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Whats New in Version 4.6

This chapter is reference for users familiar with earlier versions of ArtMatic Pro. It summarizes features added or

changed in version 4.6. For detailed information, see the appropriate chapters of the reference manual. If you are

upgrading from an earlier version of ArtMatic Pro, be sure to read the chapter Upgrading from an Earlier Version.

NEWREQUIREMENTS

ArtMatic Pro 4.6 requires Mac OS X.4 or later. It is Mac OS X.5 compatible.

NEWFEATURES- QUICKSUMMARIES

Universal Binary. Intel Macs will experience massive performance improvement.TIFF output. Still images are now saved as TIFF images rather than PICT format.Multi-processor optimization. Rendering is now dual-threaded which signicantly decreases rendering times onmulti-processor/core computers.Higher than high-def animation. The maximum frame size has been increased for higher than high-def anima-

tion.Keyframe envelope editor. A powerful new editor allows all of a tiles parameters to be edit across all keyframesin one convenient window.Real-time preview resolution doubled.The number of movie/picture slots has been increased to 8.Quartz-based user-interface.15 new components have been added since version 4.1. 237 have been added since version 3.5.Compiled Trees. Tree editing and user interface improvements have been made.Improved camera motion.Existing components have been optimized and ne-tuned.

Evaluate only for colorsoption for designing RGB+Alpha systems for ArtMatic Voyager.New keyboard shortcuts.

Many behind-the-scenes optimizations, bug xes, and improvements.

Detailed information about these features is found at the end of this chapter and in the appropriate sections of the

reference manual.

NEWFILEFORMAT

Due to a change in le format, Intel Mac users need to run either ArtMatic or the ArtMatic Browser in Rosetta mode

to convert les created with pre-4.0 versions of ArtMatic to the current format. Instructions are found in the chapter

Upgrading from an Earlier Version

CHANGEDFEATURES

Save Picture icon added to left-hand toolbar.Full Screen Animation Preview is now done by option clicking the Render Full Screen icon.

REMOVEDFEATURES

The background rendering preference has been removed since it only applied to OS 9.

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REFERENCE: What's New (4.6)

NEWFEATUREDETAILS

Preview pixel size option (Preferences). This new preference allows you to set the real-time preview resolution. In the

past, real-time preview was done in blocks of four pixels. You can now select 2 pixel blocks. The smoothness of

the performance depends on the computers speed and the computational complexity of the ArtMatic system being

previewed. If the preview is not smooth, set the preference to 3 or 4.

New keyframe parameter envelope editor. This powerful new editor allows you to edit all of a tiles parameter chang-

es across all the keyframes as well as to insert and delete keyframes. A mini-preview and timeline are also provided.

Animation duration can also be changed. To invoke the editor click on the Keyframes Parametersicon in

the main window.

Increase maximum movie frame dimensions. It is now possible to render movie frames that are up to 10,000 pixels

square. To render at large sizes, you must render as a list of pictures or list of tiff.. When rendering as a QuickTime

movie, the maximum dimensions (due to OS limitations) is 4000 pixels square. Most movie editing programs (in-

cluding VTrack) can use a list of pictures/tiff as a movie. You can also use the QuickTime Player to convert an image

sequence to a QuickTime movie (if you have QuickTime Pro).

Compiled Tree management. We have improved the user interface for connecting a compiled tree to its parent and

the global inputs. In version 4, it was not always clear whether connections inside a compiled tree were to the parent

tile or to the global inputs. This has now been made explicit. The parent tiles input appear on the left as i1, i2, and

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REFERENCE: What's New (4.6)

so on while the global inputs appear to the right. Also, auto-completion now works inside of compiled trees.

Tree editing improvements. ArtMatic Pro no longer does automatic tree compaction after most tree editing actions. In

some cases, the new behavior may introduce empty space than before. If this happens. use manual tree compaction

(shortcut: c) to tidy up the tree.

Many new components. A number of components were added including several that enable the creation of fantastic

new landscapes and cities in ArtMatic Voyager. See the component reference for more details.

Evaluate only for colors option. This new option (found in the Shaders Options popup) is for trees destined for Art-

Matic Voyager. The option causes ArtMatic Voyager to ignore the tile when doing the elevation pass. This option

speeds up computation dramatically in 2->4 trees that have complex branches devoted to color computation (since

those branches will only be computed during color texture computation). If possible, put all color-computation in a

compiled tree and turn this option on for that tile. See the ArtMatic Voyager example le The Tower Shadow(which

uses the ArtMatic le: StructureBranchTower)

Improved Camera Motion and parameter interpolation. Camera motion and zooms are much smoother than before.

For an example, see the example leMandel Fire Zoom T2.

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Upgrading to Version 4.6 from Earlier Versions

Archive Old Files And The Software Used To Create Them

We recommend making backup copies of all les created with earlier versions of the software and archiving a

copy of the software as there may be cases where the new software renders a le somewhat differently than the

old version. (The nature of complex mathematical systems is such that slight changes to an algorithm can have a

dramatic impact in some situations.)

How to Open Files Created with Older Versions On an Intel Mac

ArtMatic Pro running natively on an Intel Mac cannot directly read les created with ArtMatic 3.6 and earlier. These

older les can be read by temporarily running ArtMatic Pro or the ArtMatic Browser in Rosetta mode as described

below.If you have many les to convert, see the section Using the ArtMatic Browser to Convert Filesbelow.

Running the software in Rosetta Mode

Quit the application if it is running.In the Finder, use the Get Infocommand to show the applications information.Make sure the General section of the window is displayed.

Turn on the option Open Using Rosettaas seen below.

Close the Get Info window.Rename the .prefs le temporarily. (The application will need to create a new prefs le when it runsin Rosetta.)Launch the application. You may need to re-enter your serial number.

IMPORTANT! Dont forget to turn off the Open Using Rosettaoption after converting the les as the software runs

much slower in Rosetta mode. You will also need to throw away the prefs le when switching back to native mode.If you are going to need to do this more than once, you may want to copy the ArtMatic Pro folder and devote the

copy to running in Rosetta mode.

Updating the ArtMatic Files

To update les from the old format, perform the following steps while running in Rosetta mode.

Create a backup copy of the le to be updated.Open the le.Choose Save to save the le.

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Appendix: Upgrading From Earlier Versions

Using the ArtMatic Browser to Convert Files

If you have many ArtMatic les to convert, you can use the ArtMatic Browser in Rosetta mode to update the les

to the new format.

To use the ArtMatic Browser to update les:

Make a backup copy of the folders containing ArtMatic les that you will be converting.

Launch a copy of the ArtMatic Browser in Rosetta mode. (See the instructions earlier in the chapter ifyou are not sure how to turn on Rosetta mode).In the browser, hold down the option key when clicking on the name of a folder of presets.If the folder contains more than a pages worth of presets, hold down the option key when clicking onthe next button to convert the next page. (Repeat for each additional page.)

Option-clickon a folders name

to convert its presets. If the

folder contains more than a

pages worth of presets, hold

down the option key when

clicking on the next button to

convert the next page.