Release Notes for Version 7.2

Release date: September 3, 2024

Core Engine

Graphics Manager

• Tone mapping has been redone from scratch and now produces better results. A new utility window shows the histogram analysis in real time, and it can be opened by typing tone in the command console.

• Horizon mapping is now disabled by default for spot lights. It can be enabled by checking the "Include spot lights" box in the Material Editor or in the settings for the Horizon process.

• A problem in which the perspective mask would not be updated for effect nodes in the World Editor has been fixed.

• Counterexposure can now be turned on or off for fog spaces. The default is off. You would typical want to turn this on when a fog space is visible across environments of highly variable illuminance so that increased exposure in the darker areas don't make the fog really bright.

Interface Manager

• The Slug Library has been updated to version 7.2.

Math Library

• The math library has been updated to be consistent with conventions used in the new book Projective Geometric Algebra Illuminated.

• The Transform4D class has been renamed to Transform3D. In general, the 3D suffix is used whenever something operates on 3D space, so even though the Transform3D class is a special form of 4 × 4 matrix, it still has the 3D suffix.

• The Rect class has been renamed to Rect2D to be consistent with the naming of similar types of objects.

Miscellaneous

• The resource packer can now create pack files that are larger than 4 GB in size.

World Editor

• The Merge Geometries command now accounts for various geometry settings that were previously reset to defaults. The detail ring, detail level bias, and collision level settings in the merged geometry become the minimum values among the input geometries.

In Progress

There are several new features that are in progress as of this release:

• The engine is transitioning from OpenGL to Vulkan. Some code is present in version 7.2, but it is not complete.

• A new physically-based metallic material attribute is in progress.

• A new fur shader is in progress.

• The way that terrain is textured is being updated.