silhouette 4.1 whats new

8/6/2019 Silhouette 4.1 Whats New

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Silhouette 4 What’s New





2 About this Guide

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ABOUT THIS G UIDE

CopyrightNo part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording,

for any purpose without the express written consent of SilhouetteFX, LLC.

Copyright © SilhouetteFX, LLC 2011. All Rights Reserved

February 11, 2011

About Us

SilhouetteFX brings together the unbeatable combination of superior software

designers and visual effects veterans. Add an Academy Award for Scientific

and Technical Achievement, 3 Emmy Awards and experience in creating visualeffects for hundreds of feature films, commercials and television shows and you

have a recipe for success.




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What’s New in 4.1 3

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W HAT ’ S N EW IN 4.1

FeaturesPlanar Tracker

The Planar Tracker has been completely re-written. There are now minimal

parameters and the tracker provides robust results using a wide variety of

sequences.

Flip/Flop in Source NodeSources can be flipped/flopped in the Source Node using Flip Vertical and Flop

Horizontal.

Extend Duration

The Source node now contains an Extend Duration parameter. When enabled,

the last frame of the sequence will repeat if the Session duration is longer.

Shrink/Grow

Shrink/Grow is a new shape parameter that will shrink or grow the shape’s

alpha channel.

Layer > Channel

Channel is a new layer parameter that sets the channel to which all shapes in

the layer are rendered to when using Actions > Render Shapes to Channels.

This overrides the Shape > Channel setting.

New Actions

The following scripting actions have been added: Select > All, Select > Hidden

Objects, Select > Layers, Select > Transparent Shapes, and Time > Jump to

Transparent. This last action looks at the selected shapes and jumps the

Timebar to the first entirely transparent opacity keyframe it finds.

Note: These actions can be bound to keys in the keybinds file. For an example of how

to how to bind a key to an action, see how Select > All is bound to [ in the

scripts/keybinds.py file.




4 What’s New in 4.1

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Copy/Paste Individual Shape Points Between Keyframes

Individual shape points can now be copied and pasted between keyframes

using Ctrl(Win)/Cmd(Mac)-Alt-C to copy and Ctrl(Win)/Cmd(Mac)-Alt-V to

paste.

Layer > Scale and Negative Transforms

Negative values for the Layer > Scale parameters will flip or flop the shapes in

the layer.

Paint > Color Correct > Contrast CenterAdded a Center parameter below Contrast in the Paint > Color Correct brush

to adjust the contrast curve to weight it more towards shadows or highlights. A

lower value means a brighter range.

Paint > Clone > Grade > Gang

Gang controls have been added to the Paint > Clone Brush > Grade > Lift,

Gamma and Gain controls. To deactivate Gang, press the Lock icon located at

the top right of each parameter group.

Reshape > Corner, Cardinal, B-Spline Shortcuts

Corner, Cardinal and point tension keyboard shortcuts have been added. The

shortcuts are as follows: Ctrl(Win)/Cmd(Mac)-Alt-1 Corner;

Ctrl(Win)/Cmd(Mac)-Alt-2 Cardinal; Ctrl(Win)/Cmd(Mac)-Alt-3 B-Spline.

Some of these shortcuts are not applicable to certain spline types.

Reshape > Invert Point Selection

Ctrl(Win)/Cmd(Mac)-Alt-I has been added to invert the point selection.

X-Spline Tension Factor PreferenceAdded a X-Spline Tension Factor shape preference. This is a weight from -10

to 10 that is multiplied by the mouse delta when manipulating the X-Spline point

tension. You can reverse the sense of the weight by making this value negative.

Also, you can boost the amount the tension is adjusted based on mouse

movement by making the value larger, for example closer to -10 or 10.




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Spline Interpolation Preference

Previously, the first shape keyframe was always Linear by default. Now, you

can change this by using the new Shape > Default Interpolation preference.

Import/Export Paths Environment Variables

Added two new environment variables: SFX_IMPORT_PATH and

SFX_EXPORT_PATH. If these are set, they override the old

SFX_IMPORT_EXPORT_PATH.





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Changes

Nudging Paint Clone Source

The Clone source could only be nudged if Interactive was enabled. Thisrequirement has been dropped.

Display Options > White/Black Point Slider Range

The Display Options > White/Black point slider ranges were extended to -0.5 to

1.0 for the Black Point and 0.4 to 2.4 for the White Point.

Spline Interpolation Behavior

Previously, shape keyframes were always forced to Linear. Now, when you

create a shape keyframe, it will use the previous keyframe’s interpolation type.

Scripting Changes

Certain scripting operations, such as changing the selection and editing

properties, are now undoable. See the new actions in scripts/actions for

examples.

• To begin a sequence of undoable operations, call fx.beginUndo(label) at the

beginning and finish up with fx.endUndo().

• To select a list of objects, call fx.select(objects).

• Now, shape paths can be queried and set on the “path” property. Use aPropertyEditor() utility on the property when making multiple edits to a single

property--this will group them into one undo operation. See

scripts/examples/adjustShapes.py for an example.

• Shape visibility, lock state, label, and note are editable and undoable.

• The property.constant attribute can be changed to turn on/off animation for a

certain property. Note: Some properties, such as paths, have animation turned on

by default.

Fixed Bugs

Nuke 6.2 Exporter Crash

When using the Nuke 6.2 exporter for a work range start that was large and

work range length that was short, the exporter would crash.




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What’s New in 4.0.5 7

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W HAT ’ S N EW IN 4.0.5

FeaturesNew Nuke 6.2 Exporter

A new Nuke 6.2 exporter is available with lots of new features. Shape

keyframes are no longer baked. Both Bezier and B-Splines are directly

exported, while X-Splines are converted to Bezier’s during the export process.

In addition, many other shape and layer attributes are exported.

Silhouette Attributes that Transfer to Nuke

• Work Range Start

• Work Range End

• Session Frame Offset

Node

• Blur

• Motion Blur

Layer

• Blur

• Motion Blur

Shape• Opacity

• Blend Mode

• Invert

• Motion Blur

• Outline Color• Shape Blur (if outside)

Nuke Exporter Notes

• X-Splines are converted to Bezier's in Nuke.

• Only Blurs set to Outside will transfer to Nuke.

• Multiply mode is not guaranteed to work if the opacities involved are not 0 and100%. Nuke and Silhouette’s notion of multiply is different.

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8 What’s New in 4.0.5•

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• Layer blend modes are not implemented as Nuke does not support them.

• Nested transformations are exported fully baked because Nuke does not actually

nest transformations in its layers.

• If the top or bottom of a Bezier rectangle is perfectly parallel to the screen edge,the resulting shape export will do poorly. This is because the points used for the

homography are the four bounding box points which for the Bezier described

above are the same as the four points in the shape, adding no information. If you

make a rectangle with more than four points then the shape export will work fine.

For instance, add points between each corner.

Command-Line -range OptionsA number of new options have been added to the -range switch to handle non-

sequential rendering as well as a step factor.

A specific range is set by passing two numbers. A step factor can be introduced

by using x# after the range. Some examples are:

•-range 1-10 renders frames 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

• -range 1-10x2 renders frames 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.

• -range 3 renders frame 3.

Multiple -range arguments can be used to specify multiple ranges, for instance

-range 1-50x1 -range 51-60x2 -range 60-100x3. You can also use commas to

separate ranges in a single -range option.

Note: If you use the -step switch, it will override whatever step factor you used in -range

or -f.

Command Line -f

A -f command-line switch has been added as an abbreviation for -range. -f and

-range are exactly the same. There is no difference.

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What’s New in 4.0.5 9 •

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Cineon Conversion Bypass

You can now bypass Silhouette’s Cineon conversion. This allows you to work

with the raw Cineon file. To do so, enable the Cineon Conversion Bypass in the

Edit Source menu. When rendering, you will also need to enable Cineon

Conversion Bypass in the Render > Cineon > Options window.

Note: The Cineon LUT in the Viewer Display Options is not to be used when the Cineon

Conversion Bypass is enabled. You will need to create your own LUT when bypassing

the Cineon conversion.

JPEG File FormatYou can now save in the JPEG file format. Rendering options for JPEG are

Quality and Bypass. The default Quality is 90% and Bypass is off.

Unique Session Names

The default name for sessions, now currently “New Session”, will be run

through the label uniquifier so that they are numbered.

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Changes

UCS4

Silhouette on Linux is now compiled against a UCS4 version of Python.

Per-Session Display Settings

The Exposure, Gamma, Black Point, White Point and LUT settings are

remembered per-session.

Paint > Missing Frames Dialog

The language in the Paint > Missing Frames dialog box was changed to be

more clear and understandable.

XOR On-Screen Controls

When the Viewer Handle Mode is set to XOR, all bounding boxes/layer controls

are also in XOR mode.

Floating License Priority over Nodelocked

If a floating license has been entered in Advanced Options, it will be used

instead of a nodelocked license.

Scripting the Project Path

The project path can now be set with the project.path attribute.

Allow Actions to be Placed into Sub-Menus

Actions can now be placed into sub-menus in the Actions menu by specifying

the label as “Submenu Name|Action Name” or by adding the menu=”Submenu

Name” attribute to the Action initializer. For instance, to move all of the render

actions into an Actions/Render sub-menu, their init functions would look like

this:

def __init__(self):

Action.__init__(self, “Render|Active Node”)



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Stereo Clone Issue

When using a mono clone source assigned to both the left and right sides in

conjunction with a clone offset, the resulting paint was not lined up on the target

frame's left and right sides when painting in the Left/Right View.

Tablet Events Causing Excessive Painting

Tablet events, especially on Windows, were causing paint to slow to a crawl.

This seems to have been caused by a relatively recent Wacom driver update

Silhouette Command-line Relied on X-Windows - Linux

On Linux, the Silhouette Command-line relied on X-Windows being installed.

For systems where X-Windows is not installed, a -nogui switch was added to

sfxcmd (Linux only) that causes it not to use X-Windows. However, scripts that

do drawing, for example Slate, will not work.

DPX Linear Problem

Certain linear DPX files look corrupted when the interpretation was explicitly set

to Linear.

Crash When Accessing a Null Secondary Source

Silhouette would crash if you tried to query a secondary source if it was set to

None. Now it returns None if there is no source.

Crash Rendering Paint Only with No Paint

Silhouette would crash when rendering paint only when a non-painted frame

was encountered. Now, it simply skips the frame.

Edit Source Dialog Doesn't Update the Source Path

If you edited a source path in the Edit Source dialog and accept, it neverupdated the actual path. Because of this, you couldn’t replace fixed paths with

ones with environment variables.

Tablet Panning and Zooming - Linux

On Linux systems, you could not pan or zoom when using a tablet. So, no

middle mouse button or shift-middle mouse button functionality existed.

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Nvidia Quadro 4000 card Pop-up Menu Display Problem

There was a viewer display artifact on systems with Nvidia Quadro 4000 cards

when using pop-up menus.

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FeaturesPower Matte - Stereo Crash

If you used Duplicate or Duplicate > Layer in a stereo Power Matte node,

Silhouette would crash.

Render Layers/Shapes to Separate Files and Hidden Shapes

and LayersWhen using the Render Layers/Shapes to Separate Files actions, hidden

layers/shapes would render when they should not have.

Paint Stroke Applied to Next Frame

If you switched frames before you were done painting a stroke, the paint would

be applied to the next frame.

Multiframe Mode - Mac

When you activated Multiframe mode on Mac systems, the red line display

indicator was not appearing around the Viewer.

Stopping Planar Tracker - Linux

On Linux, the Planar Tracker took too long to manually stop.

Planar Tracker Crash with Selected Point Tracks

The Planar Tracker would crash if you pressed the Track button when point

trackers were selected.

Object List Slow – MacMoving items in the Object List on a Mac was slow.

ATI Drivers

Some ATI drivers had a problem with Silhouette’s new color grade matrix. ATI

drivers are very pedantic and do not allow 4 component to 3 component

truncation like NVidia drivers do. This was causing the shaders to not load onsome ATI cards.

What’s Ne in 4 0 4 15

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Changes

Linux/Windows: Render Browser Only Shows Folders

On Linux and Windows, the native OS Save dialog only showed folders. Thishas been changed so that files are displayed as well.

Ctrl(Win)/Cmd(Mac)-. (period key) Shortcut Key Change

The Ctrl(Win)/Cmd(Mac)-. (period key) to move the shape anchor point to the

mouse location has been changed to Shift-. (period key) because of an

incompatibility in the Mac OS.

Fixed Bugs

Ctrl and Shift Behavior in Paint

Customers have asked for the ability to switch the Ctrl and Shift Behavior in

Paint to be the same as Nuke. This is handled using two new paint attributes inscripting.

By default:

Brush Size modifier = Control

Clone Offset modifier = Shift

To swap Ctrl and Shift in paint, add these two lines to the keybinds.py file:

fx.paint.brushEditModifier = fx.ShiftModifier

fx.paint.cloneOffsetModifier = fx.ControlModifier

Render to Layers/Shapes to Separate Files - File Naming

The Render to Layers / Shapes to Separate Files actions have been modified

so that they add the Render > Filename field as a prefix to the rendered layer

or shape.

16 What’s New in 4 0 3

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16 What s New in 4.0.3•

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Period in Pathname

If there was a period in the folder/directory name of your footage path, certain

file types would only import one frame.

Edit Source > Interpretation Viewer Update

If you changed the Edit Source > Interpretation, the image in the Viewer did not

update until you changed frames.

Render > Range > Custom Crash

Silhouette would crash if you attempted a save right after setting the Render >

Range to Custom.

What’s New in 4.0.2 17

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What s New in 4.0.2 17 •

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Fixed BugsPower Matte Object List

Shapes did not show up in Power Matte Object List.

Pasting from Roto to Power Matte

Pasting a shape from Roto into Power Matte properly did shape conversion, but

the new shapes were not selected.

Macintosh - Can't drag layers or splines

Layers, trackers or shapes could not be dragged in the Object list.

18 What’s New in 4.0.1

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FeaturesCineon Lut

There is a new Cineon LUT available in the Viewer > Display > LUT menu. It

should be used to correctly display Cineon and DPX/Log images.

ChangesPreferences > Shapes > Template Color Default

The Preferences > Shapes > Template Color Default was preset to 100%.

Preferences > Input/Output > Display Gamma

The Preferences > Input/Output > Display Gamma setting has been preset to

1.7.

Fixed Bugs

Feather Problem

The Feather tool did not render properly.

Preferences > Auto Save

The Preferences > Auto Save parameters were not showing up.

Actions > Render Shapes to Channels in Float

The Render Shapes to Channels Action did not behave properly in a Float

session.

EXR Crash with External Alpha

Rendering to EXR's would crash if External Alpha were enabled.

Panning / Split Screen Crash

Under certain circumstances, there could be a crash when panning or using the

Clone split-screen.


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W HAT ’ S N EW IN 4.0

Features

Power Matte

Power Matte is an easy to use interactive image matting tool capable of

extracting almost any object in an image--even if you are dealing with fine hair

detail, smoke, or reflections. This extraction process creates what is known as

a matte--essentially a black and white cutout. White matte areas are extracted,

black areas not, and gray areas in between represent a level of transparency.

Once a matte is extracted, the foreground object can be seamlessly composed

onto a new background.

To work this magic, Power Matte iteratively estimates the transparency value

for every pixel in the image, based on a small sample of foreground (what you

want to cut out) and background (what you want to get rid of) pixels marked by

defining simple masks on the image. Results show that compared with previous

Before After

Matte Shapes


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approaches, our method is more efficient and requires minimal effort to extract

high quality mattes for foregrounds with significant semi-transparent regions. In

addition, the foreground edge colors can be estimated in the semi-transparent

areas to create a seamless composite.

Planar Tracker

The Planar Tracker has been re-written. It is simpler, more accurate and

handles partial occlusions automatically.

Macintosh 64 Bit

The Macintosh version is now 64 Bit only and will run under Mac OSX 10.5.x

and OSX 10.6.x.

Command-line

Silhouette can now execute projects with various options via the command-

line.

Scripting and Actions

Customization of Silhouette can now be accomplished via scripting as much of

the Silhouette object model is exposed to the Python scripting language. The

following scripts are now available in the Silhouette > Actions menu: Render

Active Node, Render Layers to Separate Files, Render Shapes to Channels,

and Render Shapes to Separate Files.

For information on how to create custom scripts that show up in the Silhouette

> Actions menu, see the new Silhouette 4.0 Scripting Guide for more

information.

Shape > Channel

Channel is a new shape parameter that sets the channel to render the shapeto when using Actions > Render Shapes to Channels.


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Open Shapes

Open shapes are now supported and are useful for rotoscoping strands of hair

or fine details. To create an open shape, press the Esc key or switch to a

different tool when drawing the shape. The open shape’s thickness is then set

in the Object window using the Stroke Width parameter.

Note: Open shapes can only be exported using the Silhouette shape format.

Shape > Stroke Width

Stroke Width is a new shape parameter which sets the thickness of an open

shape. When used on a closed shape, an outline is created.

Notes

There is a new Notes window that can be moved around and docked like other

views. You can type an arbitrary-length note for each selected object - currently

only shapes, trackers, and layers are supported. If you hover over the Notes

icon in the Object List, the note (if there is one) will be displayed as a tool tip.

Global Blur

An Alpha > Blur parameter has been added to the Output node that blurs the

final Alpha channel.

Show Shape Name Preference

In Shape preferences, Show Shape Name has been added to display the

shape name in the center of the shape.

Paint > Dual Clone

You can now paint with two Clone Presets activated at once. This allows you to

paint from two different frames using separate transforms and/or color

corrections using the new Grade controls. Shift-click a second Clone preset tomake it active.

Paint > Clone Source Grade Controls

The Clone source can now be graded (color corrected) using the Gain, Gamma

and Lift > Red, Green and Blue parameters.


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Paint > Vertical and Horizontal Split Comparison

Compares the Clone source and target using a Vertical or Horizontal split. The

split is handy when using the Grade controls to color match the Clone source

to the target.

Find Missing Paint

If you moved the paint or moved the project to a location where the paint could

not be found, there was no way to relink the paint to the project. When

activating the Paint node, it will now scan the paint images. If it detects anything

missing, it will ask you if want to relink or just ignore.

Copy Paint

When using File > Save As with a project that contains a Paint node, you are

now given the option to copy the painted frames for the exclusive use of the

new project. This is useful if you want to have multiple versions.

Render > Slap CompYou can now render out the Alpha channel overlayed on the image as a color

with opacity using Render > Slap Comp. This is useful for showing your

handiwork to a supervisor for approval.

Solo Layers

Layers can now be soloed just like shapes. To solo a Layer, Alt-click on it’sVisibility icon. Alt-Ctrl-click to force the visibility of all objects to the on position.

Open Project Where You Left Off

The project is now opened on the frame where you last saved from.

Ctrl-Arrow Nudging

Finer nudging control can be achieved using the Ctrl-Arrow keys. Ctrl-Arrow

nudging defaults to .1 increments for finer adjustment. The increment value for

using Ctrl nudging can be set in Preferences > Nudging > Precise (control)

distance (pixels).


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Nudging of Layer > Transform Rotate, Scale and Paint > Clone

Corner-Pin Points

You can now nudge Layer and Clone source transform, rotation, scaling, and

Paint > Clone corner-pin points. Translate nudge is the default, but when using

the W (Rotate) and E (Scale), nudging affects those modes as well. To nudge

the Clone source corner-pin points, use Ctrl-1,2,3 or 4 to select which point you

want to nudge. This is a handy for selecting and moving a corner-pin point

without using the on-screen controls.

Corner-Pin - Axis ConstraintWhen using Alt to move shape corner points, if Shift is held down, the

dominant axis is constrained.

Primitive Type Shape Preference

A Primitive Type shape preference has been added to set what shape type is

used when circles and squares are created.

Render > Range > Custom

A Custom selection is now available in the Range menu along with numeric

entry fields to enter a specific frame range.

Render > Preview

Opens a Preview window that displays each rendered image as well as render

statistics. With the Preview window open, press the R, G, B, and A buttons to

toggle viewing of the respective channels or C to view the RGB channels.

Show Timebar Keyframe Marker Times in a Tool tip

When you hover over a keyframe marker in the Timebar, a tool tip showing the

keyframe time pops-up.

0% Opacity Keyframe Timeline Display

0% opacity keyframes are now displayed as hollow icons in the Timeline.

Stereoscopic Options in Object List

The Stereoscopic selections from the Edit menu have been added as a right-

click menu in the Object List.


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Timeline Highlight

The selected shape's parameters are now snapped into view and highlighted

in the Timeline.

Overlay Alpha Over Individual Channels

Shift-A and A can now overlay the Alpha channel over individual channels.

Import After Effects Corner-Pin files generated by Mocha for AE

Silhouette can now import After Effects Corner Pin files generated by Mocha

for AE.

Nuke Tracker Import/Export

Nuke trackers can now be imported and exported.

Default Point Type for X-Splines

There is a new Shape > Default X-Spline Point Type preference which defaults

to B-Spline. This controls the default weighting of X-Spline points when they arecreated.

Source Node > Time Shift

A Time Shift parameter has been added to the Source node which shifts the

source node in time.


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Changes

Select All Points

Alt-Shift-A select all points on a selected shape. Alt-Ctrl-A deselects allpoints.

Tracker Tab

The layout of the Tracker tab has changed.

Four Tracker Corner Pin Application

Four tracker corner pin application can now occur anywhere in the sequence.

Status Bar

The Status Bar now shows you the number of selected objects. If only one

object is selected, it will show the object name and the note if there is one.

Help > About

The About box now shows whether the Silhouette version is either 32 or 64 bit.

Render > Start Frame

Start Frame has been renamed to Output Start Frame, and by default, will

update to show you what the first frame will be output as. You can override this

if you want.

Convert to Bezier

Multiple shapes can now be converted to a Bezier.

Motion Blur - Last Frame

Motion Blur is now calculated on the last frame.

Motion Blur Speed Up

To speed up Motion Blur, it is now handled directly in the Roto and Effects

nodes. It is no longer located in the Output node.

OpenMP Acceleration

OpenMP multi-processor acceleration has been added throughout Silhouette

to speed up processing.




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Fixed Bugs

Export/Import Simple Tracker - 1 Frame Offset

If you exported a tracker as Simple Format and imported it back into Silhouette,it came back with a 1 frame offset.

Paint > Color Sampling Did Not Work

Using the period key to sample colors for the Color brush was not working.

Paint > Color Correct Brush Clamping

In a float session, values greater than one got clamped at one rather than

getting brighter when using the Brightness control.

Switch Session with Clone Brush Crash

If the Clone brush were selected, Silhouette would crash if you switched

Sessions.


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