The Infinity Graph

As graphs become more complex, they are notoriously difficult to make sense of and even worse to manage — especially if you like keeping your nodes neatly organized. The Infinity Graph is designed to separate concerns. You can create multiple graphs and create different portions of your terrain in different graph. This is something we refer to as “task based organization”.

For example, here is a complex graph that could be organized much better. Also, overlapping connections can make even clean graphs look messy.

First, this graph was separated into its distinct “tasks” on the same graph surface using the new Portals 2.0 mechanism (more on this below). As soon as you see them separately, they don’t look complex and are much easier to follow.

Then we create a tab for the different group. Each graph tab can have its own name, color, and important graphs can be “pinned” which means they appear ahead of other tabs. Selecting a group of nodes and selecting the command “Move to graph” allows you to move the nodes to the desired graph.

Portals 2.0

Portals have existed since the public release of Gaea. They are meant to help you “tunnel” through the graph without needing to create long, unsightly connections. You can even right-click a node and interject a portal (which means it replaces existing connections to that port).

This was well and good, but still not as sleek and effortless as we wanted it to be. I kept going back to the drawing board saying we need to make it as simple and “mindless” as connecting two nodes.

The Infinity Graph is worthless without portals, and having clunky portals would mean users would not be able to take advantage of the multiple graphs. So after several UX brainstorming sessions, we finally came up with a new portal mechanism that fulfilled all the requirements.

No more physical portals!

Portals are no longer an “object”, they’re a “state” of a node’s port. If you drag-out a connection from any “out” port, you will get an option to make it into a Portal. When a port is a portal, the port’s shape changes to denote its new state.

Similarly, to connect any other node’s “in” ports to a Portal, just drag-out a connection and select any available portals from the list. You can also drag and drop a connection to the portal if it is in visible range on the graph. You can also select a connection and convert it to a Portal based connection.

If you move a bunch of nodes to another graph, and connection that you leave behind will be turned into a Portal based connection allowing you to freely connect nodes across graphs.

Infinity Graph and the new portals will be part of the first build of Gaea 1.2.0, which should hit the Bleeding Edge branch next week, and the Production Ready branch by mid/late January.

More information coming soon.

Infinity Graph + Portals 2.0 was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This build contains critical fixes for a number of key features. We recommend updating as soon as possible.

Critical fixes

Value Clamping for Input and Output

The OpenEXR format suffered from unnecessary clamping of values, and gamma contamination in a linear format. We have made a few critical changes which will now allow you to produce error free EXR output.

The File Input node has been revised to accept the full height range of the incoming file. This option is turned on by default. To clamp it to a specific height, use the Clamp node and type a value in meters.

Houdini

We have fixed a critical issue where trying to run Gaea from Houdini would fail immediately or ask for a license even when you had one.

Additionally, we have added the --unclamped option which is the same as 'Ignore Vertical Scale' in the Build Manager but can be enforced from the command line.

Viewport Freeze

We are actively working on fixing an issue where the viewport will freeze and will not update until Gaea is rebooted. The root cause is a somewhat complex issue and will take some time to fix. In the meantime, we have added a command in the Build dropdown to recycle the viewport and flush all memory buffers. This is still experimental and may not always work.

Detail Map

The one new feature in this build is the Details node. This node allows you to extract higher frequency details to produce Detail Displacement (for lower resolution meshes) or Detail Normals.

Just add the node to your final height node(s), and set the Target Size to your downscaled size. For example, if you are building your world at 8192 x 8192, but your mesh is 2048 x 2048 vertices, then set the Target Size to 2048.

To create Detail Normals, just do the above and attach a Normal Map node to the Details output.

Please note, the Details output is extremely “microscopic” and may not always be directly visible in the viewport. You should temporarily turn on Autolevel (Lv) in the Post Process options, or use the Eq mode in 2D view to look at the output.

Complete Changelog

New

• Recycle Viewport option in Build Menu for viewport freeze bug (temporary measure).

Node Updates

• New Details node for creating high frequency displacement and normal maps.
• File Input node caching option for better performance.
• File Input node option to use full height range.

Improved

• Ctrl + Dropping node now enables preset selection without double processing.
• Ignoring vertical scale for command line builds using — unclamped.

Fixed

• OpenEXR height clamping and channel contamination bugs fixed.
• Houdini automation was broken.

Known Issue

• Hybrid mode in Erosion may cause blank output in higher resolutions. Use Linear mode instead.

Gaea 1.0.26 was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Selective Erosion

The Erosion node now features Selective Processing properties. When not using an Area mask, you can enable Area Effects based on slope or altitude bias. For example, a high slope bias with Precipitation Amount erodes slopes that are steep, while leaving the flat areas alone. This can create very interesting erosion shapes that are not possible with normal physical simulation.

Build Mutations

Now you can select up to 99 mutations in the Build Manager. This will run the build once per each mutation where seeds of all nodes are randomized, giving you a unique terrain in every mutation while still following the core recipe of your graph.

Each mutation’s .tor file is stored with the output, so you can manually tweak a specific mutation if you wish to.

CLUTer v2

We have redesigned CLUTer to be faster and more effective. Previously, you could not do much about banding artifacts that could show up on a low slope gradient. Now you can increase the Sample Density setting to smooth the gradient up to a factor of 8!

Protrusion Data Map

The new Protrusion Data Map allows you to highlight protruding rock formations and sharp convexities in a broader form than with the Curvature node. It can be a useful layer in color production.

Complete Changelog

New

• Watson Diagnostics tool upgraded.
• Build Mutations option in Build Manager.
• New presets for Erosion and Mixer.

Node Updates

• New Protrusions data map.
• Selective Processing options in Erosion.
• CLUTer v2 with controllable Sample Density.
• MultiMix when using Ctrl + F8 with 3 nodes will connect the 3rd node to the Mask of the Combine.

Improved

• Favorites in graph context menu.
• New Microincrements interface.
• Percentage sliders can now accept input in meters.
• Graph Search Box and Context Menu improved.
• Faster node map creation when using with Houdini.

Fixed

• Combine and Mixer Add blend mode fixed.
• Vertical Displacement was broken.
• Exposing a property should automatically name the variable if empty.
• File button for Input/Output nodes was missing label.
• Interject Portal created excessive undo steps.
• When marking nodes for export, use format set in Build Manager instead of default.
• Several minor memory and efficiency improvements.

Known Issue

• Hybrid mode in Erosion may cause blank output in higher resolutions. Use Linear mode instead.

Download Gaea for free from https://quadspinner.com/gaea/download/

Gaea 1.0.25 was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Range

The RANGE node now has two modes:

• The “High Altitude” mode creates large mountain range structures at higher altitudes, without creating a base. This is very useful for closer action to the mountain.
• The “With Base” creates more expansive alpine areas with better shapes and clustering of mountain peaks, and larger expanses at the base. This is more useful for creating grand vistas.

The new “Mountain Range” quickstart shows how to use the new mode.

Snow

The SNOW node has been upgraded with better snow simulation. The Verticality slider now lets you adjust the snow’s position more easily when using it with high Settle and Melt values. The new simulation is used by default. To use the classic simulation algorithm, check the “Prefer old style” option.

Height

The HEIGHT selector node now sports a “Normalized” mode. By default, when it is turned off, Gaea uses the entire terrain definition height to select. For example, if your terrain height definition is set to 2600m, 100% will equal 2600m even if the actual shape of your terrain only reaches 1000m. When Normalized is turned on, Gaea will adapt the range to your shape’s range rather than the definition range. This is especially useful when requiring very fine tuned height selection.

Several other nodes have been improved. Please see the full changelog below for details.

Integration with Houdini

Houdini is an important part of many pipelines and we are proud to announce that Gaea can now be used from Houdini.

You can set up a graph of any scale in Gaea, with appropriate input/output points, expose parameters that you need to modify from Houdini, then load your .tor file in Houdini using the Gaea Bridge node from the Game Development Toolset in Houdini.

Watch the Gaea integration demo from Houdini’s SIGGRAPH 2019 event here.

We will cover this topic in detail on our blog soon, along with a full walkthrough of the process.

Undo/Redo

This has been an important feature that has not worked as well as it should in previous versions of Gaea. So we overhauled the entire system. Now you can enjoy predictable results from undo/redo, and you get a history dropdown for both commands as well.

Quick Export

Gaea can preview up to 4K. Often you will work in 2K for high definition previews, and want to save out the entire exportable node set at 2K for testing in your DCC application or game engine before firing off a full build. To do this, you run the Build Manager which rebuilds the whole world. But you already have the world built at 2K from your preview!

Now when your preview resolution and the export resolution are the same, Build Manager will ask you if you wish to just save the preview cache instead. This will save you time from having to rebuild an already built terrain.

Ability to control and disable Parallel Processing

All nodes that use Parallel Processing can be subject to certain side effects — most prominently, a grid-like pattern where parallel processed chunks have not blended properly.

With this version, all multi-core nodes give you the option to control how it distributes chunks. You can choose the size of the chunk, the amount of edge blending it should do, or turn off multi-core processing altogether. The latter option may slow down your node’s processing a fair bit, but you can be assured clean results.

Automation Improvements

The bridge to Houdini is the first of many. To allow for easier automation and integration, Gaea can now emit a map of exposed parameters along with defaults and limits. This open format XML file can be consumed by any CG or programming tool to create parameters inside its own interface and execute Gaea builds.

Call the following command line for any .tor file with exposed parameters.

Gaea.Build.exe "C:\MyTerrain.tor" --nodemap

It creates an XML map like so:

We will soon publish a detailed automation guide for anyone who wishes to automate Gaea or create their own bridge to parts of their pipeline, or to a 3rd party application.

NOTE: You must have the Professional or Enterprise edition to take advantage of automation features and bridges to 3rd party applications.

Complete Changelog

New

• Undo / Redo with history details. The entire undo system was overhauled.
• Quick Export at preview resolution.
• New automation framework for bridging to 3rd party applications.

Node Updates

• Range v2, better mountain ranges, larger ground areas between mountains.
• Snow v2, better accumulation and flow.
• Parallel processing options for Erosion and other multi-core nodes
• Performance improvements to Snow, Erosion, and Thermal.
• Abs node now has a threshold parameter.
• Height node now has a Normalized mode for easier selection.
• QuickColor now allows you to choose 2 colors for a fast gradient.
• Dropping CLUTer on Snow now automatically cross-connects the appropriate ports.
• Deleting Combine with only secondary port is connected, reroutes it to next node.
• Combiner uses 0% constant if the secondary port is not connected.

Improved

• Parallel processing nodes now have option to select between Linear and Parallel processing.
• Preferences changes related to node, connection, color scheme does not require Gaea restart.
• If ‘UserData’ folder is present in Gaea installation, use it to store data instead of AppData folder.
• Provide detailed warning when Gaea does not have firewall privileges.

Fixed

• Gaea crashed on loading Quickstarts, if examples stored in custom location.
• 2D Viewport did not work with Bias/Gain Node.
• Deleting a bypassed node was processing graph.
• Input Masks for Snow node did not function correctly.
• Rare bug where a bad custom startup file would cause an endless loop.
• Last or selected node was not updated when preview resolution was changed.
• Panning (Mouse3) while creating connection would create spaghetti connection.
• Resource file would not save along with tor file in Gaea Build.
• Recent file entry was created even save failed.
• Newer nodes marked for export will use the global format set in the Build Manager instead of EXR.
• Bypassed nodes could affect previous node’s file name when exporting.
• Mesher’s file parameter would not show sometimes.
• Several minor memory and efficiency improvements.

Quickstarts

• New techniques: Deep Grooves, Simple Mountain Slope, Snowy Mountain Ridge, Whorly Terraces.
• New scenes: Alpine River, Mountain Range (using Range v2).

Known Issue

• Hybrid mode in Erosion may cause blank output in higher resolutions. Use Linear mode instead.

Download Gaea for free from https://quadspinner.com/gaea/download/

Gaea 1.0.24: Houdini Integration, Major Node Updates, and more. was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In this build, we focused on stability improvements and some of your highest voted bugs. We also have a few small quality-of-life updates that should make life easier for you.

Defaults, the way you want them!

Everyone has different preferences. You want a blank graph on startup everytime (which is possible by holding down Ctrl while clicking New), or a specific node setup for all new files. You may want a different default output resolution, file format, mesh settings, etc.

Now you can set Gaea’s entire “state” — node graph setup and build settings — for all new files.

Set up your scene, whether a specific node setup or a blank graph, the exact build settings you like, and then go to the Main Menu > Workspace > Set Terrain Defaults.

You can also reset the default graph and build settings through the same menu command.

Defaults, for every node!

Sometimes you may want specific settings for a node type. For example, if you find yourself using Combine for “100% Max” more than “50% Blend” (which is the normal default), you can set new default settings for that node type.

To create a node’s new defaults: Right-click an existing node (or open the node menu in the top right corner) with the settings you would like as defaults, and select Create Preset. Name your preset: “_default”. It must be spelled this exact way, preceded by an underscore.

Now all new nodes will have these settings when created. Even defaulting a property in the microincrements (right-click context menu for a property) will use your custom defaults.

And don’t forget, you can hold down Ctrl while dropping a node from the toolbox, and you will get the Preset menu to apply to the new node. This is one of those small, hidden features we added a few months ago.

Quickstart Browser

Over the last several months, we have been constantly adding new quickstarts, which may be a bit difficult to go through especially as their numbers increase. The new Quickstart Browser, available both from the Startup screen and the main menu, provides thumbnails for all quickstarts and descriptive tooltips.

The quickstarts themselves have been organized better into the two categories: Scenes, and Techniques. Scenes are complete terrains that convey a ready asset for production use. Techniques are partial graphs (mostly) that teach a specific way to accomplish a task.

Complete Changelog

New

• Save default startup graph.
• New Quickstart browser with thumbnails and descriptions.
• Per-node default settings.

Node Updates

• Perlin and Voronoi minor reorganization.
• Cells minimum scale decreased.
• Option to set blur to 0 in Mask.

Improved

• OBJs for LODs are named with LOD levels.
• Improved backward compatibility for older nodes.
• Main menu enhanced. New commands available.
• Note command now directly available in context menu.

Fixed

• Texture and Soil nodes would use excessive memory.
• Mesh UVs were flipped.
• Transform was broken. (Old nodes may need to be refreshed using Ctrl + R)
• Erosion Studio would crash on startup.
• Smarter node placement when dropped and aligned.
• Gaea would crash when dragging connectors from a port. Infamous “spaghetti” bug.
• Masks and secondary outputs are no longer saved with lower intensity.
• Synth node would break on loading.
• Secondary outputs would not be masked correctly.
• Bypassed nodes could force refresh of previous node.
• Editor UI would not update if engine was suspended.
• Water level would not set on new or open file.

Quickstarts

• New quickstarts: Cliff Face, White Slopes, Snowy Mountain Peak, Glacial Wall.
• All obsolete quickstarts refreshed.
• Quickstarts reorganized to better fit their intended use.

Download from https://quadspinner.com/gaea/download or run Gaea to auto-update with patch.

Gaea 1.0.22: Stability Update was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

One of the most requested features is now live — a new mesh exporter, rewritten from the ground up for stability and speed. You can export OBJ, FBX, and XYZ files, choose from multiple scale models, switch between pure tris or quads, generate multiple LODs, and more.

You no longer need the Mesh Output node (unless you want it). You can directly choose a Mesh Format for specific nodes in the Build Manager and select the mesh export settings in the build panel.

Per-node File Formats

Gaea’s Build Manager made it easy to export files without having to set up separate output nodes. Now you can choose different file formats for individual nodes.

This should reduce the need to use Output and Mesh Output nodes, although they are still available, and in fact, have been updated.

Logic Nodes

Logic nodes help create structures that can be very useful when scripting and automating. Gaea’s debut logic nodes include Switch, which lets you choose between two inputs by toggling an option, and Route, which lets you select one from multiple inputs and/or outputs.

Occlusion Data Map

The occlusion data map is similar to Ambient Occlusion but it has been built to favor terrains in a way where you can use the resulting masks for color production.

Onion Skinning in Draw

To enable you to draw mountains properly — especially in conjunction with the Island node — the Draw node has a new Input like the Mask node input where you can visualize the input terrain under your draw surface.

New Quickstarts

This build adds 13 new quickstarts (8 techniques, 5 scenes), including a slew of techniques that show how to add delicate detailing to massive slopes.

Complete Changelog

New

• New Mesh Exporter with quad support and improved LODs.
• Export meshes as FBX and XYZ (point clouds).
• Per-node file formats.

Node Updates

• New Data Map: Occlusion.
• New Logic nodes: Switch and Route.
• Transform now allows positioning regardless of scale.

Improved

• Updated Build Manager with new options for Mesh Export.
• Draw node now has onion-skinning/overlay input.
• Set preset as default for node.
• SHIFT + New for blank graph.

Fixed

• Percentage input for sliders was broken.
• Baking was broken in some situations.
• Duplicate node filenames would not be auto-incremented.
• F2 did not rename node.
• SatMap clipping UI was broken.
• Terrace modulation was biased/broken.
• Clip was incorrect when Min was greater than 0.
• Aperture should not go to 0.
• Some savables would not load in Build Manager.
• Deleting a node would not re-route all connections.

Quickstarts

• Scenes\Desert Stronghold
• Scenes\Folded Mountains
• Scenes\Folded Slope
• Scenes\Shattered Slope (A)
• Scenes\Shattered Slope (B)
• Techniques\Bombing Shapes (A)
• Techniques\Cropped Mountain
• Techniques\Drawing Mountains
• Techniques\Floor Creation
• Techniques\Glacial Wall
• Techniques\Technological Pattern
• Techniques\The Wave in Arizona
• Techniques\Twisted Sandstone

Download from https://quadspinner.com/gaea/

Gaea 1.0.21: The Big Export Update was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We are very pleased to deliver one of the most requested features: splitting output into tiles so it can be consumed easily in game engines and other applications.

Please note, this is not Tiled Processing — where any high resolution terrain can be processed in chunks. That is something we will ship later this year. Tiled Output, specifically marked as “Split Only”, builds the terrain as you normally would in a single build process, then splits it into tiles as a post-process.

At this moment, only power-of-2 tile sizes are allowed (128, 256, 512, 1024, etc.). We will add support for +1 (129, 257, 513, 1025, etc.) and Unreal Engine specific sizes (127, 253, 505, 1009, etc.) in the near future.

Draw Node

Last week we released the Island node where you could draw islands and continents. Now with the Draw node you can draw mountains of any shape and size, using similar procedural generative algorithms. These mountains are pre-prepped for erosion.

You can watch a video of this feature here.

Cracks

The Cracks primitive let’s you quickly create sharp cracks that can be subtracted from other shapes to create broken landscapes.

Bomber v2

The Bomber node was difficult to use and get proper results from, so we went back and rewrote the node to make sure you work half as hard for twice the results. The new Bomber “just works” and now also accepts multiple inputs so you don’t need to string together a bunch of additional Bomber nodes.

Post Process Stack Upgrade

We know you love the Post Process Stack. It was built to alleviate the burden of adding simple nodes to fine tune the output. This new upgrade takes the Post Process Stack to the next level by adding support for clipping, simple displacement, equalization, and two additional blend modes: Min and Diff.

High Quality Displacement

Last week’s update added iterative displacement to the Displace node. This week we add another update that improves the quality of the displacement by adding multi-directional distortion.

If you like the bi-directional displacement, you can always uncheck “High Quality” and even change the direction by using the new Rotate slider.

Hover Previews

Hover previews are back! We had to take them out to address a performance issue, but now they’re here to stay.

This seemingly tiny feature guides you by showing what value you will get if you click anywhere in the slider. This is very helpful as sometimes with high value sliders, it is difficult to anticipate what value a specific location will give.

As we always recommend, in Gaea, clicking will give you faster performance than dragging a slider. Making that a habit will save you a lot of reprocessing.

Complete Changelog

New

• Tiled Output (Split Only) now available as an experimental feature.
• 4 new presets (3 x Displacement, 1 x Combine)

Node Updates

• New Draw primitive node.
• New Cracks primitive node.
• Bomber v2 with easier usage and results.
• High Quality iterative displacement in Displace.
• Rotation option for Low Quality displacement in Displace.
• Swap Inputs option for Mixer.
• Non-Uniform scaling and other options in Transform.
• New options in Voronoi+.
• Transform rotation now goes from -360 to +360.

Improved

• Connection dots in nodes for easier cognition.
• Build Command Line now accepts Filenames.
• Slider hover-previews are back.
• Post Process Stack upgraded with new options and UI.

Fixed

• Better handling of TIFF and PNG formats.
• SatMaps and Vegetation would rebuild unnecessarily.
• Vegetation Distribution output was broken.
• MRU list would not respond to NumKey1.
• Node Upgrade would not create missing ports.
• Small memory usage improvements for very large data.
• First node would become falsely broken on load.
• New File command would reprocess existing graph.
• Bypassing multiple nodes did not invalidate descendants.
• Save Incremental failed on a previously unsaved file.
• Toolbar popups were misaligned.
• Build Manager would not show colored labels in some instances.

Run Gaea to update, or download from https://quadspinner.com/gaea/download

Gaea 1.0.20: Drawable mountains, Tiled Output, new feature enhancements, and more was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Island Node

The Island node can be used to create the outline of one or more landmasses — whether islands or continents. The algorithm conveniently positions different landmasses together to simulate natural shapes.

You can watch a video of this feature here.

Iterative Displacement

Iterative displacement can save a lot of time and management. This is the same as duplicating a Displace node and changing the seed. With the Iteration slider, you can have Gaea do the heavy lifting for you.

SatMap Clipping

You can now clip out excess or unwanted areas in a SatMap using the convenient map sliders.

Residual Terraces

The Residual option allows for creating shattered, semi-buried terraces that are remnants of older structures that have weathered.

Splat Node

The long awaited Splat node lets you combine multiple masks into the RGB channels of a color map. With Splat you can also use RGBA channels.

The Influence and Post Process should reduce the pre-processing nodes you would need to use.

Vegetation Node Improvements

Gaea 1.0.19 brings a major efficiency upgrade for the Vegetation node. Instead of selecting a single color, you can select a SatMap from the Green collection directly in the Vegetation node. The randomization is handled automatically.

If you still want a flat color just connect a QuickColor node to the Override port, or any other color map.

A new “Avoid Extremes” option has been added to avoid dotted textures on steep surfaces which can cause tearing.

Memory Management and Optimization

You can now see the memory consumption in the bottom right corner of the screen, and get the ability to initiate a memory optimization pass by clicking that button.

We do this internally to clean up unused memory and reduce RAM fragmentation as datasets become larger. However, we can’t do it too often in the code as it could lead to the opposite (performance degradation and fragmentation — what we’re trying to avoid!). So we’re giving you the option to do it when it seems Gaea may be slowing down.

For example, if you have a very large graph and you have changed the resolution or performed a major operation that has changed dozens and dozens of nodes, there may be some excess memory that Gaea won’t clean up for a couple of minutes to avoid slowing down the new processing. But if you want it freed quickly, you can run the optimization command.

Just like we can’t call this option internally too frequently, you should not either. If you see very little savings (<100MB) then your memory is already optimized. Excessive optimization will lead to fragmentation.

Build Command Line

You can use the new “Copy Command Line” button to review and copy command line for a particular build. You can use that to create batch files manually for processing multiple builds and automation.

New quickstarts

We have added 11 new quickstarts, including full scenes, and techniques.

Complete Changelog

New

• Memory Optimization option.
• Several new Quickstarts and Examples.
• Build directly from the “Recent” list by holding Shift.
• New icons with a muted look.

Node Updates

• Island node for drawing islands and continents.
• Splat map node.
• New Abs node for absolute values (1-bit equivalent).
• SatMap clipping options.
• Mask node now has built-in blurring.
• New Residual option in Terrace.
• New Stratified option in SlopeNoise.
• Avoid Walls option in Vegetation node.
• Iteration option in Displace.
• Inverse logarithmic scaling in AutoLevel node.
• Combine’s Separation mask is now optional.
• Vegetation node now has built-in maps.
• Coast water level fixed.

Improved

• New tooltips with better descriptions.
• File Input would not accept non-square images.
• New Date, Time, and Increment path variables for Build management.
• Improved passive notification popups.
• Hold Shift when creating new Graph to make it blank.
• Allow presets via Context Menu when multiple nodes of same type are selected.

Fixed

• Improved cancellation during builds and previews.
• Portal should not show Post Process stack.
• License dialog incorrectly mentioned Early Access.
• Nodes should not overlap when dropped on another node.
• Right-clicking certain nodes would cause a crash.
• Exported files would not increment correctly if file existed.
• Filename increments should start from 001, not 000.
• Resource file would not save when saving incrementally.
• Portal would not accept Color connections.
• Normal Map output was still not accurate.
• Water level popup would show incorrect values, behave inconsistently.
• Raw output was flipped.
• Terrain scale would jump to exceedingly high values.
• Recent Files would show 8 items instead of 10.

Quickstarts and Presets

Scenes

• Jabba’s Corner
• Majestic Canyon
• Rugged Plates (A)
• Rugged Slope (A)
• Rugged Slope (B)
• Square Slopes

Techniques

• Archipelago
• High Altitude Erosion
• Sloped Mountain Edge
• Frozen Lava (A)
• Frozen Lava (B)

Presets

• Combine: 100Max
• Texture: Navajo Sandstone
• Vegetation: Desert Canyon

Run Gaea to update, or download from https://quadspinner.com/gaea/download

Gaea 1.0.19: Drawable islands, new feature enhancements, and more was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This version introduces two new heavy hitter nodes for creating color textures — Texture and Vegetation.

The Texture node creates sophisticated texture masks for coloration using CLUTer, SatMaps or other color nodes. You no longer need to combine multiple data maps to create a texture mask. At the same time, Texture’s output can be combined with other data maps for detailed control.

The Vegetation nodes lets you add delicate foliage cover to any color texture map, freeing you from the need to include it in your main color gradient. This layering approach lets you create rich textures.

Impact Craters

The previous update added the new Crater node. However, its capabilities were limited as you pointed out. Based on the feedback, we have updated it with multiple profiles so you can have volcanic and impact craters. Additional profiles will be added in the future.

SatMap Libraries

The SatMaps node gets a v2 upgrade with Libraries. The satellite maps library is quite large with 1200+ maps, and a few hundred more scheduled to be added shortly. To help navigate them better, we have split the large collection into smaller, more meaningfully categorized Libraries.

Presets for Erosion, Thermal, and Snow

To help you realize the full potential of these powerful nodes, we have added 22 new presets. Presets for other nodes are going to be added in subsequent updates.

Preset options are now conveniently available in the Node Properties menu.

New quickstarts

Full Scenes

• Majestic Canyon
• Sandstone Slope and Sand
• Sandstone Mesa

Techniques

• Texture and Vegetation
• Geometric Shapes
• Jagged Hill
• Mountain Range
• Voronoi Mountain Pass

Complete Changelog

New Features

• Improved setup.
• Texture node.
• Vegetation node.
• SatMaps v2 with Libraries.
• Impact Crater profile for Crater.
• Sea Dunes mode for Dunes.
• Presets for Erosion, Thermal, and Snow nodes.
• Additional Quickstarts and Technique examples.
• Patch update capability.
• What’s New dialog.
• New update mechanism.

Improvements and Fixes

• Faster startup.
• Recurve iteration limit increased.
• Choose separate data path during install.
• Preferences now uses Registry for data paths.
• Notes now available as tooltips.
• Presets now available from the node properties menu.
• Option to hide toolbar in graph.
• Ctrl + Click on CREATE A TERRAIN to create blank project.
• NormalMap output stabilized.
• Recurve did not honor Preserve Fidelity option.
• Toggling 2D view could reset the workspace layout.
• Right-clicking color or unconnected node caused a crash.
• Several minor bug fixes.

New Installer

We have retired the MSI (Microsoft Installer) based setups for a more flexible installer. One of the main benefits of this installer is that it will work even without admin privileges.

If you choose to install without admin privileges, you should install to a non-protected folder.

NOTE: This installer will automatically try to uninstall the old MSI based installation.

We are also rolling out a new isolation mechanism with this new build and installer which will allow us to provide side-by-side installation capabilities with Production and Early Access builds in the near future.

The new Texture and Vegetation nodes take color production to a whole new level was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This article describes an in-development feature which may change before it is released based on development discoveries and early user feedback.

As graphs grow more complex, loading and refreshing becomes a slower experience. The new Graph Baking tools in Gaea make it a lot easier to cache things to disk until you need to change them, and get higher resolution previews without a re-processing overhead.

However, what about all the files where things are not ready for baking? And where you don’t want to bake/unbake all the time?

This is where our new cache system comes in.

Dynamic Caching

In the new caching system, nodes that take longer to process (>3 seconds) are automatically cached when you close the file. This is a background process that will silently perform these tasks.

When you open the file again, it will load the cache from disk so you can get started immediately.

Unlike baking, the cache is temporary and cleared as soon as the file is loaded. It is then recreated when the file is closed.

Opt-in

To avoid wasting resources, Dynamic Caching will be optional and you would have to manually enable it for a file.

You will also be able to enable it globally for all files, and define a cache size limit, as well as the cache location.

Limit

Dynamic Caching will be limited to 512 x 512 and 1024 x 1024 preview resolutions only. For 2048 or higher, use baking instead.

You can track progress of this feature on the forums and the roadmap.

Dynamic Caching was originally published in quadspinner on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.