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Comparing ray/doc/notes/ReleaseNotes (file contents):
Revision 1.5 by greg, Tue Jun 24 15:38:07 2003 UTC vs.
Revision 1.95 by greg, Mon Aug 22 21:54:41 2005 UTC

# Line 1162 | Line 1162 | positions, which allows holodecks to grow to system fi
1162  
1163   Fixed wrapping long in source hit test code, which would cause
1164   odd horizontal lines in some very long renderings.
1165 +
1166 + Added -f and -w options to ra_tiff to create IEEE float and 16-bit/primary
1167 + TIFF output, respectively.  These formats are also understood on reverse
1168 + conversion.  (16-bit/primary has been understood for some time, but not
1169 + IEEE float.)
1170 +
1171 + Added -N option to rad to start multiple rendering processes in
1172 + parallel.
1173 +
1174 + Fixed bug where mesh instances were not being freed, so subsequent calls
1175 + in programs like ranimove would refer to bogus data.
1176 +
1177 + Added support in normtiff for floating-point and 16-bit/sample TIFF input
1178 + files.
1179 +
1180 + Changed marksources() routine (src/rt/source.c) to check all
1181 + primitives in the modifier chain for emitting types, not only
1182 + the first.  This permits sources to be described with intervening
1183 + modifiers before the light/illum/glow primitive and allows aliases
1184 + as well.
1185 +
1186 + Fixed bug in xform where it was neglecting to add transform arguments
1187 + to new mesh primitive.
1188 +
1189 + Added -dF and -dD options to pvalue for byte-swapped floats and
1190 + doubles, respectively.
1191 +
1192 + Changed meta2tga to output correct colors.
1193 +
1194 + Changed local coordinate index from 32-bits to 16-bits, which requires
1195 + that Radiance mesh files be recompiled.  (Later decided against this
1196 + change, as it caused problems with some models.)
1197 +
1198 + Changed integer tone-mapping routines to better deal with images
1199 + containing large, constant regions.
1200 +
1201 + Improved interaction with rholo -o ogl driver under OS X, which was
1202 + returning bad values from the depth buffer.
1203 +
1204 + Minor bug fix in ranimove where it was restarting processes when it
1205 + didn't need to.
1206 +
1207 + Increased accuracy of default ambient parameters in rpict, rview, and
1208 + rtrace.  In rad program, doubled -ar value, -ad value, and -as value,
1209 + and decreased -aa value a bit.  Also adjusted -lr upwards and -lw
1210 + downwards.  I should have done these things long ago, as processors
1211 + have been getting faster and faster over the years.
1212 +
1213 + Fixed bug discovered by Marcus Jacobs where oconv was dumping core
1214 + when it was given too many modifiers.
1215 +
1216 + Fixed problem with rpict where it was drawing illum sources badly
1217 + even when they weren't all that small in the view.
1218 +
1219 + Added in(i) function to rcalc for more flexible channel evaluation.
1220 +
1221 + Replaced all calls to vfork() with regular fork() calls.
1222 +
1223 + Fixed bug in glarendx for dgr calculation with sources behind view.
1224 +
1225 + Added -p option to histo to print percentages/percentiles r.t. counts.
1226 +
1227 + Added a source occluder cache to accelerate shadow testing.  This
1228 + can save up to 50% of the calculation time in scenes with many
1229 + light sources, especially ones containing large occluders.  This
1230 + optimization may be tuned or switched off with the -DSHADCACHE=N
1231 + compile switch, where N is the resolution of the shadow cache, or
1232 + 0 to disable it.  Since this is purely a time vs. memory trade-off,
1233 + I decided not to make it a new command-line option.  (We already
1234 + have plenty.)
1235 +
1236 + ****** COMPATIBILITY CHANGE ********
1237 + Changed the following command names to avoid conflicts:
1238 +        rview -> rvu (with symbolic link back to rview)
1239 +        calc -> icalc
1240 +        lam -> rlam
1241 +        gencat -> gencatenary
1242 +
1243 + Improved -f option of normpat, which caused odd color changes before.
1244 +
1245 + Created pgblur script which does fast Gaussian blur of image without changing
1246 + its dimensions.  This is very useful in certain types of image processing
1247 + calculations, such as finding or removing low frequencies.
1248 +
1249 + ****** COMPATIBILITY CHANGE ********
1250 + Changed little-used objpict script so that it takes scene files rather than
1251 + rpict options on the command line, and puts everything into the right
1252 + coordinate position automatically rather than requiring the user to do it.
1253 +
1254 + Added -I option to replmarks for mesh instancing.
1255 +
1256 + Made similar change for virtual sources to allow modifiers and aliases
1257 + on the mirror and prism types to work properly.
1258 +
1259 + Rob Guglielmetti added -lw and -lh options to falsecolor to control the
1260 + legend dimensions.  Made it so -lw 0 and/or -lh 0 turns legend off.
1261 +
1262 + Made it so pcompos will read everything from a stream even if it doesn't
1263 + need it, so input commands will not receive a hangup signal.
1264 +
1265 + Wrote ra_bmp program to convert to and from Windows BMP files (finally).
1266 + It's the most horrible image format I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.
1267 +
1268 + Increased -aa default value for all renderers (and also -ad and -as in
1269 + rview) at Schorsch's suggestion.  I think this undid my earlier decrease
1270 + of -aa last time, which I guess was ill-considered.
1271 +
1272 + Modified oconv to keep subdividing the octree if there are too many
1273 + objects in a voxel even when the -r resolution limit has been
1274 + reached.  This was not done before due to problems with recursion,
1275 + and still, it will only continue to 256 times the original -r limit.
1276 + If that isn't enough, then there's probably no hope, anyway.
1277 +
1278 + Added -l option to obj2mesh to search for material files in library
1279 + locations.
1280 +
1281 + Increased polygon vertex limit to 512 in obj2mesh and obj2rad and added
1282 + warning if this limit is exceeded.
1283 +
1284 + Added tone-mapping and monitor primary options to ra_bmp.  This gives
1285 + new functionality similar to normtiff and ximage.  It would be nice to
1286 + add this feature to the other ra_* programs as well...  someday.
1287 +
1288 + Fixed long-standing bug in reported pixel ordering out of certain
1289 + protate commands.
1290 +
1291 + Added -p option to rcalc for "passive mode" that transmits
1292 + unrecognized input -- useful for substituting data in the
1293 + middle of a stream.
1294 +
1295 + Fixed a very obscure bug in rpict that caused a dark horizontal
1296 + line in certain cylindrical projections due to improper drawing
1297 + of the sky dome source in rt/srcdraw.c.
1298 +
1299 + Fixed problems with effective ray lengths computed for dielectric
1300 + and BRTDfunc materials.  This was most evident in breakup of holodeck
1301 + views when VDISTANCE=True.
1302 +
1303 + Fixed rad so that 'scene' variable may consist only of inline commands.
1304 +
1305 + Fixed bug introduced in shadow caching routines where sources in the
1306 + middle of spheres were not illuminating properly.  Thanks to Guilio
1307 + Antonutto for spotting this problem.
1308 +
1309 + Modified gensky behavior so if time is given with standard time zone
1310 + designation, any -m option is ignored.
1311 +
1312 + Added -n option to mkillum for (shared memory) parallel processing.
1313 +
1314 + Fixed a long-standing bug in parallel processing code that only
1315 + seemed to manifest with the new mkillum -n option, where rtrace
1316 + would deadlock upon termination.  The reason it never showed up
1317 + before is because I always closed processes in the reverse order
1318 + of opening them in other programs.  I went through and found similar
1319 + (potential) bugs in the rview device subprocess code and util/netproc.c.
1320 +
1321 + Corrected the normalization of the Gaussian reflectance model.  This will
1322 + cause an increase in specularity for low-lying light sources.
1323 + Thanks to Don Walters of Boeing and Arne Duer of the Univ. of Innsbruck
1324 + for pointing out this error.  The square root used for the two cosines
1325 + in the denominator of the normalization factor should not be present.
1326 + This was a serious mistake I made in the original model, which went
1327 + undiscovered (at least to my knowledge) for over a decade.  I think
1328 + Bruce Walter of Cornell may have known about it, but I never heard
1329 + the details of his discovery.
1330 +
1331 + Enabled the -p option for primary conversion without tone-mapping
1332 + in ra_bmp.  Also provides for XYZE input conversion to RGB.
1333 +
1334 + Fixed what I consider a bug in pvalue -o when taking XYZE files on input,
1335 + where it was inappropriately undoing the exposure value so that it always
1336 + reported radiance rather than XYZ values with Y in cd/m^2.
1337 +
1338 + Made it so ra_bmp only produces run-length encoded 8-bit output for
1339 + grayscale images that are tone-mapped.  This minimizes circumstances
1340 + under which output scanline order is reversed.
1341 +
1342 + Fixed bug in rcalc where it sometimes wasn't parsing the input format
1343 + correctly.
1344 +
1345 + =====================
1346 + Version 3.7
1347 +
1348 + Fixed bug in source occluder cache which caused consistency error
1349 + for distant sources and mist materials.  (Thanks to Mark Stock for
1350 + finding the problem.)
1351 +
1352 + Fixed serious bug in source drawing routines for rpict, where the edges
1353 + of light sources were appearing through obstructions.  (Thanks to Veronica
1354 + Sundstedt for pointing this out.)
1355 +
1356 + (The above were included in the 3.6.1 patch release.)
1357 +
1358 + Changed default temporary directory from /usr/tmp, which doesn't exist
1359 + on a lot of systems these days, to /tmp.
1360 +
1361 + Eliminated many unused files and programs from the distribution, including
1362 + the following programs that were being built but no longer used:
1363 +        oki20   - printer driver for OkiMate 20 printer (B&W)
1364 +        oki20c  - printer driver for OkiMate 20 color printer
1365 +        pcwarp  - intended as more general substitute for macbetcal,
1366 +                        but never quite worked
1367 +        ra_avs  - convert to & from AVS image format
1368 +        ra_bn   - convert to & from Barneyscann format
1369 +        ra_pr   - convert to & from 8-bit Sun rasterfile format
1370 +        ra_pr24 - convert to & from 24-bit Sun rasterfile format
1371 +        thf2rad - convert GDS "things file" to Radiance scene format
1372 + If anyone is still wanting any of the above programs, let us know and we'll
1373 + reinstate it.
1374 +
1375 + Fixed bug in pcond's acuity simulation for small view angles (less than
1376 + 4 degrees horizontally or vertically).  Thanks to James Lee for figuring
1377 + this out.
1378 +
1379 + Added script to convert to/from ICT's Poskanzer Float Map, which I don't
1380 + care to support officially due to its machine-dependent byte order.
1381 +
1382 + Fixed bug that caused incorrect reporting of non-surface in set when
1383 + mixing meshes and instances.  (Thanks to Jack de Valpine for discovery.)
1384 +
1385 + Fixed inaccuracy in calculation of diffuse transmission in the presence
1386 + of pure specular (Fresnel reflection) using "trans" material.  Thanks
1387 + to Christoph Reinhart for pointing out the error.
1388 +
1389 + Made internal change to tone-mapping library to use structure pointer
1390 + rather than stack, making code re-entrant and more up to modern standards.
1391 +
1392 + Added -pd option to handle depth-of-field blur in rpict.  This requires
1393 + that the view directon (-vd option) include focal distance information,
1394 + which is now preserved by the various view file routines, and reported
1395 + by the vwright command.
1396 +
1397 + Added DBLUR variable to ranimate and pmdblur script to handle simultaneous
1398 + motion and depth-of-field blurring.  Thanks to Visarc for funding this work.
1399 +
1400 + Added setting of focus distance in rvu ("focus" command) and rholo
1401 + ('f'/"frame" command).
1402 +
1403 + Changed default remote shell in ranimate to "ssh" rather than "rsh",
1404 + which has been abandoned on most Unix systems due to security issues.
1405 +
1406 + Fixed behavior of source primitive using illum with no alternate
1407 + material.  These now become transparent so one can see the sky or
1408 + light-probe background for use in image-based lighting.  Previously,
1409 + the user needed to specify the background glow as the alternate
1410 + material for a distant illum source to behave properly.  (This still
1411 + works.)
1412 +
1413 + Fixed some minor problems and inconsistencies with 16-bit/channel
1414 + TIFF i/o in ra_tiff.
1415 +
1416 + Created mksource program to generate distant sources for improved
1417 + image-based lighting with light probes.
1418 +
1419 + Changed ambient calculation so that -ad will not limit recursion
1420 + depth, and a minimum of 27 samples will be sent out for each stored
1421 + ambient value, or 3 samples if -aa is 0 (caching off).
1422 +
1423 + Added -oM option to rtrace to report material (rather than modifier)
1424 + for cases where actual material is aliased or further up modifier chain.
1425 +
1426 + Rearranged the way ray contributions are computed so that it might be
1427 + possible to use rtrace to derive daylight coefficients and optical
1428 + transfer functions.  The new -oTW option of rtrace produces color
1429 + contribution weights for each ray, which combined with the -ti (or -tI)
1430 + option permits the contribution of selected surfaces or sources to
1431 + be determined.  Using the -oTW option, one should also specify
1432 + options "-dt 0 -aa 0 -as 0" for optimal results.  In particular,
1433 + one cannot expect reasonable tallies with -ab >= 1 and irradiance
1434 + caching on (-aa > 0).
1435 +
1436 + The same code modifications included a change to the indirect computation
1437 + with caching switched off (-aa 0).  Whereas before, the number of secondary
1438 + rays after the first bounce were half of the previous generation, they are
1439 + now determined by the surface reflectance, making for a better and faster
1440 + calculation.  It should now be possible to compute many bounces with -aa 0,
1441 + which used to be prohibitively expensive.
1442 +
1443 + Added -T option to xshowtrace to trace rays to light sources.
1444 +
1445 + Added meta2bmp program to produce BMP files from metafile graphics.
1446 +
1447 + Added cct_x(t) and cct_y(t) to src/cal/cal/blackbody.cal to interpolate
1448 + CIE chromaticities for particular black-body temperatures.
1449 +
1450 + Increased maximum number of input pictures in pcomb and pcompos to 512.
1451 +
1452 + Created rtcontrib program for computing ray contribution coefficients.
1453 + This tool may be used to do standard optical ray tracing or daylight
1454 + coefficient calculations for annual simulations, among other uses.
1455 +
1456 + Added tilde ('~') output option as part of the -o* specification of
1457 + rtrace.  This permits ray trees to be parsed more easily in binary
1458 + output mode, as needed by rtcontrib.
1459 +
1460 + Implemented Russian roulette ray termination with -lr <= 0.
1461 + Made -lr -10 the default in rtcontrib.
1462 +
1463 + Made rtcontrib -f option search RAYPATH directories.
1464 +
1465 + Made it so -o option of rtcontrib can pipe -o output to a command.
1466 +
1467 + Added -if and -of options to total for binary i/o (following rcalc mold).
1468 +
1469 + Switched default options in rtrace to use Russian roulette.  (Rpict and rvu
1470 + still use biased ray termination.)
1471 +
1472 + Added rtcontrib -r option to recover partial output.
1473 +
1474 + Added -u rendering option for pure Monte Carlo sampling.
1475 + (Got rid of -DMC compile option, which this makes superfluous.)
1476 +
1477 + Changed -t option of rlam to accept strings as well as single characters.
1478 +
1479 + Fixed bug in rcalc with -l option where it would sometimes go into an
1480 + infinite loop.
1481 +
1482 + Fixed truly ancient bug in bounding box computation for cones, which
1483 + could (and did) cause missing segments.
1484 +
1485 + Added -z option to normtiff to output LZW-compressed files.
1486 +
1487 + Last change to total causes it to produce results when it sees an empty
1488 + line on the input.  This was not intentional, but I decided I like this
1489 + behavior so I documented it rather than changing it.
1490 +
1491 + =====================
1492 + Version 3.8
1493 +
1494 + Fixed Russian roulette ray termination, which was doing the opposite of
1495 + what it should have been doing, resulting in overestimated values below
1496 + minimum ray sampling weight (serious).
1497 +
1498 + Changed mksource to use 98th percentile (rather than 99th) for threshold.
1499 +
1500 + (Above changes included in 3.7.1 patch release.)
1501 +
1502 + Eliminated writing of EXPOSURE= line in ra_tiff -r when source TIFF
1503 + does not have STONITS set.
1504 +
1505 + Fixed bug in ambient calculation that caused black values for multiple
1506 + bounces in some scenes.  Thanks to Mark Stock for creating and sharing
1507 + the sophisticated test scene that demonstrated this problem.
1508 +
1509 + Fixed bug in antimatter using Russian Roulette sampling.
1510 +
1511 + (Above changes included in 3.7.2 patch release 22 Aug 2005.)

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