To install, download and unzip krakatoa0915.zip (attached to this thread.) Uninstall any previous Krakatoa builds, then run the krakatoa.0.9.15.msi installer.
RELEASE NOTES, DOCUMENTATION and LIST OF KNOWN BUGS follow.
Changes from Beta Build 0.9.13 to 0.9.15 (as of May 3rd, 2007)
GENERAL
Added MacroScript to toggle MaterialEditor's renderer lock on and off from the Krakatoa toolbar.
Added an option to the Right-Click menu of the QUICK RENDER button to select the file to save. A checkmark will be displayed in front of the option of a valid path is set. Also made the Save File option disabled when no file name there.
Added the actual value to the Add and Remove items of the >> menus for the MBlur and DOF presets so it is clear what will be added or removed.
The About rollout's logo and hyperlinks will adapt to the background color of the UI so they remain visible when using Dark scheme etc. Do not take into account "Use Windows Colors" mode, but nobody is really using that.
PARTICLE SAVING
Added support for .CSV files as particle output alternative.
Added support for RealFlow 4 BIN files as particle output alternative. NOTE: This means that you can now save any particles from 3ds Max to BIN format and load in any application that has a RealFlow4 plugin installed, for example Maya)
Added a Preference to check the validity of the BIN file name as RealFlow expects FIVE trailing digits or it would not load the file (same applies to any RealFlow importers for 3D applications). The Preference has a Warning, Auto-Fix and Do Nothing mode.
Changed Increment Seeds code to affect Other operators that have Random_Seed property, changed hasProperty to isProperty to catch FumeFX Operators. Added separate checkboxes for incrementing Rotation, FumeFX and Other seeds.
Added a a feature to skip operators, events or object that contain NOSEED in their name when incrementing seeds, thus allowing for maximum flexibility.
Replaced Current Partition spinner with Partition Range spinners so it is possible to submit/save locally a range of partitions instead of all or just one. For one, enter the same number in both fields.
Added an option to skip existing PRT files when saving locally. This is currently NOT available when saving on Deadline (but it would be possible)
Changed the progress line when saving Partitions to display in HH:MM:SS format instead of just seconds as some sequences might require hours to save and hours expressed as seconds are difficult to read.
Changed Partitioning on Deadline to use the Render Output Dialog frame settings (Single, Scene and Custom Ranges with optional Nth frame, Custom Frames) - used to save the current animation segment.
RENDERING
Added an option to calculate Lighting without rendering a Final Pass. This is to allow attenuation maps can be re-generated on disk faster without waiting for the actual frames to render.
Final Pass Sorting has been changed to use Pre-ordered Indexed Sorting using the sorting method of choice. This should combine the good sides of both the old Final Pass sorting method and of the new sorting algorithms (Radix).
Added Krakatoa Watermark for evaluation mode. Can be forced for debugging reasons via the Preference rollout (3935)
Changed both Specular Level and Glossiness value spinners to floats and uncapped them to allow for stronger and smaller specular highlights in >Use Normals mode. Also changes the highlight widget to use the checkbutton activation color from the current palette.
Matte objects will now be excluded from shadow casting if they are hidden in any way or the renderable property is unchecked.
PRT LOADER
Added an Edit... button to the PRT Loader GUI which opens a floating dialog with lots of options to manage file sequence lists:
Select All - selects all sequences in the list view
Invert Selection - inverts the current selection in the list view
Reorder Selected (Move Up, Down, To Top, To Bottom) - useful when showing First N particles as moving a sequence to the beginning of the list will make the PRT Loader start with it.
Sort List Alphabetically - sorts the sequences on the list in alphabetical order.
Save All to File - saves all sequences to disk as a preset
Save Selected to File - saves the selected sequences to disk as a preset
Load From File - loads a pre-saved sequence list from disk.
Cut - cut the selected sequences to be pasted later into the same or a different PRT Loader
Copy - copy the selected sequences to be pasted later into the same or a different PRT Loader
Paste - works even between Max sessions!
Remove Selected - same as the Remove... option in the PRT Loader's GUI
Remove All - removes all files without the need to select them all
Add Files - same as the Add Files... in the PRT Loader's GUI
Repath Selected Files - this option can scan recursively all sub-folders until it finds the same file name at a new path.
Replaced the Culling Node option with Culling Named Selection Set. This way, the PRT Loader can use an arbitrary number of geometry objects. A pickbutton lets the user pick a geometry object and create a NSS automatically.
Implemented particle culling preview in the Viewports. Other than when rendering, the particles are culled post-load and pre-display.
Added a Bounding Box checkbox to toggle the bbox display in the viewports.
Added support for .CSV files as particle data input alternative. CSV files can be created from Krakatoa or ANY other application that can write comma-separated values to a text file (this includes Excel and any 3D application with a scripting interface).
When the CSV contains NO headers and 3 float values per line, these are loaded as position.
When the CSV contains NO headers and 6 float values per line, these are loaded as position and color.
When the CSV has to contain more information, Headers have to be defined in the first line, for example
Added PRT Loader Presets saving and loading, including all source, percentage, timing and options settings.
Added a Presets Saving dialog which lets you specify which properties to save to Preset file.
Added PRT Loader Preset Preference option to the Preferences rollout, allowing to specify the Preset to be applied when a PRT Loader is created in the scene. Same option is available in the PRT Loader's Preset rollout.
Added a Last Error Message display which can be triggered by clicking the status indicator (red/yellow/green lamp) in the Particle Count rollout or by pressing the Update Info button. The message will display info about the missing frame causing the red/yellow flag.
PME ROLLOUT
PME Named Selection Sets lists in the UI now handled via Callbacks.
PRT ANALYZER UTILITY
Added support for bad PRT files detection. Will be shown in darker color than the missing color.
Added support for Missing Files and Bad Files list output. Creates Text files containing the file names of all bad and missing frames.
Added an internal check to skip CSV files and scan only PRT files (to be supported later).
BUG FIXES
Fixed bug when checking RealFlow BIN files - they were incorrectly handled as PRT files.
Fixed memory leak caused by the History Thumbnail saving - the size of the VFB was leaked each time the render button was pressed.
Fixed a memory leak in PCache. Also, releasing the PCache now releases the memory immediately.
Fixed black background bug when no particles in the frame. Now returns the image with the correct background color.
Correct Average collection in PRT Scanner (was exceeding max. integer limit when collecting trillions of particles)
Submit Partition To Deadline code was broken, fixed in an SP and in this build.
Fixed background color + motion blur bug - background color was incorrectly accumulated when rendering multiple mblur passes.
Both Animatable parameters in the PRT Loader (Render Pecentage and Playback Graph) are broken - if animated, they will not be updated correctly in the viewport and renderer. This was caused by a major change in the communication between the scripted plugin and the C++ plugin and will be fixed ASAP.
Max 8 installation has a bug - the plugins are put in a folder 3dsmax8 without a sub-folder Win32, which prevents the setup script from loading the other scripts. For a temp. fix, see topic "path error in krakatoastartup.ms" in Discussions conference.
Cloning a PRT Loader causes an error (again due to changes in the internal organization of the C++ and scripted plugins that make up the PRT Loader). Until fixed, please create a new PRT Loader from the Create tab. Do not use the New PRT Loader button in the Krakatoa Particle Loaders rollout.
Rendering AND canceling in the middle of a frame keeps the last loaded particles in memory, so a consecutive rendering shows the first frame as if it was cached. This was fixed internally and also prompted us to add a new very cool feature to the caching system in the process.
NOTE: All bugs above have been already fixed internally for the next Beta build.