It has been quite a while since the previous release =)
There has been A LOT of changes. I re-wrote about 50% of the code (mostly related to geometry export).
Compatibility should be increased (at least i hope so). I tryed to implement the whole "fix mesh errors idea" into exporting process so everything is made automatically now. One interesting detail i added is the automatic export format selection. The original idea came from Kosmokrator (i think...). Everything larger than 65k polys will be exported into *.obj format. Smaller models into *.3ds format and very small models and models without Indigo material into XML format. That should also give some increase in exporting speed. The manual selection is also possible (like it was before).
OK. What else.. I added the Presets feature. Parameters that are saved into a preset are: Advanced setup , Environment, Tone mapping, most camera parameters and some from main Export rollout as well. There are some example presets included. You can also define your own default preset by checking "Save As Default". Then every time you reset Max scene or open up the Maxigo for the first time you have your own default parameters loaded.
Another small feature i added is automatic camera creation. It is now possible to export directly from perspective viewport.
I also did a small notification dialog. It asks you if you want to turn on the sky (if the sky is off) when you create a light type that is accepted as a sun for Indigo (you have to start Maxigo to enable it)
Global scale works correctly now.
Instances should work better + they can have different materials. (while they do work without the Indigo material applied i still advise you to always use Indigo materials for instances...and well..for everything actually)
+ some other small bits and pieces.
Here is the change log:
Changes in v.0.9.4:
====================
* added - Gamma parameter for background color (Environment rollout)
* added - Global gamma (Tone Mapping rollout)
* added - "Number of samples to reach" (Export Scene rollout)
* added - Automatic export format selection (Export Scene rollout)
* added - Separate export elements for geometry, scene and camera (Export Scene rollout)
* added - Units selection list for global scene scale (Export Scene rollout)
* added - Timer for export process (shows last exporting time in seconds) (Export Scene rollout)
* added - "Start Indigo" checkbox (when unchecked, then Indigo won't start) (Export Scene rollout)
* added - If "Number of threads" is set to zero, then Indigo auto-detects the number of cpu threads
* added - "Use instancing" (Advanced Setup rollout)
* added - Auto-notification to turn on sky when compatible light is created (Advanced Setup rollout)
* added - Saving and Loading presets (Presets rollout)
* added - Possibility to turn normal smoothing ON or OFF for selected models (Utilities rollout)
* added - Violet setup (when defined, then Violet is used for opening igi's) (Indigo setup rollout)
* added - Automatic scene scale detection from 3ds max system units
* added - Automatic camera creation when no camera present (3ds max viewport rendering is possible now)
* added - Support for actively linked geometry
* fixed - Global scene scale works correctly now
* fixed - better instancing support
* changed - Geometry export completely rewritten. It should increase the overall compatibility
* changed - Materials Import/Export updated (no import for diffuse_transmitter mats though)
* changed - Wider F-Stop range (Camera Parameters rollout)
* changed - ExitPortal modifier renamed to "Maxigo-ExitPortal"
* removed - "Fix Mesh Errors"(from Export Scene rollout)
* removed - "Auto-split models" (from Advanced Setup rollout)
[edit]
* added - Diffuse Transmitter to phong material
(forgot to add that to the list
)I'm sure there are a lot of new bugs too. So please give me some feedback how it works. It's almost completely new Maxigo. It sure is the largest update after the first release so...
Have fun!
Suvakas
