What’s new in the Rizom 2020 Winter Update

New Features

The Rizom-Lab team are super happy about this release! Not only have we implemented a new display engine under the hood, but we've come one big step closer to the Holy UV Mapping grail, namely real copying of UV island topology - TopoCopy. In addition, we've added  a few other new features we hope you will like! Check it out!

TopoCopy

T he first thing you need to know about Topocopy is that it reduces UV Mapping of topologically and/or geometrically similar islands a three step process:

• • • First you select your island(s).
    • Then you unwrap
    • And hit "Update Similar"
    • Boom! Done!

The process is so easy, because when you're working with TopoCopy, it actively looks for similar elements in your model. It will do this even if they are geometrically, but not topologically different. This means  you can now really copy cuts and unwraps from one island to another, including topology that had pinch or spread fixed, or was just in need of a little tender love and optimising.  

Topocopy removes the need for Control+M. It's now Alt+C all the way

Here is how it works:

• Topocopy works in all four RizomUV modes, Point(F1), Edge (F2), Polygon(F3) and Island Mode (F4)
• Your primary starter tool is the similarity slider. Use it to set which islands get topology copied over to them. Set to 0, all topologically similar islands will be processed. Set to 1, Rizom will process geometrically identical islands only.
• And now you can start working, you can, for example: 
  • Pick an island in your model and cut, unwrap and tweak it to your heart's desire. 
  • When you're done, click Update Similar, and it will copy the seams and new topology of your unwrapped and finished island to the other ones.
  • Afterwards, you can press the Stack, or Group and Stack buttons to well... stack or group and stack.
  • Boom! Done!
• Topocopy lets you work on and/or propagate on cut and uncut mesh as well as allowing you to process islands that have the same topology and polygon orientation, in addition to inverted symmetrically identical islands.
• Topocopy also lets you choose between visible and selected islands as the source destination for copying your parameters onto or using the first island in a selection as the source island and the rest of the selection as destination set.

Magnet Weld

Magnet Weld welds islands that are on top of, or in very close proximity to each other in UV Space - aka the 2D view. You control the distance at which they weld by adjusting the values in the Magnet Weld spinner. Simply select the edges you want to weld, define your distance, and hit W.

Polyloop selection

Colour_ID Map

By popular request, we have a new bar at the bottom of the Rizom UI: The ColorID bar. It appears when you click the ColorID button. The intent is to let you create your own colour ID maps for further use in, i.e. Substance by letting you pick specific or random, automatic colours. You can use the Color ID for the above, as well as colouring problem islands when asking for support, defining material groups by colour if you have not defined any groups in your modeller, as well as simple colour blocking if needed. 

• Load your model 
• Hit F4 or the Island Selection icon in the (default set) left toolbar 
• It's up to you whether you want to colour or unwrap first 
• Click the ColorID button on the Color Map Bar on the lower left menu bar  
• You'll see a bright bar with lots of colours on it 
• It will default to Color ID Map Current Color where you can apply the current colour in the colour picker to your island(s) 
• You can now:
  • Pick an existing colour from an Island selection 
  • Define custom colours using the Pick button 
  • Apply the currently defined colour to your islands by clicking the little arrow on the right of the set colour  
  • Pick and customise the colours present in the colour bar  
  • Apply your colours to a specific island selection 
  • Assign colours by material ID if you defined these in your modeller 
  • Save and export your ColorID/clown map for use in Substance or other applications via the Export option in the File menu

Island and Tile naming

As part of starting work on nested groups, you can now rename Islands and Tiles. They don't carry into, i.e. Painter yet, but that's coming.

Improvements

The Rizom-Lab team are super happy about this release! Not only have we implemented a new display engine under the hood, but we've come one big step closer to the Holy UV Mapping grail, namely real copying of UV island topology - TopoCopy. In addition, we've added  a few other new features we hope you will like! Check it out!

Simplified Packing Options

We've made packing easier. We've simplified the UI and made it dropdown based. Accuracy still means the quality of the pack, ranging from Low to Ultra, but now you can run Mutations by power of 2, starting at 1, and all the way up to 16236. As always, remember that if you have thousands of tiny islands or loose polys, don't go Ultra and max mutations, as it won't bring much of a benefit, try sticking to Higher and a median range of mutations instead!
For a quick look, check the video below at the 0:42 mark

Locking Logic

We've changed the Locking Logic. In previous versions up to this one, Locking only affected packing. No more. It now locks everything from scaling to rotating, unwrapping or optimising.  This change in logic finalised the improvements we've made to the locking function, starting with locked islands not being packed when selected.
Please remember to  turn off AutoFit if you want your locked islands or group to remain where you locked them.

UV Template Export 

To match the Colour_ID function, we have updated our UV Template functionality. Located in File->Export, the UV Template Export menu now sports the following options, where you just pick and choose what you want or need for your UV template, UDIMs included:

Here is how it works

• Two-channel export in case you want to export UV templates from two channels. Most of the time you will need only one, so enable the top Stamp Channel only, unless you have a multichannel setup. (where each channel will generate a file or set of files) 
• Use the Format dropdown to define your exported file format, from JPG to TIF to PS (Postscript).
• If you have UDIMs, they will be reflected in the file name.
• You can set the background colour. If you are old-school, and still use Photoshop or handpaint, use set your colour to RGB 128, 128, 128 for Bumps and RGB 128, 128, 255 for Normals.
• Use Polygon Rendering to render the colours for your islands. Here is how to use the dropdown:
  • ColourID map will follow the colours you defined in the Color_ID bar.
  • Colour will let you set all islands to one colour. If you use this option, remember to set your borders(Frontiers in the UI) to a contrasting colour in Edge Rendering.
  • Off has it turned off.
• Use the AA settings to antialias the island edges - from no AA to 16.
• Use Padding to create padding on your islands.
• Use Edge Rendering to render the borders and polygons of your islands
• Use Frontier(Border) if you want to render the edges
• When done, press Export all Enabled files.

Edge and Margin settings

EEdges and Margin now automatically rescale as you rescale your map withthe folowing standard values:

• • • 256   = 1px Margin, 2px Spacing
      
    • 512     = 1px Margin, 4px Spacing
      
    • 1024  = 1px Margin, 8px Spacing
      
    • 2048 = 1px Margin, 16px Spacing
      
    • 4096 = 1px Margin, 32 px Spacing
      
    • 8192  = 1px Margin, 64 px Spacing
      

Preferences

We added a few new options to Preferences:

• • • • You can now decide if you want to see your backfaces or not. Backfaces will be shown in Teal/Blue
        
      • Text Size: This is the first step in improving for HDPI monitors, and it will set the font scale on your Island. Auto means it will grow bigger the more you scroll. Big means a static big font, and small leaves it at its current size