Rayscaper New Releases

pixelcruncher

Hey, Rayscaper users!

Rayscaper 0.9.13 is available (0.9.11 and 0.9.12 were internal test releases) in the SketchUcation store. There is more good stuff, so I recommend you upgrade to this version.

What Changed?

Fix flaky material picking. Sometimes, material picking would not work, or pick the wrong materials. This is fixed.
Fix a cursor problem after viewport dragging; sometimes, the hand cursor would not go away.
This release also features a simplification of the user interface:
- Add more readable icons for the Rayscaper window.
- Improved editors for the scene settings with more intuitive controls.

Reworking the editors was a significant code change, so let me know if something is not working or some things don't make sense to you. I'm here to help!

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

Happy Rendering!

sashapepperspray

@pixelcruncher There is no option anymore to change the texture type (color or image or perlin noise). Was this purposely removed, or is this a bug. I found the perlin noise one especially to be useful (for roughness).

pixelcruncher

@sashapepperspray

I removed it from the user interface because I assumed the use was limited, and maybe too complex. If you have use for it I will definitely bring it back in the user interface the next release.

sashapepperspray

@pixelcruncher thanks!

majid

@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.
car paint.PNG

majid

@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

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

@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

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

majid

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

pixelcruncher

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

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

ntxdave

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

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

ntxdave

@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

@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

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

@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

@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

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!