Bug Fix release 2.3.1 – free update on Mac App Store

Two serious bugs and a number of minor improvements/fixes for the new functionality in the Folio release. This release fixes the blank Preview window bug on Mountain Lion for Macs with Nvidia GPUs.

Changes for Version 2.3.1 (Folio)

Improvements =========

  1. Copy/Paste of multiple keyframes now supported with both Stash and Keyframes window
  2. QuickLook Folio Preview now is same aspect ratio as the first keyframe
  3. QuickLook Preview Image is now rendered when the file is saved or autosaved.

BugFixes ========

  1. Fixes the blank Preview window bug that only happened on Mountain Lion & Macs with Nvidia GPUs.
  2. Fixed crash when generating Random fractals with Make Random window in Lion Full screen mode
  3. Margins for Folio set on the Batch rendering dialog now work right
  4. Fixed creation of Quicklook previews (for Folio & Movie)
  5. CUDA renderer fixes: Batch rendering now can make Folio and/or movie;  Render Direct to Video created video now has correct colors

Performance on MacBook Pro 2012

Update (10/16/2012)

Version 2.3.2 on either Lion 10.7.5 or Mountain Lion 10.8.2 now supports OpenCL rendering using the Nvidia GT 650M GPU. This runs 5.5X faster than rendering with the CPU. (measured on Retina Macbook Pro on Mountain Lion 10.8.2)

Using CUDA rendering, on a non-sandboxed app (on Mac Lion), the GPU rendering performance is the best yet seen on Macs.

The CUDA render runs 7.2X faster than the OpenCL render on the Intel CPU on a Macbook Pro 2012.

OpenCL rendering on Intel CPU is 38% faster compared to last years 2011 Macbook Pro. CUDA rendering on Nvidia GT 650M is 2.78X faster than OpenCL rendering on ATI 6750M with last year’s 2011 Macbook Pro.

OpenCL rendering on Intel CPU (Macbook Pro 2012) is 2.6x slower than OpenCL rendering on ATI 6750M (Macbook Pro 2011).

On Mac Lion, you have to have a non-sandboxed app to run CUDA. Apps on the Mac App store have to be sandboxed and can’t run CUDA.

Release Notes Version 2.3 (Folio)

Changes for Version 2.3 (Folio)

This release is all about Fractal keyframe collections.

The app has always supported multiple keyframes, but never before with PDF Folios, Loop/Morph Video Animation, or instant Finder Quicklook Preview support. It has been performance optimized for files with thousands of keyframes too.

Big New Features =========

  1. Create lengthy Video Animations from Fractal keyframes.
  2. Create PDF Folios from keyframes
  3. Major improvements for working with fractal keyframe collections instead of just single fractals
  4. Greatly Improved Finder Quicklook support for pre-rendered images, PDF Folios, and Movies

Continue reading Release Notes Version 2.3 (Folio)

Quick Tour of Version 2.3 (Folio) New Features

This release was released by Apple to Mac App Store on July 5, 2012.

This release is all about Fractal Collections (often called KeyFrames). These collections can be used as is or they can be the foundation for fractal video animation.

Here is a quick tour of using the Stash to create a new file with a KeyFrame collection in it. We also introduce a new application file type (.fa) which can hold pre-rendered images, PDF Folios, or even Movies. Mac OS X supports all of these media types with Quicklook and the Finder.

Continue reading Quick Tour of Version 2.3 (Folio) New Features

Bug fixes in Release 2.2.2 moved to Release 2.3

Update: This change is now part of version 2.3.0 that was released for sale on the Mac App Store on July 5, 2012 (with a lot of other new features).

On 2012 Macbook Pros, the initial OpenCL driver for the NVIDIA GT 650M GPU was found to be unusable and would cause the Mac to freeze. So this release of Fractal Architect puts this GPU into Quarantine and won’t use it to render with. When Apple fixes the driver bug, the app will be updated so that particular GPU can be used. Its very disappointing as we expect this to be the fasted Mac laptop GPU released to date. The OpenCL CPU renderer is unaffected and renders 25% faster than last years model.

The Intel HD 4000 GPU does not have OpenCL support on Lion according to Apple. (Mountain Lion ???) So the 2012 13″ Macbook Pros and the Macbook Airs do not have GPU rendering support in Mac OS X Lion.

This release has no Retina display related changes. The app does run on the Retina Macbook Pro.

2012 Macbook Pro models were released today – June 11, 2012

Just so you know, there are 2 new GPUs that have never been tested with Fractal Architect: Intel HD 4000 and Nvidia 650M in the new Macbook Pros. We don’t get any sneak peaks on upcoming hardware, so we have to wait for them to be released and become available just like anybody else.

Hopefully, Apple’s OpenCL drivers for those two new GPUs will allow Fractal Architect to run on them just fine. If you that is not true, please send an email to support@fractalarchitect.net.

One of the new Macbook Pro models has a Retina display. It seems to not be available yet, so we can’t test how the app looks on it.

One note concerning a Retina display is that it has 4 times as many pixels compared to a standard display. Rendering high resolution images targeting these new Retina displays will take 4 times longer too. (Rendering times are proportional to the number of pixels in the rendered image.)

Testing with a Retina iPad shows that its not necessary to render at a higher DPI. A standard resolution image still looks very good on a Retina display.

We will keep you posted once we have the opportunity to test the app on these new Macbook Pros.

Mac Lion 10.7.4

Apple just released Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 today, May 10, 2012.

The OpenCL compiler in 10.7.4 has changed resulting in the failure to render on ATI GPUs with the GPU accelerated OpenCL renderer in version 2.2.0 of Fractal Architect 2. (OpenCL CPU based rendering is unaffected.)

There is a bug fix release of Fractal Architect (version 2.2.1) that is still in Apple’s review queue. Hopefully it will be released on the Mac App store soon.

 

 

 

 

Special Problems on a Couple Mac Models

2009-2010 iMacs with ATI 4xxx GPUs

Fixed in version 2.2. Finder quicklook plugin did not work. This ATI GPU generation was not suitable for high-performance OpenCL rendering. (ATI 5xxx and later generations are fine.)

Plugin no longer uses GPU for rendering.

2008 Model Dual CPU Mac Pro

Color gradient editor does not work. This turned out to NOT be a bug.

Resolved: This was due to a corrupted User Preference file. Deleting the user preference file for Fractal Architect fixed the problem.

 

Release Notes for Version 2.2

Submitted for review to Apple on April 1st. (Its not an April Fools joke!)

Changes for Version 2.2 

This is customer requested features release – almost all features were requested by various users.

Feature Change  ================

1. New BIG Feature for Render to File: (OpenCL rendering only)

You can stop the render and save the Render State to a file. This allows you to resume the render at a later date.

You can choose to Save all Render State when rendering. This allows you to add more Quality to the render later and experiment with Post processing parameter changes.

2. New Feature : Fractal Stash. Allows you to put your favorite fractals into a Stash window. The thumbnails in the Stash can be saved to a new composite fractal file.

3. New Feature (OpenCL rendering only) : Render State files.  When render state is saved to disk, a new file with  extension .flrs file is created. Finder Quicklook will show the fractal’s thumbnail rendering with a progress bar showing the saved rendering progress. You can open the Render State files from the app – it is a new supported file type.

4. New Feature  (OpenCL rendering only): A new Render State panel shows the saved rendering state and allows you to Resume the render, Post Process again, or view the fractal’s Histogram.

5. New Feature  (OpenCL rendering only): A Histogram Viewer panel shows the fractal histogram (part of the rendering state).

6. Fractal Symmetry is now one of the parameters that can be set for random fractal generation.

7. Gamma threshold is now supported by the OpenCL and CUDA renderers.

8. Variants Editor changes:

a) New Symmetry Tab – see how fractal symmetry variants effect image

a) New Final Transform Tab – experiment with change the final transform

c) Transform Options tab now shows sliders to vary the strength of the variation change for weight, color index, color speed, and variation weight.

9. Image viewer now supports either Actual Size or Size to Fit viewing options.

Continue reading Release Notes for Version 2.2

Fractaling Across the Universe