Hi everyone,

Finally a new update is released, and you'll see that it's a big one with many big new features, I hope it was worth the wait. This release is what the V 1.0 should be in my opinion.
I beg you to check it, use it, play with it and mostly give me feedback about it before I make it official. It's absolutely vital for me to have your feedback in order to see it is ready for the real launch of GD. Tell me if you see anything that is not working, or anything that is cool in your opinion ...

Here are the new stuff taken from the release note :

Fixes :

• Interface : Width and opacity of roads are now clearly split on two different sliders.
  
• Interface : Some tooltips had the wrong text. Some menu entries updated.
  
• Interface : Redesign of some icons.
  
• Interface : Reset values is now resetting only the current category and not the whole set of parameters. You can still do that by using the ‘new’ icon
  
• Interface : Fix the undo/redo that was not working with some global parameters
  
• Interface : Layer buttons are remove when the planet is in HD or when in background or post effect mode.
  
• Planet generator : Noise hash generation has been updated to reduce thee visible repetition in the noise.
  
• Planet generator : Growth by height has been added to the vegetation tab.

New features :

• Interface : Detection of Intel GPU and advice to change the default GPU laptops
  
• Interface : A new mini relief viewer has been added on the interface, with a 2D and a 3D mode. This simplify the understanding of what’s going on while editing the relief.
  
• Interface : New color ramp viewer that actually show the effect of the level and position sliders (for toon-like renders).
  
• Interface : Undo/redo icons are back
  
• Interface : Colors can be introduced in hex values
  
• Interface : Reset camera button
  
• Planet generator :
  
• Planet generator : A curve/level editor has been added. This somewhat breaks the backward compatibility on some planets you may have saved, but with some tuning of the black/white points, you should be able to fix that.
  
• Planet generator : An experimental feature has been added : you are now able to work only on a part of the planet, not the complete surface (in terrain, global, planet coverage). It is limited to section with a 2:1 ratio. You can also flatten it if it is small enough, allowing you to generate simple terrains.
  
• Export : Meshes are now exported with the displacement baked in the vertices position.
  
• Export : Meshes can be decimated/simplified at the export. Be aware that this option will strongly slow down your export.
  
• Export : A dialog is opened when exporting allowing you to choose right before the export your texture preset, file format, mesh export options …
  
• Export : Progress bar during the export

There is also a first quick Tutorial I've made as training for me. I will definitely redo it, as I'm not totally happy with it, but I'd like to have your opinion on it ... like stuff I have to avoid, or stuff I should do. I know that my diction is not really good, but it's probably the best I can do in english :) . Here is the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2HTD0H8lXA

Welcome to the beta version of Grand Designer!

As you have requested it, you are now a beta testers of the V1.0 of Grand Designer.

To access the beta,

• go to your library, select Grand Designer, right click on it and select properties.
  
• In the window that has just opened, select the beta tab
  
• Enter the password 'alphacentauri' (without quotes) and click the check button.
  
• Select the access to the beta instead of the regular version in the dropdown.

You should have access to the beta now.

The update may take some time, if you'd like to force the download, just quit steam and restart it, it should download the new version automatically.

There are still some minor bugs here and there, but this version should be quite stable. Read the release notes to have an overview of the new features (I will improve the release notes with more details afterward).

You can at any time go back to the regular version of Grand Designer if you'd like to (properties->beta->select regular version instead of beta)

In case of bugs, you can use the Help->Bug report button (which is working now :) ...) or send an e-mail at bug(at)ignishot.com

For anything else, discussions, remarks, questions, you can start a discussion on this group or send me an e-mail at beta(at)ignishot.com.

Before starting the new version, I highly recommand to upgrade your graphic card driver to its latest version as I've met some problems with previous versions.

Enjoy the beta and don't hesitate to comment the new features/interface!