IRender nXt - New Version

New Version of IRender nXt

New Version of IRender nXt - IRender nXt Version 7.0

This article is about an old version of IRender nXt. For the latest version see IRender nXt Version 7.0

Contents

Next Version (still in development)

TODO:

  • Fix Shadows settings for animation, when they are not saved with a scene, use last...or next settings saved.*
  • Start a new mesh when Casts Shadows changes
  • Synchronize SketchUp Animation settings, especially transition time
  • do something to fix model origins that are way off in France, see emails from rschaufe@hsr.ch
  • Check for auto_daylight when assigning transparent materials with glow
  • Is there a way to render quickly to just get lighting settings?
  • Add Crop Image (not in current version yet)
  • Added feature to convert layer names into materials for DWG files. See: Create Materials from Layer Names

In process

New Version:

New version posted - TB05 - Feb. 5, 2020

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug where an invalid texture image was crashing the extraction. The material was set to color only, but had a bad texture listed which did not exist, so we started checking the MaterialType flag for Color Only.

New version posted - TA30 - Jan. 30, 2020

In this version we:

  • Started using version "2020" for software

New version posted - SL10 - Dec. 10, 2019

In this version we:

  • Fixed the "Move Transparency Toward White" option to apply to all transparent SketchUp materials. Before they were only adjusted if they had been edited in our material editor.

New version posted - SK13 - Nov. 13, 2019

In this version we:

  • Added a new Preset Sizes dialog to the Options/Render tab, to allow the user to quickly set the rendering resolution.
  • Fixed the Add Material button on the Select Material dialog to allow creation of a new textured material by browsing for images on their disk.
  • Added change Texture Image and Change Texture size buttons to the Select material dialog, for quick texture edits.

New version posted - SI18 - Sept. 18, 2019

In this version we:

  • Fixed an error that was being thrown for the Select Material dialog for SketchUp 2019, update 19.2, if there was an image in the model.
  • Improved the Browse for Material Library folder routine to update the global and the Support dialog, even if the same folder that was already shown was selected by the user.

New version posted - SH23 - Aug. 23, 2019

In this version we:

  • Fixed a regression in the Light Balancer from the rendering window, where the changes were not being immediately applied.

New version posted - SH22 - Aug. 22, 2019

In this version we:

  • Fixed a problem with the initial Open Model Wizard causing crashes if Podium was installed.
  • Removed the limit of 100 for Lighting Channel factors.
  • Added Brightness to the Preset tab.
  • Moved the 'Illuminate Sky if off' option to just below the Sky 'On/Off' checkbox.
  • Fixed a regression that was keeping it from loading in SketchUp 8.

New version posted - SH13 - Aug. 13, 2019

In this version we:

  • Fixed lines in layers to work properly in animations.

New version posted - SG25 - July 25, 2019

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug where the Enter Key was closing the render window. Added new Default button to main dialog.


New version posted - SD18 - Apr. 18, 2019

In this version we:

  • Fixed an error being thrown in SketchUp 8 when placing lamps. (ruby:start_with? cannot be used in SketchUp 8.)
  • Fixed Can Lights to not always make a new component

New version posted - SD10 - Apr. 10, 2019

In this version we:

  • Started using PHP to send user emails from error messages and the license dialog
  • Fixed Can Lights to appear on the Lights Query dialog


New version posted - SD08 - Apr. 8, 2019

In this version we:

  • Added Can Light parameters to the Ceiling Light tab, to make the round ceiling lights be Can Lights.
  • Added Codec choices to the RpMAkeAvi application to allow users to create compressed AVI files for animations.

New version posted - SB25 - Feb. 25, 2019

In this version we:

  • Started showing the current DPI on the Set DPI button on the option dialogs.

New version posted - SB13 - Feb. 7, 2019

In this version we:

  • Added a Clear button to the Select Material dialog for the Edited filter materials.
  • Fixed a bug displaying TIFF images to the Select Material dialog for SketchUp 2018.
  • Added an option on the Support/Debug tab to keep a log of rendered instances during the extraction process, for identifying components that cause crashes.

New version posted - SB07 - Feb. 7, 2019

In this version we:

  • Released the first 2019 version, which will give everyone new 30 day trials
  • Add a dialog to set the DPI for the rendered image and show the corresponding page size.


New version posted - SB05 - Feb. 5, 2019

In this version we:

  • Fixed a ruby error when using the Grass/Carpet Wizard when launched from the Object properties dialog.

New version posted - SB04 - Feb. 4, 2019

In this version we:

  • Improved the Grass/Carpet Wizard to automatically name and reuse groundcover files.
  • Changed the Grass/Carpet Wizard to use the Topiary mode for Carpet

New version posted - SA30 - Jan. 30, 2019

In this version we:

  • Added the Grass/Carpet Groundcover Wizard and the Displacement Wizard for Carpet and Grass.
  • Fixed groundcovers for cloud rendering.
  • Fixed a bug in cloud rendering that was occasionally terminating jobs before the time limit was reached, resulting in a Timed Out message in the monitor.
  • Stop showing estimated Remaining Time in the cloud monitor. It was not correct for the cloud process.


New version posted - RK27 - Nov. 27, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug in the Azure monitor what was keeping rendered images from being downloaded if the Job Name was less than 8 characters.

New version posted - RK08 - Nov. 8, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fixed Beam Lamps to display using the specified field angle for the visible beams
  • Fixed a trace error that was occurring when editing lamps

New version posted - RJ17 - Oct. 17, 2018

In this version we:

  • Improved the Edit/Query Light dialog to make it easier to edit lamps.

New version posted - RI04 - Sept. 4, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fixed a regression in the extension being signed.
  • Fixed a bug where we were adding an "m" as a suffix for email address, for the purchase cloud token page.
  • Fixed a bug where we were showing hidden objects in animations.

New version posted - RG20 - June 20, 2018

In this version we:

  • fixed a bug where we were processing section planes in components and groups.
  • Fixed the RpCreateAvi executable when the image set did not start with an image with a 0000 suffix.
  • Started using DigiCert to digitally sign the install executables.

New version posted - RF20 - June 20, 2018

In this version we:

  • Improved the Animation interface.
  • Fixed the RpCreateAvi executable to only save uncompressed AVI files, but also added MP4, OVG and WEBM file types as options.

New version posted - RF18 - June 18, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fixed The Azure Monitor, for jobs where no model name was returned for the job.

New version posted - RE30 - May 30, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fixed Brightness for the nXt Image Editor. We were not reading the Brightness from the nXt Image.
  • Fixed Images and Textures with umlauts, etc. in the new extractor

New version posted - RE02 - May 2, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fixed Image scale for images that were in a scaled component or group


New version posted - RD12 - Apr. 12, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fixed Visible Lamp Beams, which were not rendering int he new extractor
  • Started always saving nXtImages and alpha PNG files for cloud jobs
  • Started uploading Azure job files in chunks, for better progress monitoring.


New version posted - RD02 - Apr. 02, 2018

In this version we:

  • Added the Cloud rendering option for alpha testers, who have an account.
  • Combined the 3 Animation sub-dialogs into a single dialog, and fixed a few bugs in interface.
  • Removed the option to make an AVI file directly and add the Create AVI button to the dialog.
  • Removed the Use Farm option for the first tab and added the Use Cloud option for Cloud users.


New version posted - RA24 - Jan. 24, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fix a bug where a TIF file was not working as a material texture, all color was being lost. We now save TIFs as PNG files.

New version posted - RA23 - Jan. 23, 2018

In this version we:

  • Fix a bug where groundcovers weren't working if a face had an invalid Attribute dictionary before the IRender Object Properties dictionary.


New version posted - QL21 - Dec. 21, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fix a bug where Make Lamp was putting a ground cover on an object, if a ground cover had previously been added.

New version posted - QL01 - Dec. 1, 2017

In this version we:

  • Changed the version from 7.0 to 2018, and announced new features for the last year

New version posted - QK17 - Oct. 17, 2017

In this version we:

  • Signed the extension for Sketchup
  • Fixed some problems using the Light Edit/Query dialog to actually edit the lights in the model.

New version posted - QK17 - Oct. 17, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed the display of names in the Material Edit dialog in the Render Window. This bug was also breaking the routine to import material changes back into SketchUp.
  • Add the new Multi Scene Wizard.
  • Changed the version number to 2018. This resets the trial period for everyone.
  • Announced support for SketchUp 2018 with this version.

New version posted - QJ17 - Oct. 17, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a problem with camera distortion when using a scene where a Photo Match image was used to define the view.

New version posted - QJ11 - Oct. 11, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed the SkpToArScene.exe to export to ArStudio again

New version posted - QJ05 - Oct. 5, 2017

In this version we:

  • Included the VS2015 64 bit redist in the install, since the new SketchUpAPI.dll for 2017 needs it. Fixes MSVCP140.dll missing error.
  • Fixed a but loading a saved Light Balancer file when in the Render Window. the Render Display was not getting updated
  • Changed "Render Plus Systems" to "Render Plus Software" in the dialog substitutions, to fix the About dialogs

New version posted - QI07 - Sept. 7, 2017

In this version we:

  • Included the latest SketchUpAPI.dll for 2017, to fix a problem with large images.

New version posted - QH23 - August 23, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug where distorted textures, with Irender material settings, were not rendering correctly. Texture was embedded, so not embedded texture image was not being loaded.

New version posted - QH21 - August 21, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a regression in the QH16 version, where placing Point lights, etc. was not working.

New version posted - QH17 - August 17, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a regression where Edge Line Foreground images were not working in the new extractor.

New version posted - QH16 - August 16, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed the IRender Ready lamps to work with double clicking on a lamp in the List Control again
  • Fixed a regression where faces in Layer0 were not rendering, if Layer0 itself was turned off.
  • Fixed a bug where we were creating too many separate materials for images repeated in the model, such as leaves on a plant.
  • Fixed routine to clear an illuminated material to properly remove it from the filtered list control

New version posted - QG06 - July 26, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a regression if scaled Images in the new extractor (D.Muff)
  • Fixed a problem that was slowing down the extraction down when there were a lot (hundreds) of ArPlants in the model (fixing the Decode64 string took a few seconds for each instance.)
  • Fixed an error from trying to get the lamp intensity from the container for a Face

New version posted - QF29 - June 29, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed an error where dc_select_material() was not being found when using the new Preset dialog in the Batch Rendering window.

New version posted - QF07 - June 7, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed Color By Layer, using the new extractor

New version posted - QF05 - June 5, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed the new tube lamp. Base SKP file: lamp_base_tube_glow.skp had not made it into the build.

New version posted - QF02 - June 2, 2017

In this version we:

  • Made ArMaterials made from SketchUp textured materials to be embedded textures, so that Ground Plane materials would persist
  • adding 20 material presets, like Allura
  • Added tooltips to the Material dialogs
  • Added new tube light type
  • fixed 24 bit png file handling in the new extractor
  • Stop clearing nXtBatch_folder in Batch SkpReader, it was erasing foreground images

New version posted - QE15 - May 15, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug in the Select Material dialog where the reflection and transparency value boxes and sliders were throwing an error.

New version posted - QE08 - May 8, 2017

In this version we:

  • Added support for PhotoShop PSD files

New version posted - QD14 - April 14, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug where our mirrors were not reflecting if the new extractor is used.


New version posted - QD12 - April 12, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug that was overwriting the ArMaterial thumbnails with the material texture image. Also fixed the generic material library for Arielvision

New version posted - QD07 - April 7, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug in SketchUp 8 caused by a Unicode header for a ruby file, rps_extract.rb.

New version posted - QC29 - March 29, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug in the new extractor, where nXt plants were not using the Component name to make the plant definitions unique.
  • Fixed a bug in the new extractor, where Render Selection was not working. Render Selection now reverts to the Ruby extractor

New version posted - QB20 - February 20, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug in the new extractor, where a corrupt texture listed for a "color only" material, was throwing an error when we tried to extract that texture unnecessarily.

New version posted - QB02 - February 2, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed Layer0 Off bug in the new extractor.
  • Skip Images over 25,000,000 pixels in the new extractor. They were crashing the SkpToBatch routine when getting the image.


New version posted - QA19 - January 19, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed ArMaterials in the new extractor. We were getting the color and texture from the SketchUp material
  • Fixed a problem with scaled plants in the new extractor.
  • Cleaned up the License Tools dialog a bit.


New version posted - QA13 - January 13, 2017

In this version we:

  • Fixed some problems with authorizing a new license
  • Fixed AR3 plant scaling in the new extractor
  • Fixed a problem with stretched PNG images in a component in the new extractor


New version posted - PL30 - December 30, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a but where auto_bump was being applied to images.
  • Fixed a bug where entities, especially images, that were set to not cast shadows were casting shadows. This was adding a extra border around images.

New version posted - PL20 - December 20, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed Edge Lines regression for the new extractor.

New version posted - PL16 - December 16, 2016

In this version we:

  • Improved the new Light Balancer dialog features.

New version posted - PL06 - December 6, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug where “Process light bulbs on invisible layers” was causing all hidden geometry to render (when using the ruby extractor).
  • Added Load and Save styles to the Light Balancer dialog.


New version posted - PL01 - December 1, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed decal offset not working properly. Improper eye position.
  • Fixed a very sluggish loading time due to a bug in the newly added combime illuminated material faces logic.

New version posted - PK29 - November 29, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed multiple lights being made from materials in the new extractor. We now combine faces in the same mesh if they Illuminate
  • Fixed a positioning bug with decals in the new extractor
  • Added filters to the materials dialog to list only Illuminated materials, for example.

New version posted - PK16 - November 16, 2016

In this version we:

  • Changed all CL_RPS_Ruby calls to CL_RPS_xxx_Ruby calls to avoid conflicts between apps.
  • Added new logic and tools to fix licenses that do not authorize consistently
  • Fix animation layers for 32 bit SkpToBatch

New version posted - PK14 - November 14, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed 3D PDF from the render windows using the Ruby Extractor.

New version posted - PK08 - November 8, 2016

In this version we:

  • Added support for SketchUp 2017

New version posted - PJ25 - October 25, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed the z fighting offset for images.

New version posted - PJ24 - October 24, 2016

In this version we:

  • make sure we are offsetting images toward the camera eye.
  • use the JPEG image saved by Save All Textures, to get the proper file for a 24 bit jpeg file. They have a padding bug in their ImageToTextuse routine.

New version posted - PJ11 - October 11, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed IES lights in the new extractor.
  • Fixed object property lights color in the new extractor.
  • Added a warning that the new extractor would not work in SketchUp 8 and 13.

New version posted - PJ07 - October 7, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed texture file names to use unique escaped file names, in the new extractor.
  • Fixed images in scaled components in the new extractor.
  • Fixed Show Light Bulbs in the new extractor.


New version posted - PJ06c - October 6, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug that was loading the Tileable Texture dialog in Batch

New version posted - PJ06b - October 6, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed loss of original label Color Box text

New version posted - PJ06 - October 6, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed invisible lights. No INVS was being sent from the ruby extractor.
  • Fixed a bug in the external extractor, for Attributes dictionaries not returned by the API


New version posted - PI23 - September 23, 2016

In this version we:

  • Add the ability to load materials for the Ground Plane from SketchUp, the nXt Library, or the disk.

New version posted - PI12b - September 12, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a problem with the install for Reinstalls over old versions where SKETCHUP3 was not set
  • Put the new extractor method on the Options dialog

New version posted - PH16 - August 18, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a problem with Self Glow and Illuminance for material settings
  • Fixed the Render Farm Rendering, which had stopped working.

New version posted - PG23 - July 23, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug with NOSAVE globals being saved in the option_globals.file, which was causing the Lock Illmunance setting to not appearing in the PG08 version, on the lighting channel dialog, when it was loaded from the render window.

New version posted - PG08 - July 8, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug with Edit Lamp dialog, where the Hide Lamp when Rendering option was not working
  • Added the Make Invisible option to the Ceiling Lamp tab dialog
  • Added Dialog Placement settings and Profile globals to the Reset to Load Factory Defaults function
  • Added a Reset Dialogs button to the support dialog, to just reset dialog positions, for cases when dialogs were positioned off the available monitor space.

New version posted - PG05 - July 5, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug where option globals were being saved as profile variables, so were affecting all models.

New version posted - PF03c - June 3, 2016

In this version we:

  • removed the code to write the progress file usimg utime, that was throwing an odd error

New version posted - PF03 - June 3, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a problem with rps_lamps intensities
  • 'b' version posted later in the day to fix a missing dc_irender_options_setup command and an ardll.rb bug fix

New version posted - PE26b - May 26, 2016

In this version we:

  • Posting version 7.0, with IES lamps

New version posted - PD08b - April 25, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a bug where we could not edit materials in a component. (method `does_lamp_contain_any_rps_lamp' needed instance. )

New version posted - PD08 - April 8, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed wall lamps to glue to surfaces again.

New version posted - PC03 - March 3, 2016

In this version we:

  • Added a new tab dialog for selecting Tutorials, Sample Models, Videos, and Rendering Tips.
  • Fixed a Ground Plane bug, which kept the Ground Plane function from working in SketchUp 2016 for new users.
  • Changed the default batch folder for the Model option to be in the user's AppData folder, instead of the Documents folder, to possibly help speed up the extraction process.
  • Internal, Changed the error dialog for not entering an email address in the Trial dialog to just be a message box.
  • Internal, Added more text to error message thrown by the Paste from Email button on the license dialog to let the user know that it only works if they have received and copied an email from us.

New version posted - PB09 - February 9, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a problem with a broken download link in the Reflections Tutorial tutorial.
  • Fixed the Edit light logic to properly load the Edit Material dialog for some lamps where the illumination was based an a material assigned to a component.
  • Removed an error message when the Edit/Query lights dialog attempted to Select a lamp when the lamp was based on a material with illumination set.

New version posted - PB03 - February 3, 2016

In this version we:

  • Fixed a regression where Animation Settings could not be set and saved.
  • Fixed the Edit light logic to use the current light settings for all lights placed, even lights using only Material Illuminance.
  • Fixed the Edit/Query lights dialog to use the new Edit lights logic and display the current light color for applicable light types.
  • Added the words "Biased" and "Unbiased" to the 3 rendering engine options choices.
  • Fixed lights based on Material Illuminance to render with the same intensity as other lamps, using the Light Balancer settings.
  • Changed references to "Tone Operator" to now say "Adjustments and Filters".

New version posted - PA07 - January 7, 2016

In this version we:

  • Added more information to the Progress dialog while extracting data, so that the process would not appear to be hung.
  • Added a warning if too many light sources were found before starting the rendering process.
  • Fixed a bug where the Material Light channel could not be set without using the value box arrows
  • Fixed the Custom Light choice on the Named Colors menu to work. It was always setting the color to black
  • Added the Named Colors menu to the Lamp edit dialogs
  • Added more checks to never allow a light color to be Black





Older versions