iToo Software releases RailClone 4

Get Materials from Source Geometry

Unlike Forest Pack which consolidates the materials applied to source objects automatically, RailClone used to require you to build complex Multi-Sub Object materials and reassign material IDs manually. This could be a time-consuming process, especially when using RailClone as a layout tool to distribute complex models like cars from a 3rd party library. In RailClone 4 all that has changed. Now the tick of a checkbox is all it takes for RailClone to use the materials assigned to the source geometry automatically.

You won’t actually see the materials assigned in the viewport, but these will still display whatever is assigned directly to the RailClone object. But as soon as you hit render the materials on the source objects are used. At the time of release, this feature is already supported by V-Ray and Arnold. Other renderers can easily add support using our API so we hope you will see more widespread adoption very soon. 

Nested Generators 

You can take the output of one RailClone object and use it as a segment inside another, all while retaining full instancing and in the same graph. There’s no limit to the number of levels you can nest, allowing you to use the plugin in ways that were impossible in previous releases. It doesn’t stop there, nested generators have full access to the properties of arrays further down the chain, allowing you to create sophisticated and intelligent models. Nesting generators can dramatically simplify your graphs and we recommend introducing it to your workflow early. 

Compare Graphs

Both graphs create exactly the same geometry, but RailClone 4 uses nested generators. As you can see it has far fewer nodes to achieve the same result, and more importantly, it was much easier and more logical to create!

Quick Mesh Mode

RailClone 4’s new Quick Mesh preview mode that allows you to instance geometry in the viewports. This mode brings the total number of ways to previewing geometry to four, including the ability to display a full mesh, points-cloud, proxy geometry, and now an instanced Quick Mesh mode too. 

Segment Properties

The more geometry that is actually instanced in your style, the more you will benefit from this new mode. Geometry that is sliced, deformed or mirrored isn’t instanced in Quick Mesh mode (or the render). To force instancing, you can disable Slice and Bend on a segment-by-segment basis from the node’s settings. 

Markers 

RailClone 4 introduces markers. These can be added at any point on a spline and used to place geometry exactly where you need it. In previous versions of RailClone, users would add vertices to achieve something similar, but unlike vertices, markers do not affect the shape of the spline so they can be easily added and repositioned without you having to worry about affecting the path. 

Markers are applied to the path using a brand new RC Spline Modifier. This offers several controls to help you to create procedural layouts by positioning markers using real-world distances or percentages in relation to the start and end of the spline, or from specific vertices.

You can even add multiple markers simply by clicking on the spline. Once created, a Marker’s position can be edited using parameters, or by selecting them in the viewport and simply sliding them along the spline with the mouse. 

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Markers to add windows

To support markers, generators now have new marker inputs. For creating even more flexible styles, Markers also have the benefit of several parameters that can be used to control nearly any aspect of a RailClone graph. Each Marker has an Index value that can be used in conjunction with the updated Selector operator to choose geometry. Each marker also has 9 additional multipurpose parameters that can be used to control pretty much anything you like. For easy recognition of each parameter’s purpose, they can be renamed and set to one of three unit types. 

Editing Markers

RailClone style editor has a new interface for creating RC Spline presets. This feature allows you to create sets of parameter names and unit types that become available to select in the RC Spline modifier using a handy drop-down list. 

RailClone 4's top 10 features

1. You can now use a Segment’s materials. RailClone 4 has a new option to use the materials applied directly to the source geometry. No more manually creating complex multi-sub object materials, great when using RailClone as a layout tool or using it with stock models.  
2. You can nest generators - Dramatically simplify graphs by nesting one generator as a segment inside another, while opening up exciting new possibilities for what’s possible with RailClone! 
3. You can preview huge objects using viewport instancing. RailClone already has unparalleled instancing power at render time, but it’s now possible to enable viewport instancing to preview hundreds of millions of polygons directly in the 3ds Max viewport too.
4. Place markers using the new RailClone Spline modifier. Precisely place geometry on paths using the new RCSpline Modifier. Each marker has up to 10 data channels that can be used to control many parameters of a graph.
    
   
    
5. Holes caused by booleans can be automatically capped. Automatically cap clipped objects to make it easier than ever to create a seamless object. Capped faces are UVed using real-world mapping coordinates so you can easily apply materials to the new geometry.
6. There's a new Group Mode. Ever wished the compose operator behaved more like 3ds Max’s Groups? Well, now it does. The Compose operator’s output is now calculated as a single object with a bounding box that encompasses its entire size. 
7. It’s even faster and more optimised. RailClone 4 introduces huge improvements in instancing efficiency when using shared segments or linked styles by including a global cache for all RC objects in the scene.
8. Advanced Statistics. A new Statistics window makes it much easier to benchmark the performance of your RailClone style and identify any possible bottlenecks. 
9. Transform nodes are much more logical. In previous versions of RailClone, the order of transform nodes had no effect, in RailClone 4 we’ve made this much more intuitive so that the order of Transform nodes is now taken into consideration when applying a rotation, translation, or scale operation.
10. There are loads of usability improvements. The style editor has many new usability improvements, including the ability to insert a node on a wire, automatic rewiring on deletion, grid view and snap, the ability to select and delete unused nodes and much more.

Additional resources:

• More informations about RailClone 4
• Check Price of RailClone 4