News Update
26 Mar 2014
We’re working hard here at the moment to release the next versions of Origami and Boxshot soon, but I took a minute to share some news with you.
Origami
The new version is almost ready, we still have some minor issues to fix, but overall the new version is production-ready. However, instead of making it version 1.0 and moving it out of the beta, we’re going to release it as a beta-version 0.10. The reason is that Origami is now a stand-alone application that installs a small “connecting” plugin into Illustrator, so we need some more field testing from you guys.
You will need to remove the old version of Origami before installing the new one. The new version comes as a standard installer for Windows platform and as an application for Mac. At the first run you will see the instructions:
Then Origami will run Adobe Extension Manager to install the plugin into Illustrator:
After that you restart Illustrator and Origami gets connected to it:
The bar at the bottom helps understanding the issues (if any) and provides a detailed description with fixing suggestions. Let’s see what happens if I make a wrong crease line:
The error message at the bottom helps me to understand what exactly is wrong and the new error marker clearly shows me the location of interest.
The other nice addition is the “Fit to view” button that came from Boxshot. It works absolutely the same: clicking it fits the whole shape into the current window.
Your feedback about the new version is much appreciated. The standalone application allows us to easily add new features without limiting ourselves by the user interface of Illustrator, so the plans are huge and we hope you will love the new Origami.
Boxshot
The new version of Boxshot is far from being ready, but as we mostly work on the renderer, some images are worth sharing.
Reflection Blur Mask
Let’s start with a simple plastic-like reflecting plane:
Then increase its reflection blur level:
And add a mask:
Wait a minute, is that the uv-spot effect you asked for? Yep, exactly :) Here is a smoother, not so noisy version:
The mask works pretty much the same, as the reflection mask: white means more blur, black means less blur. Get your masks ready :)
Adding Realism
OK, try to spot the next feature on the image below:
Have you found it? Here is the simpler version:
Right, that’s the depth of field. It is still in beta, as I haven’t yet decided how exactly it should be controlled. So far you define focal distance and aperture size at the camera panel. We’ll probably switch to focal length and f-stops later. Your feedback will be much appreciated here.
Transparent Objects
This has been started by a customer’s comment: Liquids are not the best tool in Boxshot. This sounded like a challenge, so we improved the refraction and absorbtion parts of the renderer. Here is a simple example:
Here is the same shape, less opaque with some refraction blur added:
A close-up of the bottle neck with some glass thickness effects:
Finally, some liquids. Not that bad, after all :)
We have replaced the old “fog” parameters with much more flexible ones, so backward incompatibilities are expected. However, I am sure that a simple scenes review is worth the new possibilities.
Anything Else?
Definitely, yes :)
When?
Origami will be released within a week or two. Boxshot will come later, probably by the end of April.
That’s all for now. Have a nice day!