Whats New - Version 4.5.5

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• Command echo
• Tool keyboard focus
• RSL displacement to slim template
• RAT preferences
• Undo

Command Echo
Commands issued by Cutter are now echoed in the Process Monitor->Options panel - figure 1.

figure 1

Tool keyboard focus
Tool windows now move forward/backward in response to user selections. They also auto-hilite their last focused text field when they are selected.

RSL displacement to slim template
When converting an RSL displacement source code document to a Slim template, Cutter searches for "- normalize(Ng)", as in,

    vector  diff = normalize(N) - normalize(Ng);

If "(Ng)" is found it is assumed the user is already applying normal differencing - refer to Steve May. If it is not found in the source code then Cutter adds the following parameter block to the Slim template.

parameter float UseShadingNormals {
    label {UseShadingNormals}
    description "Directly using the normal returned from 
            calculatenormal() causes polygons to appear 
            faceted. This parameter adds the offset of 
            the original shading normal to the calculated 
            normal. This re-smooths the polygons. For 
            more information refer to,
            http://accad.osu.edu/~smay/RManNotes/WritingShaders
            /disp.html#smooth
            by Steve May."
    default 0
    subtype switch
}

It also modifies the body of the RSLMain block to include the following statements.

output "vector _dnormal = normalize(N) - normalize(Ng);"
output "P = P - n * hump * Km;"
output "N = calculatenormal (P);"
output "if([getvar UseShadingNormals] != 0) { "
output "    N = normalize(calculatenormal(P)) + _dnormal;"
output "    }"

RAT preferences
Two locations must now be specified in the preferences panel, figure 2, when Pixar's RAT is installed

Undo
A bug in the undo mechanism of Cutter appears to have been fixed. Undo'ing works in a fashion similiar to other text editors/word processors.

figure 2