Electric Image Animation System v8 beta status and expected features

Currently we are finishing up the last of the bug fixes for version 8 of the Electric Image Animation System. We hope to start selling version 8 within the next couple weeks. There are still a few last couple bugs that need to be sorted, but we wish to deliver a very solid new upgrade. We have provided a list of the expected new features for your review. This list is still subject to change.

Fast soft shadows
All soft shadows code is completely re-written. Fast soft shadows can be enabled for all kinds of lights are capable to create such shadows (Radial, Spot and Area). This new method utilizes GI engine to sample soft shadows as well. Typically it's in several times faster compare to old technique. The old optimization ("Optimize shadow generation") is also rebuilt to have a more flexible way instead of just on/off.

Area lights
Area lights are a fundamental requirement for most indoor and room scenes. EI8 now includes them as a built-in light type. Area lights can be equipped with HDRI textures (for example to replace a series of multiply small lights with only one textured Area light). It can be also used in a role of tube light with real soft shadow and (by using Light Portal feature) to simulate lights with arbitrary shapes.

Photon Mapping
Photon mapping is a popular and effective way to calculate indirect illumination and light bouncing. Photon maps can be stored and reused, thus allowing fly-through animations to be rendered much more quickly. Their illumination can also be baked, that is to say, transformed into illumination maps.

Quadratic light drop-off
Quadratic falloff is a new kind of light drop-off. It provides a physical light-model that corresponds more realistically to real world lighting. An example of this type of drop-off can be found with a simple house hold light-bulb. It's intensity is huge when you hold your hand close to it (you can even see light transmitting through your hand), but, as you move your hand away, this intensity drops-off very quickly.

Light Customize Tools
A new light setting, designed for use with lights that have high intensities like the sun. It increases the illumination level produced by a light but without over-exposing a scene. You can think of it as "falloff" in material's diffuse tab but for a light instead of material.

EXR and 16bit image input support
Animator and Camera are now both capable of reading and using both EXR and 16 bit QT files for any use. EXR textures can be used in a role of HDRI (with or without alpha channel). Much more information on this new solid feature to come.

Rotoscope textures and Backdrop options
Backdrops: Backdrop options have been moved from the World Dialog to the Camera Dialog, this is because, functionally, they are the same as Rotoscopes.

Rotoscopes:You can now edit rotoscopes as if they were normal textures - that is to say, double clicking on them will open the standard texture editing window. Two or more rotoscope textures are combined according to their blend modes, same as material textures. Procedurals can be used as well.

In EI8 a rotoscope can have any mapping type, same as reflection textures (Spherical, LightProbe, Vert Cross etc.) the result will be that your camera will seem to be inside a surrounding infinite sphere with the rotoscope applied to the inside of it. As you move the camera, you will see different parts of this environment, it can be previewed in Animator.

Reflection maps
Now reflection maps are combined according to their blend modes. A procedural applied in reflection maps list now is treated as a real reflection (in EI7 it was a reflectivity multiplier).

Sky maps
All sky maps lists (GI Sky maps, world RT reflections and refractions) can have any number of textures that are combined. Procedurals can be used as well. The exception is only "Adaptive sky map" GI mode, it ultimately requires a single texture that should be a LDR/HDR image.

Normal maps
Bump normal maps are moved to tangent space because now it's more popular and usable kind of normal maps that allows to use them together with UVs and others kinds of mapping.

Light maps
Instead of a single light projection map, EI8 offers a standard texture list of light maps with any kind of reflection mapping a procedurals allowed.

New Strength map tools
- Save/Load strength map to re-assign it from a low-resolution model to with higher one or vice versa.
- Strength maps blur/contrast tool
- Strength map mirror tool
- Strength map unfold tool allows to save a map as img texture by using model's UVs.

Renderama improvements
- Renderama now displays the file names of the job being rendered.
- You can now re-order jobs inside the Renderama interface.
- Whenever you enable or disable a job or a slave, this is now instantly saved to the preferences to aid in crash recovery.
- Renderama can now see and use folders nested inside the EI Shaders and EI Sockets folders.

Animator improvements
- "Remove from selection set" is added to contextual menu;
- Enable/Disable channels animation ("green triangle") is added to preferences;
- Exported FACT can be automatically re-imported and added to project;
- Imported series of FACT files are now added in order sorted by file names;
- The menu-bar (Animator's "Camera Window") for choosing lights and cameras now takes label colours into account as well as placing light/camera icons next to the respective items in the list;
- bump normals map are allowed foe camera maps as well;
- new contextual menu is added for texture items in list. Procedurals interfaces also can be opened by pressing 'P' key.
- Layers shaders can be collected in a separated folder (but located inside "EI Sockets" folder)
- In Texture Window for Flat, Cubic and Procedural mapping the new "AutoEdit" popup is added to constrain XY(Z) scales.

Rendering to PNG format
EIAS 8 can now render image sequences natively to the .png format with/without alpha. This was added because of the resolution limitation experienced with Quick-Time files.

Fill Velocities
EIAS Function Curve Editor improvement.

GI "Saturation"