Do more. Sell more. With CET Designer

 

Version 2.6.3

[open a print friendly version]

With CET Designer® 2.6.3 comes a reworked and more user friendly version of the Edit Graphics Extension. This is the new name for the Editables Extension, which has left BETA stage and gone into final release.

Also new is the Watermark feature, which is a post processing option in Photo Lab that lets you insert a company logotype to your renderings with only a few clicks.

Apart from these new features, several changes and improvements have been made, as listed below.

>> Read more about the new features in the CET Designer online help.

New Features, Main Improvements and Solved Issues in CET Designer 2.6.3

Edit Graphics Extension

The CET Editables BETA Extension that was released in May 2011 has gone through some large changes! The name of the Extension is now Edit Graphics, and the BETA tag has been removed. It is still downloadable free of charge in the Extension Manager. Some of the major changes include:

  • New Extension name.
     
  • The BETA tag and the two different user levels have been removed.
     
  • New user interface consisting of two component tabs. The first tab, Edit Graphics (Symbols) gives you easy access to the tools that you need to edit entire components. The second tab, Edit Graphics (Meshes) enables full control and flexibility when you want to edit entire components or separate meshes.
     
  • Larger icons for better visibility.
     
  • A new Mesh dialog has been added, letting you keep track of each separate mesh.
     
  • All operations that you perform are now visible in both 2D and 3D.


The Edit Graphics Extension user interface.

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New Watermark Feature

In Photo Lab, the Watermark feature is a welcome addition to the post processing area. When using the advanced graphics engine, the Watermark feature lets you add your own company logotype to your renderings without having to go through third party software to edit your photos. After inserting your file, you can decide the placement as well as adjust scale and opacity.

 
A Photo Lab rendering with added watermark.

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Changes

General

  • Automatically created backup files (.cmlast) are now correctly labeled as backup files and have the .cmbak file extension instead of the incorrect CET Designer drawing file extension, .cmdrw. This only applies to newly created .cmlast files, however. Older files will not be changed by CET Designer, only filtered out in the Load Drawing dialog unless the 'Backups' checkbox is selected.
     
  • The option to "Exit and return to Extension Manager" has been removed from the File menu. It is now only possible to entirely exit the system.

  

Quick Text Editor

  • The Quick Text Editor tool now correctly supports the use of arrow keys to navigate inside a text box as well as pressing the Enter key to create line breaks.

 

Materials

  • The basic materials for chrome and gold have seen some updates, resulting in better self-reflections for a more realistic appearance, as demonstrated in the images below.


A chrome teapot displaying the new and more realistic self-reflections.

  • The reflection depth has been improved, letting shadows better pass through reflective transparent materials, such as glass, again helping to improve overall impression.


Now the shadow from the teapot passes through the glass in a more realistic way.

 

Movie Studio

  • The communication between CET Designer and the CET Render Server has been reworked, resulting in improved movie rendering robustness and speed. Instead of rendering single frames the render server now handles multiple frames at a time.
     
  • When saving the movie to file, the Exporting movie dialog box now includes the progress for each individual frame (in %).


Progress now showing for each individual frame in Movie Studio.
 

Alternatives

  • The Alternatives dialog box now supports resizing.

 

Rendering

  • Rendering of images containing a panorama background is now faster.

 

Part Tagging

  • User control over color and line style for part tagging has been added. You are now also able to rotate and move around the label for tagging rectangles to better suit the needs of your drawing.


You can now choose line color and style when tagging parts.

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Solved Issues 

Below is a selection of bug fixes that have been made for CET Designer 2.6.3.

User Interface

  • Fixed problem affecting certain types of mice causing zooming to become very difficult to perform using the scroll wheel.
     
  • Fixed problem with display of DWG in Paper View through 2D View Ports that could cause slowdowns.
    Note: CET Designer is currently sacrificing speed in order to maintain maximum quality for locked 2D View Ports in Paper View - this in turn means that large CAD files will have an impact on speed and responsiveness of the Paper View. This fix resolves newly detected problems and will not change the overall behavior.
     
  • The CET Designer startup splash should no longer be able to obscure important dialogs, thereby preventing the use of CET Designer when it needs user response to an inaccessible dialog waiting behind the splash.
     
  • Fixed problem with Spanish language settings not recognizing comma as a decimal separator.

 

Pack & Go

  • Fixed issue with Pack & Go packages that could potentially corrupt the CET Designer installation if user attempted to load the file by double-clicking on it without having CET Designer already running.
     
  • The Open dialog in CET Designer should now correctly display the Pack & Go file icon for the relevant files.

 

Rendering and Photo Lab

  • CET Designer should now correctly warn about potential loss of ongoing renders when told to shut down while still working.
     
  • Resolved problem with Contour rendering that could potentially result in renders missing some objects when using the advanced graphics engine.
     
  • Fixed problem with Photo Lab sometimes incorrectly not letting user abort a started rendering when the "Render in separate process" option was turned off while using the advanced graphics engine.
     
  • Photo Lab help should now correctly open the relevant chapter in the help when you select "Photo Lab Help" from the Help menu.
     
  • Fixed problem for computers with added 3rd party user rights management software in Windows, and the advanced graphics engine, that could result in the CETRenderServer.exe process never terminating once render was completed.
     
  • Fixed a major memory leak in the simple graphics engine, related to objects losing track of their polygons when re-meshing after changing their shape.

 

General Fixes

  • Fixed rare issue with opening of Photo Lab that could cause a crash.
     
  • Fixed issue with panel junctions that could cause a crash.
     
  • Fixed issue with Alternative creation that could cause a crash.
     
  • Fixed issue with image render that could cause a crash.
     
  • Fixed issue that could cause a crash while navigating in the Load drawing dialog.
     
  • Fixed issue with saving of default settings for Article view in Calculation that could cause a crash.
     
  • Fixed issue with clicking in the 3D preview box that could cause a crash.
     
  • Fixed issue with the simple graphics engine where the camera could get messed up while zooming and cause a crash.
     
  • Fixed issue with switching between different views that could cause a crash.
     

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