Here comes a detailed specification of all new functions and expansions to the new version of CyberMotion 3D-Designer 12.25 program. Use the help manual, chapter "What's new in version 12.25", for a quick and easy guide to all changed and new topics. The elimination of minor errors and repairs are not mentioned here. For demo pictures and animations demonstrating the new capabilities visit the gallery.

New features in version 12.25:

Windows Vista Compatibility - The new version 12.25 now fully supports Windows Vista.

  • Windows Vista and the User Account Control (UAC) - In Windows XP the first user created when installing the operating system is given administrative privileges by default. As such, most users would use this account for everyday use. This ensured that all software, including malware, was also running with administrator privileges as well, thereby giving it full access to the operating system. With Windows Vista, actions that can affect the security and stability of the operating system require the input of an administrator name and password before they are executed. Even if you are already logged on as an administrator, most applications will start as non-privileged applications by default (You can run the program as an administrator by using the "Run as administrator" option on the context menu (right-click on program icon)). Now, if you start the CyberMotion software with no administrative privileges it will run fine, in fact it is supposed to run this way. However, there is one thing to keep in mind when saving files to the library section of the CyberMotion installation. By default the CyberMotion software and all demo files are installed in the Windows "Program Files" folder, to which non-administrative users have no write access. So, if you want to modify demo files and save them back to the CyberMotion demo-library instead of using the library folders created for you under your private user profile you have to start the program as an administrator (see above). As a basic principle you should always save your newly created project files (or modified versions of the provided demo files) to your private user account or to the computers shared folders. For this purpose, on startup, CyberMotion creates a default library folder under each user account, for instance "C:\Documents and Settings\Username\MyDocuments\CyberMotion" for Windows XP or "C:\Users\Username\Documents\CyberMotion" on Windows Vista.

Rendering
  • Multithreading - Render Threads - For computers with Multicore or Hyper-Threading processors the number of render threads occupied by CyberMotion can be limited. This way you can run benchmarks comparing single core with multi core processing or just save some resources for other applications. Additionally some more subroutines could be improved with parallel processing.
  • Photon Mapping - Visual Display of the Photon Map - The photons emitted to the scene and saved into the photon map can be displayed now during the preliminary run of photon distribution. It is also possible to render only the visualized photon map. In combination with a static photon map you can even animate a flight through a photon map.
  • Photon Mapping - Tracing Depth - You can specify now a maximum number of reflections for the tracing of photons through the scene. With a higher number of reflections even the remotest corners of a room will be reached and lit by photons, whereas a smaller number of reflections will provide a smoother shading, because more photons are saved on those surfaces hit by the main stream of photons.
  • Render Statistics - The caption of the render window now provides additional information about the number of facets, points and analytical primitives generated to render the current frame. This way you can track how the total number of facets and points changes from frame to frame when applying particle systems or SDS-Deformation.

Skymaps - Environment Textures - Image Based Lighting - HDRI
  • Skymaps or Environment Maps - In addition to the simple background bitmap you can apply now skymapping (also known as environment mapping) to project panoramic bitmaps to an imaginary sphere or cube surrounding the whole CyberMotion world. In contrast to the simple bitmap background, a skymap is an adequate three dimensional object, which is reflected in all mirroring surfaces and can be seen correctly through refracting transparent objects. You can even use them as a kind of light map in combination with the ambient occlusion renderer (see: Skymaps and Image Based Lighting).
  • Skymap and Atmosphere - Instead of a color range you can use background bitmaps now also in the atmospheric background model. All other atmospheric effects like clouds, fog, stars, snow and rain will be painted then above the background bitmap.
  • Skymap + Object Properties "Compositing Material" and "Material Color = Scene Background" - This combination of object properties is used to create shadow casting on a ground surface, which adopts the projected texture of an environment map. Meanwhile there exist many professional sources of high quality sky- and environment maps that provide a full panoramic view including sky and underground texture. But still, the environment map is just a projection onto an infinite remotely sphere or cube, so you can't place anything on the visible ground of the texture. If, for example, you use a skymap of a street scene with a roadway visible underneath and you place a model of a car into the scene, then it would just hang in the middle of the environment projection. Since there is no real underground the car can not cast a shadow to the road and the scene appears more than a cheap montage instead of a fully integrated scene. Now, if you place a plane object under the car, this object will receive the shadow, but it will also hide the underground texture of the skymap. The final solution is to combine the object properties <Compositing> (surface is drawn in pure material color without shading, but it receives shadows) together with the new property <Material Color = Scene Background>. If you activate these properties for the plane object then it will be rendered with a projection of the background texture (making it invisible in the scene) but additionally it will receive now the shadows cast by the model car placed onto it. Now the 3d model is fully integrated into the photographic scene.
  • Skymaps + Image Based Lighting (IBL) - Skymaps provide the information for the background texturing, but they can also be used as a kind of light map for the ambient occlusion renderer. To evaluate the ambient light incidence on a surface, now the hemispherical projection of the environment map above the surface point will be scanned and the pixel intensities of the skymap are interpreted as incoming light intensity. To accelerate this process, CyberMotion internally generates a strongly blurred copy of the original skymap before rendering. This will provide good results even with low sample rates. Image based lighting is the number one key, if you want to perfectly integrate a virtual 3d-scene into a photographic environment.
  • Image Based Lighting + High Definition Range Images (HDRI) - CyberMotion now supports high definition range pictures in the Radiance rgbe-encoded .hdr format. They can be used as skymaps for the environment mapping and the image based lighting. High definition range images are coded in a special floating point format, thus providing a much higher dynamic range than ordinary rgb-pictures. Think, for example, of a picture of a room. A white door is exposed to bright sun light shining through a window. Both areas of the picture, door and window, appear white on the monitor, but internally, in the hdr-definition of the picture, the bright sky visible through the window provides many times higher energy than the white door. If you would reduce the intensity in the picture (which is possible with hdr-images), the room would become darker and the formerly white sky would change to a more blue appearance, revealing perhaps some details of thin feathery clouds or condensation trails in the sky.
  • HDR-images have clear advantages when used as environment maps or for the image based lighting. Reflections in the scene as well as the ambient lighting generated by the ambient occlusion renderer are much more authentic and provide higher contrasts in the picture than renderings with ordinary rgb-pictures would do.

Viewports
  • Wire-frame Color - In wire-frame depiction mode the lines are drawn now with the material color allocated to the object. Alternatively you can change to the old depiction mode with a uniform line color.
  • Show Scene Background - The camera viewport will display now a somewhat simplified version of the background model chosen for the scene.
  • Viewport Bitmap - You can adjust now the position of a bitmap copied to the background of a viewport window. Viewport bitmaps are scaled now with the viewport zoom.
  • Viewport Settings are saved now individually for each project with the corresponding project file.

Visual Libraries
  • Navigating Through a Library - A little window listing the parent folder and all sub-folders has been added underneath the main window of all visual libraries. Now you can easily navigate through all categories simply clicking onto the folder icons of the list. An additional icon has been added next to the icons for managing the list of favorites. With it you can change directly to the CyberMotion library folders created for you in your private user profile.

Material
  • Shininess - Instead of using a single <Reflection> parameter for the reflectivity of surfaces and the strength of highlight reflections now an additional <Shininess> parameter is provided for the highlight strength.
  • Reload Bitmaps - This function is available now throughout the workspace via the shortcut <Strg> + <R>.

Animation
  • Using Tangents to Control the Curve Shape of a Movement Path - Together with the position, a tangent is now saved in each key of a movement path. A tangent defines the gradient slope of a curve. By clicking on the end points of the tangent you can stretch it or rotate it and with it you change the curvature of the path and the strength of the curve interpolation in this keyposition. You can manipulate the ends of the tangent separately if you hold the <Ctrl> key pressed when clicking on an end point of the tangent. This way you can add a sharp bend into the curve or accentuate one side of the curve
  • Acceleration Parameters - The amount of acceleration towards a keyposition and from a keyposition can be controlled now also via the tangent's end points. Simply hold down the <Shift> key when clicking on the left or right endpoint of the tangent and move the mouse. A green or red bar is painted along the tangents in dependence of a positive acceleration value or a negative deceleration value, respectively.
  • Navigating in Time - You can click now onto the keypositions of a movement path to move to that position in time.

and...
  • UNDO - The saving of undo files is much faster now.
  • Triangulation of Extruded Shapes - The triangulation routines of the font- and extrusion editors have been improved to provide a more uniform distribution of similar sized facets.