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OFFICIAL WORLDBUILDER 4 TECHNOLOGY WEBSITE

all new features in UI:

new viewports mechanism
viewport library button
double clicking view label will max/min viewport
new menu item, perspective as cam01
double click camera in property page will open the camera view
expand the property page by dragging
redesigned editable/floating toolbars
show/hide area objects
pan for perspective works now as pan not as rotate
zoom for perspective works now as zoom not as FOV
FOV is now a separate tool
zoom and FOV affects no more coordinate system arrows
a command for setting parametric coordinates on a mesh of 'emulated 3DS' type...this is necessary to add areas to the meshes...meshes without parametric coordinates or with wrong parametric coordinates cannot carry areas
disable/enable current viewport (ctrl+space by default)
hide/show grid & axes for viewports
ctrl+double click on viewport caption will duplicate viewport
double click on splitter viewport caption will maximize/restore viewport
double click on viewport caption will close viewport
double click on splitter gap will reset current layout
right button click on splitter gap will show menu to choose viewports layout
panning perspective views works as normal panning
unselecting objects
move/rotate/scale objects in one go, X/Y/Z restrictions as well as 'select and manipulate'
render dialog options get saved with a project file, available render types include skeleton/wireframe/smooth opengl/draft preview/preview/production
preview render mode added
grayscale editor icon
material editor icon
curve editor icon
new menu item, to put a shadow view into a viewport
complete new UI icon set, comes in different versions
scene objects list and property editor can be expanded to 2 columns
integration of flash

all new features in LIBRARY:

a complete new redesigned library set
a lot of new additions to most libraries
library items can be double clicked to open up a flash presentation panel...different kind of pictures can be viewed to get more details of the library item

all new features in VERDANT PLANTS:

verdant plant mechanic models support
all properties of VPM models are adjustable
wind animation
VPM models can be distributed in areas, can be scattered in all three ways like other objects: scattering, arrays and clusters

all new features in VERDANT GRASS:

VPM grass and a special wind modifier is supported to create high detailed textured grass geometry

all new features in MATERIAL EDITOR:

reset material editor state
open/save material editor state
undo/redo
material sets dropdown list
create/remove material sets
add/delete/duplicate materials
materials preview window
preview rendering method dropdown list
preview geometry dropdown list
background color
checkerboard background
backlight/scene lightning
refresh/auto refresh
material list window
material parameters window

all new features in GRAYSCALE EDITOR:

grayscale editor window
move/zoom/zoom extents
landscape list (and drawnig of its skeleton based heightmap)
layers list
dialog properties
show as height map command
show profile bounds command
update landscape in realtime
dialog color filter
dialog merging
dialog effect
dialog options
create/delete/duplicate painter layers
show grayscale command
load/save layers
edit brush rotation/roundness/size/hardness
edit brush library add/remove brushes
drawing/elevation/digging
color shift
color schemes
undo/redo for all actions
interface colors adjustable in preference dialog
right/left mouse button action tuneable
user color scale

all new features in CURVE EDITOR:

manual key button in the animation control bar...if it is pressed you can edit tracks only if there is a key at the current frame, by other words, you can create a key at the given frame only manually
track(curve) editor
a) Pan viewport
b) Zoom viewport
c) Show/Hide statistic
d) Zoom time/values extents
e) Draw track
f) Move/Add/Delete key
g) Scene tree consists of hierarchy of objects and their handlers
h) crisp values dialog
i) delete keys in region
j) colors of interface and 4 colors for tracks adjustable in preference dialog

all new features in SKELETONS:

surface skeleton line, skeleton creation in top viewport (top or bottom) will lead to sticking the skeleton to the existing surface of the landscape (in fact, to ANY surface beneath)...creation of skeletons is kept as it was in other viewports
free skeleton line
road template
a skeleton can be excluded from specific landscapes...its now possible to have 2 or more landscape mixed up with each their own skeleton group...

all new features in LANDSCAPE:

landscape modifiers priority managment, you can now change priority visually, it is inserted in the Landscape property tree
priority from property pages of modifiers is removed
same control is inserted in Landscape painter, also to switch off greyscale layer

all new features in AREAS:

improved areas on objects
export of the objects scattered in areas by a single click...in the object list dialog the user has to specify type of file and file location...the proper exporter will be selected automatically (by the file extension) and all objects will be exported to a single file
distribution conditions for scattered objects...an additional Property Page named Distribution Conditions has been added to the Area Property Tree...it contains the scene tree and a user can select any object to have the distributed objects stay away from those selected objects with a certain perimeter...
it is strongly recommended not to make criss-cross area references...meaning that if Area1 is selected in Distribution Conditions of Area2, do not select Area2 in Distribution Conditions of Area1 or else unpredictable results may be occur because contents of areas are not sorted...
note also that Distribution has been changed to Height Above Surface to avoid mess with new Distribution Conditions page

all new features in LIGHTS:

new light geometry
new algorithm of light shadows, soft shadows
a pair of words is worth to say about shadows casting by landscape (and other huge objects comparable in dimensions with landscape) it is strongly recommended to make a separate shadow map for landscape (of course, it is possible if parallel light is used)...then you have to exclude all the objects from this shadow except landscape itself...important thing: resonable values for bias of the landscape shadow is 10 or else self-shadowing artifacts can appear on the land surface
switch between light source types
show/hide light cone
free spot light in WB as well as from MAX
changing light type in MAX will reflect through communicator in WB
communicator will alert when a spot name is replace by an object name
shadow masks for parallel light sources can now be separated for landscape and objects scattered on it...this is important because shadow mask parameters for landscape (range and bias) often differ from those for relatively small scattered objects...to make 2 separate shadow masks merely create one additional mask and set different exclude objects for them
shadow views can be attached to one of 4 framed views...it can be done either by a right-click at the top-left corner of the viewport and selecting the item required or by clicking at the button on the Shadow page
note that shadow(s) must be ON to be seen in the viewport pop-up menu
note that the old shadow view dialog has disappeared

all new features in CAMERAS:

new camera geometry
show/hide camera cone
free camera
zoom in camera viewport works as dolly
FOV in camera viewport works as FOV

all new features in PROCEDURAL GRASS:

improved A-buffer of grass

all new features in CUMUNOLIMBUS:

support for different lights
support for animation
drift in wind added when cumunolimbus is scattered in an area

all new features in WATERFALLS:

motion blur in waterfalls...note that rendering times increases remarkably when non-zero blur is set...however, if the particles are blured, much less amount of them is required, so rendering times for displaying waterfall increases no more than 1,5

all new features in FILEFORMATS:

fileformats seperate dialog to define parameters
JPEG compression supported
TIFF channels supported like alpha and depth information

all new features in ARCHIVE TOOL:

archive all maps and library items
import archive

all new features in VIEWPORTS:

a new command 'Show Area Objects' which will set all objects in areas on/off to speed up viewport display
a new option for every distributed object to draw in bouding box/skeleton or wireframe mode to speed up viewport display
reduction of distributed verdant PM grass models to speed up viewport display
the scene can be updated and redrawn when the frame bar is being dragged optionally...options are set in the Viewport Preferences and they are the following :
a - play animation in selected viewport only
b - update the selected objects only...remember, cameras have equal rights to other objects, you have to select them to see their movement (if any)
c - you can disable updating objects during the frame bar dragging at all
the same options control the usual animation playback

all new features in PREFERENCES:

cyclic backup of project files
all kinds of interface colors can be changed, we added "Colors" page in preferences dialog...don't forget to save your changes to file, otehrwise it will only be saved in your registry
added "Style Folder" combo box to StartUp Preference page, you can create several styles and switch between them

all new features in COMMUNICATOR:

communicator objects list will be sorted alphabetically

all new features in FOOTPRINTS:

selecting multiple footprints improved

all new features in SHADERS:

phong photometry shader has been improved, the correct specular component can be used instead of old one
a new check-box named "Use WB 3.0 specular component in Phong shader" is added to the compatibility page to switch feature on/off...feature was done due to verdant photometry differs from WB photometry

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