--- ray/doc/notes/ReleaseNotes 2024/10/02 15:58:56 1.463 +++ ray/doc/notes/ReleaseNotes 2025/07/24 18:25:46 1.494 @@ -2383,7 +2383,7 @@ Added -u option to gendaymtx to elide data columns (ti the sun is not visible above the horizon. ========================= -Version 5.4 +Version 5.4 (Released November 5, 2023) Added rcollate -c option to force operation to continue even if it seems unnecessary. Made tool more robust. @@ -2605,7 +2605,7 @@ Made reciprocity averaging default to "off" in bsdf2tt to create more problems than it solves. ==================== -Version 6.0 +Version 6.0 (Released July 23, 2025) Extensive changes to enable spectral rendering, which defaults to "off" to maintain backwards-compatibility with previous versions, with the @@ -2672,9 +2672,11 @@ put out as many color channels as specified in any -cs Added ability of mgf2rad to convert spectral data at least for light, glow, plastic, and metal primitive types. Need -to use new '-s' option to get new output. +to use new '-s' option to get new output. Added support for +new WGMDfunc type as well, which is considerably more flexible +at supporting different spectral components. -Added handling of spectral images to rcode2bmp script. +Added handling of spectral pictures (HSR) to rcode2bmp script. Minor change to rcollate to allow explicit byte records to be any specified length without checks against header input. @@ -2714,27 +2716,121 @@ to Mike DiPompeo of LightStanza for reporting the issu Added rxpict rendering tool based on C++ RpictSimulManager class. Multi-processing and spectral output are supported. -Added crude ability to read and convert spectra to RGB in ximage, -ra_bmp, and ra_rgbe programs. Also updated fast tone-mapping -library to handle spectral HSR inputs at the same time. HSR -input handling was added in a similar fashion to pcond and pvalue. - Wrote rxpiece tool that will render pictures using tiling and can handle different output formats and hyperspectral pictures. -Only runs on a single machine, however -- now NFS locking on +Only runs on a single machine, however -- no NFS locking on shared volumes. Mainly a demonstration tool for RpictSimulManager -C++ class, but may have its uses. +C++ class, but later added to standard Rmakefile targets. Fixed a bug in BSDF sampling of sources pointed out by David Geisler-Moroder, which tended to overestimate specular contributions for some BSDFs. +Added crude ability to read and convert spectra to RGB in ximage, +ra_bmp, ra_ps, and ra_rgbe programs. Also updated fast tone-mapping +library to handle spectral HSR inputs at the same time. HSR +input handling was added in a similar fashion to pcond and pvalue +for convenience. + +Added handling of hyperspectral images to normtiff, a handy program +for quickly tone-mapping Radiance RGBE, XYZE, and now hyperspectral +pictures, as well as IEEE float or LogLuv TIFFs. + Added handling of hyperspectral pictures to pextrem, though results are still reported in RGB. -Added conversion of hyperspectral pictures to ra_xyze, although -it is even slower than rcomb for this process. It is more -accurate than most of the other tools, at least. +Added accurate conversion of hyperspectral pictures to ra_xyze. -Added handling of hyperspectral images to normtiff, a little-used -but handy program for quickly tone-mapping pictures and TIFFs. +Added hyperspectral picture conversion to ra_tiff, with accurate +color when targeting 16-bit/comp., LogLuv, and float output, +and the approximate method for 24-bit RGB. + +Taoning added genssky -L option to specify global and diffuse +illuminance values for output calibration. + +Created C++ class for rcontrib and example tool rxcontrib, which +is an optional compile in the src/rt directory. The output +model is more general in some respects and the operations more +efficient, but standard output is not supported, nor is ASCII +results data. + +Added strnstr.c compatibility module in ray/src/common, since +it isn't present on Linux derivatives. + +Added WGMDfunc material type with programmable roughness and +separate modifier paths for the different components. + +Added gensurf -i option at the request of Peter Apian-Bennewitz +to reverse surface normals, mostly for data input, when it is +a bit more difficult to adjust. + +Added rad -N option to rholo call for multiprocessing when +mkillum and/or mkpmap are involved in octree prep. + +Added ability of gendaymtx to read EPW as well as WEA files. +When EPW input is provided, the 3-hour average dew point is +used to compute a more accurate precipitable water content +value. It currently does not use these data directly from +the EPW input, relying instead on a dew-point-to-W calculation. +This follows the request and recommendations of David G-M. + +Removed limitation in rfluxmtx, which was disallowing distant +and local receivers. Found this to be a perfectly valid approach +for some annual daylighting scenarios. + +Wrote new pvsum tool to handle cases dctimestep can't, like +spectral input pictures. It also adds a -N option for multi- +processing on Unix machines, which utilizes memory-mapped +inputs for efficient i/o sharing. + +Made it so genBSDF can use spectral rendering for a +more accurate photometric result. + +Changed default matrix representation to float rather than +double, which uses less RAM and supports faster operations +in general. Build with compiler flag: + -DDTnativeDTrmx_native=DTdouble +to get back higher precision representation. + +Taoning Wang updated genssky and gensdaymtx to provide illuminance +calibration and accept EPW files directly as input. + +Added -e expr and -f file.cal options to all rendering tools, not +just rcontrib/rxcontrib. Feature request from Peter A-B. + +Fixed slight bias in indirect calculation caused by ambient +collision detection, pointed out by Jon Sargent. New code +keeps track of rejected samples and sells them back to +later calls to get something closer to a true Poisson +sampling method. + +Altered rvu "origin" command to take shift amounts forward, +right, and up rather than taking an explicit origin, which +can be done easily enough with the "view" command. Peter A-B +requested (sort of). + +Added genglaze tool created by Taoning Wang to generate +spectral glazing materials based on CGDB data and models. + +Fixed bug that caused inf and nan errors with -cw setting +where longer wavelength was substantially less than limits +of specified spectra. + +Created bsdfpeaks utility to identify and report full-width, +half-maximum sizes of peaks in SIR and XML inputs. + +Changed default super-sampling in bsdf2ttree from 256 to 64, +since there doesn't seem to be much benefit to the higher +sampling rate for most BSDFs. + +Fixed problem with "mirror" primitive, which was not permitting +indirect rays to transmit through alternate material type. +Thanks to Jon Sargent for finding problem and help resolving it. + +Added experimental C++ based rxpiece tool to default installation +in makeall/Rmakefile. + +Added rcomb -mt option to transpose concatenation matrix. + +==================== +Version 6.1