This is issue #171 of the Dogwaffler of the Moment (DOTM), our sporadic newsletter about Project Dogwaffle.
September 2020: the Fruit of
your Labor (Day)
This edition and other issues of the newsletter can be found here with more content:
https://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/newsletter
https://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/newsletter/171-fruit-of-the-Labor-Day/
Coming along very nicely - Build 44 of
Howler 2021 (Powered by Project Dogwaffle version 14)
Hope you won't get confused by all these names and numbers. It is still the year 2020 of course, but we're shipping the newest version of Howler, aka version 14, under the name of Howler 2021.
Learn all about it here:
https://www.thebest3d.com/2021
But don't forget about the earlier achievements and major features added over the years.
https://www.thebest3d.com/2020
https://www.thebest3d.com/2019
https://www.thebest3d.com/howler
We've released Howler 2020 also at Daz, if you have some Dazbucks available, you know where to spend them.
Webinar coming Soon: Digital Art Live
We're in the planning phase for another webinar with Paul at Digital Art Live (https://www.digitalartlive.com) - please bookmark it, pass it around, and keep and eye on it. Tentative date has slipped due to travels, and other projects. But we may be looking at last Sunday of September'ish now. Stay tuned, and feel free to register once you see it there in their calendar.
We'll discuss the top 10 new features in Howler 2021 - that should be a free part. 30 minutes or thereabouts. Give or take a few questions and answers.
Then we'll have a section on the webinar that is for those who pay for this training:
- magic of tunnels: the Tunnel Filter explained and explored
- virtual base jumping with wingsuit, or: flying through PuppyRay with a purpose : induce nausea :-)
Hope to see you there.
If you've never seen an example of what the tunnel Filter can help you create:
Some techno tunnel stuff:
https://youtu.be/wIMGj3wJ4Ww
https://youtu.be/YNQZP0oHdb4
Some Plasma flames tunnel
https://youtu.be/uKpDM0-pbjQ
What's new in Howler 2021?
We'll see other types of tunnels. It pays to experiment, combining real photos and 3D renders with tunnel and mirroring and more.
We'll also take a look at the new interface and features of PuppyRay GPU, where you can now save the settings, including keyframes, and thus return to the project another day to further improve it.
Flying without touching the water
https://youtu.be/SMvoxA_wy0Y
approaching a Volcano island then getting ready for base jump with wingsuit
https://youtu.be/QBxpHQuNOio
Until then, here are some recently added new features since late July:
Recently added Features
==============
Sep 5th (6th?), 2020
Build 44
Turkey baster, aka eyedropper tool can now select onscreen colors in addition to the colors on the current layer
The box2 color picker did not allow the full gammut of colors to be picked. Fixed.
==============
Sep 5th, 2020
Build 43
Fixed warning about not creating an animation in Motion Prediction Module, when it actually did.
In addition to loading and saving settings, Puppy Ray now supports loading and saving keyframes, so an entire project can be saved.
There are several new shortcut icons to alpha tools on the alpha context strip
==============
Sep 4th, 2020
Build 42
Puppy Ray now supports loading and saving settings save and restore settings in Puppy Ray GPU
==============
August 27th, 2020
Build 38
Reducing the amount of complexity in Puppyray GUI
Using the new DR_Slider control
Probably not the final layout
Simplifed various things
Global Illumination is now on by default
Tweaked quality pressets
Streamlined worflow - https://youtu.be/Jp1DoFgvcuU
==============
August 26th, 2020
Build 38
Integrating the new DR_Slider control into Howler, and specifically Puppy Ray
The idea to isolate code from GUI and prepare for new features
Simplifing the controls in Puppyray
Continue to arrange the layout of Puppyray
DR_Slider had some features that were not implemented
Note: if you haven't seen Dogwaffle's landscape modeling or rendering,
check Puppy Ray and 3D-Designer
Also: Learn more in the PlayLists on our YouTube Channel
The River Canyon tutorials
Puppy Ray Unleashed
3D with Dogwaffle
Cloudy with a Chance of Waffles
August 23rd, 2020
Build 37
Trying a new layout for Puppyray
Fixed caption on animation creation panel
Fixed broken GUI for Lua scripting (?)
==============
July 28, 2020
Build 35
First build on new system
The selection style is now fully implemented in the hprop control, as evidenced in the Filter > Render > Shape Bombing filter
July 21, 2020
Build 34
The button control now has an option to adjust the transparency of the gradient in the button control. We may utilize this sometime in the future.
Move initialization of GDI+ into a global area instead of for individual instances in the button control.
Identified some issues with panning on a un-zoomed window and fixed some issues surrounding it, but not the issue itself yet.
==============
July 21st, 2020
Build 32
There are only a few remaining issues, but again, this build is aimed primarily at stability
Reimplemented parts of the button control for efficiency
Puppyray CPU is now deprecated and now lives under the View/other menu
Puppyray CPU global illumination is removed because of stability
Fixed the transform menu that was broken in the last build
==============
July 20, 2020
Build 30
Build 31
removes the browser's reliance on ImageMagik Convert.
This version is aimed at stability
Rewrote parts of the hprop, numeric hprop, and dropslider controls in reguards to scrollwheel support
Puppyray CPU is now depricated in favor of Puppyray GPU
==============
July 19, 2020
Build 28
Fixed a recursive out of memory error when manipulating the size button with the scroll wheel under certain conditions
The aapen (AA Pen - Anti-aliased pen) is now multithreaded(!). It was originally intended to be "just a pen" but it seems to be taking on additional responsibilities lately and thus needs a little help for larger workloads. Large brushes with the AApen should be faster as a result.
Zoom blur filter and Mystic Vision filter panels are now larger and allow a bit more input area
Fixed the crosshair position offset problem on those panels
==============
July 18, 2020
Build 27
Made the vscroll bar on the sidebar/media panel a little wider
Added the new style Vscroll bars to several components that didnt' use them yet.
Made several tangible memory optimizations
Added error trapping to one of our scaling routines that allocates memory
==============
July 16, 2020
Build 26
Refresh build to update the version string
Mostly testing and tutorializing today
==============
July 15, 2020
Build 25
Scroll wheel was reversed
Continuing to battle with the hprop control
Build 24
As we get closer to final release, we are making some fine-tue adjustments
The default color theme is now the Orange on Dark theme
When creating a new custom brush or airbrush shape, the default step mode is now "relative"
This helps insure that there is always a "safe" value for step by way of performance. It would be unfortunate to create a brush that brings your system to a halt.
Several filter panels that use a preview now have a larger preview area
The Dropslider control now owns it's own unique instance of the "drop" part of the control, instead of sharing with other instances.
==============
July 14, 2020
Build 22
Added buttons on the context strip to flip and rotate the brush
pressing x,y,z on the keyboard to flip and rotate the brush now show the preview instantly, assuming brush preview is turned on
==============
July 13, 2020
Build 21
Pulled build 20 due to a last minute crashing bug.
Build 20
Fixed hprop control scrollwheel interfearing with other controls with focus.
Rewrote the tab rendering code for clearity. Now supports rounded tabs.
fixed a tab rendering bug introduced in the last build
Made code changes to the hprop, numeric hprop, and dropslider controls
The Dropslider no longer raises "change" events in place of scroll events
Code changes in Howler in accordance
the 3 controls now support the new non-linear style where values over 100% increase more rapidly up to 1000%
Fixed a minor visual glitch on the legacy brush panel
==============
July 12, 2020
Build 18
Build 19
Added a few new GUI color themes and tweaked a few existing themes
Fixed a color pen bug that arose a few builds ago
Fixed a few old plugins that were broken in recent builds
Added a non-linear option to the Hprop control
==============
July 11, 2020
Build 17
The info panel is reorganized to be more readable
The airbrush creation tool now follows the GUI pen colors
==============
July 10, 2020
Build 16
Build 15
The airbrush building tool now goes to 1000 pixels
Added some visual separater lines on the context strips
Fixed a bug on the brush shape panel that caused the scrollbar to scroll to an empty area under cirtain situations.
Introduction to big brushes - https://youtu.be/PRo7qds1NZA
==============
July 9, 2020
Build 14
This build primarily addresses issues with multiple monitor systems.
Primary window now opens on the last used monitor
Compact mode now works correctly with multiple monitors
Toggling compact mode no longer switches to the primary monitor
Experimented with intuos tablet "pan and scroll" associated with the primary stylus button and found it unsolvable to filter out the unwanted behavoir. Recomend changing the tablet settings to "erase" via the primary stylus button.
The splash screen remains on the primary monitor
Made some panel size adjustments
==============
July 7, 2020
Build 9
Build 10
addressed issue. box color picker does not update when picking a color on other pickers
Brush manager was broken due to new scrollbar
Made some layout and costmetic changes to dropdown panels
And there is a lot more here: https://www.thebest3d.com/2021/#news
So, yes, Dan has been busy, despite Covid and the super hit summer!
We think this deserves a big round of applause. And a big thank you to anyone who has supported us through renewals or first-time ordering alike.
Which brings us to the next topic:
Labor Day Special - Upgrade Amnesty for all - 50% off on Howler 2020 and 2021 good for a few days.
If you have already an earlier version of Dogwaffle, be it Howler or Artist or very old PD Pro, even PD Particles, and free versions of Dogwaffle ..... THANK YOU!!!!!
If you are interested in either upgrading OR trying this for the first time: THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!
Use this discount code:
For Howler 2020: MMXXL (also for Artist 2020)
For Howler 2021: MMXXIL (sorry, no Artist edition available yet - save now, order now, as you never know if or what the future brings)
This promotion will end in a few days. At that point, the upgrade discount codes will no longer work. If you have the code from an earlier release, use it if still working and better discount.
Prices will not go up but discounts are not getting lower, in fact likely to bgo up a notch.
Order here: https://thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/sales
Or simpler here: https://www.thebest3d.com/sales
and if you prefer to order from the author directly, here's Dan Ritchie: https://pdhowler.com
Newest DOTMs - Dogwaffler's of the Moment
Check these recently added and updated or new artists using
Dogwaffle, meet some of them in the groups and forums online, on
Facebook and more.
Donald Cantrell has been printing his patterns and designs on facemasks! Yes you too can now wear a piece of art powered by Dogwaffle!
https://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/dotm
Dan's GoFundme
campaign
Check if we made it, and if you feel you have some mighty dollars left looking for a purpose, know that this can make a huge difference. (Even just $1 can buy a nice meal at Aldi. No kidding. A can of sweet corn for $0.48, and nother of baby potatoes. Or a dozen eggs under a buck!)
https://gf.me/u/xcaivu
