nXt for Rhino

Flamingo NXT WIP build 14 -January 6, 2010

Splash — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:12:06 GMT

Here is a new build of Flamingo nXT..

Once you download it you need to:

Run the MSI file that you download.
Go to the Render pulldown > Current Renderer and select Flamingo nXT
From the Flamingo nXt pulldown select Control Panel.

If you would like to learn the basic steps for using nXT, please go to Basic Tutorial for nXT.

WIP 14 January 2010

Improved installer for new Rhino V5.

WIP 13 December 2009

Found a memory management problem that will help random stability. Areas effected are material editing, rendering and animations. This is a big improvement in stability.
Changed the Sharpness slider in materials to better negotiate the highlight and specular effects. This allows for faster convergence of reflective effects in some instances. It makes the Glossy and the Monte Carlo checkboxes less important. You may want to try reflection without the Glossy checkbox on.
Changed the main panel interface to tabs instead of rollup panel.
Added a right-click option for material swatches that will select all objects in the scene with that material currently assigned to them.
Added X, Y and Z scale to bump patterns.
Changed the Bump patterns interface in the material editor. Hopefully it will make working with bump patterns easier.
Changed the material preview to continue through 64 passes. The previous 16 pass limit did not show all rendering affects well.
Fixed drag and drop materials over spotlights.
Fixed the Light Tab crash when called from the Advanced tab interface.
Fixed the conversion of inches to mm in resolution settings.
Fixed the drag cursor to be color in all cases.
Fixed interface layout problems with large and medium Windows font settings.
Fixed decal placement crashes.

WIP 12 November 2009

Added a new indirect light option called Gather. It is set under the Lighting Panel > Advanced Tab > Indirect Dropdown. This new method of indirect light works well for exterior renderings and product shots bringing out more definition in the shadow areas. In initial passes it will cause noise in the shadow areas, this noise will process out over a few passes. This also will help in very small models that seem to have little color bleeding between surfaces.
We added a Monte Carlo reflection calculation. It can be accessed under the Lighting Panel > Advanced Tab > Monte Carlo Reflection checkbox. This can be used in certain situations that the highlight of lights on an object are taking many passes to resolve. I see it best used when a material has a low sharpness under reflection and the light sources are large.
Continued to fix crash problems. Seems there were repeatable problems with closing Rhino and selecting bitmap images. We know there are still some around; we continue to work on them.
Made the renderer more tolerant when Rhino through a *rhino mesh error*. There is now a filter for meshes with no faces.
Updated the builds for the current Rhino v5.
Using the Tab key will logically rotate through the dialog controls.
The indirect lighting calculation has been refined and is now faster.

WIP 11 October 2009

Decal placement crash has been fixed
Drag and drop interface improved

Drag and dropping material in the background does not report a tree error
Materials update immediately on drag and drop

DOF slider adjusted to allow more control
Once a rendering is finished. Only one click needed to save a rendering..
Internal and external material management has been improved.

Editing a material in the model (top list). If the name is changed and there is another model material with that name you are prompted to overwrite the existing model material.
Editing a material file (bottom list). If the name is changed and there is a file with the same name then you are promted to overwirte the existing file. The materail is saved using the new name and the original file is deleted. Essentially this is a file rename.

The Sun tab stays active through saves.
The box material preview object now has the origin at the corner and the radius is the length.
Right clicking on a material in the control panel, there is a Select Objects command there. The result is all the objects with that material assigned byObject would be selected.
Limited search directory search depth to 5 directories deep. This should help with the speed of searching across large networks.
Added to the material browser a right-click rename option.
In the external material browser panel added a delete and a rename command.
The proccedural bump maps keep the name highlighted when you check on the checkbox.
When selecting the lights in the Control panel old lights are always deselected
FlamingoNXT planar mapping now promts for origin first.
The texture set editor as improved
Fixed many bugs that caused crash dumps.

WIP 10 September 2009

Updated materials to allow bitmaps to have embedded or linked textures.
Continued to fix found bugs.
Published sample material libraries
Released 64-bit build for Rhino V5 beta

WIP 9 July 2009

Added a material library browser. To activate it, click on the folder button in the Materials panel.

You can navigate to different material directories. The material library browser can be used to drag materials onto objects, layers or into the internal materials in the drawing. Once assigned to an object, there is an internal definition of the material in the drawing. All editing should be done on the internal material.
Improved the convertion of legacy materials. If there is one material assigned in many places, we do not make duplicates of that material.
FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints command now controls all rendering. If I set the Number of Passes or the Time and Enable the rendering the limits works in all cases.
The tree editor now works without crashing
Material drag and drop icons now are working.
The basic rhino material bump property translates
If I set the Flamingo NXT object properties of Alpha, Caustics etc now stick.
XML errors have been fixed.
Drag and drop refined.

WIP 8 June 2009:

We have added on the blog pages a new Basic Tutorial for nXT that covers the basic steps for rendering with Nxt.
Images can now be saved with or without alpha channel. At the time you save the image you can choose if the alpha channel is saved in the final image. Alpha is automatically on for all background pixels. The groundplane can be set as alpha, and you may select any object to resutl in alpha.
Both HDRI and EXR high-dynamic range images can be saved out of nXT. These are the raw rendered image before the tone operator adjusts the image to get it exposed to the screen. This allows you to save off a high dynamic range image that you can edit in other software edit the HDRI images. Two programs we have used are: . Photomatix Pro and Artizen HDR.
Displacement mapping and normal mapping have been added. You can change the bitmap mapping types in the advanced material editor within the properties of each texture. Normal maps can create a lot of effects of such as roughness, without impacting render speed. Displacement will truly displace the render mesh at runtime, creating a true physical texture over the shape. The drawback with displacement is that rendering currently can be quite a bit slower with displacement. We are using the products Crazybump or PixPlant

You can now set the number of passes or limit the time of rendering before you start any renderings. To do this, type in the command: FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints
We now support Rhino basic materials including better tiling. This allows you to render models that contain their own render information. For instance here is a Sketchup file read directly into Rhino and without editing just rendered. All the materials work.

We have reconfigured how Lights are ON/Off or Visible/Invisible. The property Off/On nows controls if the light projects light. The property of Invisible/Visible will control whether the light object can be seen.

A Refraction option is now available with a Sky option.

WIP 7 May 2009:

NXT is supporting the new projection type in Rhino 5. The 2-point perspective.
The groundplane will not save in the model.
The HDRI background image now saves the settings. This includes the name of the hdri, intensity, rotation etc…
Adding UV mapped decals to a render mesh that does not have TCs would cause a crash at render time
Basic Rhino material textures now render

Flamingo NXT WIP build 13 - December 2, 2009

Splash — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:11:40 GMT

Here is a new build of Flamingo nXT..

Once you download it you need to:

Run the MSI file that you download.
Go to the Render pulldown > Current Renderer and select Flamingo nXT
From the Flamingo nXt pulldown select Control Panel.

If you would like to learn the basic steps for using nXT, please go to Basic Tutorial for nXT.

WIP 13 December 2009

Found a memory management problem that will help random stability. Areas effected are material editing, rendering and animations. This is a big improvement in stability.
Changed the Sharpness slider in materials to better negotiate the highlight and specular effects. This allows for faster convergence of reflective effects in some instances. It makes the Glossy and the Monte Carlo checkboxes less important. You may want to try reflection without the Glossy checkbox on.
Changed the main panel interface to tabs instead of rollup panel.
Added a right-click option for material swatches that will select all objects in the scene with that material currently assigned to them.
Added X, Y and Z scale to bump patterns.
Changed the Bump patterns interface in the material editor. Hopefully it will make working with bump patterns easier.
Changed the material preview to continue through 64 passes. The previous 16 pass limit did not show all rendering affects well.
Fixed drag and drop materials over spotlights.
Fixed the Light Tab crash when called from the Advanced tab interface.
Fixed the conversion of inches to mm in resolution settings.
Fixed the drag cursor to be color in all cases.
Fixed interface layout problems with large and medium Windows font settings.
Fixed decal placement crashes.

WIP 12 November 2009

Added a new indirect light option called Gather. It is set under the Lighting Panel > Advanced Tab > Indirect Dropdown. This new method of indirect light works well for exterior renderings and product shots bringing out more definition in the shadow areas. In initial passes it will cause noise in the shadow areas, this noise will process out over a few passes. This also will help in very small models that seem to have little color bleeding between surfaces.
We added a Monte Carlo reflection calculation. It can be accessed under the Lighting Panel > Advanced Tab > Monte Carlo Reflection checkbox. This can be used in certain situations that the highlight of lights on an object are taking many passes to resolve. I see it best used when a material has a low sharpness under reflection and the light sources are large.
Continued to fix crash problems. Seems there were repeatable problems with closing Rhino and selecting bitmap images. We know there are still some around; we continue to work on them.
Made the renderer more tolerant when Rhino through a *rhino mesh error*. There is now a filter for meshes with no faces.
Updated the builds for the current Rhino v5.
Using the Tab key will logically rotate through the dialog controls.
The indirect lighting calculation has been refined and is now faster.

WIP 11 October 2009

Decal placement crash has been fixed
Drag and drop interface improved

Drag and dropping material in the background does not report a tree error
Materials update immediately on drag and drop

DOF slider adjusted to allow more control
Once a rendering is finished. Only one click needed to save a rendering..
Internal and external material management has been improved.

Editing a material in the model (top list). If the name is changed and there is another model material with that name you are prompted to overwrite the existing model material.
Editing a material file (bottom list). If the name is changed and there is a file with the same name then you are promted to overwirte the existing file. The materail is saved using the new name and the original file is deleted. Essentially this is a file rename.

The Sun tab stays active through saves.
The box material preview object now has the origin at the corner and the radius is the length.
Right clicking on a material in the control panel, there is a Select Objects command there. The result is all the objects with that material assigned byObject would be selected.
Limited search directory search depth to 5 directories deep. This should help with the speed of searching across large networks.
Added to the material browser a right-click rename option.
In the external material browser panel added a delete and a rename command.
The proccedural bump maps keep the name highlighted when you check on the checkbox.
When selecting the lights in the Control panel old lights are always deselected
FlamingoNXT planar mapping now promts for origin first.
The texture set editor as improved
Fixed many bugs that caused crash dumps.

WIP 10 September 2009

Updated materials to allow bitmaps to have embedded or linked textures.
Continued to fix found bugs.
Published sample material libraries
Released 64-bit build for Rhino V5 beta

WIP 9 July 2009

Added a material library browser. To activate it, click on the folder button in the Materials panel.

You can navigate to different material directories. The material library browser can be used to drag materials onto objects, layers or into the internal materials in the drawing. Once assigned to an object, there is an internal definition of the material in the drawing. All editing should be done on the internal material.
Improved the convertion of legacy materials. If there is one material assigned in many places, we do not make duplicates of that material.
FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints command now controls all rendering. If I set the Number of Passes or the Time and Enable the rendering the limits works in all cases.
The tree editor now works without crashing
Material drag and drop icons now are working.
The basic rhino material bump property translates
If I set the Flamingo NXT object properties of Alpha, Caustics etc now stick.
XML errors have been fixed.
Drag and drop refined.

WIP 8 June 2009:

We have added on the blog pages a new Basic Tutorial for nXT that covers the basic steps for rendering with Nxt.
Images can now be saved with or without alpha channel. At the time you save the image you can choose if the alpha channel is saved in the final image. Alpha is automatically on for all background pixels. The groundplane can be set as alpha, and you may select any object to resutl in alpha.
Both HDRI and EXR high-dynamic range images can be saved out of nXT. These are the raw rendered image before the tone operator adjusts the image to get it exposed to the screen. This allows you to save off a high dynamic range image that you can edit in other software edit the HDRI images. Two programs we have used are: . Photomatix Pro and Artizen HDR.
Displacement mapping and normal mapping have been added. You can change the bitmap mapping types in the advanced material editor within the properties of each texture. Normal maps can create a lot of effects of such as roughness, without impacting render speed. Displacement will truly displace the render mesh at runtime, creating a true physical texture over the shape. The drawback with displacement is that rendering currently can be quite a bit slower with displacement. We are using the products Crazybump or PixPlant

You can now set the number of passes or limit the time of rendering before you start any renderings. To do this, type in the command: FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints
We now support Rhino basic materials including better tiling. This allows you to render models that contain their own render information. For instance here is a Sketchup file read directly into Rhino and without editing just rendered. All the materials work.

A Refraction option is now available with a Sky option.

WIP 7 May 2009:

NXT is supporting the new projection type in Rhino 5. The 2-point perspective.
The groundplane will not save in the model.
The HDRI background image now saves the settings. This includes the name of the hdri, intensity, rotation etc…
Adding UV mapped decals to a render mesh that does not have TCs would cause a crash at render time
Basic Rhino material textures now render

Flamingo NXT WIP build 12 - November 23, 2009

Splash — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:59:47 GMT

Here is a new build of Flamingo nXT..

Once you download it you need to:

Run the MSI file that you download.
Go to the Render pulldown > Current Renderer and select Flamingo nXT
From the Flamingo nXt pulldown select Control Panel.

If you would like to learn the basic steps for using nXT, please go to Basic Tutorial for nXT.

WIP 12 November 2009

Added a new indirect light option called Gather. It is set under the Lighting Panel > Advanced Tab > Indirect Dropdown. This new method of indirect light works well for exterior renderings and product shots bringing out more definition in the shadow areas. In initial passes it will cause noise in the shadow areas, this noise will process out over a few passes. This also will help in very small models that seem to have little color bleeding between surfaces.
We added a Monte Carlo reflection calculation. It can be accessed under the Lighting Panel > Advanced Tab > Monte Carlo Reflection checkbox. This can be used in certain situations that the highlight of lights on an object are taking many passes to resolve. I see it best used when a material has a low sharpness under reflection and the light sources are large.
Continued to fix crash problems. Seems there were repeatable problems with closing Rhino and selecting bitmap images. We know there are still some around; we continue to work on them.
Made the renderer more tolerant when Rhino through a *rhino mesh error*. There is now a filter for meshes with no faces.
Updated the builds for the current Rhino v5.
Using the Tab key will logically rotate through the dialog controls.
The indirect lighting calculation has been refined and is now faster.

WIP 11 October 2009

Decal placement crash has been fixed
Drag and drop interface improved

Drag and dropping material in the background does not report a tree error
Materials update immediately on drag and drop

DOF slider adjusted to allow more control
Once a rendering is finished. Only one click needed to save a rendering..
Internal and external material management has been improved.

Editing a material in the model (top list). If the name is changed and there is another model material with that name you are prompted to overwrite the existing model material.
Editing a material file (bottom list). If the name is changed and there is a file with the same name then you are promted to overwirte the existing file. The materail is saved using the new name and the original file is deleted. Essentially this is a file rename.

The Sun tab stays active through saves.
The box material preview object now has the origin at the corner and the radius is the length.
Right clicking on a material in the control panel, there is a Select Objects command there. The result is all the objects with that material assigned byObject would be selected.
Limited search directory search depth to 5 directories deep. This should help with the speed of searching across large networks.
Added to the material browser a right-click rename option.
In the external material browser panel added a delete and a rename command.
The proccedural bump maps keep the name highlighted when you check on the checkbox.
When selecting the lights in the Control panel old lights are always deselected
FlamingoNXT planar mapping now promts for origin first.
The texture set editor as improved
Fixed many bugs that caused crash dumps.

WIP 10 September 2009

Updated materials to allow bitmaps to have embedded or linked textures.
Continued to fix found bugs.
Published sample material libraries
Released 64-bit build for Rhino V5 beta

WIP 9 July 2009

Added a material library browser. To activate it, click on the folder button in the Materials panel.

You can navigate to different material directories. The material library browser can be used to drag materials onto objects, layers or into the internal materials in the drawing. Once assigned to an object, there is an internal definition of the material in the drawing. All editing should be done on the internal material.
Improved the convertion of legacy materials. If there is one material assigned in many places, we do not make duplicates of that material.
FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints command now controls all rendering. If I set the Number of Passes or the Time and Enable the rendering the limits works in all cases.
The tree editor now works without crashing
Material drag and drop icons now are working.
The basic rhino material bump property translates
If I set the Flamingo NXT object properties of Alpha, Caustics etc now stick.
XML errors have been fixed.
Drag and drop refined.

WIP 8 June 2009:

We have added on the blog pages a new Basic Tutorial for nXT that covers the basic steps for rendering with Nxt.
Images can now be saved with or without alpha channel. At the time you save the image you can choose if the alpha channel is saved in the final image. Alpha is automatically on for all background pixels. The groundplane can be set as alpha, and you may select any object to resutl in alpha.
Both HDRI and EXR high-dynamic range images can be saved out of nXT. These are the raw rendered image before the tone operator adjusts the image to get it exposed to the screen. This allows you to save off a high dynamic range image that you can edit in other software edit the HDRI images. Two programs we have used are: . Photomatix Pro and Artizen HDR.
Displacement mapping and normal mapping have been added. You can change the bitmap mapping types in the advanced material editor within the properties of each texture. Normal maps can create a lot of effects of such as roughness, without impacting render speed. Displacement will truly displace the render mesh at runtime, creating a true physical texture over the shape. The drawback with displacement is that rendering currently can be quite a bit slower with displacement. We are using the products Crazybump or PixPlant

You can now set the number of passes or limit the time of rendering before you start any renderings. To do this, type in the command: FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints
We now support Rhino basic materials including better tiling. This allows you to render models that contain their own render information. For instance here is a Sketchup file read directly into Rhino and without editing just rendered. All the materials work.

A Refraction option is now available with a Sky option.

WIP 7 May 2009:

NXT is supporting the new projection type in Rhino 5. The 2-point perspective.
The groundplane will not save in the model.
The HDRI background image now saves the settings. This includes the name of the hdri, intensity, rotation etc…
Adding UV mapped decals to a render mesh that does not have TCs would cause a crash at render time
Basic Rhino material textures now render

AccuStudio Libraries, HDRIs and other Resources

Splash — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:53:44 GMT

A user supported source for AccuRender, related news, support, events, and resources. As Accurender grows, so will AccuStudio. Continuing to be your main resourse for Accurender, supporting AutoCAD, Revit, Rhino and now Sketchup.

Flamingo NXT WIP build 11 - October 16th, 2009

Splash — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:09:30 GMT

Here is a new build of Flamingo nXT..

Once you download it you need to:

Run the MSI file that you download.
Go to the Render pulldown > Current Renderer and select Flamingo nXT
From the Flamingo nXt pulldown select Control Panel.

If you would like to learn the basic steps for using nXT, please go to Basic Tutorial for nXT.

WIP 11 October 2009

Decal placement crash has been fixed
Drag and drop interface improved

Drag and dropping material in the background does not report a tree error
Materials update immediately on drag and drop

DOF slider adjusted to allow more control
Once a rendering is finished. Only one click needed to save a rendering..
Internal and external material management has been improved.

Editing a material in the model (top list). If the name is changed and there is another model material with that name you are prompted to overwrite the existing model material.
Editing a material file (bottom list). If the name is changed and there is a file with the same name then you are promted to overwirte the existing file. The materail is saved using the new name and the original file is deleted. Essentially this is a file rename.

The Sun tab stays active through saves.
The box material preview object now has the origin at the corner and the radius is the length.
Right clicking on a material in the control panel, there is a Select Objects command there. The result is all the objects with that material assigned byObject would be selected.
Limited search directory search depth to 5 directories deep. This should help with the speed of searching across large networks.
Added to the material browser a right-click rename option.
In the external material browser panel added a delete and a rename command.
The proccedural bump maps keep the name highlighted when you check on the checkbox.
When selecting the lights in the Control panel old lights are always deselected
FlamingoNXT planar mapping now promts for origin first.
The texture set editor as improved
Fixed many bugs that caused crash dumps.

WIP 10 September 2009

Updated materials to allow bitmaps to have embedded or linked textures.
Continued to fix found bugs.
Published sample material libraries
Released 64-bit build for Rhino V5 beta

WIP 9 July 2009

Added a material library browser. To activate it, click on the folder button in the Materials panel.

You can navigate to different material directories. The material library browser can be used to drag materials onto objects, layers or into the internal materials in the drawing. Once assigned to an object, there is an internal definition of the material in the drawing. All editing should be done on the internal material.
Improved the convertion of legacy materials. If there is one material assigned in many places, we do not make duplicates of that material.
FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints command now controls all rendering. If I set the Number of Passes or the Time and Enable the rendering the limits works in all cases.
The tree editor now works without crashing
Material drag and drop icons now are working.
The basic rhino material bump property translates
If I set the Flamingo NXT object properties of Alpha, Caustics etc now stick.
XML errors have been fixed.
Drag and drop refined.

WIP 8 June 2009:

We have added on the blog pages a new Basic Tutorial for nXT that covers the basic steps for rendering with Nxt.
Images can now be saved with or without alpha channel. At the time you save the image you can choose if the alpha channel is saved in the final image. Alpha is automatically on for all background pixels. The groundplane can be set as alpha, and you may select any object to resutl in alpha.
Both HDRI and EXR high-dynamic range images can be saved out of nXT. These are the raw rendered image before the tone operator adjusts the image to get it exposed to the screen. This allows you to save off a high dynamic range image that you can edit in other software edit the HDRI images. Two programs we have used are: . Photomatix Pro and Artizen HDR.
Displacement mapping and normal mapping have been added. You can change the bitmap mapping types in the advanced material editor within the properties of each texture. Normal maps can create a lot of effects of such as roughness, without impacting render speed. Displacement will truly displace the render mesh at runtime, creating a true physical texture over the shape. The drawback with displacement is that rendering currently can be quite a bit slower with displacement. We are using the products Crazybump or PixPlant

You can now set the number of passes or limit the time of rendering before you start any renderings. To do this, type in the command: FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints
We now support Rhino basic materials including better tiling. This allows you to render models that contain their own render information. For instance here is a Sketchup file read directly into Rhino and without editing just rendered. All the materials work.

A Refraction option is now available with a Sky option.

WIP 7 May 2009:

NXT is supporting the new projection type in Rhino 5. The 2-point perspective.
The groundplane will not save in the model.
The HDRI background image now saves the settings. This includes the name of the hdri, intensity, rotation etc…
Adding UV mapped decals to a render mesh that does not have TCs would cause a crash at render time
Basic Rhino material textures now render

Flamingo nXt for Rhino WIP 8

Splash — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:30:02 GMT

Here is a new build of Flamingo nXT..

Once you download it you need to:

Run the MSI file that you download.
Go to the Render pulldown > Current Renderer and select Flamingo nXT
From the Flamingo nXt pulldown select Control Panel.

If you would like to learn the basic steps for using nXT, please go to Basic Tutorial for nXT.

WIP 8 June 2009:

We have added on the blog pages a new Basic Tutorial for nXT that covers the basic steps for rendering with Nxt.
Images can now be saved with or without alpha channel. At the time you save the image you can choose if the alpha channel is saved in the final image. Alpha is automatically on for all background pixels. The groundplane can be set as alpha, and you may select any object to resutl in alpha.
Both HDRI and EXR high-dynamic range images can be saved out of nXT. These are the raw rendered image before the tone operator adjusts the image to get it exposed to the screen. This allows you to save off a high dynamic range image that you can edit in other software edit the HDRI images. Two programs we have used are: . Photomatix Pro and Artizen HDR.
Displacement mapping and normal mapping have been added. You can change the bitmap mapping types in the advanced material editor within the properties of each texture. Normal maps can create a lot of effects of such as roughness, without impacting render speed. Displacement will truly displace the render mesh at runtime, creating a true physical texture over the shape. The drawback with displacement is that rendering currently can be quite a bit slower with displacement. We are using the products Crazybump or PixPlant

You can now set the number of passes or limit the time of rendering before you start any renderings. To do this, type in the command: FlamingoNXtRenderConstraints
We now support Rhino basic materials including better tiling. This allows you to render models that contain their own render information. For instance here is a Sketchup file read directly into Rhino and without editing just rendered. All the materials work.

A Refraction option is now available with a Sky option.

WIP 7 May 2009:

NXT is supporting the new projection type in Rhino 5. The 2-point perspective.
The groundplane will not save in the model.
The HDRI background image now saves the settings. This includes the name of the hdri, intensity, rotation etc…
Adding UV mapped decals to a render mesh that does not have TCs would cause a crash at render time
Basic Rhino material textures now render

Flamingo nXt for Rhino

Splash — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:52:59 GMT

This is an early version of nXt for Rhino.

Once you download it you need to:

Drag the RHP into the Rhino interface.
Go to the Render pulldown > Current Renderer > Flamingonxt
From the Flamingo nXt pulldown select Control Panel.

WIP 5 March 2009:

Added initial support for Rhino RenderWindow command. Currently renders entire view in background and displays windowed selection.
Changed default material preview sphere radius to 20 inches
Working on keeping light user data from getting corrupted
Added material preview context menu option to set the preview geometry radius
Fixed a problem with doucment properties not being read in certian situations. When document properties fail to read a dialog is displayed that prompts the user to send the file to tech support.
Now building with 24 March 2009 tool kit
Modified material browser removing the mapping button which was never hooked up. Material mapping can be accomplished by using the Rhino object Properties command and selecting “Flamingo nXt”
Added “Glossy” material to the material browser as a new basic material type
Added glossy and Anisotropy controls to advanced material editor dialog
Renamed the light browser “Output” column heading to “Distribution” so it matches the Object Properties Light dialog
Modified the light browser so the tagged light distribution updates when the distribution combo box selection changes
Added “Aim” column to the light browser which lets you point a “Spot” or “Diffuse” light for objects tagged as lights
Control panel tabs now size properly
Material browser materials should no longer scroll off the screen
Fixed light browser crash bug when editing a sub item value
Added a “Remove Tag” option in the Light control panel Right-click menu
Add a Delete Lights option in the Light control panel Right-click menu
Added a “Tag objects as light” option to the “Flamingo nXt/Lights” menu

WIP 4 March 2009

Ground plane was rendering using default material. The groun plane now pays attention to the assigned ground plane material.
Spot light beam angle now appear in degrees instead of radians in the UI
Can only edit radius for Rhino spotlight objects
Updated tagged light pointing command to specify direction and beam angle instead of direction and radius
Added FlamingoNXtDrawLightsForObjectsTaggedAsLights command which controls display of wire frame light direction and radius for objects tagged as spotlights or diffuse lights. This command is available in the “Flamingo nXt/Lights” menu.
No longer crashes when processing lights while reading 3dm file. Happened in certain isolated situations.
Ground plane now uses default material instead of first one added to the render scene.
Flamingo nXt was creating duplicate render meshes in some cases when processing blocks
Fixed a bug that caused first render to be completely black when first rendering until the perspective view is nudged.
Added new plant commands to the “Flamingo nXt\Plants” menu
Flamingo was reporting that it is expired after installing on some non English operating systems but should work correctly now.
Added FlamingoNXtPlant command which prompts for a ArPlant file to insert. Plants are created as Linked and Embedded. Linked and embedded means that Flamingo will search for the file used to create the plant when rendering, if the file is not found Flamingo will use the embedded plant definition. This allows you to send a model to a third party without sending the plant definition file.
- Note: Does not currently support ground cover
Added FlamingoNXtEditPlant command which prompts for a plant to edit then displays the plant editor. When you edit the plant you are editing the embedded definition of the plant, to edit the ArPlant file use the FlamingoNXtPlantEditor command.
- Note: The plant editor is still in development
Added FlamingoNXtUpdateLinkedPlants command which may be used to update embedded plant deviations and preview geometry to reflect changes in external ArPlant file. This command includes an option for updating or ignoring plants that have been locally modified.
Added FlamingoNXtPlantEditor command which displays the Plant Edit program. This is an external program which Flamingo launches and may be used to create or edit ArPlant files.
- Note: This program is currently in development and is still a little rough around the edges.

In the WIP 2 (3-16-2009) we have added:

Moved Depth of Field controls from the DocumentProperties/Flamingo nXt page to the Flamingo control panel, Render tab and hooked up controls.
Added Ground Plane options to Control Panel Rendering tab
Added true model instancing.
- If a Rhino block is inserted 3 or more times then instancing is activated.
- Once instanced, any number of copies can be inserted with a very small additional memory usage. For models with a lot of repitiion in the model this can save a huge amount of memory.
Modified Flamingo to use Rhino runtime render mesh and only create meshes when absolutely necessary. This may improve translation speed at the start of the rendering process.
Added ability to cancel during meshing procedure.
Flamingo Document Properties includes options for:
- Use legacy 2.x or 1.x Flamingo materials when rendering (this can slow the rendering down quite a bit)
- Minimum block reference to turn into tool kit instance
Improved crash protection during meshing
Optimized legacy material support to use imported material definition as long as name has not been changed
Restored missing controls from Advenced Tab in the background HDR, Bitmap and color dialogs
Replace Rhino Object Properties Light page with Flamingo nXt version when Flamingo nXt is the current render plug-in
Added right click properties option to the Flamingo Control Panel Light tab light browser
Changing manual sun values now works
Flamingo NXT Mapping controls Updated
Added initial plant support. You can import plant files generated with the “C:\Program Files\Flamingo nXt WIP\TreeEditor.exe” or “C:\Program Files\Flamingo nXt WIP\TreeEditor64.exe” program
Control Panel, Lighting & Background tab now includes a color bleed option
HDRI properties page now includes a saturation option. This controls the color satuation of the light coming from HDRI files. The default value has been set to .5. 0 will lead to neutral white light coming from the HRDI. A value of 1 will lead to light that is fully colored by the sample point on the HDRI.
Various bug and crash fixes.
Inside the advanced tab, refractions option, Custom, HDRI. In the HDRI selection box the controls are all messed up.
Sun Direction now will update when angle changes.
Metalic color updates properly
Exposure adjustments controls now spin smaller increments.
Updated installer to un-install properly.

Flamingo nXt for Rhino

Splash — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:29:29 GMT

This is an early version of nXt for Rhino.

Once you download it you need to:

Drag the RHP into the Rhino interface.
Go to the Render pulldown > Current Renderer > Flamingonxt
From the Flamingo nXt pulldown select Control Panel.

In the WIP 2 (3-16-2009) we have added:

Moved Depth of Field controls from the DocumentProperties/Flamingo nXt page to the Flamingo control panel, Render tab and hooked up controls.
Added Ground Plane options to Control Panel Rendering tab
Added true model instancing.
- If a Rhino block is inserted 3 or more times then instancing is activated.
- Once instanced, any number of copies can be inserted with a very small additional memory usage. For models with a lot of repitiion in the model this can save a huge amount of memory.
Modified Flamingo to use Rhino runtime render mesh and only create meshes when absolutely necessary. This may improve translation speed at the start of the rendering process.
Added ability to cancel during meshing procedure.
Flamingo Document Properties includes options for:
- Use legacy 2.x or 1.x Flamingo materials when rendering (this can slow the rendering down quite a bit)
- Minimum block reference to turn into tool kit instance
Improved crash protection during meshing
Optimized legacy material support to use imported material definition as long as name has not been changed
Restored missing controls from Advenced Tab in the background HDR, Bitmap and color dialogs
Replace Rhino Object Properties Light page with Flamingo nXt version when Flamingo nXt is the current render plug-in
Added right click properties option to the Flamingo Control Panel Light tab light browser
Changing manual sun values now works
Flamingo NXT Mapping controls Updated
Added initial plant support. You can import plant files generated with the “C:\Program Files\Flamingo nXt WIP\TreeEditor.exe” or “C:\Program Files\Flamingo nXt WIP\TreeEditor64.exe” program
Control Panel, Lighting & Background tab now includes a color bleed option
HDRI properties page now includes a saturation option. This controls the color satuation of the light coming from HDRI files. The default value has been set to .5. 0 will lead to neutral white light coming from the HRDI. A value of 1 will lead to light that is fully colored by the sample point on the HDRI.
Various bug and crash fixes.
Inside the advanced tab, refractions option, Custom, HDRI. In the HDRI selection box the controls are all messed up.
Sun Direction now will update when angle changes.
Metalic color updates properly
Exposure adjustments controls now spin smaller increments.
Updated installer to un-install properly.