Rayscaper New Releases

majid · 12 May 2024, 22:07

@pixelcruncher I was going to prepare a car paint material pack and thought it would be nice if I could have my custom material preview, nothing serious.

majid · 12 May 2024, 22:25

@pixelcruncher huge amount of job! well done!
I am wondering if this is possible to assign a map/option for "opacity" of the materials. so that I could make a perforated metal sheet i.e.?
Also I may not be able to imagine that a metal/mirror material is emitting light.. is there any real-life example?

pixelcruncher · 13 May 2024, 05:27

Hey @majid,

Yeah, I see how this can be handy for you. I will re-add the material previews in one of the subsequent releases and make a note to support custom material previews.

For my information, are you interested in having a custom material preview while editing the material or after saving it in the material library? Or in both places?

Cheers,
Thomas

pixelcruncher · 13 May 2024, 05:36

@majid

I am wondering if this is possible to assign a map/option for "opacity" of the materials. so that I could make a perforated metal sheet i.e.?

That should already be there unless you are talking about something else. You can plug a map into the material's opacity input.

Also I may not be able to imagine that a metal/mirror material is emitting light.. is there any real-life example?

I don't think so, but artists might still want to use it. Is that something that bothers you? The implementation of emission is shared by all materials so that I can put it on every material at no extra cost.

Cheers,
Thomas

majid · 14 May 2024, 06:49

@pixelcruncher Ah I did not noticed the "square" as an "image place holder", Thank you...

majid · 14 May 2024, 07:04

@pixelcruncher Yeap it makes sense if is in front of its name. Much better if could be undocked , floating and enlarged.

pixelcruncher · 31 May 2024, 17:54

Hey, Rayscaper friends!

Rayscaper 0.9.15 is available (0.9.14 was an internal test release) in the SketchUcation store. A lot of fixes and new things so I recommend you upgrade to this version.

What Changed?

Improvements

Desktop Scaling

Some users complained that Rayscaper was not legible on high-res, especially with display scaling enabled. I added a configuration option to scale the user interface to make it more readable on such displays.

Fast Tone Mapping

Improve the speed of the tone mapping operations. All operations now run in real-time, even on big render resolutions.

More Intuitive Exposure Control

Make the exposure slider more intuitive. Negative values darken the image, and positive values brighten it—an exposure step value of one doubles or halves the brightness. A value of 0 means a neutral exposure.

More Zoom Controls

Add zoom controls to the Rayscaper toolbar and the option to fit the viewport.

Fewer Watermarks

Although Rayscaper is commercial ( and I think it is a very affordable piece of software ), I also wanted to reduce the watermarking to improve the experience for free users.

Bug Fixes

Add the option to scale the user interface. This makes Rayscaper a lot more legible on high DPI displays.
Bring back the capability to configure the following texture types (cc: @sashapepperspray):
- Noise Texture
- Uv Texture
- Mix Texture
- Checkerboard Texture
Bring back the double-sided and fake emission controls for light-emitting materials (cc: @majid).

Help me build the community

I'm on Twitter (X) now: https://twitter.com/Rayscaper3d/ - Please follow the @Rayscaper3d that will help me grow the community and spread the word about Rayscaper!

Happy Rendering!

sashapepperspray · 31 May 2024, 19:23

@pixelcruncher
thank you for this update, and putting back the noise/ mix/ checkerboard options.

ntxdave · 29 Jun 2024, 18:03

If I purchase RayScaper will I be able to install and use it with both 2024 and 2020? I also have a new laptop. Will I be able to install it on both of my laptops?

Rich O Brien · 29 Jun 2024, 19:16

@ntxdave Rayscaper is not compatible with SketchUp 2021 and below.

ntxdave · 29 Jun 2024, 20:09

@Rich-O-Brien Thanks Rich. That is what I thought but some place I thought I thought their product or web site said something about 2020.

Right now I have thr trial version but it is about to expire. I need to go try something again because u thought I saw an error but I will have to evaluate that.

pixelcruncher · 29 Jun 2024, 20:41

@ntxdave We only support 2021 or higher. 2020 is not supported.

There’s no time-limited trial, you can use it for free as long as you like but the free version has a small watermark.

Cheers,
Thomas

pixelcruncher · 8 Nov 2024, 07:11

Hey, Rayscaper friends!

Rayscaper 0.9.23 Beta is available in the SketchUcation store. A lot of fixes and new things so I recommend you upgrade to this version.

What Changed?

Improvements

New GUI Framework

Migrated Rayscaper to a new graphical user interface (GUI) framework. This changes the look and feel of the GUI but
was done mainly to simplify Rayscaper's code base to enable faster future development. This was a significant change and why it took +1 Month since the previous release.

Here's what Rayscaper looks like now:

Some controls changed, so make sure to check the help:

Express Light Emitting Materials in Watt

Controlling light emitting materials (LEMs) was sometimes tricky. I fixed some bugs in this area, and LEMs are now expressed in Watts.

Bug Fixes

Make sure that VCB input works again with the light tools.

Help me build the community

I'm on Twitter (X) now: https://twitter.com/Rayscaper3d/ - Please follow the @Rayscaper3d that will help me grow the community and spread the word about Rayscaper!

Happy Rendering!

ntxdave · 11 Aug 2024, 14:56

@pixelcruncher said in Rayscaper New Releases:

Migrated Rayscaper to a new graphical user interface (GUI) framework. This changes the look and feel of the GUI but
was done mainly to simplify Rayscaper's code base to enable faster future development. This was a significant change and why it took +1 Month since the previous release.

Help me build the community

I'm on Twitter (X) now: https://twitter.com/Rayscaper3d/ - Please follow the @Rayscaper3d that will help me grow the community and spread the word about Rayscaper!

I like the updated UI. To me it is easier to read and some of the tools are definitely improved (IMO)

I do not have a Twitter account and not sure I want one. You should explore the idea of having your own forum.

pixelcruncher · 12 Aug 2024, 09:44

@ntxdave

Great to hear that you like the new GUI better! It took some effort to migrate the code.

I have been dragging my feet on having a Rayscaper forum. I got by with the SketchUcation forum and the official SketchUp forum. I also haven’t done any real effort spread the word about Rayscaper, always have been focused on programming the software. Definitely something to think about for me.

pixelcruncher · 18 Aug 2024, 14:42

Hey, Rayscaper friends!

Rayscaper 0.9.25 Beta is available in the SketchUcation store. Some fixes and improvements. As always, I recommend upgrading to the latest version.

What Changed?

Improvements

Support SketchUp Shadows

You can now create a directional light in Rayscaper that is directly coupled to the SketchUp shadows feature. You can enable this feature from the Rayscaper menu:

Enabling this creates a new directional light that syncs with the SketchUp shadows controls.

Filter material & light lists

Type some text in the filter box to filter in your lights and materials lists:

Bug Fixes

Fix "ghost" lights in Rayscaper. Sometimes, lights that you deleted before would re-appear again when loading the scene at a later time.
Disable the light tools when the user is editing inside a component. Adding Rayscaper lights to SketchUp components is not supported (it's on our roadmap). To avoid this, we now disable the light-creation tools when a component is edited.
Show light and material names alphabetically.

Help me build the community

I'm on Twitter (X) now: https://twitter.com/Rayscaper3d/ - Please follow the @Rayscaper3d that will help me grow the community and spread the word about Rayscaper!

If you like Rayscaper, please share your renders! This will help me showcase its capabilities to other potential users.

Happy Rendering!

pixelcruncher · 19 Aug 2024, 15:20

Hey folks,

There was an issue with the previous release (0.9.25 Beta). Rayscaper would refuse to render and stay idle. This is fixed in version 0.9.26 Beta. You can get it from the plugin store.

ntxdave · 19 Aug 2024, 16:03

@pixelcruncher Thanks for the update. Everything seems to be working correctly now.

ntxdave · 21 Aug 2024, 16:27

@pixelcruncher said in Rayscaper New Releases:

Hey, Rayscaper friends!

Help me build the community

I'm on Twitter (X) now: https://twitter.com/Rayscaper3d/ - Please follow the @Rayscaper3d that will help me grow the community and spread the word about Rayscaper!

If you like Rayscaper, please share your renders! This will help me showcase its capabilities to other potential users.

Happy Rendering!
OK, I set up an account on Twitter, but I have to say that so far what I see is not something I like. I think there has to be a better way to promote your product and get positive feedback.

I have shared several renders on the Rayscaper Learning-Practice thread. If you think any of them are worth posting somewhere, feel free. The ones I have shared so far are inspired by @majid and his book.

Again, I think it would be good (better IMO) if you started your own forum. Another idea might be to get Rich to set up a category on SketchUcation for Rendering and then a subcategory for Rayscaper (but that might bypass some SketchUp users).

pixelcruncher · 24 Aug 2024, 09:18

I have shared several renders on the Rayscaper Learning-Practice thread. If you think any of them are worth posting somewhere, feel free. The ones I have shared so far are inspired by @majid and his book.

Thanks @ntxdave - which book by @majid are you referring to?

Again, I think it would be good (better IMO) if you started your own forum. Another idea might be to get Rich to set up a category on SketchUcation for Rendering and then a subcategory for Rayscaper (but that might bypass some SketchUp users).

At some point, that decision will be made. But right now, there's not that much interest in Rayscaper yet. However, having a Rayscaper forum might help attract users. I'm a programmer, so I always feel like improving the software, but at some point, I will have to step out of my comfort zone and start marketing it