January 08 2014

This version uses the Arnold 4.1.3.2 core.

HIGHLIGHTED NEW FEATURES

• Initial support for XGen.
• New faster skin shader that simplifies the workflow.
• Deep EXR support.
• Added a basic volume collector shader to allow to render volumetric patterns.
• FluidTexture2DShape node support.
• Custom EXR metadata.
• Initial support for Switch Shaders.
• New interface for handling Background and Atmosphere shaders.
• Mapping of matte parameters.
• Curves width parameter can now be mapped using Maya shader networks.
• Reference objects are exported for curves, this allows for better noise usage in shaders.
• Installers are provided for Linux and OSX.
• All installers use the new module syntax available from Maya 2013 and later, making the deployment easier.
• Rolling shutter effect added in the cameras.
• Improved Standin Path sequence resolution

HIGHLIGHTED IMPROVEMENTS

• Improved and unified motion blur interface across all the plugins.
• Improved reporting of batch render progress.
• Improved Maya fluid support (static and dynamic color grids).
• Improved Export to ASS and Kick.
• Simplified UI (Sampling, Standin, verbosity log levels...).
• New faster skin shader that simplifies the workflow .

NOTES

• skin_sss is considered legacy and will be removed in the future.
• Motion blur in XGen has not been tested exhaustively.
• Subcomponent connections to switch shader inputs are not supported.
• Enable AOV composition is now always enabled. RGB and RGBA AOVs support opacity composition.
• Mac OS X 10.7

INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES

• Scaling of the Sky. Originally the -1 scaling along the Z was added to get rid of the strange behaviour of the LatLong mapping function while the right fix would have been to add a -1 scaling along the X axis.
• The old meshlight workflow has been removed, now poly meshes can act as meshlights.
• Pointcloud SSS has been removed, including all the old parameters. SSS is now computed exclusively with the ray traced SSS engine, which has a single quality control (BSSRDF samples). This leads to warnings when loading old scenes, and possibly a different look and/or performance.
• The stretched_phong BRDF has been removed.