Sujet - Avoyd 0.8.12 - Minecraft import, path tracing and game optimizations and fixes

This release has several fixes and optimizations for the Minecraft import pipeline and path traced renderer:

• Version 0.8.10 introduced a bug in the Minecraft import pipeline which could lead to the y value (height) of some map sections being read incorrectly. It resulted in missing and misplaced sections of maps. This has now been fixed and we have pushed our changes to our open source Minecraft Import library enkiMI.
• Atmospheric fog did not blend correctly with path traced transparencies since the atmospheric fog density with distance did not follow the physically based Beer Lambert transmission and absorbance law. This has now been fixed so that they blend correctly, but a side effect is that the fog will tend to be stronger in the foreground (up to the fog half length in the Light and Atmospheric settings) and weaker beyond that.
• Path tracing of transparent full voxels (either those with 255 amount or when Full Voxel render option is on) has been significantly sped up.
• Importing Minecraft maps ~1.2x faster
• Significantly improved in game voxel damage performance. The material strength look up was accidentally causing a copy of the material type per voxel modification. This caused noticeable hitches during gameplay for material types which have long string names such as Minecraft imported materials. This has now been fixed. For programmers a const reference should have been used rather than a copy.
• Changed Avoyd's icon background from red to purple/blue and updated the installer

If you imported Minecraft worlds into a version of Avoyd older than 0.8.10, you should install the latest version and import again to ensure all issues are fixed and the latest materials are used.

For details and further changes, see the Avoyd 0.8.12 changelog

Download Avoyd

Comparison of path traced render of transparencies and atmospheric fog in Avoyd 0.8.11 on left with fog not blending correctly with smoke, and 0.8.12 on right with this fixed. The increased atmospheric fog in the foreground is due to this fix. Credit: original voxel model by Rebecca Michalak.

Comparison of Minecraft map import in Avoyd 0.8.11 on left showing missing and misplaced sections of the map, and 0.8.12 on right with this fixed. Note the increased atmospheric fog in the foreground due to transparency blending fix. Credit: original Minecraft map Drehmal v2.6.