Speed – we’ve improved the speed in a number of places, not least in the product menu areas (here you’ll see a big difference). There are further speed improvements in viewing a rendered scene with more advanced graphics cards.
Accuracy - with new advanced features and assets, we’re making “vuilding” a house more accurate than ever for all users. This should particularly assist our commercial members (builders etc.) to recreate their more detailed designs.
Expansion – if you’re an overseas user, we’ve now added imperial measurement support. Changes to the download system now also mean that we can add many more manufacturers’ assets from balustrade to blinds and curtains.
In More Detail
Expansion - Introducing Wizard 6 “Landscape & Garden” (press “6” on your keyboard)
Tab 6 has been opened to include the first release of outdoor products plus support our growing list of manufacturers in this space. Several outdoor assets - shade sails, sheds from “Absco”, trees, spas from “Endless”, paths, driveways are now available with more coming soon.
Accuracy – Bumpmapped Floor Reflection
Ever looked at the reflection in floor tiles, especially high gloss ones? The reflection isn’t perfectly straight like in a mirror, the bumps and edges of the tiles affect the image. Shaders (a technical term) have been modified to produce a better, more lifelike visual effect of the bumps in flooring.
Accuracy – New Settings for Ceiling Height & Floor Space
The "Ceiling Height" can now be set from 110mm up to 5m, whilst there is a new "Space between levels" parameter to allow for the difference between e.g. wood and steel beams supporting the floor. This parameter can be set between 100 & 900mm. With this feature we are adding more support not only for residential homes but also office buildings with hung ceilings.
Speed - HLSL Shader Optimization
A new array of Multi-light shader programs have been written to facilitate a reduction in the number of render calls. This should increase the speed of computers capable of running shaders whilst viewing a 3D scene. Note: this feature is hardware (system and video card) dependent.
Expansion - Support for Additional Download Options
Increased support to download components from the online system means the following object types can now be supported from manufacturers.
• Balustrades & Balustrade walls
• Window Sill
• Curtains
• Blinds
• Cornice / chair rail etc
If you are a manufacturer of any of these products we would like to talk to you about displaying them in our fantastic software. Please contact us to find out more.
Expansion - Basic Parametrics (user re-sizing of objects)
We’ve added a simple range of user re-sizable assets under Wizard 3 (find them under “Facades”) for the purposes of vuilding, well - almost anything you want (see 3d image, all done in MVH)! This is a pre-cursor to full “parametrics” due in a future release where many assets e.g. windows, couches etc. can be stretched (re-sized).
Speed - Generic Snapping
Better snapping rules have been created to make “vuilding” even easier.
Speed - Menu Optimizations
A significant update to the menu and product display code has increased the speed of navigation and search dramatically. Whereas previously some menus were taking 30 seconds to display, almost all menus will now display in less than 2 seconds and most in less than 1 second.
Accuracy – Asset above Asset on a Wall
You can now place e.g. a window above a door or other window. Tip – set the lower asset in place in the first instance.
Accuracy - Stair adjustment
Change L and U Stairs to allow user to specify number of stairs before landing
Expansion - Imperial Measurements.
You can now change from metric to imperial in the MVH Options. The Grid also resizes from meters to yards.
Expansion - Printing
You can now print directly from the menu by clicking on the MVH Logo in the top left of the screen. An MVH watermark logo is printed on all “non-Commercial” software licenses.
Accuracy - Dwarf Walls
Internal walls may now be set as a 1/2 height wall with a variable height set in the Wall Properties.
Expansion – Increased Room Limit per Model
With the improvements in speed in the software in this release, plus increased processing power and graphics capability since the initial release in 2005, the number of rooms allowed in a single model has been lifted from 50 to 80 rooms.
Speed - Cut / Copy and Paste
Cut / Copy & Paste features are available on many items (including rooms) by either right-clicking on the object, or – in some cases using shift+left-click and drag the item e.g. a light or plant.
Expansion – Dynamic Shadows
A new feature is available via the MVH Options. By checking the “Enable dynamic shadows” box the software will place minimal shadowing in the scene ahead of full rendering. This means that homes will take on a new look immediately after opening or downloading from the HomeShare server. This is not a patch on a full render but certainly is a great initial aid to visualisation.
Something for the real buffs - Changes to Core Architecture
A core architecture change has been made with a break-up of the MVH project into “MVH” and “MVHCore”. Doing this will make it possible to scale development through the use of Plug-ins, allowing more people to work on the application simultaneously whilst the level of knowledge to work on features will no longer require “core knowledge”. Outcome = FASTER DEVELOPMENT
We hope you enjoy this update as much as we did making it. Please post your comments in the Forums.
Good to see more features added to MyVirtualHome, including external landscaping.
Source: http://mvh.com.au/portal/content/view/270/173/