PRESS RELEASE

thinkingParticles 6.3 (Subscription Drop 3) delivers up to 10 times faster Cache Read/Write operations.

Alembic file read and write; Particle effects can now be exported to Maya, Houdini  and other applications offering Alembic support.

 

2016-03-22 - Cebas Visual Technology is pleased to announce thinkingParticles latest Subscription Drop 3 update now available on instant download to all our most valued Subscribers.

To download, please check for updates using your cebas Product Manager 

New Caching Options and Methods with dramatic speedup:

Once again in response to user’s requests, Cebas thinkingParticles 6, Subscription Drop 3 is all about more powerful new features and enhancing the particle cache workflow and structures.

A new frame based particle cache file system has now been developed allowing for the storage of a cache file per frame step (TPC). This is in contrast to the already existing single file particle cache system (TPS). Cache write and read times have been dramatically improved in Subscription Drop 3 for all file cache operations. Writing a cache file is now up to 10 times faster than before; this means the disk transfer functions have been optimized by a wide margin. The following enhancements in detail are listed below:

Per Frame Caching option thanks to the new *.tpc format, with enhanced sub-sampling option for output. Selective Cache Channels; each particle cache file can be adjusted individually for its data to be output. Hierarchy particle cache manager: adjust and control cache stacking in an easy and efficient way. To accommodate for the new particle caching features in thinkingParticles the Max

Scripting functions have also been extended to cover more file caching related stuff withiin thinkingParticles
 

New Implicit Surfacing Options

thinkingParticles 6.3 offers two highly advanced algorithm options to create an ISO surface. Surface (6.3) brings a new method to thinkingParticles allowing for the creation of flat surfaces out of point clouds. It's the perfect tool for creating surfaces for liquids with a smooth and even surface. To learn more, refer to the online manual.

New Fluid Solver Options

thinkingParticles SPH based fluid solver has been enhanced in Subscription Drop 3.
A new algorithm option has been added to the rollout menu; the new SPH2 method offers a much more improved and stable method to create fluids that are under larger pressure and bigger sub frame steps. While the first generation of fluid solver is still available to choose from and it offers the same great features as before; the new solver algorithm adds just more punch to the arsenal of fluid simulation effects available within thinkingParticles. It is suggested to use the newer incarnation of the fluid solver from now on, the previous method is mainly kept for compatibility reasons.

 

 

More New Features in Drop 3

Direct Alembic Import: thinkingParticles now supports direct file import of Alembic
*.abc files, both pure Alembic particle files as well as mesh-based files. Alembic is an open source format widely used by large and medium sized studios around the world. Alembic is slowly becoming a standard file exchange format between different applications.

Direct Alembic Export: likewise, AlembicExport is a new export node offering *.abc file export functionality. Many of the Alembic file format features are directly supported by this node. Particles as well as meshes can be exported in one go. Alembic export can be done either in one single file including many particle groups or in multiple files containing individual particle groups. The exported files may contain a particle system (particle points, no meshes), an object per particle group or each particle is stored as one individual object (mesh). For particle system exports, the AlembicExport node allows for the selection of specific data channels to be exported (e.g. velocity, spin, age ...).

New Particle Group Right Click Menu Option: Right-Clicking on any particle group
name will now bring up an new context sensitive menu. For each particle group name clicked, a list of Operators using or referencing this particle group will be listed. Further clicking on the Operator names will automatically bring up the relevant DynamicSet in
question. This feature works great for debugging complex DynamicSet setups containing hundreds of nodes, and help speed up work tremendously.

Render Resets Simulation - this new feature allows for quick and easy rendering adjustments of materials and light. Instead of re-simulating the whole particle system over and over again when rendering a single frame; thinkingParticles can now take the information as seen in the modeling viewport from that exact frame as set with the frame slider in 3ds Max.


Render Instance - Subscription Drop 3 now supports render instancing for all compatible rendering engines (vray). In previous versions this only worked with finalRender. This brings the power of multi-billion face rendering to a wider range of renderers.
 

 

Enhancements of 6.2 features in Drop 3

Besides adding new methods to the Implicit surface operator, some work has gone into enhancing the overall processing time and stability of the surface operator.

The PositionBorn operator received some loving attention in the form of an enhanced random particle distribution when emit distance is used.

Bullet Physics has been updated as well: Bullet Rope; BulletRopeData; BulletRopeImport was missing the Margin parameter and all these are now fixed.

Another area that saw enhancements is the VolumeBreaker operator; helper object are
now animatable and they are updated correctly.

The LayerToParticle operator got an overhaul which results in a general speed improvement.

To accommodate for the new particle caching features in thinkingParticles the Max
Scripting functions is now extended to cover more file caching related stuff.

A small issue has been found in the PPassAB operator whereby the Particle Shape uses the wrong size. This is now fixed.

The Math operator had an issue with the Matrix Composition function and did not work. This is now fixed.

And a brand new enhancement to fluids: they will now work with the Freeze operator.
Fluids can be frozen in time and released in time.

The Bullet vehicle operator will now work with the path follow even without a particle
input.

Check out : www.cebas.com/thinkingparticles for more information.

 

 

For media, questions, feel free to contact:

Cedar Thokme (Ms)
Office/Social Media Coordinator
c.thokme@cebas.com


cebas VISUAL TECHNOLOGY Inc.
Suite 2202B – 4464 Markham Street
Victoria, BC V8Z 7X8, Canada
USA: +1 323 774 1799
Canada: Main office:+1 250.590.2913
http://www.cebas.com


 

 

 

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