Notch 0.9.99 Release Notes

This page show the release notes for the current release, from the major new feature to the tiniest bug fixes.

• Deprecated Nodes
• Renamed Nodes

0.9.99.536 (33rd release, 13th November 2024): #

New Features #

• C4D Resources: Added support for excluding C4D resources from being embedded in the DFX file. By default, the resource will be embedded.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Video: Fixed visual artifacts occurring while scrubbing MP4 and other interframe codec videos.
• Video Transcoding: Fixed a memory leak issue that could lead to transcoding failures.
• Property Editor: Fixed an issue where scene refinements were incorrectly reset during property edits.
• Resource Browser: Fixed an issue with loading non-embedded FBX, ABC, or OBJ resources. These files were incorrectly reprocessed on project load instead of using the cached geometry data.

0.9.99.534 (32nd release, 11th November 2024): #

Important #

• Time segments for a node in the Timeline are disabled by default. To enable them, go to Edit->Preferences->Timeline. This setting applies only to new projects and does not affect the behaviour of existing projects.

New Nodes #

• Modifiers::Sound FFT Modifier: An audio-reactive modifier that uses a visual interface to select the frequency range and gain that the modifier responds to. Manual page.
• Modifiers::Sound FFT Region Modifier: A modifier that works with the Sound FFT Modifier node to add additional detection regions. Multiple Sound FFT Region Modifiers can be used with the same Sound FFT Modifier. Manual page.
• Particles::Affectors::World Collision Affector: Allows particles to collide with visible geometry. Manual page.

Deprecated Nodes #

• Materials::Multi Material.This node is now deprecated. Replaced by the more flexible Blended Material node.

New Features #

• Clone Affectors: Added support for index-based weighting parameters. For options, see the “Index-Based Weighting” property group.
• Logic::Execute Child Nodes: Added functionality for the node to work with deformer nodes.
• Resource Browser: Enabled folder renaming through the right-click menu for selected folders.
• Nodes::Comment: Added support for user-defined background colours in comments.
• 3D::Image Plane: Added functionality to isolate image plane geometry in the viewport.
• 3D::Spline: Added functionality to isolate spline geometry in the viewport.
• Node graph: Added an option to toggle the node profiler from the right-click context menu.
• Launcher: Introduced initial work on the updated Launcher design.
• Rendering:
  • Fixed chromatic aberration IOR weighting for bounce rays.
  • Rendering::Hybrid Renderer: Added support for procedurals in reflection rays.
  • Rendering::Standard Renderer:
    • Added support for using the Procedurals::Render Nodes::Procedural Raytracer with the Standard Renderer.
    • Added a Lighting property to control whether the renderer node uses lighting, allowing it to be forced on, forced off, or set to depend on the presence of lights in the scene.
• Fields::Rendering::Field 3D Renderer: Added support for rendering with non-traditional cameras, such as the VR 360 Camera and Fisheye Camera.
• Generators::Daylight HDR: Added antialiasing to the sun disc to reduce flickering in the skylight at lower resolutions.
• Procedurals::Render Nodes::Procedural Raytracer: Added support for rendering with non-traditional cameras, such as the VR 360 Camera and Fisheye Camera.

Changes - UI #

• Rulers: Updated to ensure that the viewport rulers rescale instantly when adjusting the composition dimensions using the root node property sliders.
• Manipulators: Implemented various improvements and bug fixes.
• Sound Resources: Added additional channels - Side and Mid - for use in FFT Modifier.
• Resource Browser:
  • When replacing a video resource, retain the original trim values if the initial video file was trimmed; otherwise, set the trim start and end times to match the duration of the new video.
  • Ensure unique names are used when creating new folders.
• Node graph:
  • Updated to ensure the link connection line remains visible when dragging it from the node graph to the property editor and back into the node graph.
  • Updated drag-and-drop behaviour for nodes from the node list to prevent insertion into a link if the dropped node lacks a parent input or output.
• Property Editor: Nodes with properties that affect an image’s output resolution no longer feature a slider. Values must now be entered manually.
• Render Window:
  • Guide settings are now saved to the project file. If viewport guides are off when a project is saved, they will no longer appear in the viewport, although the handles will remain. Dragging a viewport guide or adding one from the ruler will automatically enable the guides in the viewport.
  • When using the placement tool with spline points, exclude any nodes that use the spline as an input source from being treated as surfaces.

Changes - Nodes #

• 2D::2D Root: Updated to prevent child nodes from being selectable if the 2D Root node is not connected to the composition’s root node.
• 3D::Combine Geometry:
  • Updated the node to display a tooltip explanation when it appears red in the node graph.
  • Updated to ensure source geometry nodes are processed prior to the Combine Geometry node.
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2: When multiple Spline Sources inputs are present, process the next enabled node according to the priority order of the node graph.
• Deformers::Topology::Tessellate: Updated to display the node in red if there is a setup issue.
• Deformers::Splines and Lines::Spread Lines: Added a limit on the number of vertices/polygons generated, with the node turning red to indicate if the limit is exceeded.
• Sound::Play Sound: Updated to renormalize FFT channels using the peak of all channels combined rather than the peak per channel, ensuring consistent channel levels.
• Interactive::Hot Zone:
  • Updated the node to display a tooltip explanation when it appears red in the node graph.
  • Updated to mark the “Test Points” input pin as a required input for the node to function correctly.
• Particles::Particle Root: Fixed a bug to ensure the correct emitter name is shown in the render window when enabling particle metrics.
• Particles::Emitters::Mesh Emitter:
  • Updated so that the initial velocity in the Vertices spawn mode matches the behaviour of the Polygon spawn mode.
  • Updated the node to display a tooltip explanation when it appears red in the node graph.
• Post-FX::Colour::Tone Map: Updated so properties are correctly disabled based on the selected Tone Map Mode. The non-functional Adaptation Rate property has been removed.
• Rendering::Standard Renderer: Updated so that when lighting is disabled, fields and procedurals are rendered as unlit white geometry.
• Rendering::Hybrid Renderer: Updated to stop reflecting the background colour, resolving compatibility issues with other rendering nodes.
• Scripting::Javascript Node: Updated to consistently return “Root” as the root node’s name, instead of using the composition name.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed a bug that caused resources with Unicode paths to fail to load after saving the project.
• Fixed an intermittent crash that could occur when deleting compositions from a project.
• Standalone: Fixed a bug with the forceFPS command-line argument that prevented any subsequent arguments from functioning properly.
• Launcher:
  • Fixed issues loading projects that contain Unicode characters in the path name.
  • Fixed an intermittent crash that occurred during startup.
• Node graph:
  • Fixed an intermittent crash that occurred when displaying tooltips for nodes.
  • Fixed a bug that caused disabled nodes with expanded thumbnails to be prematurely cropped when they got close to the bounds of the node graph.
  • Fixed a bug that caused exposed lines to be drawn to an incorrect position on the node graph when nodes had expanded thumbnails.
  • Fixed a bug to include expander icon on the right side in lasso selection.
  • Fixed a bug that occurred when undoing the removal of a node from its parent-child link chain.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed nodes without outputs to be inserted into a link hierarchy, which is unsupported.
• Property Editor: Fixed a bug where the property editor was not refreshed after undoing a node deletion due to an issue with node selection.
• Resource Browser: Fixed a bug in resource folder creation that could lead to non-unique internal IDs, potentially causing issues when moving resources into folders.
• Status Bar: Fixed a bug that caused certain fields to be cropped.
• Snapping: Fixed several issues related to viewport snapping.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 3D::3D Object: Fixed a time bug when using deformers.
• 3D::3D Primitive:
  • Fixed an issue with vertex counts when the shape type is set to icosphere.
  • Fixed a bug with keyed properties affecting bounds scaling (e.g., size, radius) to ensure that object scaling during animation/keyframing is relative to the origin offset.
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2: Fixed a bug with the Minimise Self-Intersections option when the extrude shape is set to Ring.
• 3D::Text: Fixed a bug that occurred when using the Right-to-Left Text option alongside the Fit-to-Box option.
• Deformers::Topology::Triangulate:
  • Fixed a bug related to the ordering of the triangle indices during triangulation.
  • Fixed a bug that could lead to determinism inconsistencies.
• Lighting::Sky Light: Fixed a bug to ensure the Sky Light rotation transforms work correctly with the Generators::Daylight HDR node.
• Post-FX::Generators::Composite Image: Fixed a bug to ensure the destination’s colour space is correctly applied.
• Rendering::Hybrid Renderer: Fixed a bug that caused artifacts along shadow edges when the shadow blur was set to a low value.
• Sound::Play Sound: Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented changing the audio file via the Sound drop-down property.

0.9.99.520 (31st release, 28th October 2024): #

Changes #

• Launcher: Improved logging to help diagnose login related issues.
• Standard Renderer and Hybrid Renderer: Fixed a possible crash occurring when loading the provided samples and template projects.
• Blocks: Fixed a bug related to handling multiple video inputs.

0.9.99.518 (30th release, 24th October 2024): #

Important #

• Updated to Codemeter v8.20 (from v8.10) runtimes. Due to this, a forced reboot may occur when installing, so beware!
• Installer: The Codemeter installer no longer runs silently during the installation of Notch. If Codemeter needs to be updated, the user must let the Codemeter installer complete its process by clicking through its screens as normal.
• Launcher: Added multiple new downloadable samples, templates, and techniques.
• Standalone: Fixed an issue where watermarking was incorrectly applied in earlier versions regardless of the license type.
• The Simple Renderer node has been renamed to Standard Renderer.

New Nodes #

• 3D::Revolve Spline: Generates geometry by revolving a spline around the Y-axis. Manual page.
• Materials::Blended Material: Allows multiple materials to be blended using a separate blend channel/texture. Manual page.
• Materials::Subsurface Scattering Material: Enables light to penetrate an object, making it ideal for rendering semi-translucent materials like plastic and skin. Manual page.
• Modifiers::Bake Modifier: A modifier which records its input value / chain and bakes it as keyframes. Manual page.
• Modifiers::Record Modifier: A modifier which records its live input while playing to a keyframe. Manual page.
• Modifiers::Compare Text String: Enables string comparison based upon several techniques, including Levenshtein distance. Manual page.
• Procedurals::Generators::Fractal: Generates fractals in a procedural system. Supports multiple fractal types such as Mandelbulb, Mandelbox, and Quaternion Julia. Manual page.
• Procedurals::Generators::Spline: Generates shapes from splines for use in a procedural system. Manual page.
• Generators::Swirl: Generates a configurable 2D swirl pattern. Manual page.

Renamed Nodes #

• 3D::Bones::Bone -> 3D::Other::Bone.
• 3D::Other (rename)::Lines -> 3D::Other::Lines.
• 3D::Other (rename)::Facial Tracking Geometry -> 3D::Other::Facial Tracking Geometry.
• Cloning::Effectors::FFT Effector -> Cloning::Effectors::Sound Effector.
• Deformers::Vertex::FFT Sound Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Sound Deformer.
• Materials::Glass RT Material -> Materials::Glass Material.
• Modifiers::Text As Value -> Modifiers::Text To Value.
• Nodes::Hub -> Nodes::Bridge.
• Rendering::Simple Renderer -> Rendering::Standard Renderer.

Deprecated Nodes #

• 3D::Planar Reflection: Reflections are now handled internally via the rendering nodes.
• Post-FX::Antialiasing::Temporal Antialiasing: Anti-aliasing is now handled internally via the rendering nodes.
• Deformers::Vertex::Generate Fertilizer Times Deformer: This node has been deprecated and is replaced by the Fertilize deformer. Manual page.
• Procedurals::Render Nodes::Volume Generator: The Procedural Raytracer node offers better volume generation.

Shortcuts #

• / - Used in the Timeline to split the node’s time bar at the current time.
• C - Used in the Timeline to cut the selected time segments. A vertical dashed line is used to show the cut position.
• Shift + P - Used to pin selected nodes.
• Ctrl + Shift + P - Used to unpin selected nodes.

New Features #

• Added FFMPEG support for video playback within Builder, eliminating the need for automatic transcoding of formerly unsupported file formats.
• Added support for node clusters, which are predefined groups of nodes that can be inserted into your node graph from the node list. For instance, you can find the ‘Simple Particle System’ in the node list. Currently, only Notch authored clusters are supported.
• Added the ability to save incremental project versions using the File->Save Version menu option or the Ctrl+Alt+S shortcut. The filename format can be customised under File->Preferences->Save Version Format, allowing for index increments and date-time inclusion.
• Introduced viewport snapping with three modes available in the render window toolbar. Hold the Shift key to activate snapping in any of the modes.
  • Incremental Snapping: Moves in fixed steps along the axis without snapping to objects.
  • Viewspace Snapping: Snaps to object bounds projected in viewspace for in-camera alignment.
  • Worldspace Snapping: Snaps to object bounds in world space, either directly or outside the bounds for 3D alignment.
• Rendering:
  • Enhanced shadow catcher support across all renderer nodes. Includes a Blend Amount parameter for controlling blending.
  • Rearranged the properties in all renderers, hiding properties which are not active.
  • Upgraded to Intel Open Image Denoise (OIDN) version 2.3.0.
  • Added DLSS support to the VR 360 Camera and Multi Camera nodes.
  • Improved chromatic aberration support in the Hybrid renderer and Path Tracer.
  • Standard Renderer:
    • Added support for Screen Space Ambient Occlusion.
    • Added support for Screen Space Reflections.
    • Added support for setting the DLSS Resolution to 100% or 50% to match the Hybrid Renderer.
  • Hybrid Renderer:
    • Improved the quality of reflections.
    • Added a new method for diffuse bounces using ray tracing and RESTIR.
    • Added support for raytraced ambient occlusion when used in projects containing a Procedural Raytracer node.
    • Added diffuse bounce quality and emissive quality controls. See “Emissive Quality”, “Diffuse Bounce Quality” and “Diffuse Bounce Multiplier” properties.
    • Improved the performance of scenes with many lights when ray traced shadows are used.
  • Reduced VRAM usage when rendering high-resolution projects.
  • Added a “Pre-Refine First Frame” property, which prerolls the first frame so that the temporal elements of the render look good. Prerolling is automatically enabled when rendering to video.
• Launcher:
  • Added support for on-demand downloads of new samples and templates.
  • Added a version check for Codemeter to ensure licensing compatibility.
  • Added a Blank.dfx template to the Templates list for an empty project setup.
  • Updated Licensing page with filtering by different license types (1.0, 0.9.23 and Playback).
  • Added version and license type information to the bottom left of the Launcher.
  • Added support for informing the user when a new version of Notch is available for download.
• Viewport:
  • Added support for viewport axis labels, which can be toggled using the File->Preferences->Enable Viewport Axis Labels checkbox.
  • Added Subsurface Weight and Subsurface Colour viewport shading options.
  • HUD: Added refine counts in addition to the existing percentage value.
• Timeline:
  • Added a dropdown menu next to the node’s time bar label.
  • Introduced a new option called “Cap Keyframes”, which adds keyframes at the start and end of time segments for each keyframed property.
  • Introduced a new option called “Break Segments To Nodes” which creates new nodes for each existing node time segment.
  • Added a “Time Segments Disabled By Default” option to the Edit->Preferences dialog. Defaults to off.
• Property Editor:
  • Replaced the expose icon with a new reset property icon.
  • Added a new chevron dropdown menu on each property.
  • Moved the Expose functionality to the chevron menu.
  • Restored the ability to rename JavaScript node parameters using the “Rename Parameter” option from the chevron menu.
  • Added a “Remove Property” option to the chevron menu, enabling users to delete JavaScript node properties.
  • Added tooltips for properties within the “Time” property group.
• Exposed Property Dialog: Added a button to regenerate the Unique ID of an exposed property.
• Composition List: Added support for Alt-clicking to select a composition without changing the solo state (i.e., the rendered layer), making it useful for precomp editing.
• Resource Browser:
  • Added support for dragging and dropping a directory tree from Windows Explorer into the resource browser, maintaining the existing folder structure.
  • Renamed the “Do Not Embed Resource” right-click menu item to “Embed Resource In Project”.
  • Added a confirmation dialog for deleting resources and folders.
  • Added support for embedding and unembedding all compatible resources in the right-click menu.
  • Added support for clicking in empty space to unselect all resources.
• Resource Inspector: Added support for converting FBX and C4D materials into actual material nodes, which are then added to the node graph and connected to the object node.
• Node graph:
  • Added support for inserting a node between two existing nodes. You can do this in multiple ways:
    • Dragging a node from the node list onto a connection line.
    • Clicking the connection line, pressing Ctrl+Space, and adding the node via the floating search dialog.
    • Selecting the node, begin to drag it, then press and hold Ctrl and drop the node on the connection line.
    • Updated the tooltip for embedded nodes to include the embedded node count.
  • Introduced a feature to remove a node from a parent/child link connection chain by holding down Ctrl+Shift and then clicking on the node body.
  • Incorrectly configured nodes are now visually indicated with a red hatching pattern.
  • Inactive nodes are now visually indicated with a hatching pattern.
  • The top right of the node graph now has a button to optionally hide the node list. This replaces the icons that were previously located on the center bar.
• Floating Find: Enabled navigation through search results using arrow keys, which focuses the node graph on the matching node.
• Resources:
  • Added the option to exclude CSV, FBX, and image resources from being embedded in the DFX file. By default, these resources will be embedded.
  • Added support for importing vertex colours from .ply files. Colour values are scaled if required.
• Node graph centre bar: Added the timeline marker icon.
• Menus: Added a Help->Keyboard Shortcut Reference menu item that links to the keyboard shortcuts list in the manual.
• Improved support for EXR files.
• Added Picture-in-Picture (PIP) preview in viewport mode for some nodes. Toggle it with the Ctrl+F4 shortcut.
• Timeline Markers: Added a marker time field to the marker settings popup dialog.
• 3D::3D Primitive: Added a Caps property with options for no caps, a single cap on the base, or double caps (one on each end).
• 3D::Combine Geometry: Added support for geometry limit checks. If too much geometry is attempted to be generated, throw a fail and colour the node red to indicate an error.
• 3D::Null: Added a crosshair in the viewport to mark the null’s position in 3D space.#
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2:
  • Added support for geometry end caps, with options for a single cap, double caps, or no caps.
  • Added support for per-polygon UVs.
  • Added support for extruded geometry to loop around looping splines.
• 3D::Text:
  • Introduced three default Inter font resources, eliminating the need to import custom font files.
  • Added support for beveling text geometry.
  • Added support for using the Select Input node with text string inputs.
• Cloning::Effectors::Image Effector: Added support for blend modes - linear, multiply, add and subtract.
• Cloning::Effectors::Colour Ramp Effector: Added support for blend modes - linear, multiply, add and subtract.
• Deformers: Added support to change the deformer node’s colour to red in the node graph when processing fails. This currently works for certain deformers, with additional support planned for a future build.
• Deformers::Vertex::Plain Deformer: Added support for motion vectors.
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Spread Lines: Added a Line Width property for controlling the width of the line.
• Deformers::Topology::Tessellate: Added pn-smoothing support.
• Lighting::Sky Light: Added an Excluded Objects input pin.
• Lighting::Area Light: Added support for beam angle parameters. See “Light Cone Angle” and “Light Inner Cone Angle”.
• Resource Inspector: Added an “Auto” Scale Factor feature for 3D imported files.
• Procedurals::Generators::Spline: Added spline range controls. See Spline Time Min, Spline Time Max and Spline Time Offset properties.
• Particle Emitters: Added a random seed control for particle effects.
• Shading::Environment Image Sampler: Added a Blur Amount envelope, controllable via a shading node input.
• Scripting::Javascript Node: Added GetNumEmbeds() and GetEmbed() functions to obtain nodes within an embedded node.
• Render Queue: Added support for adding multiple compositions to the render queue at once.
• Video::Loader: Added an Amount Played envelope for use with an extractor node to return a value (0-1) to indicate how much of the video has been played.
• Generators::Cells:
  • Added new cell generation techniques, including Voronoi textures via F2-F1 distance.
  • Added support for distance modes such as Linear, Manhattan, and Chebyshev.
• Generators::Tiles: Added a seed parameter for regenerating the tiled output.
• Fractal Noise Generator: Added support for various distance modes, including Linear and Manhattan, for the Worley noise type.
• Post-FX::Blur::Blur: Added Wrap X and Wrap Y properties, which support clamping and wrapping.
• Post-FX::Image Processing::Output GBuffer and Video::Input Output::GBuffer To Image:
  • Added an “Instance ID” option in the “Source Channel” property dropdown.
  • Introduced a new method for generating stable IDs for the “Object ID (False Colours)” and “Material ID (False Colours)” options in the Source Channel property.
• Post-FX::Stylisation::3D Object Outline: Added a Colour envelope input for setting the colour of the outline.
• 0.9.23 Project Upgrades:
  • Projects using the legacy Pathtracer/RT refinement nodes will automatically update to include the new Path Tracer renderer node, retaining relevant property settings.
  • Projects using the legacy RT Ambient Occlusion node will now have Ambient Occlusion enabled on the Path Tracer node.
  • Projects using the legacy Screen Space Ambient Occlusion node will now have Ambient Occlusion enabled on the Standard Renderer node.
  • Projects using the legacy Screen Space Reflections node will now have Reflections enabled on the Standard Renderer node.
  • Bins and Groups are now upgraded upon loading. Nodes that previously were children of a Group are now assigned as children of a Null node. Group node transforms are now transferred to the new Null node.

Changes - UI #

• Project Settings: Renamed “Compositions As Separate Effects” to “Composition Mode” with two options - Blended and Isolated. Blended: All Compositions contribute to the same output. Isolated: Each composition is treated as an isolated project.
• Updated to prevent auto-save from triggering while the scene is playing.
• Improved long tooltips to wrap onto multiple lines for better readability.
• Enhanced project saving to ensure pinned nodes remain pinned when reloading the project.
• Property Editor:
  • Replaced the expose icon with a dropdown menu next to the keyframe icon.
  • The “Isolate” property is no longer saved to preset files.
  • Moved the chevron icon to the right of the property’s text label.
  • Resources listed in dropdowns, such as images and 3D files, etc, are now sorted alphabetically.
  • The edit-field splitter position is now stored in the registry, so it persists between sessions. Added an option to Edit->Preferences->Property Editor to reset it to its default position.
  • Updated the granularity of updates for material thumbnails.
• Manipulators:
  • Implemented various improvements and bug fixes.
  • Updated uniform scaling behaviour to scale positively when users accidentally grab the handle on the opposite side of the centre (which previously resulted in negative scaling). Now, dragging within the uniform handle (the circle at the origin) towards the origin scales positively, while dragging from outside the uniform handle continues to scale negatively as before.
• Viewport Grid:
  • The grid is now disabled when generating project thumbnails.
  • The grid has been updated to fade out at a distance.
• Launcher:
  • Added a confirmation prompt for the logout button.
  • Improved the size and position of the launcher window when the application starts.
  • Improved start-up time of the launcher application
• Composition List: Updated the tooltip to show the node count for the selected composition.
• Node List: Adjusted drag-and-drop functionality so that the cursor is centred on the node during dragging rather than being in the top-left corner.
• Isolate / Preview In Viewport: If a project was saved with isolated geometry or material preview enabled, those options are now disabled when loading the project to avoid loading shared projects into a confusing state.
• Exposed Property Dialog: Updated to ensure that when exporting exposed properties to JSON or CSV, the exported parameter name and the specified min/max values are used.
• Ruler Markers: When adding a marker, the marker settings dialog now appears, allowing users to assign a more descriptive name.
• Setting both the minimum and maximum framerate of the project to zero now automatically results in an unlimited framerate.
• Render Window: Updated to disable picking and picking highlights when a node is in preview mode.
• Timeline:
  • Numerous improvements and bug fixes.
  • The node list is now sorted based on node order.
  • Updated to trim the right-click menu options based on the current selection.
  • Updated the range field timecode edits so they work correctly when the composition does not start at 0.
  • Updated to only renormalise the keyframe range when you have finished dragging a keyframe.
• Node graph:
  • Updated snap lines to ignore a node’s output connector when moving nodes.
  • Removed “Select Selection Set” and “Delete Selection Set” options from the right-click menu.
  • Resolved visual issues with square node connection lines.
  • Highlighted Selection Set links in red when Ctrl+Shift is pressed to indicate they are deletable.
  • Undo stack now includes Ctrl+H and Ctrl+Shift+H actions.
  • Disabled irrelevant right-click menu options based on the current selection.
  • Centered the root node in the node graph upon loading a project.
  • The Procedurals::Generators::3D Primitive node now displays the primitive type being used by the node.
  • Removed node graph node icons for Region and Hub nodes.
  • Nodes that are not linked into the node hierarchy are now hatched out like in 0.9.23.
• Viewport Sidebar: Adjusted to prevent cropping in smaller viewports.
• Viewport HUD: Updated to display the node’s group node icon instead of the generic node shape.
• Viewport Guides: Enabled multiple guides to be visible simultaneously.
• Splines: Spline interaction and editing have been fixed and improved.
• Resource Browser:
  • Deleting a folder now also removes all resources within that folder.
  • Associated CSV resources with the Interactive::Array Sources::CSV/Table Array node when dragging/dropping into the node graph.
  • Updated the icon used to add a resource to the project.
• Resource Inspector:
  • Disabled the grid and manipulators for non-3D resources in the preview window.
  • Removed the ruler display if the time is inactive for the selected resource.
  • Omitted the layer list if it is not needed for the resource.
• Photoshop (.psd) Import: Updated to the latest SDK library version.
• Node Settings:
  • Region: Removed the node time and enabled/disabled toggle from the node settings (F5) dialog.
  • Region: Updated the node settings (F5) dialog to show the region’s “Title” instead of the node name.
  • Updated the timecode field so the time values are relative to the composition’s start and end time, which is especially useful when the composition does not start at 0.

Changes - Nodes #

• All nodes: Users can no longer expose any properties within the “Parent Transform” property group.
• 3D::Duplicate Geometry: Changed the default setting for the Source Transform property to “Apply To Geometry.”
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2:
  • Changed the “Num Spline Segments” property default to 128 (from 1000) and the “Num Radial Segments” property default from 8 to 6.
  • Changed the “Control Point Scaling Mode” property default to XY scaling mode, so changing spline point XY scale will resize the spline geometry at that point. Adding new points to the spline will inherit the XY scale of the parent point.
• 3D::Text: Set the default value for the Text property to ensure something is rendered on screen when the node is added and connected to the root node.
• Colour::Colour Ramp: Changed the second colour default from white to black.
• Fields::Emitters::Particle 2D Emitter: Updated to now connect to the closest Field 2D Root node when using the Ctrl+R shortcut.
• Layers::Render Layer: Updated so that render layers now use the same renderer as the main scene.
• Lighting::Directional Light: Renamed the “Shadows::Raytraced” property to “Shadows::Casts Shadows”.
• Lighting::Sky Light:
  • Improved compatibility of the Affected Objects input so it works with all rendering nodes.
  • Updated so the Omnidirectional property is enabled by default.
• Generators::Fractal Noise: Improved tiling functionality for the Worley noise type.
• Particles::Rendering::Line Connection Renderer: Updated to cap the line per particle count, reducing memory usage and preventing potential crashes.
• Post-FX::Blur::Glow: Improved compatibility with all rendering nodes.
• Post-FX::Blur::Glow 2:
  • An Image Plane node can now be connected to the Affected Objects input pin.
  • Improved compatibility with all rendering nodes.
• Post-FX::Blur::Physical Glow: Improved compatibility with all rendering nodes.
• Post-FX::Stylisation::3D Object Outline: Improved compatibility with all rendering nodes.
• Rendering::Smart Tracer: Updated so that motion blur now works independently of depth of field.
• Scripting::Javascript Node: Updated the AddChild() function to check if the link is valid before attempting to make the connection.
• Text-FX: Updated Text nodes to use a left-side input connector.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed several bugs related to viewport navigation controls.
• Fixed an issue preventing projects with resource file paths longer than 260 characters from being saved.
• Fixed bug related to UI focus, which caused rare crashes when loading .dfx project files.
• Fixed a bug causing scene refinement to reset when saving a project.
• Fixed a bug that prevented viewport guides from being editable upon loading projects until a new guide was added.
• Tooltips: Resolved an issue where tooltips would extend across multiple screens or be cut off when displayed near screen edges.
• Placement:
  • Fixed an issue where objects placed without valid placement surface geometry (projected to the view plane at object distance) appeared upside down instead of upright.
  • Fixed a bug with placement handle scaling when the camera has a scaled parent transform.
• Node graph:
  • Fixed node selection hitbox issues for nodes with expanded thumbnails.
  • Fixed a bug when unembedding nodes.
  • Fixed a bug which meant double-clicking on a node’s expander icon would also expand the node’s input list.
  • Addressed a bug where deleting in-use camera nodes from the node graph did not update the viewport toolbar and “Current Camera” root node property.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Hub nodes to be pinned, a feature that is not supported.
  • Fixed a bug to ensure modifier nodes display the pin icon properly.
  • Fixed a bug that caused rendering to invalidate refinement when clicking on the node graph.
  • Fixed a bug where nodes with expanded thumbnails were being incorrectly clipped when they moved out of view.
• Render:
  • Fixed the refine count display for still images, ensuring it shows the correct value during export/refinement.
  • Fixed a bug when exporting to video where the first frame of the render would be incorrect.
• Curve Editor:
  • Fixed an issue that triggered the save dialog when dragging a resource onto the curve editor.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented users from switching between compositions.
• Ruler: Fixed a bug affecting the modification of start and end times of the range at different zoom levels.
• Composition List: Fixed a bug where the right-click menu would appear offscreen if there were many compositions in the project.
• Exposed Properties: Fixed a bug causing the composition name to display incorrectly when a root node property is exposed in the exposed property dialogue.
• Resource Browser: Fixed a bug when using the right-click “Open Containing Folder” option.
• Resource Inspector: Fixed the camera right-click button controls to behave consistently with the main render viewport.
• Nodes List: Fixed a bug where the previous search string wasn’t highlighted when clicking on the search field.
• Render Window: Fixed an issue where resizing the render window caused it to turn black and prevented refinement resets.
• Render Window Toolbar:
  • Fixed a bug where the currently active camera was not displayed in the camera dropdown menu when starting a new project.
  • Fixed a bug where tooltips were showing for hidden icons.
• Manipulators: Fixed a bug with 2D rotation handles that made controlling rotation deltas difficult.
• Remote: Fixed a crash when deleting compositions with exposed properties.
• Import:
  • Fixed .obj loader issues to correctly handle multiple materials.
  • Fixed problems with importing splines from .c4d files.
• Launcher:
  • Fixed the size and position of the logout icon.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented projects with Unicode characters from appearing in the projects list.
  • Fixed a bug that would show the wrong user name.
  • Fixed several rendering bugs which could cause the launcher window to render as black/empty.
• Property Editor:
  • Chevron icon misalignment for some properties is now fixed.
  • Fixed a rare crash occurring when modifying the values of properties via the value edit field.
  • Fixed a possible crash when updating material thumbnails.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed an issue that prevented reordering nodes in the composition through the timeline’s node list.
  • Fixed the Range field so that the text correctly scales based on Windows DPI scaling.
• Menus: Updated the list of shading options in the View->Viewport Rendering menu so it matches the shading options in the render window toolbar dropdown.
• Screenshots: 16-bit floating-point EXR files are now saved correctly.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Fixed a crash bug when connecting a 3D::Skybox and 3D::Planar Reflection to the root node.
• Rendering:
  • Fixed a bug in the Standard Renderer and Hybrid Renderer where empty areas of the cascaded shadow map were rendered as if in shadow.
  • Fixed a bug affecting shadows and motion blur, where incorrect geometry intersection tests caused rendering artifacts.
  • Fixed a bug causing shadowing artifacts on reflected objects.
  • Fixed multiple issues with area light textures across all rendering nodes.
  • Fixed a bug that generated an incorrect alpha channel when composition alpha blending was not used.
  • Fixed several issues related to displacement mapping.
  • Fixed a bug in the Path Tracer and Smart Tracer nodes to ensure that the skylight’s omnidirectional property switch now behaves consistently with the Standard and Hybrid renderers.
  • Fixed rendering artifacts that occurred with the Smart Tracer or Hybrid Renderer when the scene contained only procedurals and no geometry.
  • Fixed a bug with line rendering where backfacing lines were incorrectly displayed instead of front-facing ones.
  • Fixed a bug related to volumetric lighting where gobos with black areas were not rendered correctly.
  • Fixed a bug related to scattering when switching to fullscreen.
  • Rendering::Standard Renderer:
    • Fixed an issue where shading nodes were not functioning correctly.
    • Fixed a bug where shadows were still being generated for the skylight node even when the Apply Diffuse property was disabled.
    • Fixed a bug with reflections where the scene’s background colour was not applied in the absence of Sky Light nodes.
  • Rendering::Hybrid Renderer:
    • Fixed a bug affecting multiple viewports and fixed screen texture wrapping at the edges.
    • Fixed shadowing artifacts that occurred with raytraced shadows when using four or more casting lights.
    • Fixed some rendering artifacts when using the medium or high shadow quality settings.
    • Fixed clipping in the alpha channel when using depth of field.
    • Fixed issues with transparent alpha areas appearing between multiple objects at varying depths when depth of field is enabled.
    • Fixed a bug with reflections where the scene’s background colour was not applied in the absence of Sky Light nodes.
  • Rendering::Path Tracer:
    • Fixed several shadow-related bugs when using motion blur.
    • Fixed a bug when using subsurface scattering.
    • Fixed volumetric lighting texture support for spotlights.
    • Fixed a bug related to motion blur for fast-moving objects.
    • Fixed a bug related to motion blur on the first frame of rendering.
  • Rendering::Smart Tracer: Fixed a bug that prevented the Sky Light from being rendered when using raytraced DOF and motion blur.
• Nodes::Selection Set:
  • Fixed a bug when duplicating compositions with selection sets.
  • Fixed a bug where selection sets could contain other selection sets, which is not supported.
  • Fixed a bug where you could not highlight or delete the connection line if the connected node was linked with a straight line.
• Nodes::Hub: Fixed a bug where the input hub would be drawn instead of the output hub.
• Assets: Fixed a bug with older assets that had incorrect values for the Resolution Limits::Max Width/Height properties.
• 2D::2D Root: Removed an unnecessary limit of 100 primitives.
• 3D::3D Primitive: Fixed several issues with the Arrow primitive type.
• 3D::3D Object: Fixed a bug when importing LWO and SVG files where the meshes’ scale, rotation, and other transformations were not applied correctly.
• 3D::Combine Geometry: Fixed a memory leak when the Compositions As Separate Effects option is disabled.
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2:
  • Fixed a bug related to geometry caps when changing the radius and scaling mode of the extruded shape.
  • Fixed a crash when the extruded shape is set to Ring and there are more than 63 radial segments.
• Cameras::VR Headset Camera: Fixed a bug with outputting AR background images.
• Deformers: Fixed a bug related to the parent object’s world transform, ensuring the deformer correctly regenerates geometry when the transform changes.
• Deformers::Colour And Material::Colour Ramp Deformer: Fixed a bug to ensure weight maps work correctly.
• Deformers::Colour And Material::Colour Map Deformer: Fixed a bug to ensure weight maps work correctly.
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Spline Deformer 2: Fixed a bug to handle looping splines properly.
• Deformers::Topology::Retopologise: Fixed a bug related to motion vector generation.
• Deformers::Topology::Tessellate: Fixed a bug which could cause the GPU to hang.
• Deformers::Vertex::Turbulence Deformer: Fixed a bug causing incorrect motion vectors in chunks apply mode.
• Deformers::Vertex::Chunk Effector Deformer: Fixed a bug related to motion vector generation.
• Lighting::Area Light: Fixed a bug that prevented using a modifier to control the light’s inner cone angle.
• Particles::Affectors::Vortex Affector: Fixed a bug which could cause artifacts when the particle is located at the vortex centre.
• Particles::Rendering::Particles To Point Geometry: Fixed a bug to ensure the parent transform is inherited correctly.
• Procedurals::Generators::Fractal: Fixed a bug that prevented users from connecting a modifier to the MandelBulb Power property.
• Procedurals::Render Nodes::Procedural Raytracer:
  • Fixed a bug where the procedural system did not update when nodes were added or removed from the scene.
  • Fixed a bug with the Visible property not functioning properly.
• Post-FX::Blur::Physical Glow: Fixed a crash issue that occurred when the render window was extremely small.
• Scripting::Javascript Node:
  • Fixed a bug where renaming input properties reset their value to 0.
  • Javascript property names are now correctly forced to be unique.
• Shading::Combine: Fixed a bug that was preventing connections to the Blend Amount property.
• Shading::Tint: Fixed a bug that was preventing connections to the Blend Amount property.

0.9.99.435 (29th release, 25th June 2024): #

Important #

• Updated to include combined 32-bit and 64-bit Codemeter Runtimes.
• Notch executables and the installer itself are now signed using our 10bit FX certificate.

Changes - UI #

• Launcher: Updated the default composition name for new projects from “Hello” to “Untitled”.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed a bug related audio playback. Previously, moving the playhead would cause the audio to be offset from the expected position.
• Nodegraph: Fixed a bug which meant the pin icon was drawn in the wrong place for nodes with expanded thumbnails.
• Time Markers: Fixed a bug when adding, moving or removing time markers. Previously, the project was not being marked as modified so exiting the application would not trigger a save dialog.
• Viewport: Fixed a bug when using viewport manipulators which were not correctly marking the project as being modified.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Rendering::Smart Tracer: Fixed a bug when using the FSAA antialiasing mode.
• Fields::Rendering::Field 3D Renderer: Fixed a bug related to blend modes so the alpha channel is now correctly composited.
• 3D::Spline: Fixed a bug when loading old projects containing spline nodes.

0.9.99.433 (28th release, 20th June 2024): #

Important #

• Standalone export has been re-enabled. However, it is still under heavy development. Expressed, prior written permission from Notch is required to use it in real-world productions or commercial projects!
• Standalone has a new in-app GUI that is accessible by pressing TAB. For this to work, the Ultralight DLLs must be present in the standalone exe export dir (they will placed there automatically by the export process).
• Network editing has been re-enabled.
• This release now supports Codemeter Runtimes v8.10 (updating from v7.51).
• Notch now uses a new installer. Note that file associations with .dfx files will now open these in the Notch 1.0 beta!
• The Visual C++ Redistributable packages have been updated to the latest version.

New Nodes #

• Particles::Affectors::Particle-Particle Collision Affector: Simulates collisions between particles, modelled as spheres. Manual page.
• Post-FX::Image Processing::Background Plate Subtract: Generates a mask for the parent video node or rendered frame using the difference with a static, pre-generated plate image. Manual page.
• Nodes::Hub: Enables nodegraph connection line management. Manual page.
• Nodes::Selection Set: Used to manage a selection of nodes. Manual page.

Deprecated Nodes #

• 3D::Spline Extruder. Use the Spline Extruder 2 node instead.

Shortcuts #

• P - Used to toggle node pinning.

New Features #

• Rendering:
  • Added support for path-traced volumetric lighting to use clone colour.
  • Added support for shaped cameras (VR360, Fish Eye and Cylindrical) directly in the raytracer.
  • Added support for the Multi Camera node to be used with raytraced compositions.
  • Smart Tracer:
    • Added an FSAA anti-aliasing option and temporal smoothing for FSAA / RT AA modes.
    • Added a new rendering technique for AA, motion blur and depth of field, which results in a cleaner, more temporally stable render that requires fewer refine passes.
  • Path Tracer:
    • Added smoke properties and added support for them when using volumetric scattering.
• Nodegraph:
  • Added support for node hinting for some nodes. Double-click a node’s output connector to see the hints again. Hints can be toggled via Edit->Preferences->Nodegraph->Show Hints checkbox.
  • Added rudimentary support for finding nodes in your node graph using the Ctrl+F shortcut. The node search will be improved in future builds.
  • Added support for adding and removing nodes from the current node selection by using the Ctrl key.
  • Added support for displaying a hatching visual effect on nodes to indicate when it is not active at the current time.
  • Added support for renaming selection sets via the node settings dialog box (F5).
• Timeline:
  • Added support for merging time segments. This option is available via the right-click menu. This will be improved in future builds.
  • Added support for visible node pinning. Pinned nodes’ time bars and curves are always shown in their respective views when the “Show Only Selected or Pinned” mode is enabled.
  • Added an arrow to the time bar’s end cap to indicate that the bar is anchored to the composition’s start and end time.
  • Added a connecting line between node time segments. This helps to understand when time bars still exist before or after the currently viewed ones.
  • Added support for adding and removing time bars, keyframes and time segments from a selection using the Ctrl key.
  • Added an option to Reset Time Bar to Composition Length. This removes all of the node’s time segments and sets the start and end time to the composition length.
• Nodelist: Added an option to collapse all open node groups.
• Viewport: Added support for picking area lights in the render window.
• Viewport Toolbar: Added a Preview/Isolate button that appears when a node is selected and can be used to isolate geometry or preview 2D output.
• Render Queue:
  • Added support for editing multiple queue entries simultaneously.
  • Added support for selecting the composition’s camera via the render dialog.
• Composition List:
  • Added the name of the composition to the tooltip. Helps when the composition name is longer than the width of the box.
  • Added the selected node count to the composition tooltip.
  • Added support for dragging compositions from the composition list into the render queue.
• Root: Added Preview In Viewport property support.
• Modifiers::Channel Extractor: Added support for setting the source envelope name using a string. See the “Source Envelope Name” property.
• Cameras::VR Headset Camera: Added support for rendering eye camera images in the background. See the “Display Eye Camera Images” property.
• Shading::Input Channel Sampler: Added the ability to access eye camera images and screen uv for use in shading. See “Screen UV” and “Camera Eye Image” from the Channel property dropdown.
• Exporting:
  • Added support for exporting H.265-encoded video files.
  • Added bitrate control for H.264 and H.265 exports.
  • Added the ability to use different colour spaces for EXR sequence renders.
  • Added colour space support for NotchLC renders.
• Particles::Emitters::Primitive Emitter: Added support for controlling the grid subdivisions in X, Y and Z for the 2D / 3D grid.
• Logic::Select Child Node: Added support so that the node can be used in a deformer node hierarchy.
• Optimised memory usage of Deformer nodes.
• Optimised memory usage of Cloners nodes.
• Added a shader cache that can help reduce the time to open project files.
• Materials: Added support for bicubic texture filtering on material textures. See the “UV Texture Filter Mode” property dropdown.
• Timeline: Added a “Add Composition To Render Queue” right-click menu option.
• Added support for depth sorting clones, when the cloned geometry is semi-transparent.
• 3D::Spline:
  • Added new tangent modes that are controllable in the viewport, including auto, broken and aligned tangents with independently scaled in and out tangent scales to make them easier to edit and control.
  • Added auto tangent scaling based on camera distance when you add a new point on the spline to make un-edited splines smoother.
  • Added a “Minimise Twist” mode, which is selected by default to give a more contiguous spline shape.
  • Adding a point on a spline segment now takes into account its neighbouring spline points tangents (and rescaling them if needed) to correctly scale its in and out tangents so that the spline shape does not change with a new point added on the spline.
  • Added a tangent direction visualisation guide when you go near the start or end of a spline. It has a projected point to show where a new point will be added; clicking the point will add the new point.
• 3D::3D Scene: Added support for importing a camera’s near and far plane values from the 3D file.

Changes - UI #

• Launcher: Renamed the generated log file so it is prefixed with “launcher_log__v” instead of “notch_launcher__v”, making log files easier to find and send to support when reporting issues.
• Scopes: The overlaid and split buttons are now disabled when the mode is set to luminance histogram.
• Remote: Updated so that when the “Composition As Separate Effects” mode is enabled, it only shows the properties which are attached to the current visible composition.
• Render Window: Updated so that the 3D::Image Plane node now draws its bounding box.
• Ruler: The ruler is now automatically contracted when creating a new project.
• Block export: Updated to use the previous export directory as the default path for the next export.
• Grid: Updated so that the viewport grid option is saved to the project file rather than to the registry.
• Render Panel: Updated so that the render panel is resized accordingly when the main application’s window is resized.
• Nodegraph:
  • Updated node thumbnails so the thumbnail is now drawn above the node without moving the node itself.
  • Updated Region nodes so that resizing them in the node graph now adds an undo entry to the stack.
  • Updated to allow one node to connect to multiple nodes via input, or multiple nodes to one input, determined via selection.
  • Updated to allow multiple parents to connect to one child, or one parent to multiple children, determined via selection.
  • Updated the F shortcut so that it no longer tries to frame the node graph on unexpanded embedded nodes.
• Timeline:
  • Updated time bars so that the time bar segment time is only shown when the time segment is selected.
  • Updated so that any timebars that are outside of the composition’s start and end time are now shown in dark grey.
  • Updated keyframe icons so they are more easily readable.
  • Updated the keyframed properties so they are drawn using the node’s colour.
  • Updated so that when a time segment is moved, the keys are also moved along with it. The same behaviour is used for deleting and cutting time segments.
• Remote: Updated so that property values are always clamped to their min and max.
• Exporting: Updated so that when adding a composition to the render queue or entering the render panel, if a custom resolution is used for the composition, default the render resolution to it.
• Splines: Many improvements, spline interaction fixes and editing fixes.
• Removed the View->Display->Zoom and View->Display->Multi-Display Count menu options.

Changes - Nodes #

• Updated a lot of nodes so they now function correctly when used in conjunction with the Logic::Select Input node.
• Updated a lot of nodes to use colour envelope input instead of individual colour values.
• When a node is pasted into a composition and a time segment on the node is anchored to the end of the layer or the time bar is disabled, the time segment is set to the duration of the composition automatically to preserve the anchoring.
• 2D::Render To Texture: Updated to work better with the Preview In Viewport property.
• Materials::Decal: Updated so that it now works in conjunction with the placement tool.
• Cameras::Camera Focus Target: Updated so that it now works in conjunction with the placement tool.
• Cameras::Cylindrical Camera: Disabled depth of field.
• Particles::Rendering::Point Renderer: Updated to make the rotation randomness more random. It now varies from -180 to 180 degrees rather than 0 to 360 degrees, making it properly bidirectional.
• 3D::3D Scene:
  • Updated to allow spline import from FBX files to work again.
  • Updated to correctly set the camera’s “Use Field Of View Y” and “Use Field Of View Y As X” properties when instantiating the scene.
  • Updated to correctly set the camera’s “Near Clip” and “Far Clip” properties when instantiating the scene.
  • Updated to no longer save transform keys for non-editable scenes into the project file. Previously, this could cause the project file to be very large and also cause auto-save to be slow.
  • Updated so that when the scene is not editable, node transforms are also not editable.
  • Updated so that when the scene is editable, pivots on geometry is also editable.
• Nodes::Region: Update to make it more easily selectable. You no longer need to lasso the entire region, just the title bar.
• Nodes::Comment: Updated not to allow properties from this node to be exposed.
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2:
  • Updated so that the “Fade Front Duration” and “Fade Back Duration” properties are greyed out when not required.
  • Updated to only re-generate the geometry when required.
• Particles::Rendering::Particles To Point Geometry: Updated to take the particle’s scale into account.
• Nodes: Updated not to allow “Pivot Point” properties to be keyed.
• Video::Input Output::Depth Camera Source: Updated to improve the hole-filling algorithm.
• 3D::Spline:
  • Updated the render window sidebar with a reduced set of icons.
  • Updated so that when a spline point is selected, the “Point” properties now show the Tangent mode too and can be set from there or the render window sidebar.
  • Updated so that the spline thickness scaling is relative to canvas resolution when used with a 2D Root node.
  • Updated the Add Point Direction Tangent option. Adds new points along the tangent of either the front or the back of the spline in the direction of the leading point tangent.
  • Updated the Add Point Direction Paint option. Paints new spline points in space, either on the view plane or when placement is enabled on to geometry in the viewport.
  • Deprecated the “Tangent” property as it is no longer required as we move to a more automatic way of spline interpolation.
  • Deprecated X, Y, Z and Camera Plane options from the “Add Point Direction” property.
  • Deprecated the “Add Points Distance” property. The distance is now automatically calculated based on camera zoom in ortho views or distance from the camera in perspective views.
  • Deprecated the “Tangent Smoothness” property as it is no longer needed because it is automatically calculated.
• Modifiers::Interactive::Keyboard Modifier: Changed the default key to “j”.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Asset/Material Browsers: Fixed a bug which could cause an asset/material to fail to download.
• Viewport: Fixed a colour-space-related bug that meant the intro tour was being rendered using incorrect colour values.
• Viewport Sidebar: Fixed a bug that would not show if a node was added via the Nodegraph’s right-mouse button menu or the floating search.
• Composition List:
  • Fixed a bug in which the composition order was not updated if it was changed via the timeline view.
  • Fixed a bug with the “Duplicate Composition” menu option, which previously was not soloing the newly created composition.
• Exposed Property Panel: Fixed the background colour so it matches the rest of the UI panels.
• Remote: Fixed the ordering of properties and groups to match what is shown in the exposed node.
• Nodegraph:
  • Fixed nodes with left-side input connectors, such as modifiers, so that when they are expanded to show thumbnails, the left input connector is still visible.
  • Fixed a bug when the Colour::Colour Ramp node is expanded to show thumbnails, and it has input connections. Previously, the connection lines were offset.
  • Fixed several bugs when pressing shortcut key A to frame nodes.
  • Fixed a bug when moving child nodes of a 3D Scene node. Previously, the child nodes did not move in sync with the mouse.
  • Fixed a bug when using the Center View right-click menu option. Previously, it was not centering correctly.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed several issues related to cutting, copying and pasting time bars and keyframes.
  • Fixed a bug where a number of icons were overlapping in the node list.
  • Fixed a bug where scaling children to parent length did not work correctly if the node contained multiple time segments.
  • Fixed a crash when copying and pasting a composition followed by an undo action.
  • Fixed a bug when moving the start or end time of time segments when multiple nodes are selected.
  • Fixed a bug which meant that the node was not correctly selected when clicking the start or end cap from the node’s timebar.
  • Fixed a bug when automatically naming a node’s time segments.
• Curve Editor:
  • Fixed a bug with the key-edit UI panel, which was being drawn over the left edge of the value ruler.
  • Fixed a bug when editing key values by dragging.
• Timeline and Curve Editor:
  • Fixed composition keyframed properties to be displayed correctly.
  • Fixed a bug where key selections were not restored correctly with undo and redo when manipulating keys on any other composition except the first one.
• Property Editor: Fixed a bug when toggling a node’s time bar using the Show Time Bar checkbox from the Time property group.
• Node List: Fixed a bug when using the arrow keys to select nodes. Depending on the search criteria, the selection was sometimes incorrect.
• Assets:
  • Fixed a bug that caused the viewport guides to show in the asset’s thumbnail.
  • Fixed a bug when unembedding nodes within an embedded node. Previously it would unembed to the root not the embedded node.
• Log Window: Fixed an occasional crash on startup.
• Render Queue: Fixed a bug that prevented deleted compositions from being automatically removed from the Render Queue.
• Video Export:
  • Fixed a bug when exporting a composition with audio that has refining enabled. Previously, the audio would be corrupt in the export.
  • Fixed a bug when attempting to output mp4 files with odd dimensions.
• Scopes: Fixed a crash when the render window was very large.
• Render Window: Fixed several crashes related to very small or very large render window sizes, which were usually caused by moving the application between monitors or minimizing/maximizing it.
• Render Window HUD: Fixed a bug where some HUD text elements could be cropped.
• Project Settings: Fixed a bug where changing the output render resolution was not updating the main toolbar.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Assets: Fixed a bug which meant assets could not be used in blocks or standalone.
• 2D::2D Primitive: Fixed a bug that prevented cancelling the node’s material preview by pressing the Escape key.
• 3D::Duplicate Geometry: Fixed a bug when duplicated geometry contains no polygons.
• 3D::3D Scene:
  • Fixed a crash when undoing the “Use Cameras” property.
  • Fixed several issues when importing FBX cameras. Previously, the camera transforms could have been incorrectly calculated.
  • Fixed several crashes when reloading FBX resources.
• 3D::3D Object: Fixed a bug whereby the 4th UV set slot was not populated from the node’s UV channel selection.
• 3D::Depth Camera Mesh: Fixed a bug which meant the Kinect data was one frame behind the render.
• Cloning::Clone To Procedurals: Fixed a bug where the node could become a dependency of itself, which could cause rendering issues.
• Deformers: Fixed a bug related to falloffs where the wrong transform space could be used.
• Nodes::Region:
  • Fixed a bug where the mouse did not perfectly track the draggable corners of a region at different zoom levels.
  • Fixed a bug when the Shift key was pressed while moving a region node.
• Particles::Rendering::Geometry Connection Renderer:
  • Fixed a memory leak.
  • Fixed a crash when used with deformer nodes.
• Particles::Particle Root: Fixed the “Show Metrics” property so it works again.
• Post-FX::Image Processing::Capture Image File: Fixed a bug related to the Filename property, which did not correctly handle Unicode characters.
• Scripting::Javascript Node: Fixed a bug with the ReloadResource() API function. The reload is now deferred until the end of the current frame to avoid a crash trying to use a resource that has since changed.
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Wireframe To Geometry: Fixed a crash, which can occur when there is too much geometry.
• Post-FX: Fixed bugs in the “Post-FX::Warping::Curl Noise Warp”, “Post-FX::Warping::Turbulence Warp”, “Post-FX::Warping::Droste Warp” and “Post-FX::Warping::Sine Warp” nodes which previously did not handle time correctly.
• Post-FX::Image Processing::Kuwahara Filter: Fixed a bug when editing the Radius property.
• Particles::Emitters::Spline Emitter: Fixed a bug where if all spline points are removed, particles still emit from the deleted spline segments.
• Rendering:
  • Fixed path-traced motion blur when the scene’s camera is moving. Previously, the camera’s transform was not always up to date.
  • Fixed a bug related to renderer refractions.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause some objects to be rendered as black when they shouldn’t be.
  • Path Tracer:
    • Fixed a bug whereby the ray transfer colour was not being passed properly to the bounce rays which could cause diffuse and glossy bounces to be overbright.
    • Fixed some artefacts in field rendering when using non-shadowcasting lights.
    • Fixed a bug causing some bias/noise in sample selection of emissive and area lights.
• 3D::Spline: Fixed an alpha blending issue when used in conjunction with the 2D Root node.

0.9.99.354 (27th release, 17th April 2024): #

Important #

• Block export has been reenabled, however, it is still under heavy development. Do not use it in real-world productions or commercial projects without expressed, written permission from Notch. Network editing is still disabled.
• When loading projects built using Notch 0.9.23, a Simple Renderer node will be added automatically, instead of the Hybrid Renderer. However, projects using raytraced reflections will still add a Hybrid Renderer node.

Deprecated Nodes #

• Lighting::Project Image. Use the Decal node instead.

New Features #

• Added a new render queue. The render queue can be accessed either via the Render Panel or as a separate panel within Builder.
• Rendering:
  • Upgraded to use Intel OIDN version 2.2.0. The latest denoiser runs on GPU (via CUDA) and therefore performs much faster and has improved quality.
  • Added a new spatial hash radiance cache technique that the Path Tracer and Smart Tracer rendering nodes use.
  • Smart Tracer:
    • Reworked the node so that it always refines and added bounce count properties for reflections and refractions.
    • Added ray-traced depth of field support.
• Improved the performance of the Timeline and Curve Editor views.
• Curve Editor:
  • Added a normalised curves view mode.
  • Added a value ruler to the left edge of the curve editor panel. Use Alt+Drag to pan, Alt+Mousewheel to scale the value range and Ctrl+Alt+Drag to scale based on the value range.
  • Added a waveform view, which renders the waveform at the bottom of the curve editor.
  • Added support for shift and drag value snapping when multiple keys are selected.
  • Implemented support for all keyframe snapping options - Snap To Bars, Snap To Keys, Snap to Grid and Snap To Markers.
• Timeline:
  • Added support for key multi-tangent selection and editing.
• Property Editor:
  • Added colour dropper support.
  • Added support for copying and pasting multiple properties. Previously, only the first property was being handled.
• Resource Inspector:
  • Replaced the nodegraph view with a layer list (like in Timeline/Curve Editor), which can be used to view the scene outline and hide/unhide subnodes.
  • Added support for multiple animation sets when flattening the imported scene.
  • Added support for choosing which animation set to preview in the resource inspector. Works for FBX resources only.
• Notch Launcher: Added support for toast notifications when downloading samples/templates and assets.
• Render Panel:
  • Reduced the time taken to render video files, particularly on simpler compositions.
  • Added preset support.
  • Added a Preroll Time property.
• Nodegraph:
  • Added a “Go To Exposed Node” right-click menu option. Clicking it focuses the nodegraph on the exposed node contained within the composition.
  • Added a “Add Composition To Render Queue” option to the composition list right-mouse button menu.
  • Added a “Duplicate Composition” option to the composition list right-mouse button menu.
• Centerbar: Added a new icon to control how the audio waveform should appear in the ruler. Options include a contracted or expanded view along with support for visualising the left and right channels separately.
• ArtNet: Added support for up to 32768 universes (from 64).
• FBX Resources: Added a “Retain” mode that flattens the objects but retains the node hierarchy.
• 3D::Spline Extruder: Added support for isolating the geometry in the viewport.
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2:
  • Added support for isolating the geometry in the viewport.
  • Added support for previewing the material in the viewport.
• Cameras::VR Headset Camera: Added an “Output Mode” property which allows for choosing which side to output - Stereo, Left Eye Only or Right Eye Only.
• Colour::Colour Ramp: Added a Linear Gradient texture mode.
• Lighting::Environment Image: Added a “Prefiltering” property to support disabling prefiltering.
• Scripting::Javascript Node: Added an EmbedConnectedNodes() function to the Node object. See the manual page for more information.

Changes - UI #

• Manipulators: Improvements and bug fixes.
• Improved the time taken to delete a composition, when the project contains a lot of compositions.
• Resource Inspector: Removed the bottom toolbar as this is no longer required.
• Property Editor: Updated so clicking on the ? for a deprecated node, now takes you to the manual page listing all the deprecated nodes.
• Pressing escape to release focus on a text entry field no longer also clears any viewport preview that is currently active.
• Nodegraph:
  • Removed the node count statistics from the bottom right corner of the nodegraph. The total composition node count is now shown in the tooltip when hovering over the composition list entries.
  • Updated to also draw an exposed property connection line from any selected nodes, with exposed properties, to the exposed node itself.
• Remote: Many improvements and bug fixes.
• Timeline:
  • Reordered the list of icons shown on the node list.
  • Improved the styling of the Timeline.
• Curve Editor:
  • Reordered the list of icons shown on the node list.
  • Improved the visual appearance of the keyframe icons throughout.
  • Improved the tooltips so they now show key interpolation type, key values and key times.
  • Improved the styling of the Curve Editor.
• Exposed Property Panel: Many improvements and bug fixes.
• Ruler:
  • Waveforms are now clipped to the Play Sound node’s time bar.
  • The colour of the waveform has been changed to red so it stands out.

Changes - Nodes #

• Pivots: Updated all nodes supporting pivots to not allow any pivot properties to be exposed.
• 3D::Bones::Bone: Changed the node colour to differentiate from 3D Object and Null nodes etc.
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2: Updated to not render the spline when there are no input spline sources or the node is disabled.
• Interactive::Javascript Node: Javascript: Updated the CreateNode() function to set the initial name of a node to the node name, instead of “Unnamed Node”. Use the SetName() function to optionally set the node’s name after creation.
• Lighting::Environment Image:
  • Removed the “Sample Quality” property as it is no longer used.
  • Removed the “Sun Extraction” and “Sun Threshold” properties as they are no longer required. The Lighting::Sky Light node supports this feature.
• Rendering::Hybrid Renderer: Improved the handling of emissive objects that cast shadows.
• Rendering::Smart Tracer:
  • Now uses path tracing for diffuse bounces, reflections and refractions. This brings the quality of the render much closer to the quality achieved when using the path tracer node.
  • Removed parameters related to quality and real-time modes as this node only refines now.
• Root: Removed the “Clear Screen Enabled” property as it is no longer required.
• Video::Loader: The “Filename” property is now greyed out until “Load External File” property is checked.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed several stability issues when loading projects containing embedded nodes with exposed properties.
• Fixed a possible crash when importing Cinema 4D files.
• Blocks: Fixed a bug when exposing properties (enums with non-consecutive indexes). Eg. Shape Type on a Primitive 3D node.
• Fixed a crash when resizing the Notch Builder window or moving the window from one monitor to another.
• Preferences: Made the folder buttons work for setting the screenshot and cache folder paths.
• Shortcuts: Fixed a bug with the F1/2/3 shortcuts. Whilst in the Resource Inspector or Render Panel, if a node was selected, the shortcuts would not work.
• Fixed a bug where an object’s Isolate In Viewport and a material’s Preview in Viewport state could become corrupt causing incorrect behaviour.
• Fixed a bug where pressing escape to cancel a preview in viewport flag would not always work for some nodes.
• Keyframing: Fixed a bug when keyframing when the key interpolation mode is set to Stepped.
• Popup dialogs: Fixed a bug when pressing return to confirm an edit. Previously, this was being treated as if the user had pressed cancel.
• Assets:
  • Fixed several crash-related bugs.
  • Fixed a possible memory leak when creating assets.
• Property Editor: Fixed some typos in tooltips.
• Nodegraph:
  • Fixed a bug which meant the shape type of a 2D Primitive node was not shown when set to “Capsule”.
  • Fixed a bug when using the “Centre view on root node” right-click menu option. Previously, the centre position was not calculated correctly.
• Curve Editor:
  • Fixed a bug which meant some nodes with keyframed properties could be missing from the list of nodes.
  • Fixed a crash when keyframing exposed properties within embedded nodes.
  • Fixed a crash when using Ctrl+X (twice) to cut keyframes.
  • Fixed several bugs when using the F shortcut key to frame the view on a particular key or set of keys.
  • Fixed a bug when using the Auto Bezier 2D Clamped key interpolation mode, which could cause a broken handle. Rather than flattening the handles the keys are now always synced with their direction.
  • Key Edit: Fixed a bug that could cause the UI panel to enter an unknown state and show incorrect values.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a bug when copying and pasting multiple time segments.
  • Fixed a crash when deleting a node that has multiple time segments.
  • Fixed a bug when using Alt+drag to move keys or tangents. Previously, it used to also move time.
  • Fixed a bug when clicking on a curve. Previously, the selection did not also select the property.
  • Fixed a bug when deleting a node’s time bar segment. Previously, this process unintentionally deselected the node.
  • Fixed several issues related to the manipulation and deletion of time segments.
  • Fixed a bug when copying and pasting keyframes where the start time of the composition is non zero.
• Resource Inspector: Improved the editability of value edit fields.
• Ruler:
  • Fixed a bug related to time offsets so the ruler correctly shows waveforms offset from 0.
  • Fixed several issues that could cause the ruler to jump to a different position, with the same current time, when switching between the Nodegraph, Timeline and Curve Editor views.
• Manipulators:
  • Fixed the projected drag lines for rotation and scale when a node is a child of a 2D Root node.
  • Fixed a bug when there are multiple 2D Root nodes in a hierarchy. Previously, the manipulators rendered at the wrong size.
  • Fixed several bugs related to uniform scaling.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• ArtNet: Fixed several crashes when processing ArtNet data.
• 2D::2D Root: Fixed a bug related to the picking of 2D Primitive nodes.
• 2D::Render To Texture: Fixed a bug which meant the preview in viewport was being rendered in the wrong colour space.
• 3D::3D Exporter: Fixed a crash when exporting Alembic files.
• 3D::3D Object: Fixed a bug where objects attached to bones could be updated with the wrong time value, which could cause constant refining by the rendering nodes.
• 3D::3D Scene:
  • Fixed a possible memory corruption bug when switching 3D scene. This could occur when the number of nodes in the old 3D scene file is greater than the number of nodes in the new scene.
  • Fixed a bug when copying and pasting a 3D Scene node which contains embedded nodes. Previously, only the 3D scene was copied, not the embedded nodes.
• 3D::Spline:
  • Fixed a bug related to copying and pasting spline nodes.
  • Fixed several bugs related to undoing and redoing spline node edits.
  • Fixed a bug when duplicating a Spline node that already contains control points. Previously, the positions of the control point in the duplicate node would be incorrectly positioned in 3D space.
  • Fixed several issues when switching Tangent modes and using the toolbar icons.
  • Fixed a bug when selecting control points in certain camera angles.
  • Fixed a bug related to undoing and redoing the deletion of spline control points.
• Cloning::Clone Painter:
  • Fixed the colour of the node so it matches the colour of other cloning nodes.
  • Fixed several bugs related to undoing and redoing clone painting operations.
  • Fixed a crash when using a Clone Painter node in another composition, which was being referenced by a Layer Precomp node.
• Lighting::Sky Light: Fixed a bug with directional light extraction which caused the direction vector to be wrong, and change depending on the resolution of the environment map image.
• Particles::Emitters::Mesh Emitter: Fixed a bug when modifying the Parent Transform Weight parameter, which was incorrect overriding the mesh’s material.
• Post-FX::Blur::Physical Glow: Fixed a bug which was causing the glow to not apply to all areas of the render window.
• MDD Resources: Fixed a keyframing crash when loading MDD files.
• Pivots: Fixed several issues related to the “Dynamic Update” property not working correctly on various nodes.
• Rendering:
  • Fixed a bug so that shadow maps are now only rendered for objects in the current layer.
• Shading::Texture Sampler: Fixed a bug when the Mapping Type property is set to “Screen Coords” and the Simple Renderer is being used.

NotchBlockVerifier #

• Added support for exposing int2/3/4 properties, eg. Affected Channels on Post-FX nodes.

0.9.99.313 (26th release, 4th March 2024): #

Important #

• The FXPlayerHost executable has been renamed to NotchBlockVerifier. New features and updates will be added in the near future.
• Upgraded Codemeter runtimes to v7.51. This is handled by the installer.
• The stacking order of nodes underneath 2D::2D Root nodes has changed so it now matches the rest of the tool (top=back and bottom=front). You may need to update your projects accordingly.

New Nodes #

• Lighting::Omni Light: An omni light node. Has the same functionality as the Lighting::Light node but extracted into its own node. Manual page.
• Lighting::Spot Light: A spot light node. Has the same functionality as the Lighting::Light node but extracted into its own node. Manual page.
• Materials::Decal: A much improved version of the original Decal node from 0.9.23 with additional features such as blend mode and falloff support as well as bug fixes. Manual page.

Renamed Nodes #

• Deformers::Null Deformer -> Deformers::Deformer Null.
• Post-FX::Null Post Process -> Post-FX::Post Process Null.
• Procedurals::Generators::Null -> Procedurals::Generators::Procedural Null.

Deprecated Nodes #

• Lighting::FX::Volumetric Lighting: Volumetrics is now handled by the rendering nodes.
• Post-FX::Blur::Depth of Field: Depth of field is now handled by the rendering nodes.
• Procedurals::Render Nodes::Volumetric Tracer. Use the Procedurals::Render Nodes::Procedural Raytracer node with the Render Mode property set to Volumetric instead.

New Features #

• Added a viewport sidebar UI panel for use with the Spline and Clone Painter nodes. This provides shortcut buttons to simplify common actions. Feedback welcome.
• Reenabled support for node Selection Sets.
  • To create selection sets, select node(s) to add to a set, right click in the nodegraph and choose Create Selection Set.
  • To add more nodes to a selection set, drag a connection from the output of the selection set node to the main body of the node to add.
  • To select all the nodes within the selection set, double-click the selection set node.
  • To remove a node from a selection set, hover over the connection line, press Shift + Ctrl then click the line.
• Timeline: Added new functionality to edit the range of a node’s timebar by clicking on the timebar’s range box and entering a new start or end time.
• Keyframing: Added Aligned Bezier key interpolation modes. In this mode the tangents on left and right side preserve the direction, but magnitudes can differ.
• Updated to OpenVR v2.2.3.
• Manipulators: Added support for negative scaling in viewport scaling (delta scales in either negative or positive direction based on property sign, but not across 0 border from one to the other direction).
• Keyframing: Added an “Ease” interpolation mode, removed “smooth stepped” and “smooth linear”.
• 3D::Spline: Added an “Add to Nearest End Point” checkbox (defaults to off). This adds the ability to sketch control points and always add to the end of the spline rather than closest start or end point.
• Cameras: Added a motion blur amount parameter. The parameter works in conjunction with all the rendering nodes as well as the motion blur post-fx node.
• Cameras::VR Headset Camera: Added support for overriding the eye frustum fov angles.
• Cloning::Clone Painter:
  • Added a “Normal Random Heading” option for the clone rotation mode property. In all painting modes this will randomly rotate around the normal of the surface geometry hit.
  • Added an “Edit” placement mode, which adds the ability to pick clones, one at a time, place and transform them.
• Materials: Added an “Emissive Scattering” property to material nodes. Use this property to control per-material scattering from emissives. Defaults to 0.
• Post-FX::Stylisation::Pixellate:
  • Added a “Use Aspect Ratio” property, which is enabled by default. Allows for non-square pixels.
  • Added a “Resolution Y” property, which is only enabled when “Use Aspect Ratio” is disabled. Allows for control over X and Y pixel counts separately and non-square pixel output.
• Post-FX::Blur::Glow: Added “White-Out Saturation” and “Saturation” properties.
• Post-FX::Blur::Glow 2: Added “White-Out Saturation” and “Saturation” properties.
• Post-FX::Blur::Physical Glow: Added “White-Out Saturation” and “Saturation” properties.
• Procedurals:
  • Added motion vector support to a number of procedural based nodes.
  • The field generator has been reimplemented to support new field 3d node systems.
• Rendering:
  • Path Tracer:
    • Added support for procedurals, fields and alpha geometry to render correctly in refractions.
    • Added a “Firefly Reduction Threshold” property, which can help remove firefly pixels from your render.
    • Added path traced emissive object scattering support for volumetrics.
    • Added path traced directional support for volumetrics.
• Render Panel:
  • Added an “Audio Offset (frames)” property.
• Curve Editor: Added support for Ctrl + A shortcut to select all visible keys.

Changes - UI #

• Manipulators: Improvements and bug fixes.
• Node list: Rearranged the order of the nodes in the Rendering node group. The order now represents the speed and quality of the rendering nodes (simple -> hybrid -> smart -> path).
• Property Editor: Updated to not allow properties within the “Time” property group to be exposed.
• Shortcuts: Removed the ‘M’ shortcut that used to switch between Transform Tool (‘V’), Move Tool (‘X’) and Stretch (now deprecated).
• Edit->Preferences: Removed the “Show Time In Frames” checkbox. You now control this by clicking on the Time / Frames text in the timecode box. The setting now persists between runs of Builder.
• Viewport: Motion blur is now disabled on editor cameras.
• Curve Editor:
  • Many improvements to keyframing.
  • Performance improvements when projects contain a lot of keys and curves.
  • Updated so that the tangents are separately selectable and editable.
  • Updated to support appending or removing selected keys or tangents with Ctrl and left mouse button on them.
• Nodegraph: Exposed nodes now only draw connection lines when the node is selected.
• Render Panel:
  • Made QuickTime codecs selectable again.
  • Updated to warn the user when a file with the same output filename already exists.
  • Updated so the name of the composition is used as the output filename, if the filename property has not been edited.
  • Updated to automatically take the composition’s (or project’s) start and end time when opening the panel for the first time.
  • Improved the accuracy of the estimated time remaining so it now includes everything (including UI time).
• When rendering a video, the UI now prevents options on the main menu from being clicked on.

Changes - Nodes #

• 2D::Primitive 2D: All Shape Type property to be exposed.
• 3D::Spline:
  • Updated the “Tangents” property so the default setting is now “Smooth” instead of “Points”. A typical workflow would be to draw a smoothed spline, change to “Points” mode then edit the spline points with the tangent handles.
  • Improved the performance when dragging spline points in the viewport.
  • Changed “Null” terminology to “Point” instead.
• Cloning::Clone Painter: Updated the “New Clone Rotation Mode” property to set the default mode to “Normal”.
• Fields::Emitters::Procedural Emitter: Improved the generation of the field so it no longer has holes in it.
• Fields::Emitters::3D Object Emitter: Improved the quality of the generated field.
• Javascript:
  • Updated the SetInt() function so it now returns a bool to indicate whether the property value was set or not.
  • Updated the SetInt() function to validate enum values so that only valid options can set. If an invalid value was given the function will return false.
• Particles::Rendering::Particles To Point Geometry: Fixed a number of crashes with this node.
• Procedurals::Generators::Level Set (Field): Updated to now use tricubic interpolation when sampling for better quality.
• Rendering:
  • Hybrid / Simple Renderer: Updated so that if a skylight has refractions enabled but the visible skydome is off, it still shows up in refractions.
  • Path Tracer: Switched to a new volumetric lighting implementation that is consistent with the other rendering nodes.
  • Smart Tracer: Updated to always render emissives.
• Root: Renamed “Dither High Dynamic Range” property to “Dither Output” and is now always enabled.
• Video::Motion Processing::Optical Flow: Updated NVIDIA Optical Flow library to version 5.0 (from 3.0).

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed a crash that could occur when saving large projects.
• Fixed a number of issues related to the Isolate In Viewport feature.
• Material Preview:
  • Fixed a bug when previewing materials. Previously, the orientating the preview camera would also update the scene camera.
  • Material Previews: Fixed a bug where having multiple material previews on at the same time and then disabling the preview would switch off viewport handles.
• Curve Editor / Timeline: Fixed a bug which meant you could not scroll the node list using the mouse wheel.
• Curve Editor:
  • Fixed the visibility icon (eyeball) so it now works as expected.
  • Fixed a bug when copying and pasting keyframes from different nodes.
• Property Editor:
  • Updated the edit fields so that very small values can now be entered.
  • Fixed a bug where you could open more than one dropdown at once.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a bug related to moving timebars containing keys that are placed at the end of the timebar. Previously, the key would not move with the timebar.
• Render Panel: Fixed a bug which caused spurious characters to be added to the end of folder names that caused the filename to be invalid.
• Edit->Preferences: Fixed a number of settings that were not getting correctly written to the registry on edit.
• Video transcoding: Fixed a bug which could cause video transcoding to fail.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 2D::2D Root: Fixed a bug which resolves an issue where picking highlights would still render if the 2D Root node was disabled.
• 3D::3D Scene: Fixed a bug related to materials. Previously it was possible for the wrong material to be used when rendering.
• Cloning::Clone Painter: Fixed a number of issues with this node.
• Rendering:
  • Fixed a number of rendering issues related to rendering to multiple views (eg. Multi Camera).
  • Fixed a bug that were causing black squares to appear in the render window when using the Optix denoiser.
  • Fixed a number of issues across all renderers when rendering to multiple layers.
  • Fixed a crash when enabling depth of field when viewing the scene through a Region camera node node.
  • Probes: Fixed a crash when the number of screen probes is 0, due to width/height being less than 16 (pixels per probe).
  • Path Tracer:
    • Fixed the “Brightness Clamp” property so it now works as expected.
    • Fixed the adaptive refining mode so it now requires a minimun number of refines to have been rendered before it starts.
  • Smart Tracer: Fixed issues related to direct lighting.
  • Hybrid Renderer: Fixed a bug related to sky light rotations not being used correctly.

NotchBlockVerifier #

• Added support for 16-bit back buffer. Defaults to 8-bit unless “+use16BitBackbuffer 1” is passed on the cmd line.
• Added supprt for setting the input/output colour space of a block.

0.9.99.278 (25th release, 22nd January 2024): #

Important #

• Due to an incompatibility with some laptops, the default bit depth of the render window is now 8-bit instead of 16-bit. Users wanting to view HDR content should switch to 16-bit via Edit->Preferences->System->GPU->Output Format, if their PC supports it.

New Nodes #

• Particles::Rendering::Particles To Point Geometry: This node turns particles into point geometry. Manual page.

New Features #

• Renderers:
  • Performance and quality improvements when handling emissive materials and objects.
  • Simple Renderer:
    • Added support for shadow rendering.
    • Added support for volumetrics / scattering rendering.
    • Added support for depth-of-field and motion blur.
  • Hybrid Renderer:
    • Added support for shadow rendering via shadow maps for omni, spot, directional and sky lights. Shadow maps may offer higher performance than ray tracing at the cost of reduced quality.
    • Improved volumetrics support with shadows for spot and omni lights, and with additional support for directional and sky lights.
    • Added support for order-independent transparency. See the Transparency Sorting option. This feature is work in progress.
  • Smart Tracer: Added support for volumetrics rendering.
• 3D::Image Plane: Added pivot editing and placement support.
• Fields::Rendering: Improved skylight rendering for non-pathtraced renders.
• Fields::Rendering::Field 3D Renderer: Added support for tri-cubic filtering to reduce noise in rendered scenes.
• Generators::QR Code: Added support for input text string nodes so the QR code can be generated dynamically.
• Javascript: Added a SetName() API function to the Layer object. This adds support for renaming layers.
• Lighting::Directional Light: Added a Scattering Intensity property.
• Lighting::Sky Light: Added a Scattering Intensity property.
• Post-FX::Image Processing::Custom Shader Post Effect: Added a “Create Shader File..” button property to create a default shader file (.fx) using the sample code from the node’s manual page.
• Procedurals::Generators::Fractal Noise: Added a “Update Time Mode” property.
• Procedurals::Generators::Particles As Primitives: Added a Size Randomness property.
• Video::Loader: Added support for applying a colour space conversion to loaded video/image. See the “Colour Space Conversion” property.
• Curve Editor: Added a new design for the key editing UI in the top-left corner of the Curve Editor.
• Added an “Isolate In Viewport” property to a number of geometry nodes (eg. 3D Primitive, 3D Scene). This allows users to isolate geometry from the rest of the scene.
• Render Window Toolbar: Added an Isolate/Preview In Viewport button.
• Nodegraph:
  • Added support for connecting nodes by dragging from a node’s input connector to another node’s output connector.
  • Added tooltip support for the composition list. Currently displays the composition’s target resolution as a tooltip.
  • Added a right-click menu to the composition list. Menu options include the ability to delete or rename a composition.
• Render Window: Added support for auto-linking assets when they are drag and dropped into the viewport.
• Scopes: Added support for separate and overlaid modes for the RGB Histogram and RGB Parade visualisations. Toggle between these new modes via the new icons on the UI panel.

Changes - UI #

• Nodegraph: Updated the node auto-arrange icons and changed so they are all shown at once.
• Launcher: Updated so there is a small delay to avoid user’s launching multiple projects at the same time by double-clicking on the project tiles.
• Centerbar: Updated the Curve Editor toolbar to add the missing icon for toggling the range.
• Scopes:
  • Updated the views so the separate channel modes are rendered side by side, not top to bottom.
  • Updated the histogram views so the output is now normalised.
• Ruler:
  • Updated the range tooltip to show frames if the ruler is set to frames mode. Previously, it was always showing the timecode.
  • Updated the current time orange pill to include a “f” character when showing the timeline in frames so it now matches the text on the ruler.
• Render Window Rulers: Updated so the enabled/disabled state is now saved to the Windows registry.
• Render Window Toolbar: Removed the non-functional Lock and Raytracing icons.
• Curve Editor:
  • Improved the precision of Bezier 2D keyframes.
  • Updated the key editing UI panel so it now accepts decimal numbers with a 0 prefix. For example, .5, .75.
• Viewport Preview: Updated so that when a node that is currently previewing is disabled, the preview is also disabled.
• Render Window: Updated so pasting / duplicating nodes in the render window now positions the new node next to the original in the nodegraph.
• Manipulators: Improvements and bug fixes.

Changes - Nodes #

• Fields::Rendering::Field 3D Renderer: Improved performance by culling lights that do not contribute to the output.
• Rendering::Hybrid Renderer and Simple Renderer: Updated to stop camera jitter while playing in the viewport.
• Root: Removed the “Time” property group.
• Exported Blocks: During block loading, nodes are updated to clear their preview in viewport properties back to default.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Launcher:
  • Fixed some crashes when there is no internet connection.
  • Fixed a bug which meant you could close the Launcher, whilst the Windows file open dialog was open.
  • Fixed a bug where project thumbnails looked different in the launcher compared to the png saved within the dfx.
• Fonts: Fixed some crashes and hangs when loading some font files.
• Menus: Fixed the View->Restore Original Layout menu item so it now works. Requires a Builder restart.
• Fixed a number of issues related to undo.
• Nodegraph:
  • Fixed a bug which meant node input snapping did not work when dragging from the root node.
  • Fixed a bug which allowed nodes without outputs to be connected to node input pins.
  • Fixed a bug with thumbnail node shapes where the input pins would not be shown when the node is expanded.
• Fixed a bug when toggling the muting of audio.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 2D::2D Root:
  • Fixed a bug which meant the geometry bounds of child nodes could be incorrectly calculated.
  • Fixed the render window selection highlight when the resolution of the 2D Root is different to the resolution of the project.
• 3D::3D Scene: Fixed a crash when replacing the old Imported 3D Scene node (from 0.9.23) with the new 3D Scene node.
• 3D::Spline:
  • Fixed hit-testing on spline segments perpendicular to the camera.
  • Fixed the painting of new points and insertion of new points along spline segments when in orthographic camera space.
• Cloning::Clone To Particles: Fixed a bug related to clone rotation when stepping through the composition frame-by-frame.
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Spread Lines: Fixed a crash when using the Spread Over Surface spread mode.
• Deformers::Topology::Slice: Fixed a bug when used with the Chunk Effector Deformer node, which could cause additional geometry to be incorrectly rendered.
• Deformers::Weights::Generate Weightmap: Fixed a bug so it now works with the Procedural Root and Shading node inputs.
• Generators::QR Code: Fixed a bug where the QR code would not regenerate when changing the “Version Range Max” property.
• Lighting::Light: Fixed a bug related to the transforms of cloned lights which were incorrectly set in some situations.
• Lighting::Sky Light: Fixed a bug related to sun extraction so the results are now a lot smoother as directions change.
• Post-FX::Image Processing::Chroma Key: Fixed a bug related to properties not being enabled and/or disabled based on other properties changing visibility.
• Procedurals::Generators::Fractal Noise: Fixed the “4D Noise (Time-Evolving)” fractal mode so that the node now updates when the noise changes.
• Procedurals::Render Nodes::Procedural Meshing: Fixed a number of crashes related to a large numbers of triangles generated by the meshing process.
• Rendering::Path Tracer: Fixed a bug which could cause black squares to appear when using the Optix denoiser.
• Rendering::Hybrid Renderer: Fixed a bug related to specular colours when used in the reflections pass.

FXPlayerHost #

• Fixed a hang when the block output does not fit on screen or when the window is resized so the entire block output does not fit on screen any more.

0.9.99.240 (24th release, 30th November 2023): #

New Features #

• Material Preview: Added support for visualising reflections and refractions.

Changes - UI #

• Rulers: Updated to allow users to double click in the ruler to add a new guide or delete an existing guide. Previously it was Ctrl and click to add, which has now been removed.

Changes - Nodes #

• Rendering: Improved depth-of-field quality for the Hybrid Renderer and Smart Tracer.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed a bug where the Resource Inspector would appear in the top left of the Builder UI for some users.
• Fixed a possible crash when undoing a node’s property edits.
• Rulers: Fixed a rendering flicker issue when hovering in the ruler area.
• Render Window: Fixed a bug where the object outline could show whilst playing.
• Material Preview: Fixed a bug when moving the preview camera. Previously, this could also move the scene camera.
• Launcher:
  • Fixed another bug where the launcher would not render whilst the window was being resized.
  • Fixed a bug which meant projects could not be opened on the first ever run of the Launcher.
• Manipulators:
  • Fixed a bug when free-dragging multiple nodes.
  • Fixed a bug related to snapping.
• Placement: Fixed a bug which meant geometry could be placed on itself.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Rendering: Fixed a bug when using motion blur in refine mode when depth-of-field is disabled.
• Rendering::Hybrid Renderer: Fixed a memory leak.

0.9.99.238 (23rd release, 28th November 2023): #

Important #

• Colour spaces: Changed the way colour spaces are handled.
  • The working colour space is set in “Project Settings -> Rendering” - although it can be overridden per composition. By default, new compositions use the working space set in Project Settings. Compositions are also composited together in this colour space. The result is converted to the output colour space when it goes to the viewport (either 8 bit SRGB gamma 2.2, or 16 bit SRGB linear, depending on back buffer format). A suitable ODT is applied automatically.
  • Images and videos etc are automatically converted to the working colour space on use.
  • The colour space options on the Composition Root have been reduced to reflect the set of working colour spaces.
  • Note: renders to video still convert to gamma 2.2 - support for changing this per render will be added in the next release.

Renamed Nodes #

• Layers::Layer Precomp -> Layers::Composition Precomp.

Shortcuts #

• Whilst hovering over the ruler, use Ctrl and left mouse button to add a new viewport guide.

New Features #

• Added Colour Scopes window. See View->Scopes. Has support for visualising a luminance histogram, RGB histogram and RGB parade. Feedback welcome.
• Much improved colour space support throughout. Added support for setting the project working colour space and global output colour space.
• Added new Launcher design.
• Added support for setting the resolution of an individual composition. See the “Composition Resolution” property on the root node.
  • When “Compositions As Separate Effects” is enabled, the composition resolution can change the size of the viewport. Selecting a composition with a different resolution will resize the viewport accordingly.
  • When “Compositions As Separate Effects” is disabled (composition mode), all compositions are rendered to the same viewport resolution but they can use a smaller windowed area if they are not rendering to project resolution.
• Rendering:
  • Added support for geometry compression of normals and tangents to improve performance and reduce memory bandwidth.
  • Added support for Affected Nodes and Excluded Nodes inputs on light nodes for all renderering nodes.
  • Added support for Included Objects and Excluded Objects inputs on camera nodes so they work with all rendering nodes.
  • Hybrid Renderer:
    • Added a temporal AA antialias mode.
    • Added initial support for motion blur.
    • Added multi-pass FSAA antialiasing mode suitable for rendering videos/stills.
  • Simple Renderer:
    • Added a temporal AA and DLSS antialias modes.
    • Added multi-pass FSAA antialiasing mode suitable for rendering videos/stills.
  • Smart Tracer: Added motion blur support.
• 2D::2D Root: Added support for pivot selection on objects that are parented to the 2D Root node.
• 3D::Spline: Added support for splines when parented to 2D Root nodes.
• Nodes::OSC Output: Added additional options to the “Send On Change” property, which now includes the ability to send only on change after first frame, not when reset is called.
• Nodegraph: Added support for showing the broadcast icon on the currently playing camera.
• Material Preview: Added support for rotate and zooming the material preview along with the addition of a checkerboard floor plane.
  • Use Alt and left mouse button drag to orbit.
  • Use Alt and scroll wheel or Alt and right mouse button drag to zoom.
• Ruler: Added a small pill icon on the ruler showing the current time value.
• Viewport Rulers: Added support for creating viewport guides by hovering the mouse in the ruler then using Ctrl and left mouse button to add a guide.

Changes - UI #

• Property Editor: Optimised the rendering of material previews.
• Nodegraph:
  • Optimised the rendering of material thumbnails.
  • Updated the node stats text to scale based on Windows DPI.
• Viewport Shading Modes: Optimised the rendering of the “Smooth Shaded” mode. Use the Shift and R shortcut key to toggle.
• Node Settings: Updated to only rename multiple nodes if the name field has changed.
• Menus:
  • Renamed “Layers As Separate Effects” to “Compositions As Separate Effects”.
  • More “Layer” to “Composition” renaming throughout.
• Centerbar: Removed the Profiler tab. This will be added back in a future release.
• Render Window: Updated to disable node highlighting when playing, exporting a video or rendering a still.
• Manipulators: Improvements and bug fixes.
• TUIO: Updated to handle malformed TUIO data more gracefully and not crash.
• Intro Tour: Temporarily moved to the top-left of the render window instead of bottom-right.

Changes - Nodes #

• Material Assets: Replaced resolution limit slider properties with a dropdown containing predefined power-of-2 resolutions up to 8k.
• Modifiers::Motion Predictor: Changed some property names to match their input envelopes. “Prediction Amount” to “Predict Amount” and “Max Step Size” to “Max Step Distance”.
• Lighting::Ambient light: Removed “Scattering Intensity” and “Show Light Cone” properties as they were not functional for this light type.
• Rendering::Hybrid Renderer:
  • Removed the “Refine” render mode and replaced it with a “Refine FSAA” antialias option.
  • Renamed the “FSAA” antialiasing option to “Edge AA”.
• Rendering::Smart Tracer:
  • Renamed the “FSAA” antialiasing option to “Edge AA”.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Launcher:
  • Fixed a bug where the launcher would not render as the window was being resized.
  • Fixed a possible crash when downloading assets.
• Property Editor: Fixed a bug related to undo events which were not updating the visibility flag of some properties. This could result in properties being greyed out when they should not be.
• Manipulators: Fixed a number of issues related to planar and per-axis translations of objects.
• Rendering:
  • Fixed a bug when switching between the in-built render window and fullscreen mode. Previously, refinement was not being reset.
  • Fixed a bug when using probes and large render resolutions.
• Nodegraph: Fixed a bug where Ctrl+R did not work if you selected multiple nodes and the root node was the first one.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Assets: Fixed a bug where you could not use the escape key shortcut to clear the preview in viewport property.
• 2D::2D Root: Fixed a bug where the node would not re-render when properties of child nodes were edited.
• Deformers::Topology::Cut: Removed the “Slice Width” node input which is not required.
• Generator nodes: Fixed a bug where the generator’s properties were updated out of sync with first refine, which could cause visual artifacts.
• Particle nodes: Fixed a crash when there are more than 256 affectors or emitters in a scene.
• Post-FX::Blur::Object Motion Blur: Fixed a bug so it now works correctly with non square aspect ratio render resolutions.
• Video nodes: Fixed a hang when processing a node which is connected as a parent as well as an input.

0.9.99.220 (22nd release, 8th November 2023): #

Important #

• Layers are now referred to as Compositions. The UI has been updated to reflect this change.

Shortcuts #

• Added Ctrl+L shortcut which can be used to toggle the range. This is available in the Nodegraph, Timeline and Curves views.

New Features #

• Render Window:
  • Added a new grid. Use the Alt+G shortcut to toggle grid visbility.
  • Added a new design to indicate the pixel location of the viewport guides.
• Render Window Toolbar: Added a camera dropdown for switching between the default cameras and any scene cameras.
• Picking: Viewport picking now works with a single left mouse button click. Use Shift+Left Mouse Button to select multiple objects.
• Nodegraph:
  • Added a new Composition UI panel for selecting layers.
  • Added a new node icon to indicate which nodes are overridding rendering in the viewport. At present, this works for preview in viewport and material previews.
  • Added a new node icon to indicate which camera is currently being used for rendering.
  • Added node count information to the bottom right corner. This is still work in progress.
• Timecode:
  • Added a new timecode UI panel which also includes a realtime FPS indicator.
  • Double-click the timecode box to configure the framerate for your project. Project framerate can either be unlimited or limited by specifying a minimum and maximum FPS.
• Center Bar:
  • Added view tabs for switching between the Nodegraph, Timeline and Curves views.
  • Added a button to mute audio for a project. This functionality has been moved from the old ruler.
  • Added project resolution and timeline FPS information.
  • Added elongated Play and Pause icons.
  • Added an icon for toggling the project’s range.
  • Added two new icons to hide the panels on the left and/or right of the Nodegraph, Timeline or Curves window. Eg. In the Nodegraph users can hide the node tree and/or the Composition list.
• Manipulators:
  • Added support for snapping to viewport guides.
  • Added support for rendering a direct free drag hit indicator on centre of all axis (translation and scaling handles).
• Resource Browser:
  • Added support for 3D object resources to be loaded from offline also known as the “Do Not Embed Resource” option.
• Material Assets: Added a Resolution Limits property for control the resolution of the asset. This can be used to specify a maxiumum width and height for the material. This is still work in progress.
• Cloning::Clone Painter: Added a “Uniform Random” clone scale mode to randomise all axis at once.
• Post-FX::Warping::Transform Image: Added a “Uniform Scale” property.
• Shading::Input Channel Sampler: Added the ability to access the clone index from the shading node data via the “Instance Index” option on the “Channel” property.
• Import: Added support for importing .ply files.

Changes - UI #

• Render Window HUD: Removed the icon from the top-left of the render window. To toggle the HUD, use the render window toolbar icon instead.
• Render Window Toolbar: Removed the autokey icon as this is also available on the center bar.
• Ruler: The ruler has been moved from the bottom of the application’s window, to a more central position under the center bar.
• Nodegraph: Fixed the Fit Nodegraph button (Shortcut key F) so it does not zoom in too far.
• Increased the resolution of project thumbnails from 256x256 to 512x512 pixels.
• Status Bar: Removed the FPS section. The project FPS is now shown on the new timecode window.
• Removed the Nodegraph, Timeline and Curves top-level tabs and added a “Create” tab.
• Menus: When the clicking View->Render or View->Resource Inspector menu items, the selected tab is now coloured blue to indicate selection.

Changes - Nodes #

• Assets: When unembedding nodes that are part of a 3D scene node, keep them parented to their 3D scene parent rather than adding them to the layer.
• 3D::3D Scene: Improved the layout for created nodes to try and compact the space and represent the hierarchy better.
• Rendering::Smart Tracer: Various improvements and bug fixes.
• Rendering: Improved the quality and speed of depth of field support across the non-path traced rendering nodes.
• Root:
  • Renamed the “Layer Colour” property to “Composition Colour”.
  • Renamed the “View Layer Alpha” property to “View Composition Alpha”.
  • Renamed the “Layer Alpha” property to “Composition Alpha”.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Render Window:
  • Fixed the dragging and selecting of guides in scale to fit, and crop mode, including viewport scaling.
  • Fixed a bug which made it difficult to create guides by dragging from the render window rulers.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a bug when copying nodes between layers with regards to how layer start and end time anchors are handled.
  • Fixed the ability to reorder layers.
• Log: Fixed auto-scroll so the latest log entry can be seen without having to scroll the view.
• Fixed a rare crash when launching Builder.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Assets: Fixed a crash when embedding nodes using the right-click “Embed Connected Nodes” menu option.
• 2D::2D Root:
  • Fixed a bug which meant geometry under a 2D root node was not pickable.
  • Fixed a bug which caused geometry under 2D Root nodes to disappear when viewport shading views are used.
• 3D::3D Scene:
  • Fixed a bug which caused the visibility of sub-nodes to change when loading a project.
  • Fixed a bug which meant it was not possible to undo clicking the “Convert To Editable Nodes” button.
  • Fixed a bug when switching between different animation sets.
  • Fixed a bug when drawing the node’s expanded inputs.
• Cloning::Clone Painter:
  • Fixed a rare crash.
  • Fixed a bug which could cause the wrong clone geometry to be rendererd.
  • Fixed motion vector support for clone painter clones.
• Cloning::Effectors::Rigid Body Effector: Fixed a crash in the case where huge numbers of contacts could exist and now error accordingly instead.
• Fields::Field 2D Root: Fixed a bug which meant a field would stop rendering when the scene begins to refine.

0.9.99.208 (21st release, 23rd October 2023): #

Important #

• Upgraded Codemeter runtimes from 7.10a to 7.60c. This is handled by the installer.

Renamed Nodes #

• Rendering::High Definition Renderer -> Rendering::Smart Tracer.
• Rendering::Standard Renderer -> Rendering::Hybrid Renderer.

New Features #

• Rendering::Smart Tracer: Improved the rendering quality and speed as well as adding depth of field support.
• Manipulators: Changed the behaviour of free drag so that it only works when the free drag mode is enabled. To do this, use shortcut key ‘D’ or the render window toolbar icon.
• Added a new Log Window panel.

Changes - UI #

• Manipulators: Improvements and bug fixes including increasing the hit area for handles and fixing handle selection problems for the translate and scale manipulators.

Changes - Nodes #

• Rendering::Hybrid Renderer:
  • Improved depth of field quality.
  • Updated the Emissives property to have the following options: Raytraced, Simple and Off.
• Cloning::Clone Painter: Separated out the painting brush radius and erase brush properties, so users can erase clones independent of brush size.
• Fields::Rendering::Field 2D Renderer: Updated so that the Ctrl+R shortcut now connects this node to the Field 2D Root node.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Menus: Fixed a bug where users could not change GPU via the Edit->Preferences menu.
• Nodegraph: Fixed a bug so that region nodes are now visible when assets are expanded.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Assets: Fixed a crash when embedding nodes using the right-click “Embed Connected Nodes” menu option.
• Cameras::Orbit Camera: Fixed a bug when rotating the camera using the rotation manipulator.
• Generators: Fixed a bug when previewing in viewport. Previously users had to interact with the nodegraph for the preview to update.
• Renderers: Fixed a bug related to the colour of cloned emissive objects.

0.9.99.198 (20th release, 9th October 2023): #

Important #

• Rendering: This release has a plethora of rendering improvements, bug fixes, and new features, as well as optimisations that enhance the overall performance and user experience.

New Features #

• Added support for downloading Notch assets within Notch Builder.
• Rendering::Standard Renderer:
  • Added support for mirrored reflections, controlled by the roughness property on a material node.
  • Added projection image support for spot lights.
  • Improved depth of field support as well as supporting near-focus blurring.
  • Improved ambient occlusion and diffuse skylight rendering support. Rendering detail has increased as well as performance by using spherical harmonics. Shadows are now supported.
• 2D::2D Primitive: Added the ability to specify the primitive size by specifying the corners.
• 3D::3D Scene: Added support for creating different light type (area and directional) nodes based on the 3D input data.
• Interactive::Array Operators::Array Element Extractor: Added easing properties to affect the scale of the extracted transform.
• Post-FX::Image Processing::Dilate: Added Blend Amount and blend mode parameters.
• Rendering::Simple Renderer: Added projection image support for spot lights.
• Property Editor: Added “Set Start to Current Time” and “Set End to Current Time” buttons to the Time property group.

Changes - UI #

• Manipulators: Improvements and bug fixes.
• Nodegraph: When unembedding nodes the expose node is now deleted.
• Render Panel: Updated so the output resolution defaults to project resolution when the render panel is first opened.
• Property Editor: Updated so that expanded property groups persist between node selections.

Changes - Nodes #

• 3D::Spline: Improved outline rendering for primitive handles and added outline rendering to spline points and spline segments.
• Materials: Updated so the BSDF property group is now expanded by default.
• Particles::Emitters::Mesh Emitter: Updated to allow 2D Root nodes to be used as an input.
• Scripting::Javascript: Updated to allow user-defined input parameters to be used in the Init() function of a script.
• Optimised shadow rendering.
• Improved node pivot support throughout.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed a bug which resulted in project thumbnails not being generated when using the File->Save Layer menu option.
• Nodegraph:
  • Fixed the input pin hitboxes for expanded nodes.
  • Fixed the missing nodes expander icons when viewing a node’s thumbnail.
  • Fixed a bug where it was possible to link a node to its own parent as a child.
  • Fixed a bug when arranging nodes laid out in a row.
  • Fixed a bug which meant nodes could be interacted with even though they were not at the current embedded node expand level.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a bug so that Alt + right-mouse button zooms the timeline rather than selecting a timebar.
  • Fix a bug when moving the playhead close to 0. Previously, it could cause the timeline to snap to an incorrect position.
  • Fixed a bug which meant you could not rename layers via the Layer Settings dialog (F5 shortcut).
• Fixed a crash when importing some C4D files.
• Render Panel:
  • Fixed a bug so it is no longer possible to change camera (via the number keys) whilst rendering video.
  • Fixed a bug where image sequence output would only ever output PNGs no matter what format you chose.
• Resource Inspector: Fixed a crash bug when editing the FPS field for video resources.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Assets: Fixed a number of issues related to assets.
• 3D::Text: Fixed a bug which stopped emissive materials working with Text nodes.
• Lighting::Area Light: Fixed a bug which resulted in the area light’s projection image input being incorrect on the first frame of rendering.
• Lighting::Light: Fixed a rendering bug when cloning lights that are using projection image inputs.
• Camera Input: Fixed a bug when using multiple identical input cameras at the same time. This fix applies to media foundation only input.

0.9.99.183 (19th release, 5th September 2023): #

Shortcuts #

• Escape: When a node has its Preview In Viewport property enabled, pressing Escape resets the property to its default (Off).
• Shift+5: Moves to an orbit view and frames the selected node. Was previously Ctrl+5.
• Orbit Camera:
  • Added Alt+Shift+LMB to pan the orbit camera.
  • Added Ctrl+Alt+LMB to dolly the orbit camera.
  • Changed Alt+Shift+LMB to Alt+Shift+MMB for panning on the camera on the XZ plane.
• Perspective Camera:
  • Added Alt+Shift+LMB to pan the perspective camera.
  • Added Ctrl+Alt+LMB to dolly the perspective camera.
  • Added Alt+Shift+MMB for panning the camera on the XZ plane.
  • Added Alt+Shift+RMB for panning the camera on the Y axis.
  • Changed Alt+Shift+LMB to Ctrl+Alt+MMB for orbiting the camera.
• Ctrl+Alt+LMB: Zooms the timeline/curve editor and ruler.

New Features #

• Rendering::Standard Renderer:
  • Improved depth of field support. Still work in progress.
  • Improved shadowing technique. Alpha blended shadows are no longer supported.
  • Added support for area light shadows.
• Cameras::VR 360 Camera: Added a “180 Equirectangular” projection mode. Similar to 360 Equirectangular but only shows the middle (in x) 180 portion.
• Added support for importing .aif audio files.
• Timeline: Added support for showing the timeline marker labels in the ruler. Use the Delete key to delete selected markers and double-click to rename them.

Changes - UI #

• Updated to Bass v2.4.17. Fixes audio file import issues reported by some users.
• Curve Editor: Removed the Stretch Selected Keys option. Much improved functionality can be achieved using the Transform Tool.
• Nodegraph:
  • Updated node highlighting to include comment nodes.
  • Updated so the zoom level is now clamped to a sensible value.
• Manipulators:
  • Lots of improvements and bug fixes.
  • Increased the size of the hit test areas to improve render window object manipulation.
• Resource Browser: Updated so clicking the Browse button now opens an Explorer window with the file filter correctly set to the supported types.
• Menus: File->Export Video and File->Render Still now redirect to the render panel with the Video or Frame tab set accordingly.
• Render Window: Removed the orbit camera pivot visualisation.
• Updated the Export Asset dialog to prompt the user when overwriting existing files.

Changes - Nodes #

• 3D::Spline: Lots of improvements and bug fixes.
• Colour::Colour Ramp: Removed the parent node connection.
• Generators: Removed the Tranform properties for generator nodes that do not use parent transforms.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Nodes Browser: Fixed a crash when unfavouriting a node, whilst the search field is set.
• Nodegraph: Fixed the F shortcut key which frames the selected node in nodegraph.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a number of bugs related to layer selection.
  • Fixed a crash when cutting and splitting timebars.
  • Fixed a bug when copying and pasting keyframes from one node to another.
• Render Panel: Fixed a number of bugs when editing the width and height properties of the render.
• Menus: File->Save Layer:
  • Fixed a bug where the range toggle was not saved correctly.
  • Fixed a bug where the node connection link systle was not saved correctly.
  • Fixed a bug where the project author was not saved correctly.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 3D::3D Object: Fixed a bug where the Layer Index and Collision Layer Index properties were not updated when changing the Object property.
• Colour::Colour Ramp: Fixed the thumbnail so it now shows in the nodegraph.
• Deformers::Vertex::Chunk Effector Deformer: Fixed broken motion vectors when the node is multi-parented.
• Fields: Fixed a number of bugs where an incorrect frame time delta was applied to the solver’s decay and dissipation terms.
• Fixed the Ctrl+F1/2/3 shortcut for a lot of nodes that have a preview in viewport property.

0.9.99.169 (18th release, 4th Aug 2023): #

Important #

• Assets: Reenabled the ability to export assets.
• Launcher: The number of times a user has to re-login has been reduced considerably.

New Features #

• Improved support for multiple UV sets used by materials. Material nodes can now select a UV set per texture channel. Objects and 3D geometry nodes can supply up to 4 UV sets to the material.

Changes - UI #

• Range: Improved the rendering of the range in the timeline and curve editor. Added support for moving the entire range bar using the center icon.
• Nodegraph: The root node can no longer connect to the input pins on any nodes.
• Launcher: Setting the resolution and FPS values when creating a new layer are now passed through to Builder.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Ruler: Fixed a bug which stopped the ruler from showing the updated FPS value when it was changed in the project settings panel.
• Status Bar: Fixed a bug which meant the root node was listed as being selected when it was not.
• Resource Inspector: Fixed a bug which meant the inspector’s resource browser could be out of sync with the main resource browser in Builder.
• Nodegraph: Fixed a bug when creating a new layer then pressing Ctrl+Z. Previously, this would unintentionally remove the root node from the scene.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a bug where the [] shortcut keys did not work if a layer’s timebar was selected.
  • Fixed a bug which allowed user’s to interact with the a node’s timebars when they were hidden behind the Range panel.
  • Fixed the prev/next key icons so they now work.
  • Fixed a crash when using Shift and drag to move a node’s timebar and the node’s children.
• Render Panel: Fixed a bug where the FPS field would become disabled once a new value was entered.
• Launcher: Fixed a bug which meant the Launcher was slow to shut down.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Materials::Mapping: Fixed a bug with cubic mapping, which resulted in the wrong normal being used.
• Rendering::Path Tracer: Fixed a bug where lights with scattering enabled were using a legacy path to accumulate scattering incorrectly.
• Fixed a number of bug related to pivots.

0.9.99.159 (17th release, 27th July 2023): #

• Updated splash images, launcher images and installer graphics.

0.9.99.158 (16th release, 26th July 2023): #

Important #

• Notch Launcher: There have been many improvements to Notch Launcher. There are also new templates, samples and welcome tours to try out.
• Notchmarks: Currently disabled. A new Notchmarks system will be added in a future release.

New Features #

• Root node: Add a “Layer Colour” property for setting the colour of the layer. By default, all new layers are now grey.
• Nodegraph:
  • Added support for rendering either straight or angled lines for all node connections. Use the Node Links icon on the center bar to change mode.
  • Added a “Mixed Links” rendering mode, which draws angled lines between a node and its parent, and a straight line from a node to the input pins. Use the Node Links icon on the center bar to change mode.
• Timeline:
  • Added support for showing video/image thumbnails on the start and end of timeline bars.
  • Added support for showing embedded nodes.
• Menus:
  • Added a “Help->Report A Bug” menu item, which redirects users to https://manage.notch.one/contactus. Please use this!
  • Added a “Clear List” option to the bottom of the recent file list menu item. Removed the clear button from Edit->Preferences.
• Render Panel: Added a “Version Tag” field which automatically appends either a value or date/time to the output filename to make files uniquely named.
• Material nodes: Added support for Ctrl+F, which can now be used to toggle a material preview in the render window.

Changes - UI #

• Menus:
  • Renamed “File->Recent Files” to “File->Open Recent” and moved the location of the menu item next to “File->Open”.
  • Updated the “File->Import” Windows Explorer file filter to display all the supported extensions.
• Timeline: Updated the icon used to indicate the linear key interpolation mode.
• Property Editor: Updated the mouse cursor when hovering over sliders to a left-right arrow.
• Status bar: Updated to use a fixed width gap between each field so the text does not move when number values change, such as FPS.

Changes - Nodes #

• 3D::Spline: Lots of improvements.
• Fields::Materials: Changed the node shape. These material nodes do not generate thumbnails.
• Material nodes: Updated the order of the input pins to match the order of the textures listed in the property editor when the node is selected.
• Video::Loader: Updated so the timeline now shows the clip name on the time bar.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Nodegraph:
  • Fixed some bugs which resulted in users being able to embed some nodes which should not be embeddable. For example, the root node.
  • Fixed a bug which meant some nodes would not show thumbanils when expanded.
• Timeline: Fixed a crash when double clicking on the key icon in the node list.
• Manipulators: Fixed a number of issues.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 3D::Combine Geometry: Fixed a bug which meant the processing order could be incorrect when used with cloner nodes.
• 3D::3D Scene: Fixed a bug which resulted in material inputs being deleted when duplicating layers.
• Cloning::Clone To Particles: Fixed a bug when processing node dependencies.

0.9.99.151 (15th release, 17th July 2023): #

Important #

• Users must now login via Notch Launcher in order to run Notch Builder. Once logged in, you can use Builder while offline.
• Root node: The default colour space has changed to “Linear -> SRGB” for new layers.

Shortcut Changes #

• Removed the camera dolly (zoom) with Ctrl+Alt+LMB drag. Use Alt+RMB drag instead.
• Changed Nodegraph, Timeline, Curves and Ruler zooming from Ctrl+MouseWheel or Ctrl+LMB to Alt+MouseWheel.
• Focus camera to the selected node is now Shift+F. The previous Alt+F shortcut is used to open the file menu instead.
• Use the F key to fit the selected nodes or fit all nodes if nothing selected in the nodegraph, timeline and curves.

New Features #

• Improved the rendering of glass and refractions when using the Path Tracer node.
• Nodegraph:
  • Redesigned the node shapes.
  • Node selection is now indicated by a node outline instead of a blue colour.
• Timeline:
  • Node and timebar selection is now represented using outlines instead of a blue colour.
  • Added indicators to properties in layer list to show if there is a key before or after the current time.
  • Added a button on the layer list entries to turn time bars on and off for nodes.
  • When toggling visibility for nodes/layers, apply to all selected.
  • Added better support for embedded nodes. None embedded nodes are dimmed and not editable whilst the embedded node is expanded.
• Render Panel:
  • Added a quality property for NotchLC encoding.
  • Added an export audio option.
• 2D::2D Primitive: Added support for pivots.
• Added an “Enable GPU Hang Detection” option to Edit->Preferences->Render Window. If your project hangs with a TDR, enable this option, open your project again and the log will contain additional information, which you can then send to support. Note that this option is reset each time you start Builder as it is quite intrusive and causes a drop in performance.

Changes - UI #

• Notch Launcher: Application title bar has been changed to dark theme.
• Property Editor: Improved the gradient colour component used by the Shading::Gradient Recolour node.
• Notch Builder: Application title bar has been changed to dark theme.
• Material previews: Many improvements to make the previews quicker to generate, update correctly and cause less crashes.
• Render Panel: The Refine Passes field is now pre-populated with the refine count for the scene, which is obtained by querying the nodegraph for rendering nodes.
• Nodegraph: Renamed the right-click “Region Selected Nodes” option to “Create Region Around Selected Nodes”.
• Status Bar: Updated so that the text no longer moves as dynamic fields change.
• Layers: The default layer colour has been changed to grey.
• Renamed the File->Import Resource menu item to File->Import.
• Picking: When picking a child of a 3D Scene node, if the scene node is expanded, select the child node, otherwise select the scene node.

Changes - Nodes #

• Video::Loader:
  • Updated to use the node’s local time, not the layer’s local time for the video time.
  • Updated the Looping property so it is now represented by two selection boxes; “Loop”, “One-Shot”, instead of a single checkbox.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed a possible hang when using Builder on laptops in low power mode.
• Property Editor:
  • Fixed a bug which meant clicking quickly in the colour wheel would miss some inputs and therefore not update the colour correctly.
• Render Panel:
  • Fixed bugs when saving 16-bit EXRs via the Render Frame option.
  • Fixed some bugs related to refining frames.
  • Fixed some bugs related to changing filenames.
  • Fixed a bug which meant updating the FPS field did not work.
• Notch Launcher:
  • Fixed a bug which was stopping template projects from being loaded.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a bug which meant you could not select multiple layers or reorder layers.
  • Fixed a number of bugs related to keyframing and moving keys.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 3D::Spline:
  • Fixed a bug which meant splines could be corrupted when duplicating layers.
  • Fixed a focus bug which meant spline could appear selected when they were not.

0.9.99.146 (14th release, 11th July 2023): #

New Features #

• Added tabs / buttons for switching between the various Notch Builder panels.
• Added new video / still frame export functionality. The “Render” pane is now accessible from top tabs and view menu.
• Improved the performance and quality of rendering emissive objects.
• Mouse / touch input: Added horizontal scroll wheel panning support for the Nodegraph, Timeline, Curves and Ruler. This helps to pan along the x-axis especially on laptop touchpads.

Changes - UI #

• Notch Launcher: Improved the login/out experience.
• Timeline: A lot of improvements in general and also to timeline markers.
• Curve Editor: A lot of improvements in general.
• Nodes Browser:
  • Improved the searching algorithm to improve the order of the results.
  • Changed the design to include arrows to show that node groups are expandable.
• Nodegraph: Improved the placement of nodes in nodegraph when nodes are dropped into the viewport and auto-placed.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Timeline:
  • Fixed a bug which meant layers could not be duplicated using Ctrl+D.
  • Fixed a bug which meant layers could not be cut using Ctrl+X.
• Nodegraph: Fixed a bug which was causing the nodegraph to flicker when deleting a node.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Rendering: Fixed a crash / TDR issue when using alpha-blended materials.

0.9.99.138 (13th release, 30th June 2023): #

Renamed Nodes #

• Renamed the “Material” node group to “Materials”.
• Renamed the “Procedural” node group to “Procedurals”.

New Features #

• Improved colour space support throughout and also added support for changing a texture’s colour space setting via the Resource Inspector.
• Reinstated the Ctrl+H and Ctrl+Shift+H shortcuts due to popular demand.
• Render Window: Added support for dragging and dropping nodes, resources and assets into the render window. Still work in progress.
• Added a “File->Import Resource” option for importing resources without using the Resource Browser.
• 3D::Bounding Box: Added support for pivots and placement.
• Particles::Emitters::Field Emitter: Added 2D field support.
• Particles::Affectors::Field Affector: Added 2D field support.
• Timeline: Added the ability to toggle the visibility of the keyframed properties by pressing P or using the “Expand Keyframed Properties” right-click menu item.
• Edit->Preferences:
  • Added an option to disable material thumbnail previews in the property editor. See Edit->Preferences->Property Editor->Show Material Thumbnails. Enabled by default.
  • Added an option to disable rendering completely. Useful if your dfx crashes/TDRs during loading or rendering. See Edit->Preferences->Render Window->Enable Rendering. Enabled by default.

Changes - UI #

• Property Editor:
  • Updated so that properties are only shown for the selected node(s). If no nodes are selected, the properties for the root node are no longer shown. Select the root node to see the root node’s properties.
  • Updated so that the rename node, node visibility toggle and reset node properties icons are always visible. Previously, they only appeared on mouse hover.
  • Updated the edit fields to use a mono spaced font to avoid the numbers moving position as they change.
• Nodes Browser: Updated to include the shortcut key text “Ctrl+E” in the node search field.
• Nodegraph:
  • Made the Translate and Zoom nodegraph buttons work.
  • Improved the Fit Nodegraph button. When no nodes are selected, fit all, otherwise fit to the selected nodes.
• Timeline:
  • Increased the size of the bar when showing keyframes. They are now the same height as standard node bars.
  • Updated so the keyframe curves are now only rendered when the keyframe bar is expanded.
• Curve Editor: Increased the size of the hit area for tangent handles. When multiple tangents hit, choose the closest one.
• Keyframing: Set the default keyframe interpolation type to “Auto Bezier 2D Clamped”.
• Manipulators: Improved rotation support.
• Shortcuts: Removed the Ctrl+G and Ctrl+Shift+G shortcuts that were used to group and ungroup nodes.

Changes - Nodes #

• Improvements to rendering nodes throughout.
• 2D::2D Primitive: Exposed a “Colour Texture” input pin, which allows a texture to be connected without connecting a material first.
• 2D::Image 2D and 3D::Image Plane:
  • Changed the null texture behaviour. If a node is linked via an input (but may have no texture produced), the null texture behaviour now outputs a black image with zero alpha. For example, if a video node is hooked but disabled, or a video node is hooked but its bar ends, or a video node is hooked but exposed and not set via media server, you get black not white.
• 3D::Spline: Made spline handles slightly longer so they are now similar length to the bezier handles.
• Cloning::Clone Painter: Improved control of the clone’s rotation using the manipulators.
• Fields::Affectors: Updated all affector nodes to support being connected to a Field 2D Root node using the Ctrl+R shortcut.
• Materials: Significantly reworked the node properties.
• Post-FX::Stylisation::Physical Lens Flare: Renamed some properties. Note: This breaks backwards compatibility with existing projects.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Rulers: Fixed a bug which meant the current time was not always changed when clicking in the ruler.
• Notch Launcher:
  • Fixed a number of login issues.
  • Fixed a hang on shutdown that could cause the application to take a long time to close.
• Property Editor: Fixed a bug which meant that a node’s colour properties could not be keyframed.
• Resource Inspector: Fixed a bug when using lighting presets, which meant saved projects would fail to load.
• Ruler: Fixed a number of bug related to movement and zooming of the ruler.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a crash when using the Transform Box to move keyframes.
  • Fixed some bugs when adding keys via the timeline then undoing and redoing.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 2D::2D Primitive: Fixed a bug which meant the node could not be connected to the root node using the Ctrl+R shortcut.
• Lighting::Sky Light: Fixed a bug which meant the rendering of the skydome could be incorrect on the first frame.
• Post-FX::Generators::Composite Image: Fixed a possible crash.
• Root: Fixed a bug which was clearing the “Information::Project Version” property when resetting properties.

0.9.99.120 (12th release, 20th June 2023): #

New Nodes #

• Generators::Radial Vortex: Generates a customisable 2D radial vortex pattern.

New Features #

• 3D::Combine Geometry: Added the ability for the node to work with unlinked source nodes. Added support for rendering the geometry’s bounding box.
• 3D::Duplicate Geometry: Added the ability to apply the source node’s transform to the copied vertices directly. See the “Source Transform” property. Added support for rendering the geometry’s bounding box.
• Fields::Rendering::Field 3D Renderer: Added a new “fast” mode for real-time renderers, which doesn’t generate noise during the lighting stage, and hence has to sample all the lights, but uses cheaper shadow functions. See the “Light Mode” property.
• Particles::Rendering::Point Renderer: Added path tracing support for rendering the particles. See the “Ray Tracing” property.
• UI: Added View->Show Render Window HUD option to toggle whether the HUD (including the icon) is rendered or not.
• Nodegraph:
  • Added a new parent linking behaviour. “Reparent” automatically deletes the node’s existing parent connection when a new parent connection is added. Hold shift to append a link with no delete. This behaviour can be configured in Preferences.
  • Added support for automatically placing nodes when dragging them into the viewport.
  • Added support for deleting nodes links by double-clicking on the link.
• Render Window: Added drag and drop support to insert nodes, resources and load files. Work in progress still.
• Timeline: Added initial support for editing the bezier tangents of keyframes within the Timeline window.

Changes #

• Node Browser: Updated search results so they are now prefixed with the node’s group name.
• Nodegraph:
  • Updated so that arrow heads for node parent connections are always shown.
  • Updated nodes so they resize horizontally based on the length of the node’s name. Only works for the basic node shape at present.
  • Changed the colour of the node snap lines.
• Property Editor:
  • The “Time” property group is no longer saved to preset files.
  • The “Preview In Viewport” property is no longer saved to preset files.
  • The “Add Preset” option has been moved to the top of the presets dropdown for easy access.
• Render Window Toolbar: Removed the “Extra Handles” Ranges option. This is now a toolbar button which is context sensitive based on your node selection.
• 2D::2D Primitive: Updated so the node now connects to the closest 2D Root node when using the Ctrl+R shortcut.
• 3D::3D Object: Updated to support material texture inputs from 2D::2D Root and Colour::Colour Image Ramp nodes.
• 3D::Combine Geometry: Updated to only regenerate the output geometry if the input data has changed.
• Cloning::Clone Painter: Updated so node interaction is disabled when the timeline is playing.
• Fields::Field 3D Root: Updated to enable the “Temperature In Filled Cells Only” property by default when the “Simulation Performance” is set to Fast, Balanced or Quality modes.
• Post-FX::Stylisation::Physical Lens Flare: Renamed the “Show Lenses” property to be “Viewport Info”. Added options to show the lense simulation or disable completely.
• Root: Deprecated the “Backdrop Glow” property.
• Fixed a number of crashes throughout.
• Updated the icon used for the “Rendering” group of nodes.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Notch Launcher: Fixed some login issues.
• Node Browser: Fixed a bug which meant the node list was not being contracted when creating a new project.
• Timeline:
  • Lots of bug fixes throughout.
  • Fixed a bug which meant that the keys underneath the current time marker could not be clicked or dragged.
• Curve Editor:
  • Lots of bug fixes throughout.
  • Fixed a bug which meant expanding a keyframe curve in Timeline also expanded it in the Curves Editor too.
  • Fixed a bug when lassoing multiple keys from a single node would cause the Property Editor to display a “Shared Properties” section.
• Property Editor:
  • Fixed a bug where presets for the root node would not always be shown.
  • Fixed a bug when keyframing a root node property. Previously, the keyframe was set to an incorrect value.
• Render Window HUD: Fixed the VRAM value so it now matched what is shown in the status bar.
• Manipulators: Fixed bugs related to rotation manipulators on objects.
• Nodegraph:
  • Fixed a missing icon when a material nodes (with embedded nodes) is expanded.
  • Fixed a bug where some nodes, such as Particle Root nodes, could not connect to Null nodes.
  • Fixed a number of issues related to link highlights when connecting node links.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 2D::2D Root:
  • Fixed a bug relating to colour space conversion.
  • Fixed bugs relating to dependency checking when used with video processing nodes.
  • Fixed bugs related to render order when using solid and transparent objects.
• 2D::2D Primitive:
  • Fixed issues with UVs.
• Cloning::Clone Painter:
  • Fixed a bug where placement geometry was not being rendered until you clicked in the viewport.
  • Fixed bugs when deleting clones.
  • Fixed the rendering of rotation axis’ for picked clones when doing a free drag rotation. Previously, incorrect state was causing axis to flicker.
• Deformers: Fixed a number of bugs relating to node dependencies when using the “Colour Map Deformer”, “Colour Ramp Deformer”, “Displacement Map” or “Generate Weightmap” deformer nodes.
• Deformers::Points::Object To Points: Fixed a bug which was causing missing geometry when using the Path Tracer node.
• Deformers::Vertex::Turbulence Deformer: Fixed a bug which was causing the node to trigger an update when it was not required.
• Modifiers:
  • Fixed the modifier values graph for the Math Modifier, Sound Modifier and BPM Modifier nodes.
  • Fixed a bug which was causing the Current Value to not update correctly when rewinding on pause.
• Procedural::Render Nodes::Procedural Meshing: Fixed a bug which could cause a TDR when interating with procedural geometry.
• Particles::Emitters::Primitive Emitter: Fixed a bug relating to continuous emission when the emitter is parented and/or has its transform overridden.
• Rendering: Fixed some crashes relating to rendering nodes.

0.9.99.109 (11th release, 9th June 2023): #

New Nodes #

• 2D::2D Root - This node should be used to handle 2D rendering within your scene. Supports FSAA and MSAA anti-aliasing options.
• Cloning::Clone Painter - This node provides the ability to paint cloned objects onto existing geometry.
• Post-FX::Blur::Physical Glow - This provides a new glow method based on sampling of bright areas using physically based falloff functions, rather than using a blur - so it can handle huge soft glows which look more physically correct.

New Features #

• Improved crash handling support throughout.
• Resource Inspector:
  • Added waveform visualisation for sound resources.
  • Added metadata including duration, sample rate and number of channels for the sound resource.
  • Added options to scale, flip, rotate and set the FPS of video resources.
• Property Editor: Property buttons now have icon support and rounded corners.
• Post-FX::Stylisation::Physical Lens Flare: Added Lens and Starburst Dirt Image input support.
• Generators::Daylight HDR: Added support for connecting the node into the Physical Lens Flare node’s Transform input. This enables flares to originate from the sun position.
• Particle nodes: Added support for stochastic emission between current and previous frame, which helps alleviate infamous gaps in emission. See the “Emission Interval” property options.

Changes #

• Notch Launcher: Improved the login experience.
• Floating Search: Updated to show the node’s group category in the search results.
• Nodegraph: When dragging a font resource into the nodegraph, the Text String property of the Text node is now set to the name of the font.
• Timeline:
  • Updated the timebars so that the time bar’s node / layer name is now in the centre of the visible bar, not the centre of the whole bar.
  • Updated so that text on the timebar now fades rather than cuts when the timebar becomes too short to display the text fully.
• 2D::Render To Texture: Updated to the new preview in viewport style like in other nodes.
• 3D::3D Primitive: Removed tessellation, subdivision distance and fertilizer properties as these are no longer needed.
• Post-FX::Stylisation::Physical Lens Flare:
  • Rendering and quality improvements throughout.
  • Limited the starburst gamma to be between 0.25 and 4.0 to avoid circular disc starbursts being created.
• Rendering::Simple Renderer: High Dynamic Range (HDR) is now permanently enabled.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Resource Inspector:
  • Fixed a number of issues relating to playing sound resources.
  • Made editing the Trim property work.
  • Fixed issues related to aspect ratio when viewing images and videos.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 2D::2D Primitive: Fixed a bug related to bounds not being updated.
• Post-FX::Stylisation::Physical Lens Flare:
  • Fixed a number of issues when lower “Ghost Gamma” property values are used.
  • Fixed a bug related to alpha when the node is used in conjunction with the Render Layer node.
• Shading::Fractal Noise: Fixed a bug which was disabled the ability to connect a modifier node to the “Noise Scale” property.
• Video::Motion Processing::Optical Flow: Fixed a bug when downsampling input textures.
• Video nodes: Fixed some node dependency checking issues, which could cause the video not to be updated correctly.

0.9.99.102 (10th release, 2nd June 2023): #

New Nodes #

• Fields::Field 2D Root
• Fields::Field 3D Root
• Fields::Affectors::Fluid 2D Affector
• Fields::Affectors::Field Procedural Affector
• Fields::Collision::Procedural Collision Affector
• Fields::Emitters::Particle 3D Emitter
• Fields::Materials::Field Cloud Material
• Fields::Materials::Field Colour Ramp Material
• Fields::Materials::Field Flame Material
• Fields::Materials::Field Pyro Material
• Fields::Rendering::Field 2D Renderer
• Fields::Rendering::Field 3D Renderer
• Post-FX::Stylisation::Physical Lens Flare
• Procedural::Render Nodes::Procedural Raytracer

Deprecated Nodes #

• Fields::Field Root
• Fields::Rendering::Field Shadows
• Fields::Deformers::Sine Deformer
• Fields::Rendering::Field Lighting
• Fields::Field Level Set Root
• Fields::Deformers::Fbm Deformer

New Features #

• Overhauled the entire Fields system nodes.
• Property Editor: Added node preset support.
• 3D::Combine Geometry: Added motion vector support.
• Cloning::Clone To Mesh: Added an option to align normals to Z-up or Y-up. See the “Rotation Mode” property and “Normals +Z” and “Normals +Y” options.
• Deformers::Vertex::Displacement Map: Added support for using a shading node as a displacement input.
• Deformers::Weights::Generate Weightmap: Added shading node input support.
• Shading::Generate Normals: Added a “Delta” property to control how the sharp features produce thin / wide lines.

Changes #

• Removed support for Realsense cameras.
• Nodegraph: The position of the rendering nodes in the nodegraph is now used to determine which node takes priority when rendering the scene.
• Curve Editor: Shift and dragging a tangent now snaps the time and value of the tangent instead of quantising the rotation.
• The Tangent icon on the render window toolbar is now only visible when a Spline node is selected.
• Shading::Gradient Recolour: Updated to use the new colour gradient property component.
• Generators::Daylight HDR:
  • Changed the “Time Mode” property to “Manual” by default.
  • Updated to show errors and warnings when the geolocation option is enabled but the fetching of the location data has failed.
  • Updated the Sun Azimuth property so the slider range goes from -180 to 180 degrees.
  • Updated the Sun Elevation property so the slider range goes from 0 to 180 degrees.
  • Updated so the “Sun Azimuth” and “Sun Elevation” properties are greyed out when geolocation is used.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Resource Browser:
  • Fixed a memory leak when freeing resources.
  • Fixed a bug which meant the window was not refreshed when a folder was added or removed.
  • Fixed a bug which meant replacing an image resource would previously convert the new image to a DDS.
• Resource Inspector: Fixed a bug where resources would not show in the inspector’s resource browser if you had not previously selected a resource in the normal resource browser.
• Curve Editor: Fixed a bug where moving multiple bezier handles and then undoing, previously only undid the handle being directly edited.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 3D::Spline: Fixed a number of issues.
• Fields::Affectors::Vortex Affector: Fixed a bug which could cause mathematical instability.
• Deformers: Fixed a bug relating to deformers operating in world space.
• 3D Import: Fixed a bug when importing 3D objects containing a large number of bones.

0.9.99.088 (9th release, 12th May 2023): #

New Nodes #

• 3D::Spline

New Features #

• Resource Browser: Added a “Remove Empty Folders” right-click option.
• UI: Added the ability to zoom the UI to 80%. See Edit->Preferences->UI Scaling. Requires users to be at 125% or above in Windows. Experimental.
• UI: Added a read-only “Project Version” field to the root node to indicate which version of Builder the project was created with.
• Nodegraph: Added icons to indicate invalid node setups. Nodes used to turn red instead.

Changes #

• Updated to FBX SDK 2020.3.4.
• Limited the number of CPU cores used by the UI rendering framework to help alleviate crashes and hangs.
• Render Window: Unify unselected, selected and highlighted colours across all extra manipulator handles and make the highlight bright white to give contrast to unselected handles in viewport.
• UI: Added support for dimming UI panels when turbo mode is active and playing. This disables any UI interaction.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed a bug which meant unused resources were not being removed when saving individual layers.
• Notch Remote: Fixed a bug which caused the UI panel to not draw correctly.
• Property Editor:
  • Fixed a bug where the UI panel would not refresh correctly when using the Ctrl+F1/2/3 shortcuts.
  • Fixed a bug related to manual look up for root nodes.
• Viewport Guides: Fixed a bug when deleting a guide, which was not triggering a redraw.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Geometry Cache: Fixed a bug which resulted in geometry cache files being non deterministic.
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Duplicate Splines: Made the Offset X and Offset Y properties always visible.
• Fields::Emitters::Primitive Emitter node: Fixed an issue with explode velocity.

0.9.99.081 (8th release, 4th May 2023): #

New Nodes #

• Generators::Daylight HDR
• Shading::Channel Boolean

Renamed Nodes #

• Shading::Channel Boolean -> Shading::Shading Null

Deprecated Nodes #

• Particles::Affectors::Mesh Attractor. Use the new Mesh Attractor node instead.

New Features #

• Rendering: Added a turbo button to the render window toolbar. Whilst playing, UI panels will no longer refresh or receive updates to help improve performance of the rendered scene. Work in progress.

Changes #

• Floating Search: Added a new Ctrl+Space shortcut to bring up the UI panel.
• Property Editor: No longer show the “Shared Properties” section when the selected nodes include an exposed node and one other node. There are no shared properties to show.
• 3D::3D Scene node: Changed the behaviour of the “Playback Speed” property. A value of 2 is now double speed and 0.5 is half speed. Added backwards compatability support.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Exposed Property Editor: Fixed a bug which was stopping the UI panel from being refreshed once a property was exposed.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Rendering:
  • Fixed point and line rendering via rasterisation for half resolution render layers.
  • Fixed a couple of bugs related to mesh vertex colours for imported 3D objects.
  • Fixed a bug which could cause a material to be not correctly applied to a mesh.
• Procedural::Generators::Particles As Primitives node: Fixed a bug which was causing rendering corruption and possible crashes.
• Deformers::Weights::Occlusion Weightmap node: Removed unused properties.
• Deformers::Topology::Triangulate node: Removed unused properties.

0.9.99.074 (7th release, 21st April 2023): #

Important #

• Build Toolchain: Updated to Visual Studio 2019 (from Visual Studio 2017).
  • Added updated VC redists to Notch Builder installer.
  • Updated third party dependencies to Visual Studio 2019 versions where appropriate.

New Nodes #

• 2D::2D Primitive
• 3D::Duplicate Geometry
• 3D::Spline Extruder 2
• Deformers::Freeze
• Deformers::Null Deformer
• Deformers::Colour And Material::Set Material Deformer
• Deformers::Points::Object To Points
• Deformers::Points::Merge Points
• Deformers::Points::Scale Primitives
• Deformers::Points::Spread Out Points
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Connect With Lines
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Duplicate Splines
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Object To Lines/Splines
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Simplify Spline
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Spline Deformer 2
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Spline Extend
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Spread Lines
• Deformers::Splines And Lines::Wireframe To Geometry
• Deformers::Topology::Bevel
• Deformers::Topology::Delete Polygons
• Deformers::Topology::Cut
• Deformers::Topology::Extend
• Deformers::Topology::Fertilize
• Deformers::Topology::Flip Polygons
• Deformers::Topology::Greeble
• Deformers::Topology::Retopologise
• Deformers::Topology::Shift Polygons
• Deformers::Topology::Subdivide
• Deformers::Topology::Tessellate
• Deformers::Topology::Triangulate
• Deformers::Topology::Voronoi Fracture
• Deformers::UVs::Generate Atlas Quad UVs
• Deformers::Vertex::Bend
• Deformers::Vertex::Transfer Skin
• Deformers::Weights::Attribute Weightmap
• Deformers::Weights::Combine Weightmaps
• Deformers::Weights::Fractal Noise Weightmap
• Deformers::Weights::Modify Weightmap
• Deformers::Weights::Null To Weightmap
• Deformers::Weights::Occlusion Weightmap
• Deformers::Weights::Smooth Weightmap
• Particles::Affectors::Mesh Attractor
• Post-FX::Null Post Process
• Post-FX::Image Processing::Kuwahara Filter
• Post-FX::Warping::Polar Warp
• Post-FX::Warping::Radial Warp
• Shading::Bricks / Tiles
• Shading::Cells
• Shading::Colour Correction
• Shading::Combine
• Shading::Distance
• Shading::Environment Image Sampler
• Shading::Facing
• Shading::Generate Normals
• Shading::Generate UVs
• Shading::Gradient Recolour
• Shading::Input Channel Sampler
• Shading::Tint
• Shading::Uniform Colour
• Shading::Warp

Renamed Nodes #

• 3D::Spline Extruded -> 3D::Spline Extruder
• Deformers::Advanced::Cull Deformer -> Deformers::Topology::Cull
• Deformers::Advanced::Mirror Deformer -> Deformers::Topology::Mirror
• Deformers::Advanced::Unweld -> Deformers::Topology::Unweld
• Deformers::Advanced::Extrude Polygons -> Deformers::Topology::Extrude Polygons
• Deformers::Advanced::Slice Deformer -> Deformers::Topology::Slice
• Deformers::Sound::FFT Sound Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::FFT Sound Deformer
• Deformers::3D Plasma Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::3D Plasma Deformer
• Deformers::Chunk Effector Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Chunk Effector Deformer
• Deformers::Curl Noise Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Curl Noise Deformer
• Deformers::Displacement Map -> Deformers::Vertex::Displacement Map
• Deformers::Distortion Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Distortion Deformer
• Deformers::Face Tracking Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Face Tracking Deformer
• Deformers::Generate Fertilizer Times Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Generate Fertilizer Times Deformer
• Deformers::Generate UVs -> Deformers::UVs::Generate UVs
• Deformers::MDD Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::MDD Deformer
• Deformers::Morph Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Morph Deformer
• Deformers::Noise Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Noise Deformer
• Deformers::Ocean Wave Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Ocean Wave Deformer
• Deformers::Particle Bone Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Particle Bone Deformer
• Deformers::Particle Mesh Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Particle Mesh Deformer
• Deformers::Plain Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Plain Deformer
• Deformers::Point Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Point Deformer
• Deformers::Quantise Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Quantise Deformer
• Deformers::Ripple Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Ripple Deformer
• Deformers::Sine Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Sine Deformer
• Deformers::Smoothing Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Smooth
• Deformers::Taper Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Taper Deformer
• Deformers::Turbulence Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Turbulence Deformer
• Deformers::Twist Deformer -> Deformers::Vertex::Twist Deformer

New Features #

• Added support for alpha test when ray-tracing.
• Rendering::Standard Renderer node:
  • Added a new Depth Of Field technique. Work in progress.
  • Added light scattering support. Work in progress. See the “Scattering” property. Note: For legacy projects, scattering is set to “Simple” mode by default.
• Shading::Texture Sampler node: Added a randomised repetition option using voronoise. See “Randomise Repetition” and “Repetition Randomness” properties.
• 3D::3D Object node: Added the ability to select whether to use imported normals or regenerate using smoothgroups or not, or make the normals flat. See the “Normals” property.
• Cloning::Clone To Spline node: Added an option to loop the spline time. See the “Loop Spline Time” property.
• 3D::Text node: Added an option for a fixed step kerning. Every character steps the same distance. See the “Fixed” mode option in the “Kerning Mode” property.
• Lighting::Sky Light node: Added a property to control the visible skydome brightness. See the “Visible Dome Brightness Scale” property.
• Video::Image Processing::Composite Sources node: Added a “Format” property to control texture format of the composite.
• Generator nodes: The Colour Image Ramp node can now be connected as the Colour Ramp input of any generator node.
• Deformer nodes: Improved the stability and memory usage of deformer nodes throughout.
• Added a “Create Resource Folders On Import” option to Edit->Preferences. When enabled, this places imported resources in predefined folders. For example, Cinema4D resources will be added to a “3D” folder and Javascript resources will be added to a “Scripts” folder etc. Disabled by default.
• Resource Browser: Added tooltips to indicate the different resource types that are part of the project.
• Property Editor: Added “Preview In Viewport” shortcuts. See Ctrl+F1/2/3.
• Image resources: Added RMB -> Save DDS option.
• Alembic resources: Added support for material IDs in point level animation with changing topology.
• Curve Editor:
  • Alt and drag moves bezier handles to select either time or value modification.
  • Ctrl and drag moves bezier handles to change only the magnitude.
  • Shift and draggings tangents now quantizes the angle with 5 degree steps and keeps the length of the tangent.
  • Added Shift and Ctrl and drag now quantizes the tangent angle in 1 degree steps.

Changes #

• IES Profiles: Dragging this resource from the Resource Browser into the nodegraph now creates a Light node with the IES profile property set.
• Deprecated the AI Upscale node due to incompatibility with recent NVIDIA GPU drivers.
• Rendering::Standard Renderer:
  • Improved the way emissives are handled in the renderer.
  • Updated to ensure post-fx are applied after DLSS/AA resolve.
• Notch Launcher: Made some improvements to the login flow.
• Procedural::Render Nodes::Procedural Meshing node: Optimised to improve performance and memory usage.
• Curve Editor:
  • No longer select keys with Ctrl + Left / Right that are hidden by soloing.
  • Editing the bezier tangent handles now automatically edits all the handles of the selected keys at once.
• Floating Search: Adjust the position of the window to allow more space for search results. Experimental change, please feedback.
• Modifiers::Math modifier and Modifiers::BPM modifier node: Updated to perform internal calculations in double precision, to fix problems with very large time values / time offsets.
• Spline nodes:
  • Changed the spline visualisation to show when range indicators are enabled, not when node is selected.
  • Render spline visualisation now renders on top of everything. Previously, the grid was rendering over splines and making it hard to work out whether a new spline was picked or not.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Fixed a number of focus issues throughout the whole UI. For example, panels would either steal or not relinquish focus.
• Property Editor:
  • Fixed a bug where a node’s resource properties were not set correctly until you re-selected the node.
  • Fixed tooltips not showing when hovering over node properties.
  • Fixed a possible crash when the material preview is updated.
• Exposed Property Editor:
  • Fixed bugs related to groups.
• Resource Browser:
  • Fixed a bug where the UI would not update when a node creates a resource. For example, creating a default .js script via the Javascript node.
  • Allow the resource inspector icon to be clicked even if no resources are selected.
  • Fixed drag and drop from Windows Explorer straight into a resource folder.
  • Fixed a bug related to the expanded folder state.
  • Fixed a bug where resource selection would be sticky and it would not be possible to unselect resources.
  • Fixed a number of bugs when merging projects. Resources and resource folders would not be shown correctly post merge.
• Render Window:
  • Fixed a number of bugs relating to manipulators.
• Timeline:
  • Fixed a bug when dragging time bars, which could cause the bars to more erratically when the start and end caps are close to snap times.
  • Fixed a number of crashes whilst manipulating timebars as well as undoing and redoing node deletion.
• Nodes Browser:
  • Fixed tooltips not showing when hovering over nodes in the node browser.
• Curve Editor:
  • Fixed a bug where scrolling to selection did not take layer times into account, so if the layer was offset from 0 it moved to the wrong place.
  • Fixed the Transform Tool so stretching keys works when the layer start time is non-zero.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Imported 3D Scene (deprecated node): Fixed a crash when deleting a child link and then undoing.
• 3D::3D Scene: Fixed a bug relating to copying and pasting 3D Scene nodes. The subnodes were getting copied twice.
• 3D::Spline From Nulls: Fixed a performance issue when two spline points are in the same position.
• Alembic resources: Fixed bugs relating to flipping and rotating meshes, including meshes with animations.
• Particles::Particle Root: Fixed a bug when prerolling the particle simulation.
• Procedural::Render Nodes::Procedural Meshing node: Fixed a number of bugs which could have caused meshes to be broken or contain holes.
• Deformers::Topology::Slice node:
  • Fixed some bugs which caused missing polygons.
  • Fixed UV generation.

0.9.99.051 (6th release, 22nd March 2023): #

New Features #

• Added a shader cache, which should improve the load time for projects.

Changes #

• If a Standard Renderer node is added when loading 0.9.23 projects, antialiasing is now disabled by default to match the old renderer behaviour.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Nodes Browser: Clicking the X in the node search field now keeps focus.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Renderers:
  • Improved shadowing.
  • Simple Renderer: Fixed a bug related to the clear colour. Previously this was not colour space converted correctly.
• Fields: Fixed some bugs related to how colour is handled throughout the fields system.
• 3D Scene: When replacing the old Imported 3D Scene node with the new 3D Scene node, delete the original child nodes so they are not left in the nodegraph.

0.9.99.048 (5th release, 20th March 2023): #

New Features #

• Rendering nodes: Added IES profile support to all renderers.
  • Standard Renderer: Added much improved shadowing algorithm.
  • Moved the ambient light calculation out of the composite step and into the main lighting passes where it can be multiplied by the ambient occlusion pass.
• UI: Added Shift+R shortcut for toggling the Smooth Shaded rendering mode.
• 3D Primitive: Added an “Apex Radius” property to control the apex radius of a cone shape type.
• UI: Added new splash images.

Changes #

• Nodegraph: Updated nodes to not highlight the parent tab of the node you are dragging an output from.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Launcher: Fixed memory leaks.
• Node Browser: Fixed a bug which meant node folders and duplicate nodes were appearing in the search results.
• Fullscreen render window: Fixed a bug where the render was not updating on property edits until you clicked elsewhere in Builder.
• Property Editor: Fixed a bug when using Alt or Ctrl and dragging a property slider.
• Resource Inspector: Fixed a bug which was causing textures to be resaved as a DDS (regardless of the input format) when converting / rotating / flipping.
• Nodegraph: Fixed a bug which meant you could previously lasso nodes that were in a contracted 3D Scene node.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• 3D Primitive node: Fixed a bug so it is possible to expose the “Shape Type” property again.
• Region node: Fixed a bug where the region would render incorrectly in the nodegraph if the node was deleted, then the deletion was undone.

0.9.99.043 (4th release, 15th March 2023): #

Important #

• Notch Launcher: Users are now able to login to their Notch account via the launcher.

New Features #

• Nodes Browser:
  • Added node favourite support. Favourite nodes are saved to the registry.
  • Now uses a new search methodology for better results.
• Nodegraph: Made the “Display Exposed Node Links” icon work.

Changes #

• Node Browser: Updated so that the Ctrl+E shortcut now selects any existing search characters.
• Property Editor: Removed the reset icon for the “Time” property group. These properties cannot be reset.
• Center toolbar: Swapped the position of the “Hide Input Connections” and “Hide Output Connections” icons.
• Launcher: Made DPI aware.
• Rendering:
  • Updated the Flat Shaded and Smooth Shaded shading modes to use alpha-blended lines, not solid black lines.
• Region node:
  • Updated to not allow any properties to be exposed.
• Comment node:
  • Updated so that any property changes are immediately visible in the nodegraph.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• UI: Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and Ctrl+X now work in all editable fields across the whole UI.
• Nodegraph: Fixed a bug where nodes that were not in the current selection could still be dragged.
• Manipulators: Fixed a bug where dragging multiple handles simultaneously would produce different translation values.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Assets:
  • Fixed a crash when duplicating a layer containing assets or 3D Scene nodes.
  • Fixed a number of issues converting assets into embedded nodes.
  • Fixed a crash when keying exposed properties.
• Import:
  • Fixed a bug importing OBJ sequences.
• Renderers:
  • Fixed a bug related to the solid angle calculations for area lights, which could cause rendering artifacts.
• 3D Scene node:
  • Fixed a lot of issues related to the creation and lifetime of subnodes.
  • Fixed object animation for OBJ and Alembic files.
• Region node:
  • Fixed a bug where the region’s colour would not update in the nodegraph.
• Line Connection Renderer:
  • Fixed the “Line Thickness” property so it now works when the “Geometry Type” property is set to “Line Geometry”.
• UI:
  • Fixed a bug where some UI panels would appear in the wrong location when Builder starts.

0.9.99.033 (3rd release, 7th March 2023): #

Important #

• Improved the information contained within crashdump files.
• Renamed nodes:
  • “Merge” -> “Combiner”
  • “Face Tracker” -> “Face Tracking Deformer”
  • “Speed Modifier” -> “Speed Tracking Modifier”
  • “Pixel Value Modifier” -> “Video Sampler Modifier”

New Features #

• Layer Settings: Added support for modifying layer properties via the F5 shortcut dialog.
• Resource Browser: Added a button to expand and contract the thumbnail preview.
• Audio: Added an audio mute button on the ruler. This only works for the Play Sound node at present.
• Startup projects: Now updated to use a Mapping node.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Assets: Prevent assets from being directly unembedded. They need converted to embedded nodes first.
• Resource Browser: Added some missing tooltips.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Rendering nodes:
  • Fixed a bug when disabling the specular and diffuse lighting contributions from area lights.
  • Fixed a bug related to double-sided support on area lights.
  • Fixed a bug when generating the CPU/GPU bounding box for meshes, which could have caused some meshes to render incorrectly.
• 3D Scene node:
  • Fixed a bug with scene nodes not showing links to children outside of its hierarchy if compacted.
  • Fixed the position of nodes relative to their parent with converting to editable nodes.
• Area Light: Fixed the orientation of area lights for all renderers.
• Procedural Meshing: Fixed a bug which caused incorrect refinement invalidation.
• Javascript: Fixed the createNode() API so that you can create nodes that are located more than 1 level deep in the node hierarchy.
• Line Connection Renderer: Fixed a transform issue.

0.9.99.032 (2nd release, 3rd March 2023): #

Important #

• Video and still export has been re-enabled in this build.

New Features #

• Resource Inspector:
  • Added an option to recentre a 3D object.

Bug Fixes - UI #

• Resource Browser: Made the “Add Resource To Nodegraph” button work for assets.
• Nodegraph: Fixed a few rendering issues with regards to node connection links.
• Property Editor: Fixed a number of issues when tabbing between properties.

Bug Fixes - Nodes #

• Assets: Fixed a number of issues.
• 3D Scene node: Fixed a number of issues relating sub-node links.
• Loader node: Fixed a bug where the “Flip Image X/Y” properties didn’t work when a Path Tracer node was present in the nodegraph.
• Manipulators: Fixed a number of issues.
• Rendering nodes:
  • Fixed a tone mapping bug when using the Standard Renderer node.
  • Fixed an issue with MSAA resolve.
  • Fixed a bug which meant path trace ambient occlusion was not working when the scene only contained procedurals.
  • Fixed a bug which caused tangents to be incorrectly calculated during normal mapping.

0.9.99.029 (1st release, 28th February 2023): #

• Initial alpha release.