Beta 0.7.5: Elevating Creativity with Displacement Mapping, Round Corner Shading, and Node Preview

We are thrilled to unveil the latest enhancements in version 0.7.5 with new features to elevate your rendering experience including displacement mapping, round cornder shading, and node preview.

Besides, we wanted to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude for your unwavering support of Taitopia. Your enthusiasm and trust in our platform have been instrumental in shaping its evolution. We're excited to have you on this journey with us, and we can't wait to continue creating Taitopia together.

🚀 Features

• More easily navigate your project's entire structure with the new "Expand All/Collapse All" option in the Outline's right-click menu.
• Preview the results from a single node in the material graph with the 'C' key shortcut or from the right-click menu.
• Toggle object visibility with the new 'H' key shortcut. Additionally, press 'Alt/Option + H' to show all objects and press 'Shift + H' to hide all non-selected objects.
• Introducing Displacement Mapping: transform the vertices of your geometry with a single texture map.
  • Displacement map feature is currently experimental. It is undergoing continuous testing and refinement to ensure optimal functionality and performance and may have occasional issues or limitations.

• Round corner shading is now available as a material setting. Corner radius can be adjusted after turning on the "Rounded Corner" switch in the material tab.

• The origin of object gizmo is now switchable between "Use Object Center" and "Use Object Origin" toggle at the bottom toolbar.

• The camera list now features a duplicate camera button.
• Email notifications will be sent when render queue tasks are completed.

🎨 Improvements

• Optimized the position of filter and sorting components in the Workspace.
• Texture transformation parameters are brought back into the texture upload popup panel.
• Added additional prompts when attempting to add a texture to a measured metal material.
• Removed angle range limit from rotation preset animations.

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed quick tips still being displayed after loading is completed.
• Fixed the Material Output node cannot be selected with a single click.
• Fixed inconsistent texture transformation after using material nodes.
• Fixed camera parameters changing after opening and closing the animation panel.
• Fixed "Keep Size of Focused Object" switch not working when animations are present.
• Fixed images saved in the Material Graph Editor not being displayed in the personal asset library.

As we continuously strive to refine and enhance your rendering experience, your creative potential knows no bounds. Explore, create, and render with ease and precision in Taitopia!

Beta 0.7.0: Full-featured Animation Timeline, brand new Personal Asset Library, Texture Library and many more!

We're excited to announce the release of Taitopia v0.7.0, with major new features that will enable more creativity and flexibility for you to render everywhere!

🚀 Taitopia is now FREE to use!

Taitopia is now free to use forever for everyone! With Taitopia v0.7.0, we are introducing the new Taitopia Free tier where you can enjoy unlimited interactive rendering, our asset library with 1000+ models, materials, and template scenes, as well as advanced features such as the material graph editor. We hope this makes Taitopia more accessible to hobbyists, students, and anyone who wants to occasionally render projects without investing in expensive hardware. On the other hand, our Taitopia Pro subscription and WeekPass still remain your best choice for professional or extensive rendering needs. Features exclusive to the Pro Plan include:

• Render without watermarks (a Taitopia logo watermark is included when rendering with the Free plan)
• Unlimited scene files in your Workspace (Free users are limited to 10 files)
• Unlimited uploaded models in your Workspace (Free users are limited to 10 uploaded models)
• Unlimited saved models, materials, textures and environments (Free users are limited to 5 saved assets of each type)
• Unlimited saved renders (Free users are limited to 10 saved renders)

As part of our early bird program, features below are designed for the Pro Plan but will be temporarily available for Free users throughout Taitopia v0.7 versions. These features will be made exclusive to the Pro plan in the next major Taitopia release.

• Up to 4000×4000 resolution Instant Render
• Up to 10,000 samples per pixel (or equivalent noise level) Instant Render
• Render passes
• Frame sequence rendering

For our existing users:

• If you are a Trial user of Taitopia, your Trial account, whether active or expired, will automatically be converted into a Free account. If your existing Workspace items have exceeded the Free Plan limit, you may delete unused scenes, models, and renders to continue using Taitopia.
• If you have an active Taitopia Pro subscription, your early bird pricing at the time of subscription will remain valid regardless of currently posted pricing.
• If you have purchased a Taitopia WeekPass and would like to switch to a monthly or annual subscription, Email Us for a promo code to continue enjoying our initial early bird pricing at $39/month or $348/year.

🎨 Animation Timeline Editor

Next, we've introduced a brand new animation timeline that gives you full control when creating animations. To activate the animation timeline editor, click the animation button on the top-right corner of your Taitopia window, next to the Render and Render Queue buttons.

The animation timeline will appear at the bottom of your window, where you can:

• Play and pause animations, and scrubbing the timeline
• Edit animation presets and keyframes
• Render animation preview videos

After activating the animation timeline, keyframe buttons will also appear to the right of each property that can be animated, such as object transformation and camera settings. Also, please stay tuned for our future documentation and tutorials for the animation timeline!

🎨 Personal Asset Library

With Taitopia v0.7.0, you can now build a personal collection of assets including models, materials, textures, and environments that can be used across multiple scenes. This makes it faster than ever to start new projects using high-quality assets you've already built with Taitopia.

• To save a model or group with its materials and animations, right click on a model from the viewport or the outline panel and select "Save Model".
• To save a material, right click on a model from the viewport or the material list and select "Save Material".
• To save a texture, click the bookmark icon on the top-right of the texture pop-up window.
• To save an environment, right click on the environment list and select "Save Environment".

All saved assets can be found and in the bottommost "My Assets" tab of the Asset Library on the left sidebar and then used in the same way as official assets. Additionally, you can also view your saved assets or directly upload textures from the Assets page of the Workspace.

🎨 Texture Library

Our Taitopia official asset library has now included textures. You can view the texture library from the second tab from the top on the Asset Library, where both image textures and material-graph-based smart textures are available. Same as materials, textures can be directly dragged onto a model in the viewport, after which you will be prompted by a window to select the texture channel you would like to apply.

🔧 Improvements and Bugfixes

As Taitipia v0.7.0 is a significantly large release, numerous bugfixes and improvements have been made throughout the development of this version. We find it hard to give an exaustive list for them, but we definitely take care of each and every piece of your feedback. As always, keep sharing your amazing creations with the Taitopia community! We can't wait to see what you build next using these new features and the power of next-gen cloud render, and happy rendering everywhere!

Sign-In with Google Support!

To further smooth the login process, we have rolled out the Sign-In with Google feature and made it compatible with existing and returning users. If you already have an email account with us, and want to try this new Sign-In method, please make sure you FINISH the auto-link process without refreshing the page or clicking the "Back" button on your browser, interrupting the linking process will result in 2 completely different accounts and you will not be able to find your existing files or models from your new account.

If you accidentally interrupted the linking process and cannot find your existing files, feel free to contact us (at team@taitopia.design), we are here to help!

Beta 0.6.12: A new shortcut with a bunch of user experience improvements

What's new in Taitopia Render?

🚀 Features

• Repurposed Q as a new shortcut for swapping among all cameras. Pressing Q will loop through the list of cameras in order, starting with the current camera

🎨 UX Improvements

• Added a HDRI preview when the cursor hovers over HDRIs in the Environment Library
• Improved the user interactions with selecting locked and hidden objects
• Improved the box select feature. Added a toggle between single and box select on the top of the viewport; holding Option/Alt will also temporarily activate box select
• Added support for changing the object order in the Camera List, Environment List and Lighting List in the HDRI Editor
• Improved the appearance of the Color Ramp node and added parameter input fields
• Changed the parameter value ranges of HDRI Lighting Brightness, HDRI Brightness, HDRI Solid Color Brightness, HDRI Color Gradient Brightness and HDRI Image Brightness to 1-10

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed the yellow highlight on objects not disappearing after using copy material
• Fixed the incorrect thumbnails for uploaded EXR Environment textures
• Fixed the occasionally inverted Y-axis camera control
• Fixed the hard-to-remove yellow highlight on objects after selecting an object as the Rotation Pivot for Object Rotation Animation Presets
• Fixed Instant Render outputs being different from the Viewport Render display
• Fixed the incorrect relative position between the cursor and the material preview when dragging materials
• Fixed the incorrect distance between nodes when the cursor is operating the Material Output node in the Material Graph Editor
• Fixed an error when selecting a Smart Texture node when editing in the Material Graph Editor

Beta 0.6.11: Enhanced workflow and user rxperience

We're delighted to share our latest updates, designed to enhance your user experience and streamline your workflow. New features include the ability to drag material previews to objects, duplicate nodes in the Material Graph Editor, adjust ray bounces for viewport renders, duplicate and lock environments, and adjust multiple object parameters simultaneously.

We've also made UX improvements like graying out the Image Format parameter when no Render Passes are selected, enhancing error report screens and "get started" recommendations, moving the status bar to the top of the viewport, and renaming the Normal parameter in the Material Graph Editor to Bump. We've also fixed several bugs, including restoring the World Grid parameter setting, fixing the inverted material gizmo, improving material gizmo scaling, ensuring Ray Bounces consistency, and correcting object rotation after scene loading.

As always, we're committed to providing you with an ever-improving render platform!

🚀 Features

• All the material previews in the interface can now be dragged to quickly assign them to objects
• You can now duplicate nodes by holding down Option/Alt and LMB drag in the Material Graph Editor
• Made ray bounces parameter adjustable for viewport renders
• The Environment List on the right now supports environment duplication and locking
• It is now possible to adjusting the position, rotation, scale parameters and use Snap to Ground when multiple objects are selected

🎨 UX Improvements

• The Image Format parameter will now be grayed out if none of the Render Passes are selected
• Improved the visuals of error report screens and the "get started" recommendations
• Moved the status bar to the top of the viewport and added corresponding animated effects
• The Normal parameter in the Material Graph Editor has been renamed to Bump

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Restored the unintended removal of the World Grid parameter setting in the Outline panel
• Fixed inverted material gizmo for newly created label materials
• Fixed the material gizmo scaling slowly when adding labels (can be observed in Template Outdoor Product D)
• Changed the default value of Ray Bounces in the Viewport to 8 to be consistent with the Render Output
• Fixed the bug of occasionally incorrect object rotation after loading a scene

Beta 0.6.10

🎨 UX Improvements

• Improved the functionality of View Helper at the bottom right of the viewport. Users can now change view by dragging on it
• The overlay for idle timeout and peak hours now only covers the viewport; sidebar items will remain visible
• Improved the presentation of material previews
• Improved the interface dimensions of the Material Graph Editor and over character limit notification for node names
• Texture file names will now be used for naming Image Texture nodes

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed search results in the Asset Library obstructing the top-left menu
• Changed the button text in the Import section
• Fixed the animation timeline remaining on screen in the Animation panel after deleting all animation from the scene
• Fixed the display of enlarged material and model previews

🎨 Assets

• Added 50 new plastic materials and 15 car paint materials

Beta 0.6.9: A new "Replace Model" feature, support EXR files for texture and improvements to Material Graph

In this release, we're thrilled to introduce our latest updates, featuring a host of new features such as the Replace Model feature, context and Duplicate Node features in the Material Graph Editor, support for .exr files, and customizable environment lighting parameters. We've also enhanced user experience by improving node copy-pasting functionality and introducing a list view in the Material section. Several bugs have been addressed to ensure smoother operation. Our assets have been expanded with 50 new plastic materials and 15 car paint materials. Look forward to the upcoming additions of an animation timeline and a personal asset library.

As always, we're committed to continually enhancing your experience with Taitopia!

🚀 Features

• Added a Replace Model feature. After selecting an object/camera/light in the Viewport, simply right click on a model in the Asset List or one of your imported models to replace the selected model
• Added a context menu to the Material Graph Editor. It is now possible to add or edit nodes by right-clicking on the graph editor. The Add Nodes menu is also accessible by pressing the Tab key
• Added a Duplicate Node feature to the Material Graph Editor, accessible via CTRL/CMD + D. Duplicates will be added to the bottom right to the currently selected node
• Added support for .exr files for texture upload
• Added a Viewport Settings section to the bottom right of the Editor. Currently, it allows for adjusting the number of ray bounces for viewport rendering
• Added the parameters for adjusting the height and ground-flattening scale of environment lighting

💻 UX Improvements

• Improved the usability of copy-pasting nodes in the Material Graph Editor. Now the pasted nodes will appear under the cursor or at the center of view
• Added list view for the Material section of the Asset List, as well as the Material List in the - Material panel on the right

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed objects with glass materials turning black when intersecting with the ground plane
• Fixed incorrect ground shadows
• Fixed denoising not applying to files exported from Render Queues
• Fixed only being able to delete an animation when the playback progress is at 0 s
• Fixed incorrect background color when rendered with a pure white background and environment lighting

🎨 Assets

• Added 50 new plastic materials and 15 car paint materials.

🚧 Under Development

• Animation timeline
• Personal Asset Library

Beta 0.6.8: A new "Place Texture" feature and estimation of remaining time to Render Queue tasks

🚀 Features

• Added support for uploading .sldprt files. Currently, only .sldprt files from Solidworks 2021 and earlier versions are supported. The model will be divided into separate blocks based on different appearance
• Added a new "Place Texture" feature. When a texture in the Material Graph is using planar projection, by clicking or dragging on the surface of an object, users can place the texture at the corresponding location
• The Node List Menu on the left of the Material Graph Editor can now be collapsed and expanded
• Added an estimated remaining time to tasks in the Render Queue

💻 UX Improvements

• Updated the layout and design of the Render Settings pop-up window to allow more settings to be shown simultaneously
• Updated the value range of the Temperature parameter in the Color node to 1000-20000
• Improved the parameter settings and UI of some material nodes
• Adjusted the order of items in the left menu, adding groups and dividers to improve legibility.

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed the sudden change in blurriness if the F-stop parameter is changed after adjusting the focal length of the camera
• Disabled view adjustment when using the "Pick Focal Point in Scene" feature

🚧 Under Development

• We are working on bringing you a much wider selection of plastic and car paint materials

Beta 0.6.7: Render Queue tasks can now be cancelled

🚀 Features

• In-progress tasks in the Render Queue can now be cancelled

💻 UX Improvements

• Users can now change the material to be copied after initiating Copy Material by clicking on the list of materials
• Uploaded multi-component models will now be properly separated. Components will be assembled at world origin when they are added to the scene
• Users can now change the Texture Mapping and Texture Transform of multiple Image Texture Nodes simultaneously in the Material Nodes Editor

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed OBJ model imports missing smoothed normals
• Fixed the exported depth channel render being pure black
• Fixed an issue where if the mouse cursor stays stationary while dragging a node connection, the nodes would keep moving further away from view
• The UV Coordinate Transform scale of the Color Texture Node will be locked by default
• Fixed an issue where objects may be incorrectly highlighted when Copy Material is active

Beta 0.6.6: Rename-able materials and user feedback entries

In the latest release, We've added support for Rename-able Materials. We also added user feedback entries to the question mark icon in the bottom left corner, streamlining the user experience for reporting bugs and feedbacks. What's more, 5 brand-new scene templates are added to the Official Asset Library!

🚀 Features

• Increased the file size limit for model uploads to 500 MB
• Materials can now be renamed in the Properties Panel. Items in the Environment List, Lighting List and Camera List can now be renamed by double-clicking them in the Properties Panel
• Added user feedback entries to the Help & Feedback section, streamlining the user experience for reporting bugs and feedbacks

🎨 Assets

• Added 5 new scene templates

💻 UX Improvements

• The Asset Library will now remember the user's scroll position when switching between tabs
• Improved toast notifications by automatically closing some notifications that were previously not closed.
• Changed the Denoise parameter in the Render Settings window to a slider between 0 and 1
• Improved the appearance of gizmos when selecting an object

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed not being able to exit box select state
• Fixed incorrect camera F-stop simulation

Beta 0.6.5: STL files support

What's new in Taitopia Render?

🚀 Features

• Added support for uploading .stl files

💻 UX Improvements

• Improved the responsiveness of adding animations. Newly added animation will automatically playback once.
• Added error message display for file upload errors.
• Improved camera depth of field control to support up to f/128 ¹.
• Improved parameter display of paint materials.

🎨 Assets

• Added 6 new library templates.

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed ring-like rendering artifacts appearing on models with large dimensions.
• Fixed locked camera changing view while adding models by clicking on the Asset Library.
• Fixed opening a new browser window while changing the scale parameters of an object by holding down CTRL/CMD and dragging the cursor.
• Fixed the name of the object not appear in visible range in the Outline menu when selecting by clicking in the Viewport.
• Fixed not being able to delete the last character in the File Name field of the Render Settings window.

Beta 0.6.4: User onboarding guides and Material Graph Editor improvements

🚀 Features

• Added more quick start guide items to assist users in onboarding Taitopia. Tips have been added to the renderer loading page to familiarize users with operations in Taitopia. Quick start guide can be now replayed in the help menu from clicking the question mark icon at the bottom left corner.
• Added a quick scaling feature for model upload. When a model's dimensions are found to be inappropriate, the user can quickly rescale the model via the options menu in the model's bottom right corner. This scaling does not affect the scale value in the properties panel.
• Added five types of grunge textures in the material graph editor.

💻 UX Improvements

• Optimized the precision of numerical inputs in the material graph editor. It now supports up to six decimal digits.
• Added a switch for background transparency in viewport render settings. Users can now quickly toggle transparent background from the bottom toolbar.
• Added a feature of duplicating HDRI pin lights, including those that are hidden or locked.

Some latest improvements and fixes

• Significant performance optimization on noise texture and smart textures for material graphs by up to 90% in terms of graph update speed
• Do not carry over depth of field properties when activating free roam from a camera with depth of field
• Optimized the default position of added light sources and basic geometries to the center of current view.
• Optimized the maximum magnitude of movement of gizmos to 2000.
• Viewport navigation by mouse control does not reset camera roll angle.
• Fixes the color picker being unable to modify the color mode.

Beta 0.6.3: A brand new visual identity!

Some of you might have already noticed that the server icon has changed and wondering what happened. We are happy to announce that we are giving our product a new visual identity to represent our functionality improvements during the closed alpha period and the first few weeks of open beta. Meanwhile, a new logo with several new features of Taitopia:

🚀 Features

• Context menu: quickly access common operations, such as material linking/unlinking and aim view, from a context menu by right clicking on the 3D viewport or the properties panel (right sidebar).
• Quick start guide( continuously updated): tooltips for common features are presented when a new user enters Taitopia editor or access parts of the editor interface for the first time.
• Internet health meter: allows users to check their current network status.
• Updated the view helper at the bottom right corner of the 3D viewport. Users can now quickly switch the camera to common views by clicking corresponding faces of the helper cube.
• Added a separate copy material shortcut Alt + C. This allows for quickly activating the copy material state.
• Added separate undo/redo view shortcuts Alt+Z/Alt+Y. In case of of accidental view changes, users can quickly restore the previous view using the shortcuts. We generally recommend locking cameras that do not require further adjustments from the viewport.

Beta 0.6.2: Orange highlight for active materials and a new help menu

🚀 Features

• Added an orange highlight for materials which indicates objects bound to the current material. In the material tab, simply hover over a material ball with your mouse to view all objects attached to the material highlighted in orange.
• Added size control for environment lighting that allows for scaling the rendered environment background. Note that the lighting effects on objects do not change with environment size.
• Added a help menu in the lower left corner.

💻 UX Improvements

• Optimized the scene outline position and naming of copied and pasted objects.
• Increased the scrollable area of HDRI editor in the environment tab.
• Allows for up to 8 decimal digits in the numerical input for object translation, rotation, and scale.

🔧 Bug Fixes

• Fixed the problem of hidden objects in the model file being parsed and broken faces after applying subdivision.
• Fixed an empty ZIP file being exported when using instant render with channels combined into one PSD file.
• Fixed the problem of smooth shading not applied to uploaded STP model files.
• Fixed the render export resolution window being partially covered.
• Fixed the problem of incorrect naming of new environment light sources after a light source has been deleted.

🚧 Under Development

• Animation timeline is now under development; any suggestions are welcomed!
• Development of personal material library has been scheduled.

Beta 0.6.0: Taitopia Render is in Open Beta!

We are excited to announce that Taitopia Render is now in Open Beta! We have been working hard to bring you a better experience in Taitopia Render in the past few months in its alpha stage. In this release, we have added a lot of new features and improvements to the existing features, such as the brand new Material Graph Editor.

🚀 Features

Use a node-based workflow to create complex procedural materials and bring your products to life with stunning color, material, and finish (CMF) design.

❤️ We would love your feedback as we continue improving it!

Footnotes

Footnotes

1. This serves as the mitigation to a bug in the camera simulation of Taitopia. The full bugfix for camera depth of field is expected to be delivered next week. ↩