REDsdk 5.2

Welcome to REDsdk 5.2!

API changes

For those that directly want to jump into the details, see all API changes here: REDsdk 5.2 API changes.

Overview of changes

REDsdk 5.2 has one and only one huge new feature: REDsdk 5.2 now runs natively on Metal on Mac OSX systems. OpenGL has been fully removed from the product on OSX, following Apple's guidelines. Besides that a number of small improvements and changes have been made. These are listed here: Minor changes.

REDart has many new features. See the illustration video below, rendered using NDunes, powered by REDsdk and REDart:

New REDart features

REDart new key features for the 5.2 version:

• Extended VR headsets support with HTC Vive.
• New clouds rendering system (again...).
• Improved lighting model, clouds ground relighting.
• Improved reflectance model.
• Improved biome scattering and fade conditions for plants seen from far away.
• Enhanced rendering performances.
• Lighter CPU consumption when idle (no more 100% CPU burst when idle).
• New Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) useful when no GI has been calculated for a geometry yet.
• New Screen Space Reflections (SSR) enhancing visual quality a lot.
• Smarter updates when changes are made to a scene (for instance, localized terrain updates when a geometry with ground is moved).
• Full AMD and INTEL GPU support (low-end GPUs will get you low FPS, but it'll work).
• New Full Scene Anti-Aliasing mode (FSAA).
• Fixed a ton of bugs.
• OSX Metal support.

Minor changes

• Custom background intensity multipliers for RED::IViewpointRenderList::SetBackgroundImages.
• Improved FBX files loading performance.
• Enhanced GLSL support (newer bindings, faster internal architecture).
• New OpenGL context creation options.
• Small real-time rendering performance improvements (hardware mode only).
• New PBR to realistic or generic material converters. Allow an easy conversion from PBR material sources to REDsdk materials.
• New quaternions helpers.
• New shape search and update methods.
• Stored AABB informations on RED::BoundingSphere classes.
• Enhanced RED::IMaterial API for shader access.
• New IES axis system control method for physical lights.

REDsdk 5.1 API changes

REDsdk 5.2 API changes