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2.6 Release Notes

Release date: XX XXX XXXX

Beta Build

Cavalry 2.6 is currently in beta and subject to change. Installers are available to download via your account (Beta tab).

Beta builds are available to Professional licences.

New Features​

Shapes​

General​

  • Manipulator - A new experimental 3d-like Viewport manipulator for the Select tool. It's used with the new Lattice and Lattice Controller and can be optionally enabled for use with Shape Layers.
  • File > Reduce Scene - Remove any unused Compositions and Assets from the Scene. Hold Shift when running the command to print a report to the JavaScript Console (WiP).

Behaviours​

  • Lattice - Deform Shapes using a flexible grid of control points.
  • Four Point Warp - Deform Shapes using a four corner warp with bézier handles.
  • Path Relax - Move path points away from each other.
  • Path Average - Smooth Path points by averaging their positions.
  • Mesh Solver - Connect deformers to create drawing machines or iterative effects like differential growth.

Utilities​

  • Lattice Controller - Manipulate the position, rotation and scale of multiple lattice points.
  • Forge Dynamics:
    • Buoyancy Field - Create fluid containers within which dynamic bodies will float or sink based on their density.
    • Path Field - Apply path following forces to dynamics bodies.
    • Vortex Field - Apply spiral forces to rotate dynamic bodies around a centre point.

Effects​

Scripting​

API​

Enhancements​

  • Performance improvements - some complex Scenes now playback at up to 5x faster.
  • Dependency Graph:
    • Backdrops - Create a container to visually group and move several Layers together.
    • Wire Styles - Set the style of the connecting wires between Layer ports.
    • Mini-Map - Show/hide a Mini-Map of the window which can be used to navigate the graph.
    • Bookmarks - Save the current view of the graph.
    • Show/hide grid - Show/hide the background grid.
  • Forge Dynamics:
    • New modes for breakable Constraints.
    • Tension and Damping for the Pin Constraint.
    • New Complex Polygon Collision Shape Type bringing concave shape support.
    • New Soft Body Collision Shape Type (at risk).
    • Collision Groups - Assign collision groups by entering comma separated strings (e.g. text, rocks) to filter the affect Fields have on individual bodies or how bodies interact with other bodies.
  • New Threshold attribute for Subdivide.
  • New Radius Mode and Minimum/Maximum Angle attributes for Bevel.
  • Color Names - it's now possible to enter the names of the current Library Palette and any Project Palettes into a hex field and for those labels to resolve as the corresponding hex value.
  • New Mask tab for Filters allowing for other Shapes to be used as a matte for the Filter's effect.
  • New Orientation attribute for Rectangle Pattern Shape.
  • Sampling Quality for the Bulge and Spherise Filters.
  • Improvements to Viewport rendering and Filters.
  • New Arc Angle Mode for Extend Open Paths.
  • New custom presets for the Graph attribute. WiP - the UX/UI is likely to change.
  • New Oklab and LCH Interpolations for the Gradient Shader, Multi-Point Gradient Shader and Gradient Map Filter.
  • Importing MP4 files on macOS now uses hardware acceleration.

Notable Bug Fixes​

  • File > Import Asset... > Any Still no longer imports an image sequence (where an image sequence exists).
  • .mp4 and .gif no longer stutter during playback.
  • Forge Dynamics no longer prints debug messages to the terminal during playback when a Field is connected.
  • Flipping a Graph attribute now correctly flips the graph in both axes.
  • Drag/drop Layers from the Add Layers popover ( Cmd/Ctrl + .) has been restored.
  • Renaming Layers where the label is elided (...) is now working as expected.
  • Attribute Editor UIs for Array Layers no longer change their vertical position when the cursor moves across windows.
  • The way a ColorPalette fills the width of a UI has been improved.
  • A DPI issue that could impact secondary displays when unplugged or waking from sleep and/or moving Cavalry across displays has been resolved.

Notes​

  • The Create Editable Primitives menu item has been moved from the Shape to the Create menu.
  • Forge Dynamics - 'size' calculations for Shapes containing child-meshes (e.g. Text) were incorrect meaning their Density was wrong. This has been corrected but is considered a bug and so backwards compatibility has not been added. Legacy scenes may require Density values adjusting.