L3DT release v11.08

Released on the 19th of August, 2011 (see announcement)

• Implemented new mesh exporter user interface (See user guide, announcement.)
• Implemented tiled mesh decimator (see request).
• Added support for exporting optimised meshes as tiles (see request).
• Added support for exporting selected area (see request).
• Added support for non-contiguous memory in decimator triangle array, to allow larger mesh sizes.
• Used dynamic non-contiguous memory for vertex/index buffer to remove need for re-rendering.
• Added support for exporting meshes as mosaic maps by forcing high-res, unoptimised triangles at tile edges (see this forum thread).
• Added support for DAE (COLLADA), OBJ, 3DS, X, and ZMESH file formats.
• Added automatic reverse-winding of faces for 'XZ plane' coordinate system in all file format handlers.
• Add image layer file format selector UI (see request, and here).
• Added UI-less decimator extension function as calc.mesh.DecimateHF (see this forum thread).
• Added progress bars to mesh rendering.

• Implemented 'virtual mosaic maps', using non-contiguous memory, to reduce memory fragmentation.
• Created CMapWrap::InitMap2, which takes a value for map alloc mode (DONTCARE, RAM, MOSAIC, MOSAIC_SYSPAGEFILE, MOSAIC_MEMMAPFILE)
• Re-mapped CMapWrap::InitMap to use CMapWrap::InitMap2 with DONTCARE by default; if you care, use Init2 with explicit map alloc mode.
• Added zmap_Init2 API function.
• Modified 'Save' to de-allocate mosaic maps, saving memory.

• Implemented Zeolite v11.08 (see link for changes).
• Clean break in plugin API, with removal of back-compatibility hacks.
  • Recompiled all plugins.
• Enforced minimum plugin API version checking on loading.
• Revised plugin function namespaces to be more orderly.
• Regularised function return values and naming conventions (e.g. capitalisation).
• Rewrote remaining zeofunc-wrapped API functions as core functions.

• Added attributes map importer that takes arbitrarily indexed colour maps (see user guide).
• Attributes map importer can load indexed colour maps with a pre-defined palette file, or by using a colour assignment window.
• Modified the L3DTio_FI plugin to export a palette text file for colour-mapped attributes map images.

• Added ridged multi fractal heightfield generator, using libnoise (see request).
• Added full-resolution export option for contour maps (see request).
• Improved Heightfield blending options:
  • Added 'calc.HF.CombineMaps2' function.
  • Added 'Heightfield.CombineMaps2' filter.
  • Added 'BlendHeightmaps' graph, to demonstrate the above (see this post).
  • Added optional mask blending to Merge heightmaps importer, along with stretch/resize options.
• Added ability to provide slope offset to design map (see request).

• Re-optimised heightfield linear interpolation; resize is 60% faster, shadow casting is 70% faster (see announcement.)
• Added 'direct access' interface, for directly accessing map data without API overhead (see announcement.)
  • Modified 'CzMap::GetPixel' and 'CzMap::SetPixel' to support direct memory access, bypassing all safety checks.
  • Implemented 'CzMap::OpenDirectInterface' and 'CzMap::CloseDirectInterface'.
  • Implemented CzMapTile class, to implement direct access interface for tiled maps.
  • Added zmap_tile_MarkChanged function, for use with direct access functions.
  • Revised atConvertWaterToHeight to use direct access interface.
  • Revised atCalc_AM_image to use direct access reading of AM.
  • Tested and validated for mosaics and in-RAM maps (>3x faster on one test)
• Deprecated 'threadman.RunTiles' and created 'threadman.RunTiles2', which uses hvar args instead of ZFUNC and ZLIST args.

• Added support for menu items to be added by ZMENU script files (see announcement.)
• Added support for OnUpdate callbacks to determine state with ZMENU files.

• Automatically enable/disable/show/hide channels depending on version being used (std hidden in pro, & vice versa).
• Automatically mark messages as read if they're older than the build version, so as not to bother users with old news.
• Disabled automatic update checking if a crash occurs during update process.

• Created new icon set, with support for larger sizes (64px and 96px are new).
• Modified 'Open' wizard to accept all HF import formats, and to spawn 'heightfield import settings' wizard if non-native format is selected.
• Added support for custom colour palettes for 2D display, using PNG images in the 'Palettes' resource directory, and added palettes to installer.
• Re-enable halftone blending in main window (Win7 graphics drivers seem OK now).
• Added progress bar for loading plugins during startup.
• Created unified resource manager window for scripts, graphs and masks.
• Added multi-selection support to CzComboSel class

• Force keyframes after variance changes, to speed-up settling.
• Set maximum variance, to prevent endless variance increases when tri count is set too low.
• Add extension functions for arbitrary mesh objects (loading/moving/scaling/rotating/etc).

• Updated to ZeoGraph v2.9.6.1.
• Added top-level 'Graphs' menu to L3DT, and removed entry in 'operations' menu.
• Add 'Graph Manager' to L3DT menu.
• New filters:
  • Heightfield math filters (add, subtract, etc.)
  • Variable algebra filters (add, subtract, etc.)
• Other changes:
  • Replaced ZG_Fractal plugin with zfilter script.

• Updated to ZeoScript v2.9.6.0.
• Added ZeoScript.RunScript3 function, with explicit external vars and flags, and rval handle.
• Renamed filesel.GetCurSelA and dirsel.GetCurSelA extension functions to filesel.GetPathA and dirsel.GetPathA, respectively, and updated scripts accordingly. This change is to make the ZeoScript function name match those of the Zeolite API.
• Added 'vector3f' functions to ZeoScript (via ZeoWrap).

• Implemented new CzMesh, CzMeshMtl and CzMeshFaceGroup API classes, and retrofitted to Azurite, atMeshDecimator, L3DTio_X, L3DTio_3DS, L3DTio_B3D, L3DTio_OBJ, L3DTio_S3O, L3DTio_COLLADA, and Sapphire plugins.
• Add 'FaceWinding' options to support left & right handed coordinate systems to L3DTio_OBJ, L3DTio_X, L3DTio_3DS, and L3DTio_COLLADA plugins.
• Add vertex normal export for optimised mesh to COLLADA, OBJ and X plugins.
• Added vector4c/i/f/d and matrix3f classes to L3DT & API.
• Included zvectors.h/cpp in API
• Created ZMESH file format, and converted army man & tree mesh files to zmesh, and included in resources\meshes.
• Included demo script for scattering trees/etc in Sapphire.

• Modified L3DTio_BigBitmap to support padding in data section, as performed by PS (see this thread).
• Updated L3DTio_TorqueTER to handle unqualified TER filenames (see this thread).
• Updated atFuncBrowser to alpha-sort function list.
• Added L3DTio_ASC plugin to load/save ERSI ASCII grid files.
• Modified L3DTio_XYZ plugin to read/write georeferencing coordinates.
• Modified L3DTio_FI image to support loading of BYTE maps in 24bpp BMP/PNG files (previously supported 8bpp only).

• Fixed smoothness of Sapphire.
• Fixed path recording in Sapphire (bug with ComboSel).
• Fixed the cursor raycast driver bug in Sapphire (see this thread).
• Fixed display of toolbar in Sapphire.
• Fixed the 'Options→Terrain→Select texture…' menu option in Sapphire.
• Fixed crash when using resizer on largish maps via ZeoGraph (reported by David via e-mail; reproduced using different graphs.).
• Fixed window frame bug in ZeoGraph that occurs after graph load fails.
• Fixed crash when disabling all plugins.
• Fixed TN support for BMP plugin (was switching BGR→RGB in loader).
• Fixed TN input in L3DTio_BigBitmap (made white TN maps).
• Fixed 'zero length script' error when opening design map brush.
• Fixed 'SplitMosaic' and 'CombineMosaic' to work with virtual mosaics.
• Fixed bug in mipmap saving when saving project (see this thread).
• Fixed 'Operations→Mask maps→Generate masks' menu item, which was broken.
• Fixed contour map bug reported by Heiko in e-mail (now allows save of virtual mosaics, and also has progress bar for HF→RGB calc).
• Automatically create directories when saving mipmaps that are not mosaics during project saving.
• Automatically clear activation keys on failed activation startup.
• Allow 'L3DT for Torque' users to manually input proxy address and port.

• Updated the how to make a new plugin tutorial to reflect v11.08 of the plugin API.
• Provided a new tutorial to explain how to upgrade existing plugins to v11.08 of the plugin API.

• Added file association for ZS and ZGRAPH files.