Release notes
2.2.1 (2024-04-11)
Features
Added support for SketchUp 2024.
Bug fixes
Fixed an error that occurred in some rare cases when using boundaries.
2.2.0 (2022-11-17)
Features
Skatter now supports newer Mac computers with M1/M2 chipsets.
Added an “Ignore boundaries” option to surface hosts and masks to provide more flexibility when using the Boundaries filter.
Added a “Regenerate all” button to the composition manager.
The composition editor now remembers which UI sections have been expanded/collapsed for each composition.
Changes
Disabling the preview now only hides the instances that will be generated. Other elements like masks and cameras will still be displayed, making it easier to work on a composition while maintaining good performance.
Bug fixes
Fixed object-space distributions not aligning the instances’ axes with the host’s.
Fixed the object groups being lost when exporting/importing compositions.
Fixed automatic generation not running when deleting the last remaining object of a composition.
2.1.7 (2022-06-28)
Bug fixes
Fixed Render Only compositions not being rendered in V-Ray for some users.
Fixed a rare crash occurring on MacOS when Skatter, V-Ray, and Flextools are installed.
Fixed SketchUp sometimes freezing for a long time when generating compositions in heavy files.
Known issue: Skatter does not work in SketchUp 2022 on Mac computers with M1 chips. We're working on M1 support for a future version.
2.1.6 (2022-05-02)
Features
Skatter is now available in Traditional Chinese. Go to "Preferences > Language" to change the current language.
Bug fixes
Fixed the Ruby console sometimes showing up with an error message when starting SketchUp.
Fixed an error that sometimes occurred when generating a composition that references lost SketchUp entities.
Fixed an error that occurred when picking a replacement for an area mask.
Fixed scattered VRScenes appearing at the origin when rendering with V-Ray.
2.1.5 (2022-02-17)
Bug fixes
Fixed Render Only compositions not working consistently in V-Ray for some users.
Mac: fixed an error that prevented Skatter from launching.
2.1.4 (2022-02-15)
Features
Added a new export type that produces CSV files for OctaneRender’s scatter nodes.
Added offline license activation/deactivation for users with a restricted internet connection.
Skatter is now available in Spanish. Go to "Preferences > Language" to change the current language.
Changes
Significantly optimized the 3D preview of paint masks. Before this update, paint masks with a lot of strokes could noticeably slow down SketchUp.
Reworked the user interface of the Composition Manager. The “Edit” action has been upgraded to a bigger button. The “Export” and “Duplicate” actions have been moved to a sub-menu.
Bug fixes
Fixed various crashes occurring on Mac.
Fixed a crash occurring when picking many surface hosts.
Fixed crashes sometimes occurring when combining the Collision filter with random transformations.
Fixed the Offset parameter in the Boundaries filter accepting negative values even though they are not supported.
2.1.3 (2021-12-20)
Features
The new "Automatic Generation" mode immediately inserts scattered objects into the model whenever the parameters of a composition change. Click on the new icon next to the "Generate" button to toggle this mode. This is particularly convenient when working with small to medium compositions that can be quickly recalculated.
Skatter is now available in Chinese. Go to "Preferences > Language" to change the current language.
Bug fixes
Uniform distribution: fixed several errors that occurred when creating a uniform distribution on a surface with an extremely high number of instances.
Composition masks: fixed an error sometimes occurring when deleting a composition that was used as a mask by another composition.
Composition masks: optimized composition masks to prevent SketchUp from freezing during several seconds when there is a high number of masking instances.
Collision filter: fixed an error that sometimes occurred when combining the collision filter with random translations.
Collision filter: fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when using the collision filter in a composition that generates a high number of small instances.
Composition editor: fixed number inputs not behaving properly when entering very small or very large values.
Composition editor: fixed the position of the context menu that appears when right-clicking on a point.
Composition editor: fixed several bugs producing a "No job with ID" error when updating a composition.
Composition editor: fixed the warning that appears when previewing too many instances no working properly.
Preview: fixed compositions sometimes still showing instances in the preview even when the last calculation was manually cancelled by the user.
Localization: fixed some window titles not being translated.
Localization: fixed some parts of the SketchUp UI (menus, tooltips) sometimes not switching to the selected language due to a bug.
3D Bazaar: fixed an error that occurred when importing a Skatter composition from 3D Bazaar without having a valid Skatter license.
2.1.2 (2021-12-03)
Known issue: while this update fixes V-Ray rendering when using vrscenes as scattered objects, it revealed a bug in V-Ray for SketchUp that might produce crashes when proxies get removed from the model (eg. when a composition using proxies is deleted or toggled off, when a proxy object is removed from a composition, etc...).
The V-Ray developers are aware of the issue.
Bug fixes
V-Ray: fixed vrscenes not rendering when used as objects of Render Only compositions.
V-Ray: fixed interactive renders not being updated when a composition is deleted.
V-Ray: fixed compositions sometimes not rendering when pausing and then resuming an interactive render.
2.1.1 (2021-12-01)
This update fixes several bugs reported by users and especially focuses on V-Ray rendering in order to offer a more robust experience.
Bug fixes
V-Ray: fixed nested objects sometimes not rendering.
V-Ray: fixed interactive renders being needlessly refreshed when a composition is computed for the preview but not generated.
V-Ray: improved performance by ignoring compositions that have not changed since the last render.
Performance: fixed a memory leak due to internal raytracing data not being cleaned up after it becomes irrelevant.
Export: fixed exported files named with non-latin characters generating errors when importing them later. Skatter compositions exported before this fix will unfortunately remain faulty but new exports will work as expected.
2.1.0 (2021-11-29)
This first major update for Skatter 2 makes zoning even more powerful by introducing Object Groups! With this new feature, you will now be able to generate compositions with even more variation by combining different objects into the same zones.
Please check out the updated documentation for Objects and Distributions.
This update also introduces a new language: French. If you're interesting in helping us translate Skatter in more languages, please visite the Translation category of our forums.
Features
It's now possible to bundle several objects together in the same zones with Object Groups. Click the new "Create an object group" button in the Scattered Objects section to add new groups. Drag-and-drop objects into those groups to associate them together in the same zones. Each group has its own probability, letting you finely tune the final distribution.
The probability for each object to appear is now illustrated in a colored indicator at the bottom of the Scattered Objects section. This makes it easier to understand the probability distribution at a glance, especially when combining objects and groups.
A new "Noise in empty zones" checkbox has been added to allow or prevent random noise inside of empty zones. This makes it possible to inject randomness in zones populated by objects, next to truly empty zones.
Skatter is now available in French. Go to "Preferences > Language" to change the current language.
Changes
The "Empty zones" percentage has been removed. Instead, empty zones can be created by adding empty Object Groups and setting their probability as desired.
Bug fixes
Composition editor: fixed numeric parameters sometimes accepting negative values where they should not.
Composition editor: fixed automatic unit conversion not working for the distribution density.
Composition manager: fixed the import of .sklib files from Skatter 1 sometimes failing silently.
Convert entities to composition: fixed an error occurring when the selection contains too many objects.
Migration from Skatter 1: fixed all the objects being assigned the same color.
Fixed the "No job with ID" error that sometimes occurred when generating a composition.
2.0.5 (2021-11-06)
Bug fixes
Paint mask: fixed a rare crash occurring when painting over a surface with tiny faces.
Render Only: fixed an error message showing up on startup if V-Ray is not installed.
Render Only: fixed V-Ray not rendering instances when it got loaded before Skatter.
Render Only: fixed V-Ray rendering the proxy of some assets instead of their full geometry.
2.0.4 (2021-11-03)
Changes
The maximum brush size has been increased to 25 meters. Please note that large brushes might degrade performance when painting over surfaces with dense geometry.
Compositions from incompatible versions of Skatter now appear in gray in the Composition Manager and they can be upgraded from there.
When upgrading Skatter data coming from older versions, the Upgrade popup now allows users to select individual compositions (previously, all the compositions of the model had to be upgraded without distinction).
Bug fixes
Scattered objects: fixed objects being assigned the same color when shift-picking several of them.
Paint masks: fixed an error sometimes occurring when erasing part of a mask.
Preview: fixed the preview for a composition sometimes disappearing and not reappearing until its editor is closed and opened again.
Render Only: fixed referenced materials sometimes being deleted when purging the model.
Render Only: fixed disabled compositions sometimes not rendering in V-Ray when toggled back on.
Render Only: fixed compositions not appearing if a V-Ray interative render is started before triggering the first generation.
Render Only: fixed some assets from 3D Bazaar or Chaos Cosmos not appearing in V-Ray renders.
Import composition: fixed an error occurring when picking the composition to import.
Convert to composition: fixed an error occuring when converting model entities to a Skatter composition.
2.0.3 (2021-10-25)
Features
It is now possible to minimize the help animation displayed when using a Skatter tool.
A new button in the License window opens your Lindalë account in an external browser so that you can manage your Skatter licenses (check current activations, release seats).
Changes
When duplicating a composition, the editor of the new composition automatically pops up. Before this change, it could be unclear if the duplication succeeded as the only feedback was a new entry in the Composition Manager.
Bug fixes
Curve hosts: fixed a crash sometimes occurring when scattering along vertical edges.
Object insertion mode: fixed an error occuring when mixing objects with different insertion modes.
Composition editor: fixed the parameters displayed in the editor sometimes reverting to old values when V-Ray was active.
Render Only: fixed compositions not updating properly when switching from Render Only to In Model.
Licensing: fixed some important errors not being shown to users, such as errors due to network restrictions.
Licensing: fixed an error that could happen when editing a model that already contains Skatter data without first having activated a license.
MacOS: fixed some crashes that occurred when picking hosts or masks.
2.0.2 (2021-10-14)
This updates fixes a few technical issues reported by our users after the initial launch of Skatter 2.
Most notably, this fixes some errors occurring on MacOS when multiple models are open, V-Ray sometimes not rendering instances, as well as objects disappearing when purging the SketchUp model.
Bug fixes
Image masks: fixed an error occurring when combining image masks with Curve or Point hosts.
Render Only: fixed referenced scattered objects sometimes being deleted when purging the model.
Render Only: fixed duplicated compositions sometimes not rendering.
V-Ray: fixed Render Only compositions created after starting an interactive render not showing up.
V-Ray: fixed the visibility of Render Only compositions not matching their toggled on/off state.
Composition Manager: fixed SketchUp's undo command ignoring compositions getting toggled on/off.
Composition Manager: fixed an error that occurred when importing a Skatter v1 composition (.sklib file).
Layers: fixed an error occurring when deleting a layer that contains a composition without relocating it to another layer.
MacOS: fixed various errors occurring when editing compositions with multiple SketchUp models open simultaneously.
2.0.1 (2021-10-07)
Changes
Skatter cannot be used without restarting SketchUp after it has been updated. This was previously possible but it generated errors in some cases.
UI on MacOS: the Composition Manager now shows the compositions contained in the active model. Its contents updates when switching models.
Bug fixes
Collision filter: fixed a crash occurring when combining the collision filter with random scaling.
Automatic updates: fixed the list of pending versions not being correctly ordered.
Preferences: fixed an error that sometimes occurred when saving or loading preferences.
Composition export: fixed the optional thumbnail not appearing in 3D Bazaar.
Migration from Skatter v1: fixed the Composition Manager remaining empty after upgrading old Skatter v1 compositions to v2 on MacOS.
3D Bazaar: fixed an error occurring when importing Skatter compositions.
2.0.0 (2021-09-30)
Bugfixes
Automatic update: fixed errors occurring when receiving incomplete data from the server.
Fixed the "another job is already running" error that sometimes occurred when generating a composition.
2.0.0-rc2 (2021-09-29)
Bugfixes
Boundaries filter: fix a crash occurring when combining this filter and curve hosts or point hosts.
Import: fixed errors occurring with older SketchUp versions.
Licensing: fixed trial & activation buttons not responding on Mac.
Fixed several issues when migrating composition from Skatter v1.
Fixed an error occurring when starting Skatter in older SketchUp versions.
2.0.0-rc1 (2021-09-28)
Features
It is now possible to activate a 15-day trial to try out Skatter 2.
A new slider appears to control the size of the brush when using the "Erase points" and "Paint mask" tools.
Changes
Instances are now aligned with curve hosts by default.
When converting existing SketchUp objects to a composition, each selected object now becomes a Skatter instance (previously, it was the children of each selected object that became Skatter instances).
Dependencies (external maps and proxies) are now exported too when exporting a composition with "Export objects" enabled.
Importing compositions from 3D Bazaar is now faster when Enscape is not installed.
Bugfixes
Migration: fixed migration from v1 setups to v2 compositions.
Surface hosts: enhanced the quality of the "Cube" texture mode.
Scattered objects: fixed the "Insertion point" parameter of an object not being applied to its LODs.
Boundaries filters: fixed the "Boundary check" parameter of the filter not being applied to object LODs.
Image masks: fixed wrong preview for images with transparency (a checkerboard pattern can now be seen behind transparent pixels).
Area/Path masks: fixed an error occurring when picking a new mask and hovering an entity with dense geometry.
Grid distribution: fixed instances sometimes not appearing on the edges of surface hosts.
Camera filter: fixed wrong results when combining "Exclude non-visible" and "Distance clipping".
Camera filter: fixed a preview bug occurring when the current view is perfectly aligned with the selected camera.
Context menu: fixed the "Edit" and "Duplicate" options not appearing when several compositions are selected.
Context menu: fixed the newly created composition not appearing immediately in the model when "Converting to composition".
V-Ray: fixed V-Ray rendering only one composition when other compositions use the same scattered object.
2.0.0-beta12 (2021-09-14)
Changes
The preview of composition masks now looks smoother, especially for large radius values.
The "Create compositions as render-only by default" option has been removed. Skatter now remembers the last mode selected by the user and automatically picks it again when creating a new composition.
Skatter now shows a warning notification when the number of previewed instances exceeds the composition's threshold, as defined in its options, to make it clear that the preview will be incomplete.
Bugfixes
Scattered objects: fixed some object's bounding boxes not appearing in the preview when several objects share the exact same color.
Scattered objects: fixed the color picker sometimes not responding appropriately.
Masking: fixed a bug that sometimes produced wrong results when using both inclusive and exclusive masks.
Masking: fixed a crash sometimes occurring when combining multiple masks.
Image masks: fixed the image preview over surface hosts not staying active when editing the composition.
Image masks: fixed an error occurring in SketchUp versions older than 2020 when rendering the preview of an image mask.
Camera filter: fixed the selected camera not being reset when the associated scene gets deleted in SketchUp.
Generation: fixed the SketchUp group that contains the instances not being moved back to its correct position (only needed when the group has been moved manually by the user).
Composition editor: fixed the statistics footer always showing "0 objects".
Composition editor: fixed an error occurring in SketchUp versions older than 2021.1 when activating a Skatter tool.
Composition manager: fixed compositions created in a past session sometimes getting deleted by error when editing them in another session.
Composition manager: fixed generated instances not being copied when duplicating a composition.
User interface: fixed some Skatter windows (Preferences, Licensing, Composition manager) not opening in older SketchUp versions.
Installation: fixed an error sometimes occurring in SketchUp versions older than 2021 when starting Skatter after installing/updating it.
2.0.0-beta11 (2021-09-10)
Features
Added the names of our crowdfunding contributors in the "About" section of the Preferences window. This shows people who contributed non-anonymously on Indiegogo. If your name is missing, please send a message to skatter@lindale.io. Thanks again for your help!
Added an option to automatically select Render-Only mode for new compositions in the Preferences window. This is disabled by default.
Added an option to enable/disable the automatic generation of Render-Only compositions when opening a model in the Preferences window. This is enabled by default.
Changes
Improved performance for multi-core processors. When possible, Skatter now uses a higher number of cores to generate compositions faster.
It's now possible to temporarily disable in-model compositions by clicking on their leftmost icon in the composition manager (it was previously only possible for Render-Only compositions).
Skatter now remembers the paint brush size used for each composition, which makes it more convenient to work on compositions with different scales.
Bugfixes
Scattered objects: fixed a preview bug that still showed an old object's bounding box after replacing it with another object.
Paint masks: fixed visual artifacts appearing on the brush when it has a large radius.
Paint masks: fixed masks drawn in another session appearing with visual artifacts when opening the model again.
Paint masks: fixed the preview not updating immediately when the geometry of a surface host changes.
Paint masks: fixed a bug that prevented from changing the brush size with the Control key when the SketchUp window does not have the focus.
Image masks: fixed wrong result when combining an image mask with other masks.
Random holes: fixed instances still being discarded when switching to a distribution mode that does not support random holes.
Composition editor: fixed the "Generate" button sometimes remaining disabled when opening a composition created in another session.
Composition editor: fixed a composition becoming a draft when enabling/disabling it or changing its layer.
Composition editor: fixed the window closing when deleting its generated instances in SketchUp's viewport.
Layers: fixed several rare bugs.
Context menu: fix several bugs for the "Convert to composition" action.
2.0.0-beta10 (2021-08-27)
New features
The Composition Editor now shows animated GIFs that illustrate how to use the currently active tool.
Changes
The user interface of the Composition Editor has been rearranged: some features have been moved to the "Filters" group (Altitude, Slope, Collisions, Boundaries) and to the "Transforms" group (Look at, Pointing direction).
Inversed the roles of white/black pixels in image masks to match other software packages: instances appear under white pixels and they are hidden by black pixels.
Added a Reload image button to update the file associated to an image mask. This is particularly useful to quickly get feedback while editing the image file with an external editor.
Significantly improved the performance of paint masks, especially when using large brushes.
Limited the amount of RAM used by Skatter. In previous versions, the RAM could be entirely consumed in some cases, which crashed SketchUp. This is now less likely to happen for most configurations.
Bugfixes
Uniform face-space distribution: fixed this distribution mode sometimes not generating any instance when hosts have small faces.
Surface hosts: fixed the "Input - Front" texture mode actually using the back face's texture.
Paint masks: fixed strokes with a high radius being ignored.
Paint masks: fixed the boundary filter not working in exclusive mode.
Area masks: fixed the preview sometimes showing the mask's triangles instead of only its silhouette.
Area masks: fixed crashes occurring when mixing area masks and curve hosts or point sets.
Path masks: fixed crashes occurring when mixing path masks and curve hosts or point sets.
Image masks: fixed image files not updating when picking them again even though their contents have changed.
Composition masks: fixed wrong results when using a negative radius.
Random materials: fixed an error that occurred when mixing random materials and object LODs.
Composition editor: fixed new compositions not getting deleted when closing them without changes.
Composition editor: fix an error occurring when using feet as the model's unit.
Upgrade old compositions from v1: fixed a bug sometimes occurring when upgrading v1 compositions with paint masks.
Upgrade old compositions from v1: fixed new v2 compositions sometimes wrongly appearing as v1 compositions that still require an upgrade.
2.0.0-beta9 (2021-08-12)
New features
Paint masks can now display their 3D volume in the viewport. This makes it easier to understand the interaction between hosts and paint strokes.
Changes
Scattered objects can now use a "Center" insertion point that refer to their true geometric center. The previous "Center" mode has been renamed to "Bottom center" for clarity.
Listed materials are now sorted alphabetically to find them more easily.
Improved the performance and accuracy of paint masks.
Bugfixes
Paint masks: fixed the preview still showing old paint strokes after undo operations.
Composition Editor: fixed a crash occurring when all the picked materials have invalid parameters (such as a probability of 0).
Fixed the "Update Skatter" and "Upgrade old compositions" menu entries always being clickable before Skatter is started.
2.0.0-beta8 (2021-07-26)
New features
You can now import .sklib compositions from Skatter 1 via the Compositions Manager (previously, it was only possible for Skatter 2 compositions).
Changes
Composition masks now display their footprint in the SketchUp viewport.
Changed the order in which Random Transformations and Zones are applied. Previously, transformations were applied last, which could produce fuzzy zones even if the Zones "Blur" parameter was set to 0. Now Zones are applied last so it's possible to generate compositions with both random transformations and well defined zones.
Added an "Update Skatter" entry in the menu to apply pending updates (previously, it was only proposed once at startup).
Added an "Upgrade old compositions" entry in the menu to upgrade compositions made with an older version of Skatter (previously, it was only proposed once at startup).
Bugfixes
Curve hosts: fixed some edges being ignored.
Collisions: fixed wrong results when combined with random transformations.
Composition Editor: fixed automatic unit conversion ignoring some parameters (paint mask's thickness, composition mask's radius).
Composition Editor: fixed the material picker sometimes wrongly accepting duplicate materials.
Composition Editor: fixed the preview not updating immediately when toggling it on/off.
Composition Editor: fixed the "Generation in progress..." message not disappearing in some cases.
Composition Manager: fixed new compositions all having the same name, a numeric suffix is now added to tell them apart.
Composition Manager: fixed the path to the optional cover image not being displayed in the UI.
Composition Manager: fixed export not working when several Skatter objects/materials reference the same SketchUp entity.
Fixed an error occurring when loading a model that contains a paint mask.
Fixed an error occurring when loading a model with render-only compositions without hosts nor objects.
Fixed an error occurring when copy/pasting a composition.
Fixed warnings messages appearing in the Ruby console when using a parallel camera.
2.0.0-beta7
This new beta version brings us one step closer to the official release of Skatter 2. From now on, we plan to release future beta versions at a higher rate, to address the remaining bugs and apply a few layers of polish and optimization before the big day.
Note: SketchUp models that contain Skatter data from previous beta versions will not work properly due to breaking changes introduced in 2.0.0-beta7. As always, please do not use Beta versions for professional or serious projects :)
New features
Area and Path masks can optionally define their own projection axis, which is more convenient to achieve masking over non-horizontal surfaces. If unchanged, the default behavior is to simply use the same projection axis as the composition.
Object masks and Area masks have been merged. Toggle the new "Mode" property to switch between masking under the mask's faces (old Object mask behavior, preserves holes) or under the contours defined by the mask's edges (old Area mask behavior).
The Boundaries filter has a new Offset parameter to completely mask instances between the border and the start of the optional falloff.
A new "zoom on SketchUp entity" button has been added next to hosts, masks, and objects to quickly locate the SketchUp entities that they reference.
Added support for V-Ray Cosmos assets.
Changes
The preview for projection-based masks now only shows the mask's silhouette instead of all the internal edges, which looked messy.
Unit changes are now correctly handled. Parameters are automatically converted when the unit of the SketchUp model changes.
Composition Editor: numeric fields now automatically convert units (e.g. you can type "20cm" in a model set in meters, and you will get "0.2")
Composition Editor: the "Density" parameter now uses the Area Unit in SketchUp 2019 and above.
Composition Editor: masks are now automatically reordered when toggling between inclusive/exclusive modes in order to reflect the order in which they are applied (inclusive masks first).
Composition Editor: renaming a Skatter entity (host, mask, object...) does not rename the associated SketchUp entity anymore. In this way, users can manage their Skatter naming as they wish without altering the underlying model. This also makes it possible to give different names to several Skatter objects that reference the same SketchUp component.
Composition Manager: a dialog now asks for confirmation before deleting a composition.
Bugfixes
Composition: fixed changes not being saved when a composition has no instances.
Composition: fixed render-only compositions not being properly deleted (they appeared again when reloading the model).
Composition: fixed various errors occurring when loading a model containing Skatter compositions that reference missing SketchUp entities.
Compositions: fixed errors sometimes occurring when canceling the ongoing generation of a composition.
Collision: fixed an error that occurred when an object had a "Geometric center" insertion mode and LODs.
Random material: fixed materials not being applied when generating a composition.
Transformations: fixed various errors that occurred when an object had a "Geometric center" insertion mode and some combinations of transformations that modified its rotation or scale.
Random translation: fixed the model's unit being ignored.
Scaling: fixed instances sometimes appearing away from their hosts when different forms of scaling were enabled (random scaling, altitude scaling, slope scaling...)
Area mask/Path mask: fixed instances being filtered in both the positive and negative directions rather than only in the direction of the projection axis.
Path mask: fix wrong results when there are several disjoint paths.
Selection picking (Shift + pick button): fix picking not working when multiple items are selected.
Curve editor: fixed curves with vertical segments producing wrong results.
Performance: fixed the UI freezing when picking entities in large SketchUp models.
3D Bazaar: fixed the 3D Bazaar button not working.
2.0.0-beta6 (2020-12-17)
New Features
The new 3D Bazaar extension is now bundled with Skatter. Its marketplace contains the free legacy assets from Skatter 1 as well as new high-quality content from creators such as Humano and ModelUp, and there's much more to come! 3D Bazaar is also capable of conveniently managing your local model library. When importing assets through the 3D Bazaar, it automatically rewrite the dependency paths (maps, proxies...) so you don't have to do it manually!
Added support for SketchUp 2021.
Added support for V-Ray 5.
Composition Manager: you can now export a composition to an external file and then import it back into another SketchUp model.
The preview now shows the footprint of area masks over hosts.
Changes
Significantly optimized the scattering engine.
The Uniform distribution mode uses a new algorithm that is faster and scatters instances more evenly.
Erasing points from Point hosts now uses a circular selector similar to paint masks (Use
Ctrl + dragto tune the selector's radius).Composition Editor: editing parameters does not block the UI until the preview has been computed anymore, which should be more confortable when working on heavy compositions.
Composition Editor: new icons show the color and type of materials to better distinguish them.
Composition Editor: renamed Lock ratio to Uniform scale for clarity.
Bugfixes
Fixed the Ruby console opening when using Skatter.
Fixed existing compositions not being automatically generated when starting SketchUp.
Fixed the Object space mode not working properly with some projection axes.
Fixed random materials being lost when loading a model.
Fixed paint masks being lost when loading a model.
Fixed area masks not working properly when using nested groups/components.
Fixed collisions not working properly when random translations are enabled.
Fixed random scaling not working properly when Uniform scale is enabled.
Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when using falloffs.
Fixed an error that occurred when opening the Composition Manager before creating a composition.
Composition Editor: fixed the LODs Distance field having no unit.
Composition Editor: fixed the Y row of random scaling still being editable in Uniform scale mode.
Composition Editor: fixed an error that occurred when trying to rename a composition mask when no composition has been picked yet.
Composition Editor: fixed the material Probability field not working.
Composition Editor: fixed the window sometimes turning white when switching from one numeric field to another.
Error window: fixed error details not being displayed in some cases.
2.0.0-beta5 (2020-10-20)
New features
Composition mask: spawns circular masks around each instance generated by a composition. For instance, if there's a "Tree" composition then another "Dead leaves" composition can use it as an inclusive mask so that leaves only appear at the feet of the trees.
Object-space projection: select this mode to project scattered instances along the local axis of a surface host in order to obtain a consistent result whatever its rotation in space. This is especially useful for non-horizontal hosts.
Improved Number Inputs: you can now easily edit the value of number inputs with a simple click & drag.
You can now rename hosts, objects, materials, and masks by clicking on their name in the Composition Editor. This will automatically rename any referenced Sketchup entity.
Changes
Skatter no longer freezes SketchUp when computing compositions. You are now able to continue using SketchUp while your composition gets generated in the background. During this time, Skatter's interface is grayed out and a "Cancel" button appears to interrupt processing if you wish to.
It is now possible to select any of the X/Y/Z axes as projection axis (only "-Z" and "custom axis" were previously available).
When a SketchUp entity referenced by a Skatter host, object, material or mask gets deleted in the SketchUp model, you will now be given the option to pick a replacement entity (previously the item was automatically deleted).
Changed the curve editor behavior when adding a handle to a point to better preserve the curve's shape (previously the handle was always placed horizontally which deformed the existing curve).
Added a specific error message to the licensing window when the number of allowed activations is exceeded.
Bugfixes
Fixed assigned objects shuffling randomly when the number of generated instances changes.
Fixed Sketchup entities nested into groups or components not being pickable.
Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred with Vertices distribution over dense geometry.
Fixed the Pointing setting producing inconsistent alignments over vertical surfaces.
Fixed various Collisions bugs.
Composition Editor: fixed errors that occurred when holding Shift to add the current selection as hosts/masks/objects and it contained incompatible SketchUp entities.
Composition Editor: fixed the Collision radius field being empty.
Composition Editor: fixed the list of scenes not updating immediately when adding a new scene in the SketchUp model.
[Mac] Composition Editor: fixed the warning message about non-generated changes showing up too late due to a SketchUp bug.
2.0.0-beta4 (2020-09-21)
New features
LOD: replace objects with variants as they get farther away from the camera. For instance, inject lower-resolution versions of your objects in order to boost performances in your model.
Face-space projection: select this new mode to wrap instances all around your hosts with Grid, Uniform or Random distributions. This replaces the Wrap (UV) mode from Skatter 1, which was only compatible with Random distributions.
It is now possible to preview other compositions additionally to the one currently being edited. To do so, open the new dropdown menu next to the eye icon in the Composition Editor.
The Composition Editor now displays statistics about the latest generation (processing time and number of generated instances).
Skatter 1 to Skatter 2 conversion: when opening a file that contains Skatter 1 data, a pop-up window now appears to offer to upgrade the old data to Skatter 2. Warning: The upgraded compositions will not be 100% identical. If you wish to keep the exact same results for a specific composition, please do not upgrade your model and continue using Skatter 1 to edit this particular composition.
Changes
Breaking change: due to some changes under the hood, compositions created with previous Beta versions will lose their Hosts/ScatteredObjects/Masks in Beta 4.
Curve editor: clicking the "Mirror handles" button activates both handles if necessary (previously the button was disabled until the handles were manually activated, which required more work).
Composition Editor: each new composition is assigned a different random seed (previously they shared the same starting seed, which generated the same distributions by default).
Composition Editor: switched the "Grid rotation" parameter to a slider (previously was a text input).
Composition Manager: show hidden compositions with a lighter color.
Licensing: display a specific error message when trying to use an old Skatter 1 license key.
Bugfixes
Image masks: fixed the preview in the SketchUp viewport not aligning with the masked instances.
Path masks: fixed paths based on closed curves masking all the instances inside of the curve's shape.
Path masks: fixed masks being lost when closing a model.
Path masks: fixed crash occurring with some geometric layouts.
Composition Editor: fixed compositions getting deleted when generating them with parameters that produce no instances.
Composition Editor: fixed SketchUp freezing for a long time when picking entities that contain a lot of geometry.
Composition Editor: fixed the "Preview" button not working in a consistent manner.
Composition Editor: removed the warning that popped up when closing a new composition that had not been modified yet.
Composition Manager: fixed the number in the default composition name not being reset when creating a new model.
2.0.0-beta3 (2020-07-09)
New features
Image mask: use external images to filter instances and create complex patterns over surfaces.
Path mask: filter instances along curves with a controllable thickness, perfect for paths and tire tracks.
Look At: make all your instances point to a target position. It's also possible to aim at the sun's position as defined by SketchUp, which can come in very handy for plants.
Align instances with the curve direction: enabling that option on a curve host smoothly rotates instances to follow its trajectory.
Changes
Restored the Skatter 1 behavior for falloffs: the density or scale of instances depends on the extreme values of the custom falloff curve (previously, falloff values were ignored for instances not covered by the falloff, which produced discontinuities).
Added buttons to quickly invert and reset a falloff curve without opening the curve editor.
Added a "Draft" label to compositions that have been modified but not generated. A new composition whose dialog is closed without getting generated first will now get deleted (but a warning is shown to avoid losing work).
Renamed Curve masks to Area masks to avoid ambiguities with the new Path masks that also use curves.
Renamed Clusters to Zones to better reflect their function.
Bugfixes
Fixed an error that occurred when using
Right-click > Edit compositionafter opening a saved SketchUp model.Fixed zones not working correctly on non-horizontal surfaces.
Fixed wrong results when combining the "Origin" insertion point with random scaling.
Fixed render-only compositions being displayed in render engines when they were disabled or when their layers were hidden.
Composition Editor: fixed an error that sometimes occurred when picking hosts with specific types of geometry.
Composition Editor: fixed numeric inputs formatting the value while typing.
Composition Editor: fixed numeric inputs not allowing more than 3 decimals.
Composition Editor: fixed an error that occurred when scaling instances to 0% of their initial size.
Composition Editor: fixed Undo/Redo not updating the preview.
2.0.0-beta2 (2020-05-22)
New features
Custom falloffs: a new curve editor allows you to finely control density and scale falloffs.
Changes
It is now possible to assign a layer to an in-model composition from the Compositions Manager (it was previously only possible for render-only compositions).
It is now possible to filter which random materials can be assigned to which objects.
Bugfixes
Fixed curve masks sometimes not projecting the correct shape.
Fixed the "Face centers" distribution creating several instances per face.
Fixed an error occurring when opening a model that contains render-only compositions.
Fixed non-generated compositions sometimes disappearing when editing the SketchUp model.
Fixed deleting an object making it impossible to pick other objects later.
Fixed default density values when using units other than meter.
Compositions Manager: fixed compositions from previous models being listed.
Compositions Manager: fixed the layer selection not responding.
Compositions Manager: fixed the refresh button deleting scattered instances.
Compositions Manager: fixed unresponsiveness when deleting a composition in some cases.
Composition Editor: fixed the object's color picker sometimes not responding.
Composition Editor: the density field now correctly displays "obj/unit²" instead of "obj/unit".
Composition Editor: fixed numeric inputs behaving unexpectedly when typing decimal separators.
2.0.0-beta1 (2020-04-30)
From this point on, we will regularly release updates that introduce new features and fix technical issues.
At first, you will probably encounter a few bugs, but with your help and our active support we hope that things will quickly run smoothly for everyone.
Please do not use the beta versions for professional and/or serious modelling projects.
At this stage, Skatter 2 is likely to go through major internal changes and we cannot guarantee compatibility from one beta version to another.
Skatter 2 safely installs alongside Skatter 1. So you can continue to use Skatter 1 for your projects, and you'll still be able to test the Skatter 2 beta.
What has already been done
This first beta release introduces quite a few novelties:
A brand-new user interface with a slicker, more modern look and feel.
A new scattering engine that we rebuilt from the ground up in order to boost performances and to support the ambitious features that will be introduced with each upcoming beta version.
Clustering support so that you can create organic groups of objects.
A new 3D paint tool to draw masks over your geometry.
Random material assignation in order to introduce more variety (note: for now this only works when generating in the model. Rendering engines do not support random materials yet).
A new Uniform distribution type to generate natural-looking, yet random, compositions. The old Uniform distribution from v1 has been merged with the Grid distribution.
Holes parameters to generate holes in regular distributions like Grid, Vertices, and Face Centers, as well as empty clusters.
Undo/Redo in the Composition Editor.
Colored preview. Each Scattered Object has a unique editable color in the preview, instead of all being red.
A new Custom Projection Axis gizmo.
A Compositions Manager that replaces the old Render List, which allows you to manage all of your compositions: In-Model and Render-Only.
It is now possible to convert a set of existing components or groups to a Skatter composition, to make use of its powerful features like Render-Only or Random Transformations.
A new updater that installs the latest versions without hassle, directly from within SketchUp.
A better and more reliable licensing system.
A new error reporter to help us fix technical issues more quickly.
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