RailClone 4.0.0

We're pleased to announce that an open beta of RailClone 4 is out now, available to all users with an active maintenance plan.

New Features​

• Added Style->Use Segment Material: Use materials applied directly from the source geometry. No more manually creating complex multi-sub object materials, great when using RailClone as a layout tool or using it with stock models.

  Segment Material

  • When enabled, RailClone uses the materials applied to the source geometry, instead of its own material.
  • Currently this feature is available only for V-Ray and Arnold Renderer or if you convert to standard geometry using RailClone Tools. Other render engines can add support using our updated API.
  • For embedded Segments (those not linked to a scene's object), a copy of the latest material used by the object is stored internally.
  • To modify the material of an "embedded" Segment, it's necessary to export it to a scene object from the Style Editor, and pick the material from it.
  • Materials are applied only at render time . The viewport still uses the material assigned directly to the RC object.

• Added a new spline modifier: RC Spline. It allows you to add markers directly to the spline that include several properties to position and control segments.

  RailClone Spline

  • You can choose the type of vertex for checking (Any, Corner, Bezier, Smooth, or Bezier-Corner).
  • Distance and Percentage accept negative values.
  • When using Percentage with a specific vertex type, the distance is measured until the next or previous vertex of the same type.
  • For each field, you can define the label and data type (Integer, Float or Scene Units).
  • It lets you to define multiple Data Set by style.
  • Once defined, Sets can be selected from the RC Spline->"Data Set" combo box.
  • Sets listed in the "Data Set" combo are collected for all RC objects which have the spline assigned as a Base Object.
  • Selected Set is applied to all Markers in the RC Spline modifier. If you need different Sets in a spline, apply a new RC Spline modifier.
  • Markers: defines custom positions in the path, without needing to add more vertices. They do not affect the shape of the path.
  • The position can be specified by a percentage or an absolute distance.
  • Markers can be defined relative to the spline's start, end or using a specific vertex number.
  • Each marker includes two custom data fields: an integer ID, and 9 multipurpose data fields
  • It's possible to add multiples "RC Spline" modifiers to a spline.
  • In Generators, marker segments are used with a new slot ("Marker"). From the "Rules" tab, markers can be filtered by ID, or by specifying a modifier index.
  • Markers can be adjusted manually (select, move, delete, etc), at sub-object level.
  • Multiple markers can be created by clicking on the spline using the Create multiple markers button.
  • You can use the same data from the selected marker by enabling "Copy Data for new markers" .
  • Values can be used from Expressions using "XMarkerData", "YMarkerData" attributes, as a zero based array (i.e. XMarkerData[0] to XMarkerData[8]).
  • User Data fields are customized from the RailClone Style->"Base Objects"->"Customize RC Spline".

• Added Nested Generators. This allows you to use the output of a generator as a segment in another generator or even in multiple other generators.

  Nested Generators

  • Expressions can use attributes from nested generators, in the following way: GeneratorName.Attribute
  • The Generator's name must be normalized to be used in the expression (non-ascii characters, cannot start with digits, etc).
  • You can select all attributes available for a specific operator in the "Attribute" panel, with generator names already normalized.
  • If a Generator is renamed, the user is responsible for updating the expression. Same for using unique names in Generators.
  • In case of duplicated Generator names, RC uses the nearest node to the Arithmetic operator.
  • The pivot of the nested generator is always at world origin - if the RailClone object is not at world origin the pivot may be offset some distance from the resultant object. You only need to worry about this if you are changing the Alignment mode of the nested generator to Pivot using an intermediary Transform operator.

• Added Generator-> Cap Holes.

  Cap Holes

  • With Clipping splines it's not possible to modify the UVW mapping of the capped faces.
  • For this reason, these faces are always mapped using Box Mapping and Real World Map Size.
  • To get the same mapping in all faces, we suggest to use this type of mapping for your Segments (i.e. enabling Segment->Deform->Mapping->Real World).

• Added a new Display Mode called Quick Mesh. This mode is similar to Mesh, but more efficient as it draws instanced segments in the viewport.

  Quick Mesh

  • To work, the active render engine must also support native instancing with RailClone.
  • Several features are not visible on viewport such as the Material operator, UVW Segment Mapping modes, UVW XForm operator etc.
  • If the scene does not meet any requirements, it works exactly the same as Mesh mode.
  • Performance is better the more segments can be instanced. You can check the number of instanced segments using General->Stats.

• Added a cache for the evaluation of Nodes.

  • Each Node in the Style is evaluated only when it is needed, reusing the result if a node doesn't change.
  • This may improve the performance of complex styles, especially if nested generators are used.

• Compose->Group was redone from scratch. Now composed items are handled in a similar way to Max groups.

  Compose Operator

  • The size of a Composed Group is the bounding box of all segments enclosed in it.
  • To keep the position within the group, the alignment of all segments is forced to "Pivot" mode.
  • You can modify the behaviour of a group by adding a Transform node after the Compose operator.
  • Due to this change, segments Composed using Group mode in RailClone 3 may not convert well to RailClone 4. To fix this, add a transform operator after the Compose node and set the alignment for all axes to Pivot.

• Style Editor changes. Wires are coloured according to their type: Green: base objects, Orange: geometry, Yellow: numeric. Coloring can be disabled from Preferences.

  • Improved wire connection with macros.
  • Nodes can be inserted on a wire by dragging the icon over it.
  • Automatic rewiring when a node is deleted.
  • Added "Insert on Wire" to the contextual menu, to insert a node on a link. (This option is visible only when there is a single wire selected.)
  • Added grid view and snap. Use Options->"Grid Setup" to configure.
  • Added "Select Children" to the node's contextual menu.
  • Added Edit->"Select Unused". Select unconnected nodes and their children, which are not used in the Style.
  • New nodes added to the Style receive unique names.
  • Optimized nodes graph evaluation. ( Modifications on non-connected nodes don't trigger a rebuild of the RC object. The same is true for changes to Note nodes.
  • Added prefix number to the slots of Selector node.
  • The macros tree is now collapsed by default.
  • Spline/Surface nodes receive the name of the object when assigned.
  • Properties panel now is resizeable, and width limit is removed for all panels

• New General-> Statistics window with detailed data, information about each Generator and separate information for Viewport and Render.

  Statistics window

• Support for all new RailClone 4 features is added to the Rendering API.

Improvements​

• Improved stability for V-Ray IPR.

• The Selector operator has new modes that make it easier to use spline attributes to choose geometry, they include: X Spline Next Material ID, Y Spline Material ID, Y Spline Next Material ID, X Spline Marker ID and Y Spline Marker ID.

  Selector operator

• Huge improvement in instancing efficiency then using shared segments or linked styles.

  Instancing efficiency

  • In RC3, each RailClone object kept its own copy of segments, but in RC4 the cache is global for all RC objects.
  • This lets to the render engine to create a unique copy of each Segment, for all RC objects.

• The Material operator can now be used with instancing support in all render engines and with instantiating using RailClone Tools.

• Style->"Operate on Tri/Quad" is removed. Now geometry is always computed as quads.

• The order of Transform nodes is now taken into consideration then applying translation together with other transformations, this should result in more intuitive behaviour when multiple Transforms are chained together.

  Order of Transform nodes

  • For example, Translate + Rotate will produce a different result from Rotate + Translate.
  • In previous versions, all translations were accumulated and applied after rotation and scale.
  • To keep compatibility with previous scenes, this change is applied only to new RC objects.
  • If you want to "upgrade" your RC object so it works as created with RC4, select it and run from Maxscript: $.railclone.resetCreatedVersion()

• The Transform operator now applies scaling before rotation to avoid skewing.

• A new parameter allows the user to offset generators on the X Axis.

• RailClone Tools->" Separated Meshes is on by default.

• Improved performance in Styles using Segments with exported parameters. Now Segments are updated only when parameters change.

• Added new mode to Random node : generate on "Generator".

• Generator-> Y Size can now be randomized by attaching it to a Random node.

• Expressions have several improvements.

  • "XSplineMatID" can now be used in expressions to control the Y Size of a nested generator
  • Added "XSectionNextLength" and "YSectionNextLength" to Expressions. It returns the length of the next spline's section

• Added Generator->Rules->Default->" Scale Padding. When enabled, padding is scaled on Scale/Count/Adaptive modes. If not, padding is constant.

• Macros library folder now can be defined using an environment variable. It has the same effect as HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Itoo Software\RailClone Pro\MacroDir, but accepts a unique path entry.

• Improved detection of circular references. Circular references between nodes are not allowed. This situation displays an error in the Style rollup.

• The behaviour of "Free Object" node with A2S Generators and "Extend to XY Size" enabled has been improved. Now the clipping area is aligned to the origin of the RC object, and doesn't change when area moves.

• For Floating Licenses, a license is now released on Max Reset.

• Transform node generates an empty segment when input is not connected and Fixed size is on. This is especially useful to generate empty segments within macros.

• Improved efficiency of RailClone Tools→Instantiation. Segments shared between different RC objects can now be instanced to a unique object.

• In the style editor, the Properties panel now is resizeable and width limit is removed for all panels.

• Support for V-Ray 3.7.

Fixes​

• Fixed alignment issue using "Free Mode", and Linear and Array generators in the same style.
• Fixed: Float parameters now accept more than two decimals.
• Fixed error in the contextual menu after uninstallation.
• Fixed bug when Evenly positions are coincident with a spline's vertex.
• Fixed: if Expression Editor is closed with 'Cancel', RC object is not updated with previous expression.
• Fixed: Z Offset is not applied to Point-Cloud when using Vertical/Stepped modes
• Fixed: Random node on "X spline Start" mode generates different RND for different segments on arrays.
• Fixed: cleared Segments reappear after modifying its parameters.
• Fixed: Style Description is empty if Style Editor was not yet loaded.
• Fixed: A2S Generator ignores the parameters of the Spline Object (as Steps/Optimize).
• Fixed precision issues when segments are placed exactly on spline vertices.
• Fixed issue with Bevel Corner on closed splines.
• Fixed gaps in A2S array using Scale mode and Bevel Corner.
• Fixed: missing links when copying macros between different RC objects.
• Fixed: Display->Adaptive mode may fail if RailClone Listener is open.
• Fixed: Shortcuts and Toolbars using RailClone actions are not initialized at startup.
• Fixed: Missing links in copy/paste operations using nodes with exported attributes in the Style Editor.
• Fixed crash loading nodes using certain Unicode characters.
• Fixed crash updating Master Style
• Fixed performance issue when Segment->Nest is enabled, but are not nested objects.
• "Display->Use DirectX" is removed. Now this feature is always enabled.
• Fixed bevel issues with Arrays using negative Y Sizes
• Fixed: Random Node->"Sync between generators" does not work if Seed is exported.
• Fixed: Spinboxes may get stuck on slow rebuilds.
• Fixed linking and dropping issues with numeric parameters in macros
• Fixed rewiring between outputs of numeric operators and parameters in macros.
• Fixed initialization of Sequence nodes when used by multiple Generators.
• Fixed bug with missing links on copy-paste operations within macros.
• Fixed crash deleting all polygons from an assigned Surface.
• To avoid instabilities, Library Browser cannot be open while Interactive Rendering is running.
• Improved error handling on Copy/Paste operations.
• Fixed: Expressions->"ArrayCounter" is not incremented for arrays generated from Clipping splines.
• Fixed several issues with Macro On/Off parameter.
• Fixed: RC Spline->Transform Gizmo is moved just hovering the cursor over a Marker, instead selecting it.
• Fixed: General->Seed parameter is not animatable.
• Fixed crashing bug with render nodes.
• Fixed crash setting Segment->Mapping->Map Channels over 99 (maximum value accepted by Max).