HOOPS Visualize 3DF Release Notes

IMPORTANT:

The DirectX 9 driver has been removed as of HOOPS Visualize version 25.00.
The OpenGL1 driver has been deprecated. We encourage Visualize users to upgrade to DirectX 11 or OpenGL 2.

About the release notes: We maintain several major versions of 3DF at once. These separate release streams give our customers flexibility when choosing to upgrade. As a result, versions may not necessarily be released in numbered order, and changes that affect multiple release streams may be noted in the release notes for each applicable stream.

Service Pack 25.10

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2019 SP2
HOOPS Exchange	2020 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2020 SP2	Requires support for SSSE3 instruction set.
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	32.0.x
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2019	RealDWG 2019 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017 Update 2
SketchUp	2019.2	64-bit Windows only

Enhancements

Static model. HOOPS Visualize now respects a static model's conditional values when calculating the render path. This will result in exclusion of unrendered branches and faster rendering of data sets with many conditional expressions. See the "condition analysis" option in Set_Heuristics().

Very large transforms. There are new options for importing models with very large transformations. This options help prevent unwanted side-effects of float-precision errors. For an explanation of how to use this new option, see this page.

Functional Changes

HOOPS Exchange. HOOPS Visualize now works with HOOPS Exchange 2020 SP2.

HOOPS Publish. The HOOPS Publish integration now requires support for the SSSE3 instruction set.

Qt changes. Visual Studio and XCode project files for qt_simple are no longer distributed. Partners will need to use the .pro file with QtCreator to build.

Major Release 25.00

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2019 SP2
HOOPS Exchange	2020 SP1
HOOPS Publish	2020 SP1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	32.0.x
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2019	RealDWG 2019 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017 Update 2
SketchUp	2019.2	64-bit Windows only

Functional Changes

DX9 driver removed. The "dx9" driver interface has been removed. Please use a more recent driver, such as "dx11" (DirectX 11).

OpenGL. The OpenGL driver now requires OpenGL 3.2 or higher.

Linux platform update. Linux builds now require devtoolset 8 | gcc/g++ 8.2.3 | glibc 2.17.

Enhancements

Textures as marker symbols. Defined textures can now be used as marker symbols.

Textures in OBJ files. Textures can now be imported in OBJ files.

Spherical texturing. We have improved our algorithm that applies spherical texturing. Spherical textures will now wrap once both laterally and vertically by default, and texture orientation will flip vertically.

Text layout. Text can now be rendered left-to-right and right-to-left on all platforms for fonts that support it. Additionally, ligature and digraph glyphs are supported with this option enabled. See the "layout" option in Set_Text_Font.

New option for shell merging. A new option called "segment only" has been added to HC_Optimize_Segment_Tree which will cause the "merge shells" algorithm to only affect those shells in the specified segment, and ignore those below it.

DXT support. DXT textures are now supported in software drivers, or in drivers operating in software mode.

Override intrinsic color. A new setting is now available which enables developers to override the intrinsic color of geometry.

PDF embedded fonts. Fonts can now be embedded in an exported PDF. This means when a user opens an exported PDF document, the font is guaranteed to look correct, even if that user does not have the font installed on their system. See Set_Driver_Options("embed pdf fonts").

Service Pack 24.20

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2019 SP2
HOOPS Exchange	2020 SP1
HOOPS Publish	2020 SP1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	32.0.x
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2019	RealDWG 2019 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017 Update 2
SketchUp	2019.2	64-bit Windows only

Functional Changes

macOS window management. The way windows are created and managed has changed for macOS platforms. Please see this note for details.

Parasolid update. HOOPS Visualize now supports Parasolid 32.0.x.

SketchUp update. The SketchUp integration has been updated to version 2019.2.

Exchange update. The HOOPS Exchange integration has been updated to version 2020 SP1.

Publish update. The HOOPS Publish integration has been updated to version 2020 SP1.

Microstation plug-in. The Microstation plug-in has been removed.

Linux platform update. Linux builds now require devtoolset 8 | gcc/g++ 8.2.3 | glibc 2.17.

Enhancements

Linux compiler update. The Linux compiler requirement has been updated to gcc/g++ 8.2.3.

PBR materials. Physically-based rendering (PBR) materials are now supported. PBR data is now importable via HOOPS Exchange and exportable via HSF.

Service Pack 24.10

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2018 SP2 U1
HOOPS Exchange	2019 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2019 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	30.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2019	RealDWG 2019 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017 Update 2
SketchUp	2015

Functional changes

Windows Vista support ended. Windows 7 is now the minimum supported OS.

SketchUp API. The SketchUp API libraries have been upgraded to version 2018. This version of SketchUp does not support 32-bit Windows, which means x86 Windows support in HOOPS Visualize is no longer available for this component. The base_skp and hio_skp projects have been stripped of any 32-bit logic and the corresponding binaries are no longer included with HOOPS Visualize.

Ambient Occlusion Sharpness Setting. A new setting has been added for adjusting the sharpness for ambient occlusion. Please see the API Reference for Set_Driver_Options() for more information.

UWP library changes. The monolithic HOOPS UWP library has been split into multiple libraries in order to allieviate size and dependency burdens. The package now provides hoops_3dgs_uwp, hoops_mvo_uwp, hoops_base_stream_uwp (static), and hoops_stream_uwp for this purpose.

Enhancements

New NVIDIA Profile Creator sample. A new sample, nvidia_profile_creator, is now available, which demonstrates how to programmatically select a GPU for NVIDIA-based systems.

Using Unicode Characters in 2D PDF. Exporting non-ASCII characters to 2D PDF is now supported. However, non-ASCII characters are exported as shells. The resulting "text" is not selectable and can't be copy-pasted, but otherwise appears normally.

Images as marker glyphs. Images may now be used as glyphs.

Geometry references. Geometry references are now supported in HMF files.

Cutting plane attributes. HSF files now support cutting plane visualization attributes.

Segment optimization. A new option, "segment only", has been added to HC_Optimize_Segment_Tree. When active, this option will restrict segment optimization to the current segment only, and ignore child segments.

Major Release 24.00

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2018 SP2 U1
HOOPS Exchange	2019
HOOPS Publish	2019
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	30.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2019	RealDWG 2019 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017 Update 2
SketchUp	2015

Functional changes

Linux Compiler Upgrade. The compiler for Linux binaries has been upgraded to gcc/g++ 6.3. The glibc version is unchanged (still version 2.12). Please see the Supported Platforms page for more information.

OSX Compatibility Changes. Previously, Visualize shipped with fat binaries for OSX that were compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. As of this release, Visualize now ships with binaries that are only compatible with 64-bit architectures on OSX.

AR/VR Sandbox Projects Moved. The sandbox projects for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality on Windows are now included in the primary sample solution file, samples_v1xx.sln.

Enhancements

GPU Selection. For Visualize applications using DirectX 11 drivers, a new gpu preference option has been added to Set_Driver_Options(), allowing you to select a specific GPU or to direct Visualize to select an appropriate GPU. Please see the API Reference for more information. Note: This option is not available for C# users using D3DImage, due to the reliance of D3DImage on the DirectX 9 driver.

In addition, the available gpus option has been added to Show_Device_Info(), which instructs Visualize return a comma-separated list of available GPU drivers. This is useful for setting a GPU preference with Set_Driver_Options(). For more information on available_gpus, please see the API Reference.

VR Sandbox Application Updated. The openvr_simple sandbox application has been refactored for ease of use and simplicity. For more information please see these instructions for building the OpenVR Simple application as well as a more in-depth explanation of the OpenVR sandbox in the updated Virtual Reality documentation.

Selection Performance Improvements. Compute_Selection_By_Ray() is faster in most cases. Compute_Selection() and Compute_Selection_By_Area() are faster for extremely large polyhedrons.

Tessellation Settings for HIO_Exchange. In the HOOPS/MVO component, a new class HTessellationSettings can be used in conjunction with HIO_Exchange to customize a variety of output settings for tessellation, such as triangle size. Please see the API Reference and the Programming Guide for full details.

New Formats for HIO_Exchange. Several new import formats were added to Visualize's HIO_Exchange component, including Rhino3D, Revit, and GLTF.

As part of this upgrade, a new member specific for Rhino3D import called m_bForceRenderedModeColors was added to the HInputHandlerOptions class in MVO.

New Options for Define_Highlight. Two new options are now available with the Define_Highlight function in 3DGS, passive and append:

passive: By default, Define_Highlight will override locked attributes on a highlighted segment, but with the new passive highlight option, Define_Highlight will not override attribute locks set on highlighted segments.
append: Previously, only a single named style would be applied when Define_Highlight was called. Now when Define_Highlight is called with the append option, the function will append a new named style to any named styles currently active for the highlighted segment.

Please see the API Reference for more information and usage samples.

Highlight Querying and Searching. New functionality is now available to search for highlighted segment keys within a Visualize scene. Options include searching along a specific key path and filtering results according to drawing mode. Please see the API Reference for more information.

New Quick Moves InPlace Highlight Option. An "InPlace" highlighting option is now available for Define_Highlight() and Begin_Highlight_Search(). This option is useful for highlights containing transparency. Please see the API Reference for more details.

Documentation for Sandboxes. A new section in the documentation for building the Visualize sandboxes is now available.

RealDWG multiline text. HOOPS Visualize now uses RealDWG 2019, which handles multiline text differently compared to the previous release. RealDWG now breaks long lines of text into multiple lines, and as a result, multiline text is not guaranteed to look the same as AutoCAD.

Service Pack 23.30

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2018 SP1 U1
HOOPS Exchange	2019 SP1
HOOPS Publish	2019 SP1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	30.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2019	RealDWG 2019 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017 Update 2
SketchUp	2015

Functional changes

OSX Compatibility Changes. Previously, Visualize shipped with a fat binary for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. As of this release, Visualize now ships with binaries that are only compatible with 64-bit architectures on OSX.

Ambient Occlusion Sharpness Setting. A new setting has been added for adjusting the sharpness for ambient occlusion. Please see the API Reference for Set_Driver_Options() for more information.

Enhancements

Service Pack 23.20

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2018 SP1 U1
HOOPS Exchange	2018 SP2 U1
HOOPS Publish	2018 SP2 U1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	30.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2018	RealDWG 2018 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017
SketchUp	2015

Enhancements

Shader-Based Face Displacement Redesign. Our face displacement algorithm has been redesigned to handle face displacement in a more robust way, resulting in more accurate z-ordering of geometry situated very close together. This will largely eliminate "bleed through" and stitching of edges that are supposed to be obscured.

As a result of the redesign, the units of Face Displacement have changed: The new units are linear, camera independent, and represent a much smaller displacement. The new units are 1/2²⁴ in the normalized depth range [0,1]. When calibrating your scene with the new units, it's likely that you will need much larger values than previous versions of Visualize. Any uses of face or vertex displacement may need to be re-tuned to render optimally. This affects the following settings in Set_Rendering_Options:

If you previously set any face displacement values to correct for problematic rendering or artifacts in past versions of Visualize, we recommend trying to remove these adjustments, as it's possible that they may no longer be necessary.

Lastly, the z-order of co-planar geometry may change. Z-order of co-planar geometry is non-deterministic, and this new algorithm may yield different visual results than in previous releases.

These images show sample renderings from before and after this change:

Before	After
Before	After
Before	After

New Functionality in the HoloLens AR Samples. For both native and remoting Augmented Reality samples, the following behaviors are now implemented in the provided source code:

The tap gesture will re-position the model at your current gaze point.
The tap and drag gesture to the left or right will rotate the model at its current position.

Improvements to Codegen Debugging Tool. Our code generation tool has been enhanced to provide more useful information for troubleshooting.

Functional changes

java_simple_swt Linux Sample Application removed. The java_simple_swt sample application has been removed from the Visualize package. If you need assistance with a Java SWT integration, please contact our support team.

Service Pack 23.10

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2018 U2
HOOPS Exchange	2018 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2018 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	30.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2018	RealDWG 2018 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017
SketchUp	2015

Enhancements

Parasolid support for Linux. The Parasolid bridge is now available for the Linux platform.

Parasolid: Convergent Modeling. Convergent modeling (i.e., hybrid modeling that combines faceted geometry with solid geometry) has been enabled in HOOPS/Parasolid. Previously, Parasolid files were required to contain B-rep; this requirement has been lifted.

DWG Support for HIO_Exchange. It is now possible to import DWG files via HIO_Exchange. In order to load DWG files with HIO_Exchange, it's necessary to call one of the following:

//for DWG files
HInputHandler * dwg_handler = HDB::GetHIOManager()->GetInputHandler("dwg_with_prc");
//for DXF files
HInputHandler * dxf_handler = HDB::GetHIOManager()->GetInputHandler("dxf_with_prc");

Please note that this is different from the parameter string used for import of DWG files via HIO_RealDWG (invoked by simply passing "dwg" or "dxf" to GetInputHandler()).

AR/VR Beta Release. A Beta release of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality is now available for C++ users on Windows using the DirectX 11 driver only. For more information, please see the Programming Guide sections for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. This feature will be significantly modified in the next release, with a simpler interface for easier integration.

HTML Templates in HOOPS 3D Part Viewer. It is now possible to specify an HTML template in the Part Viewer application. Please see section 2.7.4 of the documentation for more information.

Major Release 23.00

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Communicator	2017 SP2
HOOPS Exchange	2018
HOOPS Publish	2018
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	29.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2018	RealDWG 2018 is compatible with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and Visual Studio 2017
SketchUp	2015

Enhancements

Database key status improvements. The internal implementation for generating database keys has been altered to improve the quality of information returned by Show_Key_Status(). Users can now more easily determine whether a particular key has been deleted. Please see the entry in the API Reference for additional information, including new return values and the theoretical limits for key exhaustion for 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

The internal tracking for this feature requires some extra computations for key creation and lookup. These computations should have negligible effects on performance in typical applications, even if they handle very large and complex data sets. Updates and screen draw performance will not be affected. However, scenarios where an extremely large number of keys are created and accessed may show a slight performance drop.

Static Model Improvements. In order to make the static model more flexible, Visualize now avoids complete static model regeneration in favor of patching portions of the static model in some cases. See the Static Model Programming guide for more information. When used effectively, Static Model offers a significant performance benefit. We strongly encourage Partners to use Static Model in their applications.

Lines in mixed coordinates spaces. Users can insert polylines with points in different coordinate systems. Use the Set_Geometry_Options() function to set the coordinate systems option to a list of coordinate systems corresponding to each point in the polyline.

Conditional selections. It is now possible to add conditions to selections. See Compute_Selection() for more information.

Selection sorting. Users may now choose how selection results are sorted by specifying the sorting method with the selection sorting Heuristic. See the API Reference for the new options.

New search function that returns original keys. The Find_Contents_Original_Key() function returns the original key values for the search results. Original keys are safe to use regardless of which segment is open because, unlike locally renumbered keys, they are unambiguous and not dependent on context.

Increased control over attribute flushing. Attributes can now be flushed with more granularity. For example, calling Flush_Contents(mySegment, "color = faces") will now flush color attributes on faces (and not on other types of geometry). Please see Flush_Contents() for more information.

Backface coloring for Point Clouds. You can set the back facing color for point clouds with Eye Dome Lighting by setting the eye dome lighting back color option in Set_Rendering_Options().

FreeType update. Visualize internally uses Freetype v2.8.

Texture support in DWG. Through the RealDWG HIO component, Visualize now supports textures from image files. Please see section 4.0 of the RealDWG Programming Guide section for more information.

Functional changes

Changes in Visual Studio support. Visual Studio 2017 is now supported. Visual Studio 2013 is no longer supported.

Changes in Linux support. The CentOS and Ubuntu Linux packages have been consolidated into a single package using glibc 2.12.

Important: OpenGL is not supported for screen rendering. The legacy fixed-function OpenGL driver is no longer supported as a high-performance screen driver. The driver name "opengl" will now use the "opengl2" shader driver. For offscreen rendering, applications can use the legacy fixed-function OpenGL driver using the driver name "opengl1_deprecated".

DX9 driver deprecated. The DirectX 9 driver has been deprecated. It will be discontinued in a future release. We strongly encourage partners to use a newer driver, such as DX11.

Clip region changes. Previously, PShow_Net_Clip_Region() returned the clip region closest to the leaf of the key path provided to the function. Now, PShow_Net_Clip_Region returns all the clip regions found on the key path passed to the function. Please the API Reference for more details.

Calculation of bounding boxes. You can ask Visualize to compute a bounding box or a bounding sphere for a section of the tree graph. When performing this calculation, Visualize will only include visible geometry, so that invisible geometry does not contribute to the bounding box. Prior to this release, named styles containing visibility attribute settings were ignored during this computation, resulting in a bounding that included invisible geometry.

As a simple example, before this fix, if you had a scene made up of a cube, and set it to be invisible through a named style, and then asked for bounding, you would get a non-zero result because Visualize would consider the cube as visible. As of this release, you will now receive an empty bounding box, because Visualize recognizes that the cube was made invisible by a named style.

Additionally, new methods have been added for retrieving a bounding circumsphere or circumcuboid using a keypath: Filter_Circumsphere_By_Path() and Filter_Circumcuboid_By_Path().

Change to DGN environment variable. For users of the HIO component for DGN, the environment variable pointing to the DGNDirect installation has changed from TEIGHA_3_08_01 to DGN_TEIGHA_DIR. Please see the Programming Guide for more info on DGN integration.

Service Pack 22.21

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Exchange	2017 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2017 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	29.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2018	RealDWG 2018 requires Visual Studio 2015 Update 3
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 22.21 is a bug fix release only.

Service Pack 22.20

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Exchange	2017 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2017 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	29.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2018	RealDWG 2018 requires Visual Studio 2015 Update 3
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 22.20 is a bug fix release only.

Service Pack 22.10

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Exchange	2017 SP1 U1
HOOPS Publish	2017 SP1 U1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	29.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2017	RealDWG 2017 requires Visual Studio 2015
SketchUp	2015

Important: Starting with this release, the header file visualize_license.h has been replaced by hoops_license.h. Please replace your header files when upgrading your license. A new header file can be generated on the Developer Zone. By 2018, licenses for all HOOPS products will be replaced with this single unified license.

Enhancements

HTML Export. For 64-bit Windows users, Visualize now supports HTML Export. You can select from either of two methods:
1. Using the HOOPS Publish integration via HIOUtilityPublish. Calling HIOManager::GetOutputHandler(const char * file_type) with "html_with_prc" as a parameter value will return a HIOUtilityPublish object.
2. Directly from the Visualize DB to HTML. Calling HIOManager::GetOutputHandler(const char * file_type) with "html" as a parameter value will return a HIOUtilityHTML object.
Please note, source code isn't available for HIOUtilityHTML.

Also, please note that obsolete references to the ActiveX-based HIOUtilityHTML have been removed.
XOR emulation for DX9/DX11. Visualize now supports XOR emulation for DX9/DX11. This is enabled by any normal XOR setting, such as Set_Driver_Options("quick moves preference=xor"). (Visualize has always supported XOR with OpenGL and now supports XOR with OpenGL2, provided you're using recent hardware.)

Functional changes

Visualize now calculates geometry bounding in all cases, so the setting for toggling automatic geometry bounding in Define_System_Options is now obsolete. Using this setting will have no effect on your application; it should be removed from your application.

Miscellaneous

The qthoopsrefapp demo application has been removed.

Major Release 22.00

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	4.2
HOOPS Exchange	2017 U1
HOOPS Publish	2017 U1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	29.1
Qt	5.6	Please note, Visualize is compatible with Qt 5.4 on OSX
RealDWG	2017	RealDWG 2017 requires Visual Studio 2015
SketchUp	2015

Enhancements

CATDrawings can now be imported via hio_exchange.
Our ambient occlusion algorithm has been enhanced to provide better visual results. The new algorithm is only supported on Windows with the dx11 or opengl2 drivers at this time; otherwise, Visualize defaults back to its previous ambient occlusion algorithm. As part of this upgrade, the Set_Driver_Options() function has a new option called post-world scale, and the ambient occlusion option has a new suboption called radius.
Visualize's importers now offer a choice on whether to import attributes using double or single precision. This feature is implemented with a new member variable in the HInputHandlerOptions class, m_attributePrecisionMode. In addition, a flag has been added to HInputHandlerOptions called m_generatedDouble as well as a function in HBaseModel called getContainsDouble(). These indicate whether double-precision attributes were added to the scene during import (as a reminder, precision can be converted with Convert_Precision). If you choose to import a file using the FLOAT_IF_SAFE, RETAIN_AS_IS or FORCE_DOUBLE option, it is possible that the resulting scene will contain double precision information. Please note that no part of MVO is guaranteed to work on a scene which contains double precision geometry or attributes.
Significant improvements have been made to the algorithm that assembles capping geometry for cutting planes.
Functions have been added for adding shape backgrounds for text annotations and anchored leader lines. Please see Define_Shape and Insert_Text_Leader. In addition, new options have been added to the Set_Text_Font() function for setting background shapes and defining line options (see the "background" and "decoration style" options).
Visualize has upgraded to the ICU font layout version 57.1.

Functional changes

Support for 32-bit CentOS and Ubuntu has been discontinued.
Support for Visual Studio 2012 has been discontinued.
A debug bit mask is now required for D3DImage usage with the dx11 driver in the wpf_image sample project. Please note that it will affect dpi-sensitive elements (like text and markers) because Visualize will treat such driver instances more like a physical window rather than a virtual off-screen window with a hard-coded dpi. See Set_Driver_Options() for more details on debug bit masks.

Service Pack 21.50

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2016 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2016 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	28.1
Qt	4.4.1
RealDWG	2017, 2016	RealDWG 2017 is supported in Visual Studio 2015 RealDWG 2016 is supported in Visual Studio 2012 There is no support for RealDWG in Visual Studio 2013
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.50 is a bug fix release only.

Service Pack 21.42

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2016 SP1
HOOPS Publish	2016 SP1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	28.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2017, 2016	RealDWG 2017 is supported in Visual Studio 2015 RealDWG 2016 is supported in Visual Studio 2012 There is no support for RealDWG in Visual Studio 2013
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.42 is a bug fix release only.

Service Pack 21.41

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2016 SP1
HOOPS Publish	2016 SP1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	28.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2017, 2016	RealDWG 2017 is supported in Visual Studio 2015 RealDWG 2016 is supported in Visual Studio 2012 There is no support for RealDWG in Visual Studio 2013
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.41 is a bug fix release only.

Service Pack 21.40

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2016 SP1
HOOPS Publish	2016 SP1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	28.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2017, 2016	RealDWG 2017 is supported in Visual Studio 2015 RealDWG 2016 is supported in Visual Studio 2012 There is no support for RealDWG in Visual Studio 2013
SketchUp	2015

Enhancements

A variety of minor enhancements related to performance.
Visual Studio 2015 is now supported.
RealDWG 2017 is now supported.

Service Pack 21.32

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2016
HOOPS Publish	2016
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.32 is a bug fix release only.

Service Pack 21.31

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2016
HOOPS Publish	2016
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.31 is a bug fix release only.

Service Pack 21.30

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2015 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.30 is mainly a bug fix release.

Enhancements

A QTSimple5 project has been added.

Service Pack 21.21

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2015 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.21 is a bug-fix release only.

Service Pack 21.20

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2015 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

Enhancements

A new 3D sphere marker is available.
The fixed-framerate functionality in HOOPS/MVO has been tuned to reduce flickering and provided better visual fidelity. The timed-update functionality in HOOPS/3DGS has been similarly improved.
A new HOOPS/OOC API, ooc::RGBColor const & ooc::query::QueryIterator::GetNodePointColor() const is now available which returns color information from a point cloud point.
New HIC functions have been added: HIC_Set_Selectability, HIC_Show_Selectability, HIC_Set_Selectability_Even_Invisible, and HIC_Show_Selectability_Even_Invisible.

Service Pack 21.13

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2015 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.13 is a bug-fix release only.

Service Pack 21.12

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015 SP2
HOOPS Publish	2015 SP2
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

Functional changes

The Exchange interface has been upgraded to HOOPS Exchange 2015 SP2.
A new option is available that controls tessellation when using the Parasolid bridge.

Service Pack 21.11

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015
HOOPS Publish	2015
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

HOOPS Visualize 21.11 is a bug fix release only.

Service Pack 21.10

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015
HOOPS Publish	2015
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	2015

New features and enhancements

A new field called HInputHandlerOptions::m_bDwgSkipUnreferencedBlocks has been added to the DWG importer. This field contols whether geometry which is not referenced anywhere in the drawing will be imported.

Functional changes

The HOOPS 3D Stream Control is no longer guaranteed to be hosted by Tech Soft 3D. If you are using the control in your end-user application, you should host it in your location.
Removed fields pertaining to the legacy DWG importer
The following fields were used with the old DWG importer. That importer no longer exists, so these fields have been removed.
1. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bInputViaHSF
  
  The old importer had two separate import modes: One that read the DWG file into the database, and one that read it into a stream file, which would then be read into the database.
  The current DWG importer only has one import mode: the one that reads the file straight into the database, like every other HIO module, therefore this option is no longer needed.
2. HInputHandlerOptions::m_Deviation
  This is the maximum tessellation deviation used when DWG tessellates geometry.
  
  In the current DWG importer, this value is set 0.5, which is what AutoCAD uses.
3. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bImportMetadata
  Whether to import metadata.
  
  The current importer always imports metadata.
4. HInputHandlerOptions::m_listEntityType
  A list of names of the types of entities the user wants to import. For example, if the list contains AcDbBlockReference, only entities of this type will be imported.
  
  The current importer imports all entities, always.
5. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bImportWireframeForBrep
  If true, only the wireframe representation of solids will be imported.
  
  The current importer imports solids when it finds them. Once the import is complete the user can switch to wireframe mode to obtain the same result.
6. HInputHandlerOptions::m_numIsolines
  Same as m_Deviation, but used for lines instead of solids.
  
  The current DWG importer sets this value to 10. The value in AutoCAD is actually much lower by default, which in many files results in arcs looking like line segments.
7. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bForceReimport
  In the old importer, if ran with m_bInputViaHSF set to true, would load the generated HSF instead of reloading the DWG file, when the same DWG file was loaded multiple times.
  
  This behavior could be override by setting m_bForceReimport to true, which forces the importer to ignore the HSF file and go back to the DWG file. The current importer does not load DWG files into Stream, so this option is useless.
8. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bDisableDWGDrawOrder
  Ignores the draw order.
  
  The current importer always respect the draw order if one is set in the DWG file.
9. HInputHandlerOptions::m_listDWGLayouts
  List of layouts name to be imported.
  
  The current importer always imports all layouts.
10. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bIgnoreOffEntities
  If true, ignores entities whose visibility is off.
  
  The current importer imports all entities. If an entity has visibility set to off, it will be imported but will be made invisible.
11. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bAttachDWGHandles
  If true, DWG handles are imported.
  
  In the current importer, DWG handles are always imported.
12. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bImportAllLayouts
  If true, all layouts are imported.
  
  In the current importer, all layouts are always imported.
13. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bDWGInsertMeshesAsShells
  If true, all meshes are converted to shells.
  
  In the current importer, meshes are inserted as meshes, shells are inserted as shells.
14. HInputHandlerOptions::m_eDWGViewVector
  A view vector used to determine how view dependent entities are imported.
  
  In the current importer, the view vector is determined from the DWG file directly.
15. HInputHandlerOptions::m_sDwgContrastColorRgb
  The color to use as a contrast color when a color is specified BYBLOCK.
16. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bLegacyOptimize
  Performs an optimization on the final scene graph.
  
  The current importer does not perform an optimization.
17. HInputHandlerOptions::m_bDwgDepthRangeDrawOrder
  Determines how 2D geometry is displayed. If it is true, depth range will be used. If it is false, offsets along the z-axis will be used.
  
  The current importer uses the coordinates calculated by RealDWG, without applying a depth range.
18. HInputHandlerOptions::m_listRegAppNames
  Used to limit the number of applications from which metadata is reported.
  
  The current DWG importer imports all metadata available.

Minor Release 21.01

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015 Service Pack 1
HOOPS Publish	2015 Service Pack 1
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	SDK v7

Functional changes

The Linux compiler requirement has been changed to g++ 4.8.2

Major Release 21.00

Library compatibility information

Library name	Version	Notes
DGN Direct	3.8.1
HOOPS Exchange	2015
HOOPS Publish	2015
.NET Framework	4.0	v4.5 required for wpf_image v4.5 required for WPF over Remote Desktop
Parasolid	23.0
Qt	4.6.3
RealDWG	2015	Visual Studio 2012 only
SketchUp	SDK v7

New features and enhancements

All 3D shader drivers now have support for rendering transparent backgrounds to an offscreen window target.
The visual selection algorithm has been enhanced to take advantage of available hardware acceleration on shader based drivers, improving selection performance.
There is a new quick moves heuristic, inplace, which is useful when using a transparent highlight style with quick move geometry.
Capping geometry can now be extracted to another segment.
You can now use selection culling to enable or disable selection of culled geometry.
Performance of view-dependent vertex markers (splat-rendering using filled circles and filled squares) has been improved in the DirectX 11 driver. See section 2.8.2.1 of the Programming Guide for details about vertex markers.
The performance of patterned line and edge drawing in the DX11 and OpenGL2 drivers has been improved by up to 15x. The reference manual entry for HC_Set_Line_Pattern contains further details.
You may now set a soft memory limit, which triggers an event when Visualize allocates more memory than specified.
Rendering performance when using static model has been improved for a wide variety of scene graph organizations.
File loading performance for IFC files loaded through the HOOPS Exchange interface has been significantly improved.
There is a new 'strength' parameter for eye-dome lighting, which helps to smooth out any graphical anomalies in the image.
The double-precision rendering logic has been enhanced to take advantage OpenGL hardware acceleration when such acceleration is available. This will result in greatly improved rendering performance for double-precision primitives. More information is available in the OpenGL2 section of the Device Guide.

Functional changes

The HIO_DWG2 interface has been renamed to HIO_DWG. The legacy HIO_DWG interface that was deprecated and replaced by HIO_DWG2 in version 20.00 is no longer provided.
Project changes
- Windows: VS2012 and VS2013 are supported, and VS2010 has been dropped, consistent with our policy of supporting the two most recent Windows compilers. Please note the following implications:
  - HIO_DWG:
    RealDWG 2015 is supported. RealDWG 2013/2014 only support Visual Studio 2010 and thus no longer work with our projects.
  - HIO_DWF:
    This module is no longer supported because it is only available under Visual Studio 2010. Autodesk is no longer providing any ongoing support or mainentance for the DWF Toolkit.
OS X: Support for Qt has been dropped.