Release Notes

Subscribe to the Golaem Crowd Release Notes RSS and stay updated with the latest features & bug fixes.

Golaem Crowd 2.4.1 (2013/05/21)

New Features

  • Procedural shaders for 3Delight (Switch & GetUserData)
  • Speed ratio of Motion & Geometry behaviors is now dynamic.

Improvements

  • Arnold procedural now works with mtoa0.23.1
  • User data now works with 3Delight
  • Automatic cast of vector PPattr in double PPattr in PPattr trigger (useful for triggers based on speed magnitude...)
  • Positions and sizes of Golaem Crowd windows are saved in the windowPref file
  • Add null ground in Physics Locator
  • Add getPPAttr functions in UserScripts.mel
  • Asset Manager: when all weights of a group are set to 0 no asset in the group is chosen

Bug fixes

  • Fixed a wrong display of the population tool
  • Fixed default ground in Physics Locator
  • Fixed setPPAttributeVector Mel function in UserScripts.mel
  • Fixed Goto behavior random target picker

Golaem Crowd 2.4 (2013/04/29)

New Features

  • Synchronous/Asynchronous parrallel operator mode (to be able to choose if a parrallel operator should ends before all included behaviors ends)

Improvements

  • Crowd tool windows are maximized when called through their shelf button (if previously minimized)
  • Add unlock button to the CrowdManagerNode (to be able to delete it easily if needed)
  • Razor tool to cut controlflows in the Behavior Editor (Alt+LeftClick)
  • Lock scale for the GotoTargetLocator 

Bug fixes

  • Fixed 3Delight Proxy rib file path completion
  • Fixed crash when a Behavior container was added in contained operator
  • Fixed crash when batch-rendering frames with missing simulation cache with Arnold
  • Fixed main container changing when an entityType was selected at Behavior container creation
  • Color bug fix for fixed pipeline opengl

 

Golaem Crowd 2.3.2 (2013/04/11)

New Features

  • BehaviorTime trigger which can stop a behavior when it has been played XX frames and/or seconds

Improvements

  • CrowdBeAdaptOrientation: Take 3d orientation into account (and bank) for spiders, birds...
  • CrowdBeConstraint: Can add keyframes to constrained objects
  • Remove limitation that required more than one bone morphology
  • Surface shape can render baked animation geometry
  • Surface shape skinned mesh take 3d orientation into account
  • Ctrl+s in the Simulation Tool is taken into account
  • CrowdBeNavigation: Parameter to control the max number of perceived entities
  • CrowdBeGeometry: Add -x & -z front axis to the GeoBehavior
  • More parameters to control the CrowdBeLookAt behavior: max speed, head/neck/bust percent, start/stop duration
  • Change in the timeToTurnAround mechanism (locomotion, navigation, adaptOrientation)

Bug fixes

  • Fixed critical crash with Skinned Mesh display of Surface shape
  • Fixed crash when the first renderingTypeId is not 0
  • Fixed null lifespan particle simulation
  • Fixed error message when a behavior has an invalid motion and was out of the flow
  • Fixed Crowd menu position and appearance in Maya
  • Fixed import custom behaviors

Golaem Crowd 2.3.1 (2013/03/18)

New Features

  • Constraint Behavior to constrain a Maya Object to a CrowdEntity bone

Improvements

  • Simulation can be exported and rendered if no skeleton file is loaded
  • Several GeoBehaviors can be played in a simulation (and triggered)
  • New Front axis parameter in CrowdBeGeometry (if not blended)
  • New Geometry speed parameter in CrowdBeGeometry to automatically adapt the replay to the particle velocity
  • File browser now uses workspace for files with the same extension
  • More parameters to control the CrowdBeAvoidance behavior
  • More parameters to control the CrowdBeLookAt behavior: max speed, head/neck/bust percent, start/stop duration

Bug fixes

  • Fixed crash when adding particles to an existing particle system with the population tool
  • Fixed CrowdBeGeometry interpolation of geometry frame values when moblur is enabled
  • Refresh properly the Skinned Mesh interface for one bone/mesh
  • Fixed character world position in not blended GeometryBehavior
  • Fixed Motion Files removing in CrowdBeMotion when brackets in the file path

Documentation

  • Information about the CrowdBeConstraint behavior
  • Information about the CrowdBeGeoemtry behavior
  • Information about rendering crowd with Kick (for Arnold)

Golaem Crowd 2.3 (2013/03/04)

New Features

  • Geometry Behavior (assign a baked FBX file to a crowd entity)
  • New Skeleton Motion Converter in beta version: CharacterMaker
  • 3Delight Proxy for Maya Rendering
  • Kill list tools for rendering
  • RenderingTypePP in the EntityType (in order to promote a particle as a different renderingType)

Improvements

  • "Check Render Settings" and “Check Batch Render Settings” button in the CrowdRender Menu in order to prevent/check non-renderable scenes
  • Add a CrowdRenderManager node mechanism to force CrowdRender load in renderable scenes (for Batch Render)
  • Remove OpenGL Assert / Decrease error messages  at load for Maya batch mode
  • If simulation cache does not exist, render is not cancelled (frames 1 & 2)
  • Arnold procedural now works with mtoa0.22
  • Error & critical Arnold logs do not stop the render anymore
  • Remove defer standin (required fake bbox) at Arnold proxy creation (WARNING: existing Arnold proxies must be re-created)
  • CrowdProxyVray is now a locator
  • Unified plugin names for Linux and Windows (remove lib** prefix when needed)
  • Add Animation Mask and Animation Priority control in the Locomotion Behavior
  • Custom random number generator do not interfere with Crowd random number generator
  • Surface Shape color variation now uses entity ID for random number generation
  • Improved command glmSpatialRequest
  • Added some ppattr setter mel function (setPPAttributeFloat & setPPAttributeVector)
  • Display an error if crowd files do not exist at init (gsk, gskm, gsks...)
  • Invalid license causes Maya to show the appropriate error message

Bug fixes

  • Fixed crash on Linux if license was not found
  • Fixed a crash under linux when license is invalid
  • Fixed crash on Linux at load/unload of the plugin
  • Fixed Batch Render for 3delight, Arnold & Vray (WARNING: existing proxies must be re-created and pre-mel emptied)
  • Fixed multiple proxies support for Mental Ray and Arnold
  • Fixed directionPP attribute in the crowdField
  • Last exported frame is now renderable with Arnold when motion blur is off
  • Fixed error message when cache file is not found with Arnold
  • Fixed several crowdFields export support with Arnold
  • Fixed slider entityRadius in the crowdField
  • Fixed node mapping  in the ExternalEntity Locator
  • Fixed automatic mapping filter for terrain creation
  • Fixed connexion to itself in Alt & Random operators
  • Fixed scatter support in GoToBehavior
  • Fixed targetIdPP in GoToBehavior
  • Fixed crash in the Golaem log after an arnold render
  • Fixed Skeleton mapping export crash if skeleton has not been computed correctly
  • Fixed crash at Motion export for some specific rigs
  • Fixed motion preview crash for some specific rigs
  • Fixed performance issue in Arnold rendering when the crowd asset manager file has user attributes
  • Fixed crash if fbx source file is invalid in the cam file with Mental Ray
  • Fixed crash if simulation cache does not exist with VRay
  • Fixed crash when rendering with MRay on Linux
  • Fixed crash when loading Arnold shaders and Arnold dso on Linux
  • Fixed fail when rendering with vray on Linux
  • Fixed random number generator for the first launches (better diversity when only few characters)
  • Fixed a wrong error message in GoToTarget idPP name mode
  • Fixed wrong argument "Voxels" in navMesh cmd
  • Fixed transparency in default orange mental ray shader

Documentation

  • New section "Technical Documentation" in the User Manual with the main command syntaxes & options
  • More information about the Locomotion Behavior
  • More information about the SurfaceShape display
  • More information about the new GotoBehavior and GotoTarget interfaces

Golaem Crowd 2.2 (2013/01/11)

New Features

  • Procedural rendering plugin, proxy and shaders for Arnold
  • New plugin CrowdRender to handle render proxies in Maya (does not require a license)
  • Procedural shaders for VRay
  • Multi material support for all renderers
  • Added crowd unit in CrowdMangerNode to centralize the scale ratio
  • Distance trigger
  • nParticles are now taken into account natively with the CrowdField
  • New popTool mode able to take any selection component into account (vertices, faces, edges...)
  • MEL Command "replaceMaterialType()" to replace a material type with another (for Arnold and Phong not supported)

Improvements

  • Multi selection available between Maya and the Behavior Editor (shift key)
  • Poptool per-particle index rendering
  • Show/hide poptool annotation
  • NavMesh Tool: Voxel Subdivision uses tiles to compute large environments. Added warning when voxel count is huge (> 100 million).
  • New display for the Enternal Entity Locator
  • Uniformization of the rendering proxies (it is now possible to add different rendering proxies in a same scene)
  • Default material in VRay when shaders are missing is now orange 
  • MentalRay plugin: Small performance increase
  • Support RenderMan Studio 4.0 (Maya 2012 & 2013 64-bit only) and RenderMan Pro Server 17.2 (64-bit only)
  • FAQ link from CrowdRender plugin
  • Load/Save windows uniformisation
  • BeNavigation: Default acceleration set to 10
  • BeNavigation: No more max speed

Bug fixes

  • Correction on arm bones orientation when playing a motion
  • PopTool: Mesh scale is taken into account (when linked to it)
  • Fixed reparenting behavior problems in the Outliner
  • Fixed trigger reevaluation in Alt operator
  • Fixed transparency and alpha in MRay shaders
  • Fixed randomness in NoOrder operator
  • Fixed crash at fbx eport (single file)
  • Fixed crash when exporting entities without a skeleton/mapping file
  • Fix auto-map between Goto Targets and Goto Behaviors
  • Asset Manager: Fix bug when adding a new geometry file
  • Rendering: Fix crash when with motion blur samples <= 1
  • Mental Ray plugin: Fix the alpha channel

Documentation

  • Information about how to install Windows and Linux packages in silent mode
  • Update for Asset Manager
  • Documentation for Crowd Unit
  • Documentation for Arnold proxy
  • Documentation for VRay procedural shaders

Golaem Crowd 2.1 (2012/10/23)

New Features

  • Renderman Studio Proxy for Maya Rendering
  • V-Ray Proxy for Maya rendering
  • Behavior import/export to library

Improvements

  • Single procedural call per frame for Renderman & MentalRay
  • Single procedural call per render for VRay
  • Renderman & 3delight plugins now thread safe
  • Mental Ray rendering is up to 10x faster
  • More error/warning messages for MentalRay rendering
  • More error/warning messages at FBX export from Asset Manager
  • Simulation export: maya scene name has the suffix Crowd (avoids potential name conflicts)
  • Reset shaders now works with the current selection
  • BehaviorEditor trigger highlighting
  • BehaviorEditor new boolean trigger in order to have a true and false trigger in every trigger combo box
  • More entries BehaviorEditor contextual menu
  • No more "from FBX" character creation
  • No bone radius for skeleton shape rendering in previz

Bug fixes

  • Fix population tool display bug : all entities were displayed with the same color
  • Fix skeleton motion converter display bug : root bone button was not displayed
  • Fix entity shape surface : entities were not shaded correctly on some graphic configuration 
  • CrowdIO: normals are properly computed, sharp angles are no longer smoothed!
  • BehaviorEditor trigger sharing
  • Asset Manager: Fix random int shader parameter sampling

Golaem Crowd 2.0 (2012/08/07)

New Features

  • Behavior Editor: create and assemble sophisticated behaviors with this new graphical editor.
  • Ragdoll Behavior: simulate falling or exploding characters in a snap
  • Formations Behavior: keep character’s formation shape while navigating
  • GPU Character Previzualisation: preview simulation with skinned meshes proxies directly in the Maya viewport.

Improvements

  • Multithread & Optimization: Golaem Crowd 2.0 is up to 15x quicker thanks to its new multithreaded and optimized simulation engine.
  • Faster Navmesh Computation Method: compute navmesh at the speed of light (from several minutes to a few seconds depending on the terrain)
  • Enhanced LookAt & IK behaviors: get greater control on characters
  • New Triggers: control behaviors with frame number, volumetric triggers, or Python scripting...

Golaem Crowd 1.5 (2012/07/04)

New Features

  • Golaem Crowd Proxy for Mental Ray in Maya: render crowds directly in Maya with Mental Ray
  • Mental Ray parametric shaders: Switch, HSL, GetUserDataInt, GetUserDataFloat

Improvements

  • Asset Manager: Shading group supported. IMPORTANT: Crowd Asset Manager files generated with previous versions of Golaem Crowd are no longer compatible

Bug fixes

  • Golaem Crowd Maya plugin & Golaem Crowd procedural rendering plugins can now be loaded at the same time in Maya
  • Skeleton Motion Converter: skeleton hierarchy including transform nodes are now correctly supported

Golaem Crowd 1.4.1

Improvements

  • PopulationTool: Python binding for the tool

Bug fixes

  • Asset Manager: fixed inconsistent asset ids
  • Skeleton Motion Converter: fixed motion way computation

Pages