this option controls whether or not the CPU is allowed to take over the rendering process instead of halting/failing
      - On (checked) by default - as such reflects the behavior of all previous versions
      - This option (currently?) only applies to Photoreal Mode (and therefore may ultimately be moved to the Photoreal Mode section to properly reflect scope)
      - Requires the application to be restarted in order for state to be respected
    - "Allow GPU Detection"
      - Controls whether or not GPU detection is enabled/disabled - in case detection causes problems (hangs, crashes) or GPU usage is not desired at all
      - On (checked) by default - as such reflects the behavior of all previous versions
      - Requires the application to be restarted in order for state to be respected
    - "Check GPU Driver Version"
      - Controls whether or not the check for GPU driver version is performed
      - On (checked) by default - as such reflects the behavior of all previous versions
      - Disabling this option for regular/extended use is NOT recommended - it is provided for purposes of troubleshooting
      - Requires the application to be restarted in order for state to be respected
      - Depends on the "Allow GPU Detection" option being active (checked)
    - "NVLink Peer Group Size"
      - Controls the number of CUDA devices in an NVLink peer group
        
        Devices in an NVLink peer group can efficiently share device memory*
        
        Scene memory is shared among all devices in a peer group*
        
        *Devices in a peer group do not share all of their scene and rendering related memory - at the moment only bitmap/texture data is shared
        
        Enabled CUDA devices are assigned to peer groups based on the order of their respective CUDA IDs
        
        Peer group size must be a factor of the total number of enabled CUDA devices
        
        If devices assigned to the same peer group do not have peer access (e.g. due to link topology), an effort is made to revert to the last provided and valid NVLink peer group size
        
        It is your responsibility to ensure that all devices assigned to each group are properly connected through NVLink
      - Requires NVLink capable hardware
      - Depends on the "Allow GPU Detection" option being active (checked)
Simulation - dForce
- Added a "Simulate Selected" action
  - Performs a custom simulation with only the selected nodes (per their respective settings) considered
    - Select ALL nodes in the scene that you want to participate in the simulation, including any nodes that provide wind and/or serve as collision targets
  - Available from the Simulation Settings pane option menu
  - Underlying functionality of this action is not new (possible since 4.10 - see script sample here), what is new is the convienence of a predefined action
- Added a "Clear All Objects" action
  - Clears simulation data from all objects with a dForce modifier, regardless of "Freeze Simulation" value
  - Available from the Simulation Settings pane option menu > dForce submenu
- Added a "Clear All Non-Frozen Objects" action
  - Clears simulation data from all objects with a dForce modifier where "Freeze Simulation" is false
  - Available from the Simulation Settings pane option menu > dForce submenu
- Relabeled the "Clear dForce Simulation from Selected Item(s)" action to "Clear Selected Objects"
  - Clears simulation data from selected objects with a dForce modifier, regardless of "Freeze Simulation" value
  - Available from the Simulation Settings pane option menu > dForce submenu
- Added a "Clear Selected, Non-Frozen, Objects" action
  - Clears simulation data from selected objects with a dForce modifier where "Freeze Simulation" is false
  - Available from the Simulation Settings pane option menu > dForce submenu
- "Clear *" actions now provide feedback when the action results in no change
- The "Clear" button in the Simulation Settings pane, and the "Clear Simulation Data" action in the Simulation Settings pane option menu, now support the use of keyboard modifiers:
  - If [Ctrl/Cmd] is pressed, the user is presented with an options dialog
  - If [Shift] is pressed, only the selected objects are considered
  - If [Alt] is pressed, only the non-frozen objects are considered
  - If [Shift] and [Alt] are both pressed, only the non-frozen selected objects are considered
- The "Clear" button in the Simulation Settings pane, and the "Clear Simulation Data" action in the Simulation Settings pane option menu, now provide feedback when the action results in no change
Animation - Timeline pane
- Fixed an issue with drawing of frame indicators in the Dopesheet view Keys column header if the Play Range Start was set to a frame number greater than the current time zoom/pan values should draw for the current Keys column width
  - Click-dragging the left side of the time slider to the right side of the division between the Name column and the Keys column would cause frame indicators to squeeze into a progressively smaller area on the right side of the header
- Fixed an issue where clicking the Dopesheet view Keys column header, or clicking/dragging the Playhead in the Dopesheet view Keys column header, while the Play Range Start frame number was set to any value other than 0 would cause the scene time to be offset from the frame corresponding to the cursor position by the same amount
- Fixed an issue where the state of the "Play All Frames" action would stop being respected when the Dopesheet or Key Graph widgets were interacted with directly
Content Library pane
- Added an "Allow Container View Collapse" action
  - Off (unchecked) by default
    - Addresses an issue where some users would unknowingly/mistakenly collapse the Container View and wonder what happened to thier ability navigate content
  - Available from the pane option > Preferences submenu
Smart Content pane
- Added an "Allow Files Navigation Collapse" action
  - Off (unchecked) by default
    - Addresses an issue where some users would unknowingly/mistakenly collapse the category navigation and wonder what happened to thier ability navigate content
  - Available from the pane option > Preferences submenu
- Added an "Allow Products Navigation Collapse" action
  - Off (unchecked) by default
    - Addresses an issue where some users would unknowingly/mistakenly collapse the category navigation and wonder what happened to thier ability navigate content
  - Available from the pane option > Preferences submenu
General Interface
- Updated default menus
  - Recommend clicking the Window > Workspace > Update and Merge Menus action
- Moved several actions specifically related to configuration of a pane to a "Preferences" submenu in the pane's option menu
  - Smart Content
  - Content Library
  - Parameters
  - Posing
  - Shaping
  - Surfaces
  - Lights
  - Cameras
  - Draw Settings
  - Render Settings
  - Simulation Settings
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · February 2020

Public Build Highlights:

4.12.1.76 (February 18, 2020)

NVIDIA Iray
- Integrated Iray RTX 2019.1.6 (317500.11080); see this thread for more detail
  - REQUIRES NVIDIA Driver 430.86 (or newer) on Windows; see NVIDIA Driver Downloads
    - NVIDIA recommends installing Studio Drivers
    - This requirement has not changed since the 4.12.0.33 build (above)
  - Addresses an issue where disabling a mapped channel on a surface (e.g., setting its value to 0) would sometimes cause the image used for other mapped properties to be incorrect
- Added a Render Settings > Optimization > Ray Tracing Low Memory property
  - Controls the memory used by ray tracing acceleration hierarchies
  - Currently only reduces memory usage on pre-Turing generation GPUs (while potentially harming rendering performance) if set to "on"
- Each device listed in Render Settings > Advanced > Hardware > Devices now includes a suffix with additional GPU information (Windows Only)
  - Driver model
  - Whether or not a display is attached
- Added additional information to GPU description logging
Animation - Timeline pane
- Fixed an issue with offset key selection in the Dopesheet keys column when the Play Range Start is not at 0
- Fixed an issue where double-clicking the Dopesheet keys column to snap the playhead to the closest frame (i.e., set the current scene time) would be offset when the Play Range Start is not at 0
- Fixed an issue where clicking on a key in the Dopesheet keys column to select it while viewing a play range with many frames would sometimes cause the key to move to an adjacent frame even if the cursor position had not changed
- Fixed an issue where dragging selected keys in the Dopesheet keys column that ultimately resulted in no change would unnecessarily cause an undo item to be created and added to the stack
- Fixed an issue where dragging keys in the Dopesheet would not cancel an undo operation if those keys were dropped/released in the same position they started the drag from
Node Properties
- Added a (hidden) "Ignore Local Transform" property
  - When active, causes geometry associated with the node to ignore the local transform
  - Allows the node to be used in a node hierarchy as a "helper node" or as part of a "control rig" with no effect on its own geometry
- Changed the label of the (hidden) "Disable Transform" property to the more accurate "Disable Local Transform"
  - When active, dynamically overrides the transform properties and the local transform to be at its identity
  - Allows the node to be dynamically restored/locked (ref: Centaur 8 M/F)
- The "Disable Local Transform" and "Ignore Local Transform" properties are now located in the General > Transforms group by default
  - These properties are now also ordered before transform properties to reflect the scope of their effect
- The "Point At" property on a node is now located in the General > Constraints group by default
- The "Fit to" and "Fit to Mode" properties on a skeleton are now located in the General > Constraints group by default
General Interface - Shortcuts
- Added support for defining multiple key sequences (up to 4) when assigning a shortcut to an action in the Customize dialog
- The main window now respects up to 4 key sequences (GNU Emacs style) assigned as action shortcuts
  - Key sequences consist of successive key codes entered within an allotted amount of time - where time is based on the maximum number of key codes in all sequences that start with the first in the sequence
  - Widgets that implement their own (common) shortcuts (e.g., line-edits, text-edits, etc) can cause interference if the cursor is positioned over them when the shortcut is entered
    - This is not a new behavior, but it can become more apparent as more sequences that include overlapping key codes are used
- Improved feedback when assigning a shortcut that is already in use
- Fixed an issue where assigning the same shortcut to an action would erroneously prompt
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

rbtwhiz · April 2020

Public Build Highlights:

4.12.1.109 (April 17, 2020) *UPDATES PENDING*

NVIDIA Iray
- Integrated Iray RTX 2020.0.1 (327300.3640); see this thread for more detail
  - REQUIRES NVIDIA Driver 441.22 (or newer) on Windows for pre-Turing GPUs, 442.19 (or newer) on Windows for Turing GPUs; see NVIDIA Driver Downloads
    - NVIDIA recommends installing Studio Drivers
    - This requirement HAS changed since the 4.12.1.76 build (above)
    - Failure to update to the minimum driver is likely to produce a blank image and a render error (e.g., "Invalid parameters (NULL pointer)") being written to the log
- Added support for CPU Scheduling
  - Render Settings > Advanced > Hardware:
    - CPU Load Limit
      - CPU load is a measure of the total amount of work that a CPU performs
      - A single thread fully using a single CPU core is said to cause a CPU load of 1.0 (100%)
      - Allows a user to limit the maximum number of CPU cores that the rendering process is permitted to use
      - Defaults to the number of CPU cores available on the machine
      - Setting a value that is lower than the maximum of the machine allows the machine to more readily respond to other tasks while the rendering process is active
    - CPU Thread Affinity (Windows)
      - When enabled, a thread is bound to the CPU it is currently running on
      - When disabled (default), the operating system is free to migrate a thread between CPUs as it sees fit (which might suffer from cache misses)
      - Only affects threads that are used to execute rendering jobs - application threads are not affected
- Added support for Deep-Learning based Structural Similarity Image Metric (SSIM) prediction
  - Render Settings > Progressive Rendering > Completion > Post Prediction:
    - Post SSIM Available
      - Makes SSIM available
      - Triggers generation of additional data needed for SSIM in the event that SSIM is enabled
      - Must be enabled prior to starting a render
      - Toggles visible state (and use of) of other "Post SSIM" properties
      - If enabled, may cause memory/performance overhead
    - Post SSIM Enable
      - Controls whether or not SSIM is used to predict convergence
    - Post SSIM Target
      - The target amount of convergence for the SSIM prediction
    - Post SSIM Max Memory (hidden)
      - Maximum amount of GPU device memory the SSIM predictor is allowed to use (default 1024 MiB)
      - May automatically use less memory than the value specified depending on hardware used and current renderer memory usage, in order to balance SSIM prediction speed and memory usage
      - Should normally not be necessary to change this value, even on devices with very limited memory
    - Runs under the first GPU found by the system
    - No CPU fallback
    - Photoreal render mode only (currently)
- Extended Render Settings > Filtering > Post Denoiser:
  - Post Denoiser Max Memory (hidden)
    - Maximum amount of GPU device memory the Post Denoiser is allowed to use (default 1024 MiB)
    - May automatically use less memory than the value specified depending on hardware used and current renderer memory usage, in order to balance denoising speed and memory usage
    - Should normally not be necessary to change this value, even on devices with very limited memory
    - Photoreal render mode only (currently)
- Added support for Matte Fog:
  - Render Settings > Environment > Matte Fog:
    - Matte Fog
      - Toggles the state of the matte fog effect
      - Toggles display of additional matte fog related properties
    - Matte Fog Visibility
      - Specifies the visibility range, in meters, that is the distance at which the contrast between bright and dark objects is still perceivable according to the Koschmieder equation
    - Matte Fog Visibility Tint
      - Allows variance in the visibility range per color channel
    - Matte Fog Brightness
      - Specifies the brightness of the in-scattered lighting, either as an absolute value or as a multiplier (see next property)
    - Matte Fog Brightness Relative to Environment
      - When enabled, the brightness of the in-scattered lighting is automatically determined to be relative to the total illuminance of the environment or sun and sky
      - When disabled, the brightness is an absolute value
    - Matte Fog Brightness Tint
      - Allows for color tinting in-scattered lighting
- Auto Exposure Tool (Viewport DrawStyle)
  - Added a guard against use of the tool resulting in an invalid (-inf) Exposure Value
  - Inline help (i.e., tool tip, what's this?) is now displayed for the viewport icon
- Photmetric Lights
  - ...
- Shader Mixer low-level MDL bricks
  - (additions/changes/removals) ...
Render Window
- (focus behavior changes, feedback) ...
Timeline pane
- Restored the "Play All Frames" action to the option menu
  - Recommend clicking the Window > Workspace > Update and Merge Menus action
Content Library pane
- ("Create a Product from…" dialog) ...
...
Fixed bugs and/or made improvements in various areas; see the Change Log for details

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