This new version (2.2b for messiah:studio and 5.2b for messiah:animate) is a maintenance update that also contains lots of new features and modifications.  The list below will fill you in on what's new.

 

 

Features & Modifications - Animation

 

messiah:studio Workstation

  • Workstation now includes the host connections to Maya, Cinema 4D, LightWave and 3D Studio Max.

Compose

  • Tracks list menu for items

    • Delete Clip Instance

    • Delete Track

    • Copy Track

    • Channel Group On

    • Channel Group Off

    • Channel Group Only

      • Note: the above 3 items allow you to easily activate/deactivate channel groups across multiple elements.  The extended menu includes: Position, Rotation, Scale, Pivot, Motion, Object, Extended, All.

Softbody Dynamics Collisions

  • Collisions have been improved to remove jitterring.

Functions

  • ObjLock

  • ObjHardLock

  • ObjlsLocked

  • ObjlsHardLocked

  • GetActiveKey

  • GetActiveChannel

Misc

  • Default Scene Loading

    • Note: when messiah is started or the scene is cleared, any scene located in your modules/defaults/scenes directory will be loaded.

Features & Modifications - Render

 

Render-->Output-->Management-->Threads

  • 4 Thread maximum for rendering

Ansiotropic Shader
Anisotropic highlights are formed by fine micro bumps that are usually due to some striped scratches in a surface. Metal often gets treated with brushes in order to exhibit such a structure, which also helps to get a better grip on the surface. Doorknobs for instance or certain types of containers have this kind of treatment most commonly. The most characteristic feature such surfaces show are stretched out highlights. Another classic example are CDs or old records, due to their carved in striped surface.

 

Attenuation color:
  • attenuates (shifts decaying) original highlight color towards adjusted color!
 Glossiness:
  • traditional highlight glossiness, controlling highlight spread
Stretch:
  • defines amount of spread along anisotropic distortion. In reality that would by an equivalent to the height of the micro bumps.
Blend to Normal:
Allows blending between anisotropic highlight back to normal highlights. The full name for this feature should actually be "Blend to Original Normal", referring to the surface normal that is used to compute the highlight reflection. The anisotropic highlights are created by altering the original surface normals.
 
Axis:
  • to define a "brushing" direction for the micro bumps an axis is chosen along which the stripes go.
 
Method:
  • Method A:    stripes along chosen Axis - modified by surface normals (no given origin)
  • Method B:    stripes along chosen Axis - controlled by reference object (origin is center of reference object)
  • Method C:    stripes against chosen Axis - (see Method A)
  • Method D:    stripes against chosen Axis - (see Method B

    An example use of Method B would be rendering a CD.  An example use of Method D would be a satin ball

 
Reference Object:
  • chose reference object! '(none)'= object that the surface belongs to
  • The reference object, once chosen, modifies the direction of the Axis for all Methods. Only Methods B and D will also take in account the origin/center of the reference object.
Texture Stretch:   
You can make use of any type of procedural or even image based texture. In order to support the illusion of fine stripes procedurals mostly need to get pinched, but you will not need to do this in the texture node itself. Instead use this stretch factor to modify the pinching. It is best to do it here, because the brushstrokes can be tilted by yet another texture and therefore the stretching is not just along one direction!
 
Texture Intensity:
You can output the modified texture through the anisotropic shader. The intensity supports a dimming of the texture values, which supports a better control without having to add additional nodes to the chain.
 
Texture Bump:
Internal bump mapping that uses the stretched texture and receives it's values independently of the Texture Intensity. Keeping the Bump values very low is advisable!
 
 
Inputs:
   Opacity - opacity input
   Color - attenuation color input
   Gloss - glossiness input
   Stretch - stretch input
   Blend - blend input
   Reflection - damnit, why's that still there...ah crap
   Tilt - tilt input, tilts the striping direction (banking) based on grayscale values translated into degrees. black = 0,
         white = 360
 
THRU_color - color texture that can be stretched
THRU_value - value texture that can be stretched
THRU_stretch - texture for controlling stretch factor
THRU_intensity - ...controlling intensity (for output)
THRU_bump - ...controlling bump strength

 

 

Basic Shader

  • Quality setting for Extended modes (translucency).  This lets  you set the amount of sampling steps to eliminate possible banding.  There is currently no limit on the setting but it is recommended that you keep the number low.

Motion Blur

  • Now goes "around" current frame, starting from half of the defined percentage of it into the previous frame until that percentage into the next.  This lets you shift how much blur will be from the next position or previous position.

Specularity/Glossiness

  • Optimized and improved

Fixes

  • Wave Audio - Wave draws properly in the graph when using an offset

  • Front Projection Mapping - Now works correctly with radiosity and reflections.

  • Pixel aspect ratios have been fixed (messiah:studio)

  • Interface redraws properly when switching between applications

  • Interface redraws properly when dragged partially off the screen

  • MetaEffector Scale To MinMax now functions properly

  • Deformed objects are easier to select in the world views

  • Torus and Plane procedural objects now render correctly.  (The others will be addressed.)

  • The Parent Items plug-in should work properly now (accessed from Setup-->Items)

API

FX_MODACTION_MOUSEPROC - the action will process all mouse messages

  • Note: With this option users can't set the mouse action type, the developer owns the mouse messages.

FX_MODACTION_COORDSYSOPS - the action will display channel and coodinate system options on button items.

  • Note: In previous versions, all actions displayed the coordinate system and mouse button options. However, you are required to explicitly set your action module to display those options with this flag.


fxArgSave* - an "int flags" param has been added to this function.

FX_ARGDATA_COPY_NAME - this flag copies the saved name to allow use of local variables for the name pointer

  • Note: This flag mainly for use with fxArgSave*, see the corresponding note in messiah_arg.h
     

fxCC/CR_Area - an "int flags" param has been added to these functions and corresponding AREADRAW_* defines have been added to messiah_interface.h to allow for styling of area controls.

fxCC/CR_WeightCombo - this is a compact control has all of the necessary components for defining a weight. It's comprised of weight object popup and a weight type popup.

  • Note: See the WeightCombo notes in messiah_interface.h for details. See the Weight tab on a Cluster slider for an example.

fxConGet/SetWeight - convenient macros for getting/setting weight combo control params.

fxArgSave/LoadWeight - convenient functions for getting/setting weight params

fxDisplaceScanMultiWeight uses the new weight format

  • Note: See the WeightCombo notes in messiah_interface.h for details on the new format

fxHandleMouseOffset - get the mouse movement in the worldview
fxHandleMouseCurPos - get the current mouse position in the worldview
fxHandleMousePrevPos - get the previous mouse position in the worldview
fxHandleText/Set - get/set the text for a handle
fxHandleColor/Set - get/set the color of a handle
fxHandleIconActiveSet - set the active icon for a handle


FX_ARMDATA_COLOR - handle overrides the armature color (use with fxHandleOptions/Set/Clear)

fxObjectLayerNumber - get the layer number of an object

fxShaderMetaballParticleIDCount - get the number of metaball particles from a hit

fxShaderMetaballParticleIDList - get the metaball particle IDs that were hit

  • Note: Use the number returned from fxShaderMetaballParticleIDCount to allocate your ID array.

fxShaderBlobParticleIDCount - get the number of blob particles from a hit

fxShaderBlobParticleIDList - get the blob particle IDs that were hit

  • Note: Use the number returned from fxShaderBlobParticleIDCount to allocate your ID array.

fxRenderSettings - get render settings using the various FX_REN_* defines in messiah_shader.h.

API FIXES

  • Image size is now accessible via fxBufferImageSize even when not rendering

  • Crash when using fxDisplaceScanMultiWeight is fixed

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