Whats New Version 4.2.1

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• MEL commands popup
• "function" popup
• keyframing

MEL commands popup
The mel commands cache that Cutter uses for the display of its popup menu has been improved. The use of the cache was introduced in version 4.0.1 and subsequently improved in version 4.2.0. The new cache now includes 11350 flags for 1068 MEL commands.

The previous version only included 8717 flags. I had assumed that it would be impossible for a MEL command to define two flags with EXACTLY the same short and long names. Infact, 41 MEL commands use duplicate names ie. 340 flags. Because of my assumption, Cutter produced and subsequently used a truncated cache. The new cache defines all the flags with the exception of those that have duplicated names.

figure 1. Cutter version 4.2.0

figure 2. Cutter version 4.2.1

"function" popup
The operation of the "funcs" button has been further improved - see the notes dealing with the function popup for the previous version. To prevent the popup button from trying to parse "over size" documents it ignores related files larger than 512Kb - see figure 3.

figure 3

keyframing
The keyframe facilities Cutter have been extended. As with previous versions of Cutter, choosing the "Key Frame Rib" menu item (figure 4) produces a keyframe file that can be used for simple keyframe animations. Cutters keyframe files (extension .key) are not rendered directly but are, instead, pre-processed by Cutter.

Previous versions of Cutter produced a single multi-frame rib file that was either rendered immediately or "deferred" (figure 5). This version of Cutter now gives the option (figure 5) to produce a numbered sequence of rib files that it automatically saves to a directory named Cutter_Keyframing (located in the same directory as Cutter).

At the same time Cutter also generates a batch render script with the appropriate permissions set for Linux and OSX. Cutter saves the script in the Cutter_Keyframing directory. If "defer rendering" is active the Process Monitor window will tell the user the script has been produced but that it is not being used for rendering - figure 6.

On Linux the multiple ribs option is, by default, ON. For Windows and OSX it is OFF.

figure 6

figure 4

figure 5