tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167081542012-01-26T02:44:24.601+01:00Santiago Orgaz's blog about xNormal, ratGPU, CGI, 3D graphics and GPUssantyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.comBlogger741100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-87872823335338979752011-12-23T00:34:00.013+01:002012-01-26T02:44:24.610+01:00

This week, the TDK2 and The Hobbit trailers have been released but, in my opinion, the most exciting trailer was released today.From the legendary director of Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, etc... Ridley Scott presents Prometheus, a space-scifi-action-terror 3D film with a very good casting which, apparently, explains the Alien's Space Jokey and the origins of humanity:I recommend you to

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-77707947722989457272011-12-04T19:39:00.001+01:002011-12-04T19:39:42.449+01:00

v3.17.7Added support to import/export WebP images. Fixed a problem in the SBM exporter for 3dsmax that was causing a hang when the user closes the window.Added a new experimental renderer based on Caustic Graphics/Imagination Technologies's OpenRL 1.0R2 ray tracing API.Fixed a problem with dilation using the tangent-to-object-space tool.Now you can render a new map type: derivative height maps,

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-51540710285176532182011-08-14T02:30:00.005+01:002011-11-25T18:48:33.337+01:00

ratGPU 0.5.4- Solved a problem that was causing a “pure virtual function call” error. - Fixed a CPU-GPU result mismatch. - Recompiled using the latest libraries ( AMD APP SDK 2.5 ). - Fixed a potential buffer overrun in VRAM memory that could generate artifacts. - Optimized a bit the rendering speed of non-textures surfaces. - The benchmark

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-56424158050339963392011-08-03T16:31:00.010+01:002011-08-03T16:51:50.212+01:00

Bioware is developing a new MMORPG based on the Star Wars's universe. It's called Star Wars : The Old Republic ( aka SWTOR ). It includes PvE quests/raids/dungeons, PvP world/duels/battlegrounds, crafting, etc... like WoW. You can choose between many races and classes and, of course, you can decide to be a Jedi or Sith.The game is expected to be released soon ( you can pre-order it now ) and

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-987354299214578182011-05-18T06:12:00.010+01:002011-05-19T02:35:14.142+01:00

ratGPU 0.5.2- Added Maya 2012 support ( Windows and Mac ).- Added support for ATI Radeon HD 4XXX cards.- Optimized a bit the precomputation phase.- Fixed several installation problems under linux.- Removed the need for an Internet connection and the expiration date.- Improved rendering speed for ATIs a lot ( 33%-100% ) ... BUT you'll need Catalyst 11.5 or above or ratGPU may hang.xNormal 3.17.5-

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-221544367984881302011-04-19T05:58:00.000+01:002011-04-19T02:24:27.143+01:00

ratGPU 0.5.1 is available with AA and texture support.http://www.ratgpu.comBtw, I'm looking for some examples if you want to collaborate, pls !

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-34035814407679885862011-02-20T14:57:00.026+01:002011-04-05T00:29:11.710+01:00

How would be a perfect MacMini more me? Well, something like this:The case should be made of liquid metal if it's cheaper than aluminium ( if not just keep it as is ).The power switch, USB/Firewire, phones and card reader should be on the front ( probably covered up with some kind of panel in order to conserve the aesthetics ). The power connector, HDMI/DisplayPort, RJ45 and air cooling exit

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-49290911091553532202011-02-09T01:40:00.000+01:002011-02-09T01:40:40.983+01:00

xNormal 3.17.4 is available with a new post-render heightmap clamping tool, the Optix renderer now is twice faster, it's possible to output unnormalized heights/VDM and the ASE importer now can read vertex colors.ratGPU 0.4.7 is available solving several bugs ( including that nasty one using ATI cards ).

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-52712696152612358042010-10-21T06:57:00.001+01:002010-10-27T07:18:44.409+01:00

Ok, time for another update:1. We released xNormal 3.17.3 several days ago ( I had no time to post the update, sorry ).2. Today we released ratGPU 0.4.3/0.4.4 adding a standalone app and a small benchmark for Windows, Ubuntu and OpenSUSE.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-46530714668901098862010-09-25T18:15:00.002+01:002010-09-25T17:28:16.081+01:00

The v0.4.1 is available with some bugs corrected, WinXP support, hybrid rendering, improved speed and ATI support ( you need to download their OpenCL SDK because the Catalyst drivers don't include the OpenCL runtime... don't ask me why... ).I want to share with you some preliminary benchmarks ( using the GPU exclusively and comparing it against the CPU ) :A simple scene to test ambient

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-66562622861072450122010-07-28T21:24:00.003+01:002010-07-28T21:26:10.604+01:00

xNormal 3.17.2 has been released:- Added support for Growl notifications.- Optimized the software CPU rendering a 5% ( thx to new LR child heuristics ).- The Optix renderer now uses a better sampling to reduce banding artifacts. Also improved sightly the performance.- Solved some bugs in the displacement map computations with the MatchUV option enabled.- Removed the dependency from the CUDA

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-81620632779490152062010-06-23T21:09:00.005+01:002010-07-21T22:01:34.883+01:00

I've just uploaded the v0.2.1 with path tracing support ( diffuse, reflective, refractive, fresnel, mesh lights ) and other enhacements.In the next releases I'll try to optimize the speed, because it's currently completely unoptimizedBtw, I'm experimenting some problems with the new FW 257/258 drivers. Please, roll back to the 197.XX if you have problems.More info at http://www.ratgpu.com

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-25293266663204264072010-06-15T00:40:00.008+01:002010-06-15T01:07:30.436+01:00

As I needed to improve my OpenCL's skill for xn4, I decided to make a small project called ratGPU.ratGPU is an OpenCL ray-tracing physically-based renderer for 3dsmax. I plan to port it also to Maya once it's more mature. By now, I'll stay with 3dsmax 2010 / 2011.It works currently with NVIDIA cards, but I've also an internal version running over ATI cards ( the speed is not yet good and I need

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-48197812370963080152010-05-26T04:33:00.027+01:002011-12-23T00:42:11.685+01:00

I have been always a big fan of The Matrix(1999) ( not what came next to that :p ). When I saw the teaser trailer for the first time I was shocked :OI've just seen the Inception's trailer and I'm in shock state again 10yrs after :OThe trailer has some spoilers so if you liked The Matrix, Dark City, The Cell, Paprika or you simply trust Nolan... then just go directly to the cinema :DIf you can't

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-26825678838191338082010-05-25T21:41:00.014+01:002010-05-26T04:29:07.555+01:00

I'm getting a lot of emails about the new Optix/CUDA renderer in xNormal. This FAQ will answer some of the most common questions:Q: Do I need to enable SLI to use multiple GPUs with the Optix renderer?A: Nope. It will use multiple GPUs even when SLI is not enabled. If multiple cards are detected then all them will be used automatically. You don't have to worry if SLI is enabled or not.Q: Why I

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-40491106380671328152010-05-25T00:38:00.002+01:002010-05-25T00:42:22.495+01:00

xNormal 3.17.1 is available.- Solved problems exporting TGA files ( 3dsmax was complaining )- Fixed a crash bug loading dotXSI/Collada files.- The Optix renderer now applys the "Ignore this device" option correctly ( ignoring an ignore option, funny :O )I'm now concentrating on xNormal 4.... finally!

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-43577257553883000382010-04-17T22:54:00.001+01:002010-05-08T18:13:05.844+01:00

The 3.17.0 is released with these new features:- Support for OpenCTM compressed meshes. Here is a video about how to convert a OBJ/LWO/COLLADA file into the OpenCTM .ctmhttp://www.vimeo.com/8997283- Recompilation using VS2008 SP1 ( because VS2005 is too old ) and some ray tracing optimizations. Expect a 10% speed increase from this.- Support for ZB Polypaint vertex colors in the .OBJs ( and .PLYs

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-27158095888231738982010-03-22T18:30:00.029+01:002010-08-26T01:35:57.716+01:00

1. I really cannot understand why Intel does not release a CPU/IGP OpenCL implementation.AMD's supports both CPU and GPU. NVIDIA's supports GPU. S3's supports GPU. PS3's Cell is supported too. Apple has an implementation too. Mesa/Gallium3D too... but the supposed #1 CPU provider in the world... not...2. I really cannot understand why the Macs are so expensive. It's a truly abuse !Women usually

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-6895759553412101232009-11-09T23:57:00.003+01:002009-11-10T00:03:07.555+01:00

xNormal 3.16.13 has been released. It's just a patch but it's important if you are a ZBrush 3.5 user or you have a slow Internet connection:Solved a problem importing OBJ meshes exported from Zbrush 3.5/Polypaint(0% load stall).The examples have been sepparated from the main package and they're available now as an independent .7z file.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-52442518180729480502009-10-26T02:56:00.000+01:002009-11-07T02:00:32.417+01:00

xNormal 3.16.12 has been relesed:- Added support Maya 2010- Fixed a problem rendering tiled/wrapped maps. The UVs no longer need to be in range [0.0f,1.0f].- Improved the sampling quality of ambient occlusion, bent normals and radiosity normal maps.- Fixed a problem importing SBM files into 3dsmax ( Projection modifier deformation )- Now it's possible to specify a background color for each map

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-54958435742330774072009-10-15T05:37:00.005+01:002009-10-19T01:56:36.346+01:00

Here is a small video showing the upcoming xNormal 4 Alpha. I recorded it using MacOSX 10.5You can see a bit of the new interface. It currently runs on MacOSX, Windows, linux and OpenSolaris. It's not yet very funcitonal... but the basis is there and it's growing exponentially each day!On the left there is the scene tree with the highpoly, lowpoly, lights, textures and materials. On the right

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-51513521081255362722009-05-16T06:15:00.006+01:002009-06-18T17:08:14.316+01:00

The 3.16.10 has been released. Solved the AO/bent faceted/hard edges problems as well as other bugs.Also, I plan to release the xn 4.0 Alpha 1 this summer for linux, Windows, MacOSX and Solaris/OpenSolaris. The objectives for this alpha version are:1. To test the portability and early potential platform problems.2. To show the new native look-and-feel standard UI ( and not that ugly "thing" I

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-31241907177208284642009-04-20T03:14:00.009+01:002009-04-29T05:42:03.829+01:00

xNormal 3.16.8 released:- Added 3dsmax 2010 support.- Improved rendering speed for bent normals- Solved a lot of bugs ( Maya tangents, DX10 starfield, weld vertices, ps i|10n plugin folder, etc.. ).Next step: June , xNormal 4.0 Alpha 1(Windows,linux... and perhaps MacOSX/Solaris) + perhaps a hw-accelerated ray tracing surprise :p

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-11355371569978079432009-03-27T11:27:00.029+01:002009-04-16T00:49:19.353+01:00

Ok, today is the Intel Larrabee's GDC 2009 ISA presentation. Here's a good resume:1. Larrabee is a discrete GPU aimed to compete vs the NVIDIA GeForces 2XX/3XX and also the ATI Radeon 4XXX/5XXX. Although it's oriented to rasterization ( it gonna be DirectX10/11 and OpenGL3 compatible), it has a very interesting GPGPU architecture which makes it unique.... and also a very good thing: if DirectX 12

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-29801464313690901672009-03-17T17:34:00.002+01:002009-03-17T17:36:46.184+01:00

xNormal 3.16.7 is available for download.The software AO rendering now is 200% faster.Solved a bug that could cause the Simple AO tool to hang when the user enables the “CPU rendering” option.Now, by default, the mesh cage will be created using averaged vertex normals.Added the “break” and “weld” buttons to the 3D viewer's cage editor.Added some words about mesh T-junctions in the documentation.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-52286415548945631042009-03-10T05:48:00.013+01:002009-03-10T07:18:05.274+01:00

How could be the future next-next-generation realtime graphics? Well... somebody could say "mix rasterization and ray-tracing using triangular/quad patches displacement mapping". Ok, there's nothing bad with that... but I think the future could be a bit different than that :DI think the future could be a sparse octree of VOXELS.In the past, some games like Comanche 3 and Outcast used voxels with

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-28042879431170346712009-02-06T06:38:00.002+01:002009-03-06T06:55:52.736+01:00

xNormal 3.16.6 has been released.Some bugs were fixed:- OpenGL ".0f" error in the Simple GPU AO tool.- Misalignment affecting AO, normal maps, cavity and bent normals.- Minor ones.I also added an unseful new parameter (bias) to the HM2NM tool for radiosity normal mapping.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-45392021874778993682009-01-10T02:36:00.004+01:002009-01-15T02:31:59.063+01:00

The following post is not necessarily related to xNormal... but you know I like to talk about other things different than xNormal sometimes.I like films. I read some time ago about James Cameron's next film called Avatar. I think James tries always to innovate and to surprise us. He did with Aliens, Terminator and Titanic. These last two used very innovative CGI effects... and, of course, all of

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-3105555443336297922009-01-10T02:30:00.000+01:002009-01-10T02:36:01.849+01:00

xNormal 3.16.4 has been released!- Added SBM mesh importer/exporter support for Maya 8.5, 2008 and 2009. - Added an option to see the vector displacement map's seams in the 3D viewer - Added a new tool: the SBM file converter. - Added a occluded/unoccluded color to the Simple GPU AO tool.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-11509660352757616322008-11-27T07:16:00.015+01:002008-12-06T06:13:25.727+01:00

After several years using propietary and non-free OSs, I'm going to try something different. xNormal 4.0 gonna be (mainly)programmed using Ubuntu linux. I'm using it now and it's currently the operating system I like the more !Some reasons:- It's free. We're in the middle of an economical crisis(read well... crisis... not crysis :p). Anything is fine to save money. You can choose to pay lots of

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-73458655813283884602008-11-21T00:13:00.000+01:002008-11-21T00:13:58.524+01:00

The 3.16.3 has been released.It includes realtime true vector displacement mapping for the DX10 graphics driver.This is an example using just normal mapping:And this is with vector displacement mapping applied:It's a convincing trick, isn't it? :DThis technique works with DX9 SM3.0 or DX10 and consumes much less video memory than a statically-tessellated mesh. It's suitable for animation too. As

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-11945383369838886132008-10-27T08:05:00.000+01:002008-10-27T08:06:26.882+01:00

xNormal 3.16.2 has been released!- MatchUVs feature. You can tell to xNormal that the highpoly model is just the lowpoly model subdivided and sculpted... so it can compute the maps faster and more easily ( without having to setup cages nor ray distances ).- Improved image memory management. Now you should able to render bigger bitmaps without running out of memory!- Render multiple maps in one

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-34815109368062523342008-09-01T23:22:00.001+01:002008-12-09T18:26:11.505+01:00

xNormal 3.16.1 has been released:- Added an experimental CUDA 2 map renderer ( I need to optimize it still a lot ).- Now it's possible to disable the tiles's update mechanism to gain some rendering speed.- By popular demand, replaced the adaptive antialiasing by the old method.- Solved some bugs ( AA pixelization problem inherited from the 3.15.X versions, cone map, TS-normal map hard edges,

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-75992661619540613612008-06-02T18:14:00.001+01:002008-12-09T18:26:11.758+01:00

xNormal 3.15.2 has been released:- Added an option to the "wireframe and ray fails" map to show UV seams.- Solved some bugs ( incorrect mesh auto-clear, AA 1/1 diagnostics crash, etc ).

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-74919087406803700542008-05-25T22:10:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:12.245+01:00

xNormal 3.15.1 has been released!- Added new map render types: wireframe, clockwise UVs, cavity and ray fails.- Added indirect illumination and radiosity to the realtime ray tracing graphics driver.- Added 3dsmax 2009 support.- Added a SBM mesh importer for 3dsmax.- Added "edge padding" option to the tangent/object normal map converter.- Improved the floating point accuracy of the internal

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-3140211497381113622008-04-18T19:11:00.002+01:002008-04-18T19:14:28.720+01:00

xNormal 3.14.6 released!- Some UI improvements like drag and drop, multi selection, etc- Bigger preview- Multimonitor enhacements- Cage autoassignment message-box after pressing the "save meshes"- Added two buttons to clear the lowpoly/highpoly meshes- Several bugs fixed

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-43367628811550712642008-04-04T17:03:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:12.456+01:00

xNormal 3.14.5 was released.- Added gamma correction to the DX10 graphics driver- Solved some bugs

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-23736149836254326192008-03-29T08:46:00.005+01:002008-12-09T18:26:12.774+01:00

xNormal 3.14.4 has been released!- SSAO in the DX10 graphics driver- Fake indirect lighting in the DX10 graphics driver. Added a Cornell box example to show this.- Recompiled using SSE for extra speed- Improved a bit the quality of the raytracing graphics driver ( I have secret plans for that )- Corrected several bugsEnjoy!

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-79462190583359488912008-03-21T07:25:00.005+01:002008-03-21T07:48:08.761+01:00

I finished the screen-space ambient occlusion realtime technique ( inspired by Crysis ) for the upcoming xNormal 3.14.4Here is a video of the effect applied on Kevin "Ironbearxl" George's Sylia model: I'm taking only 16 samples so is very fast to render. You will be able to tweak it using some parameters. It will be only available for the DX10 graphics driver by the moment but is a very

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-11185068327564520772008-03-12T03:18:00.013+01:002008-03-21T07:51:31.423+01:00

I am experimenting with indirect lighting / radiosity in the xNormal's 3D realtime viewer.Here are two videos showing preliminary results : (sigh, I need to get rid of all those flashings! )A Cornell box: Currently, it only works in Direct3D 10.0 but will be very easy to port this technique to OpenGL or DX9. The algorithm is very simple and fast.With D3D10.1 will be much faster and it

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-15486077229836479242008-02-24T19:40:00.003+01:002008-12-09T18:26:13.276+01:00

xNormal 3.14.3 was released:- Added three light simulation to the 3D viewer.- Added more control to the fine detail.- Some bugs corrected.As always, go to http://www.xnormal.net/Downloads.aspx to get it!

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-48853973348757494052008-02-05T07:17:00.016+01:002008-12-09T18:26:13.432+01:00

As you know, xNormal makes an intensive use of ray tracing. I investigated a lot of ray tracing devices and here is a small enumeration:NVIDIA. NVIDIA bought Ageia. That was interesting because xNormal 2 used the Ageia PhysX SDK to accelerate raycasts. Unfortunately, it could not support big meshes ( and was done using the CPU ) so I was forced to look for other method... that's why I created

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-46645964496588921772008-01-29T09:21:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:13.584+01:00

xNormal 3.14.1 was released!- Added the DX10 graphics driver with improved HDRI, glow effect, logarithmic tone mapping and MSAA transparency support. Unfortunately, as you should know, DX10 is Vista-only. However, I plan an OpenGL 3.1 Mount Evans driver once the spec is released.- The height map no longer requires a numerical value to set the min/max distance. Now it uses the cages or the uniform

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-4571095670170599782008-01-18T21:09:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:13.599+01:00

The 3.14.0 has been released!Tons of changes, including:- Completely revamped renderer which uses very few RAM- Realtime preview window- Very improved memory management and polycount ( was tested with the Stanford's 116M poly Lucy mesh with 4k x 4k x 16AA occlusion maps and 1,5Gb of RAM ).- Added per-vertex AO baking in the Simple GPU AO tool. Also adapted the "typical" AO software renderer to

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-10438835132048823082007-11-07T04:00:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:13.933+01:00

The 3.12.0 has been released!- GPU ambient occlusion generator ( 100x faster than typical way to render AO )- Ogre3D mesh importer/exporters- New height map to cone map tool ( Lonesock-Dummer/Policarpo-Oliveira methods ) for next-next-gen improved parallax bump mapping.- Realtime ray tracing graphics driver for the 3D viewer + a new example showing real reflections.- PRT-p and PRT-n map rendering

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-53041981137571213402007-08-31T16:42:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:14.076+01:00

Two small but interesting new features have been added:- Load mesh folder. You can automatically load automatically multiple highpoly meshes and base textures. This is very useful if you work with ZBrush object chunks.- Fine detail on bent normals. Now the fine detail affects the AO bent normals.Also revamped a few the Photoshop Dilation Filter to working without having to select an alpha

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-39223785644189104382007-07-20T03:30:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:14.658+01:00

xNormal 3.11.0 final has been released!- Solved bugs related to multicore CPUs ( specially in the cavity tool )- Solved a bug with DX9 and ATI cards that was making the lowpoly models not to be drawn- Added mesh unit scale support- Added the tangent/object space converter tool- Added translucent shadows and fake caustics to the 3D viewer.- Changed the old 3d viewer grid by a new one.- Added a new

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-66132159931296642882007-06-11T02:33:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:15.018+01:00

The xNormal 3.10.6 was released!- Added two new examples from Howard Day and Vidar Rapp.- Added an option to render a cheap and fast AO map from a lowpoly model + a normal map.- Improved numerical stability and memory efficiency.- Rewritten the multicore renderer.- Added the 8MonkeyLabs mesh importer for their upcoming game "Darkest of days".- Two new tools: the heightmap to occlusion and

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-31609420822930100972007-04-30T00:17:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:15.123+01:00

Just uploaded the 3.10.5 with some bugs corrected, a SBM mesh exporter port for old 3dsmax version(6/7/8) and recompiled the image filters to support the new Photoshop CS3.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-75982640784135822032007-04-11T03:49:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:15.250+01:00

xNormal 3.10.4 final been released:( Pablo Hoyo's example normal map converted using the new cavity tool )- Revamped ambient occlusion. Now you can use cages/ray distance to control the AO ray length. New adaptive method ( increased render speed ). Added AO bias to solve some self collision problems. Added new Random(dirty) distribution. Added "bent normals" generation for PRT- Added min/max

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-58923036657396351552007-03-07T23:09:00.000+01:002007-03-07T23:11:25.011+01:00

xNormal 3.10.2 has been released:- Completely revamped triangle rasterizer. Less artifacts, more accurate, top-left filling convention, a bit faster.- New "black sand pixels remover" image filter for AO/thickness/proximity artifacts.- Independent map filtering.- Increased maximum map size- Maps are rendered individually in memory ( much less RAM in use )- Solved tons of bugs ( including pixel

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-58069476271113967822007-02-07T03:06:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:15.444+01:00

Just uploaded the v3.10.1 correcting some bugs.Three new tutorials ( about how to measure the ray distances and how to use cages ) have been added.Enjoy it!

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-3866908882829566212007-02-01T07:47:00.000+01:002008-12-09T18:26:15.862+01:00

The 3.10.0 has been released!Tons of changes.No more inner cage, now you only need to configure the front one.Also you can specify "external cages" created from programs like 3dsmax, Maya, etc...New fast supersampling methods.New types of maps: convexity/cavity, thickness for SSS and proximity.Added an option to control the angle of the AO.A new texture baking example.Optimized a lot the DX9

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1165447148825797112007-01-01T22:02:00.000+01:002007-01-29T07:51:44.647+01:00

The v3.9.4 final has been released with the following features:- International localization. The application has been translated into multiple languages ( including right-to-left layouts). Initially are available English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin. I'm using external XML files so if there is any error in the translation you could fix it

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1160112614345628002006-10-06T06:28:00.000+01:002006-10-07T04:10:01.100+01:00

I just uploaded the version 3.9.2 to solve problems with some mesh importers ( was showing an incorrect zero radio message or crashing ).Also changed a few the SDK includes to make it easier to use.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1155598553390467802006-08-15T00:11:00.001+01:002006-10-06T20:20:48.946+01:00

xNormal v3.9.1 has been released!It adds a Direct3D 9.0c graphics driver for the 3D viewer , hurray!I was tired of crappy OpenGL drivers thats why included the Direct3D driver for the viewer.This driver can use Shader Model 1, 2 and 3 so people with low-end cards can now use the xNormal 3D viewer.A .X mesh importer has been added too.Improved the TIFF exporter. Now can save 8bpp/16bpp/32FP

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1155315639142447882006-08-11T17:59:00.000+01:002006-08-21T04:17:57.173+01:00

The version 3.9.0 is released.This time optimized the mesh loading speed a lot ( can reach 10x! ), improved the cage system ( now you can control too the ray directions ) and solved some minor bugs.As usually you can download it athttp://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/projects.aspxChange list is athttp://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/archives/xNormal_changes.txtbtw, there is a bug

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1153709639728642882006-07-24T03:53:00.000+01:002006-07-24T03:53:59.736+01:00

I just uploaded the version 3.8.1 with some bug patches.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1153091547855823662006-07-17T00:10:00.001+01:002006-07-18T09:02:55.160+01:00

The v3.8.0 is finished.Implemented the the "bake highpoly base texture on the lowpoly model", re-enabled the COLLADA importer, added two new amazing examples, fixed tons of bugs, improved 3x the speed in the 3D viewer drawing the highpoly model, implemented a new virtual memory system capable to manage really big mesh assets, new SBM binary mesh format for superfast loading/save disk space,

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1152065582426035942006-07-05T03:11:00.000+01:002006-07-05T03:13:02.436+01:00

Uploaded a new patch solving some minor bugs ( specially in Windows 2000 ) and improving the RAM usage.

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1151287583690057112006-06-26T03:02:00.000+01:002006-06-26T03:32:05.973+01:00

Just uploaded a small patch solving some bugs, optimized a few the graphics driver and re-enabled the dual-core and hyperthreading support.As usually you can download it in http://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/projects.aspx

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1150743099380082482006-06-19T19:47:00.000+01:002006-06-21T19:39:16.666+01:00

xNormal v3.7.2 is here!Added the x64 version, ASE loader, implemented shadows in the 3D viewer, added an automatic command-line renderer, optimized a lot the graphics driver and OBJ importer and much more!As usually you can download it in http://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/projects.aspx

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1148604922948465982006-05-26T01:49:00.001+01:002006-05-26T01:56:56.746+01:00

xNormal v3.6.1 is available. I added diffuse cubemap lighting, batch protection to isolate/mask the normal map, fresnel reflections and corrected some minor bugs.This is the diffuse cubemap lighting in action. Notice the light intensity slider is set to zero, so you are viewing only the diffuse cubemap lighting. As you can see is a very good trick to simulate outdoor lighting! I wanna thank to

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1146785617855614232006-05-05T00:32:00.000+01:002006-05-21T06:05:30.673+01:00

Weeeeeeee! I completed the c++ SDK, the new plugin system, an improved antialiasing method , better glow effect in the 3d viewer, preview window and tons of new features and upgrades.Also added the wonderful Paul "MoP" Greveson's General Xemakos example.As usually is available at http://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/projects.aspx

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1144564247093298152006-04-09T07:27:00.000+01:002006-04-09T07:30:47.106+01:00

xNormal v3.5.1 is available!Basically solved some problems with cages, added a new glow effect for emissive texture and true alpha sorting in the viewer!As always you can download it at http://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/projects.aspxHope you like it!

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1143869455297532682006-04-01T06:25:00.000+01:002006-04-01T06:33:25.996+01:00

Okie, some minor patch:1) By popular demand, now a sound card is NOT required. xNormal now will run without sound card, but is recommended if you wanna listed the button sounds and background music in the 3D viewer. If no sound card present just will run without sounds. and you no longer will get the "sorry a sound card is required to run this program".2) Added some old DLLs to the installer that

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1143781944063292152006-03-31T06:06:00.000+01:002006-03-31T06:13:49.440+01:00

The new version v3.4.0 is out and ready to go!More than 15.000 lines of code were added and provides new and interesting features. Here is an image about some of the new changes:This version incorporates a new "cage" method to measure better the maximum ray distance, now is possible to specify outter and inner ray independent distances, adds batch rendering support, allows to visualize the

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1142643207108818862006-03-18T01:51:00.000+01:002006-03-18T01:56:28.836+01:00

Finished the v3.3.0.It adds a completely new ambient occlusion method, UI enhacements, parallax mapping in the 3d viewer, a new example and some bugs corrected.As always, go to http://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/projects.aspxEnjoy it!

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1142300321876633982006-03-14T02:32:00.000+01:002008-01-07T22:49:37.816+01:00

This new version of xNormal includes supersampling, light orbiting in the 3D viewer, improved dotXSI importer, n-sided convex - non hole polygon support, some UI improvements and serious bug corrections ( gen mipmaps, ms3d, obj quad crashes solved ).As always, go to http://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/projects.aspx to downloadBtw, due to the web high traffic I am experimenting, decided

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1142048678589975412006-03-11T04:40:00.000+01:002006-03-11T04:45:22.880+01:00

New version out!It supports quad faces, multipart download, orbit camera, FSAA/anisotropic filtering and floating point textures in the viewer, solves Pentium4 ambient occlusion crash, added Stanford PLY mesh format, memory management improvements and some minor bugs and fixes!Also, added in my web page a small .TXT with the changes.As usually, download it at http://

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1141105787614676482006-02-28T06:43:00.000+01:002006-02-28T07:54:31.576+01:00

Finally, xNormal v3.0 is out and completely revamped as you can see:I did tons of changes. The most noticeable are the new .NET 2.0 UI, the interactive OpenGL previewer, the COLLADA support , the new raytracing core that allows to autodetect the "inset" and "max ray distance" automatically and the new examples.I am trying to get more examples to include with xNormal. I must mention to Pablo Hoyos

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1138398659334430852006-01-27T22:49:00.000+01:002006-01-27T22:50:59.343+01:00

I am about to finish the new XNormal v3.0 with new and exciting features in days! Stay tuned!

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1136986685369752522006-01-11T14:35:00.000+01:002006-01-27T22:51:49.510+01:00

The new xNormal v2.2.025 has been released. It includes a z-buffer to prevent polygon overlapping problems, a new and improved software raytraces much faster than the previous one, C++ .h output files, full AGEIA PhysX hardware support and many more features!As usually you can download it in http://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/archives/xNormal_win32.zipAnd yes, my web is still being

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708154.post-1126661602627629832005-09-14T02:25:00.001+01:002008-09-28T20:01:34.523+01:00

Finally I completed my new version of the xNormal, a normal mapper tool. It generates a normal map from a very high polygon model and fits into a low polygon model, creating the illusion you are using zillions of polygons over it!It supports formats like XSI, 3DS, OBJ, LWO, DXF, FBX, Milkshape 3D, Rhinoceros, BMP, TGA, TIFF, JPG, OpenEXR, HDR.... Also supports features like object/tangent space,

santyhammerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08886512430046099486noreply@blogger.com0