Verge3D for Blender 4.7.0

What's new in this version:

Modern Web Layouts: Flexbox and Grid:
- For this update we have implemented means to create modern web layouts that are efficient and work well across different types of devices and platforms

Interactive Infoboxes: Dialog:
- You can now create custom-made styled popup windows (such as notifications, modal boxes with buttons, and even complete forms) thanks to the dialog HTML element newly available in Puzzles.
- Web Forms and Server-Side:
- Forms are the primary way for the web application to collect data from the user and send to the server for processing. Use cases are numerous and diverse: create an inquiry for a configured product, order a product, send screenshots or custom images to the sales staff, leave contact information, ask for help, and more.

Service Tools:
- A new utility called Service Tools can now be invoked in any application by pressing the tilde ~ key 3 times. This reveals a menu to run the FPS counter or performance profile, to halt/resume rendering, and, which is new, to run the scene in debug mode: show geometry wireframes, lights, skeletons, or normals.

Puzzles:
- The puzzle create object extended with a few new primitives, namely capsule, icosahedron and ring. We changed the default params for some primitives for more even distribution of polygons, a task for which the wireframe view provided a great feedback. Also the teapot primitive was scaled down by half to match the size of other meshes. By the way, the material for all created primitives is now node-based and fully integrated in the rendering pipeline.
- Support for Blender 4.2:
- Verge3D users will encounter significant changes once they migrate to Blender 4.2 which was released a few days ago. First of all, addons have been deprecated in Blender–those are now called extensions. The installation procedure for Verge3D thus has become very different–the so called repositories should now be used to add an extension.

More Blender Integration Features:
- For this update we supported Blender’s Transformation constraint with almost all its settings
- We fixed export crash when the target for the Follow Path constraint is not specified
- We fixed the add-on crash when running on top of Python 3.12. This issue manifests itself on recent Linux distros such as Fedora 39/40 or Ubuntu 24.04 if you install Blender via the package manager. This also fixes a potentially existing similar issue in the Maya plug-in.
- We fixed the Specular BSDF node that rendered in black as of Blender 4.1
- Please note that the Bake Modifiers checkbox is now enabled by default in Verge3D settings. This is because as of Blender 4.1, the Auto Smooth checkbox was replaced by a similarly named node-based modifier. As a result, we need to bake modifiers more often than before.

glTF and USDZ Exporters:
- Both glTF and USDZ exporter puzzles have been upgraded to support native node-based materials. This means that you no longer need to enable the glTF 2.0 Compatible checkbox for your materials in the modeling tool for these export puzzles to work properly, which was a very non-obvious thing. In addition, you can now use texture wrapping modes, compressed textures, and vertex colors when exporting to both glTF and USDZ.
- New Puzzles API for Plugin Developers:
- With this release, we introduce a new application programming interface to help extend Verge3D which we called PzLib. It is a set of helper classes, functions and variables used in the code generated by the Puzzles Editor, and you can now use them in custom puzzles loaded as plugins!
- New API Methods for JS Coders:
- New method App.disableControls() basically makes the camera static. Call App.enableControls() to return the controls back.
- New methods v3d.MaterialUtils.createDiffuseMaterial() and v3d.MaterialUtils.createStandardPBRMaterial() create node-based diffuse and PBR materials respectively. The former is just the same as MeshLambertMaterial and the latter is a full analog of MeshStandardMaterial, only differentiating from those by both being node-based. What for? Method createDiffuseMaterial is now used for creating the diffuse material of clipping plane intersections, while the other method is used by the puzzles create object, create text object and make from, instead of the original Three.js API. As a result, these procedurally created materials are now consistent with the modeling software and follow Verge3D’s native material pipeline.

API Deprecation:
- We initiated a thorough review of features inherited from Three.js long ago, dropping those apparently not useful for the Verge3D pipeline. We are going to do it in an incremental manner, by removing some features right away and marking others as deprecated. In any case, these changes may only affect the JavaScript coders who are using the programming API. The standard Verge3D pipeline with all its materials, puzzles, exported assets, etc won’t be affected anyhow.

WordPress Plugin:
- The Verge3D WordPress plugin obtained a new target URL (aka REST API) for sending any forms to email. It is particularly used by the above-mentioned Inquiry Form library item. It also obtained a new REST API for sending order forms via form data. Previously it was only possible via json data.
- The feature for uploading and retrieving files now correctly processes data types. Basically, you always get the same type as you originally uploaded.
- We also improved server security with regard to uploaded files. The plugin will check MIME types which should be preset in the white list (in the admin settings). In addition, uploaded files are now stored encoded rather than in their original state as it was before.
- Various Other Features:
- We increased the default strafing speed for the Flying camera.
- The FPS counter is now better positioned in the preview viewport of the Puzzles editor.
- The JavaScript file generated by the Puzzles editor was stripped of most comments which made it smaller.
- We supplemented docs on ChromeOS installation to cover possible issues with setting up the App Manager.
- The Verge3D tool chain can now work on ARM64 processors under Linux, for example on Raspberry Pi or some low-spec Chromebooks
- We reworked our internal processes for making Verge3D releases, including preview builds. Particularly, before every update we run the engine through 1000+ test applications and scenes to ensure software quality.
- USDZ-based AR mode (also known as AR Quick Look) now works not only in Safari browser but also in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and DuckDuckGo browsers as well (on Apple devices of course).
- We simplified the list of Shadow Filtering options to only leave a single PCF option–the one with best quality/performance tradeoff. This option was called PCF (Poisson Disk) before (in Blender, 3ds Max, and Maya). We removed those PCF options from the get/set light param puzzle too. Blender’s Tea Ceremony demo showcasing various shadow types was updated accordingly.
- We finally removed the Light Probe + Cubemap option from IBL Environment Mode settings which was deprecated long before (also Blender, 3ds Max, and Maya)
- The App Manager now supports templates with multiple scenes loaded to different canvases or iframes
- We worked around the reported AR freezing issue by turning off the disable rendering puzzle in AR mode

Fixed:
- We fixed the bug with the puzzle set style for CSS rule which reset to default values after saving the Puzzles. Thanks for bringing this up on the forums.
- We fixed the bug with non-unity screen scale in AR or VR mode, which could mess with camera-parented objects. This issue was reported via the Enterprise support channel.
- We fixed the crash of the App Manager if the name of the application folder ends with .html. Thanks for reporting this on the forums.
- We fixed the issue with App Manager settings when non-UTF-8 characters are present somewhere, for example, if the application’s title or description contains Chinese characters. Thanks for reporting this issue on the forums.
- We fixed keyboard not working in the 3D viewport of the Puzzles editor. Examples are WASD keys used to navigate with the First Person camera, or custom event listeners created using HTML puzzles.
- The feature available puzzle now correctly detects that the Microsoft Surface tablet is indeed equipped with a touch screen. This issue was reported via the Enterprise support channel.
- We fixed a bug with emission incorrectly exported to USDZ
- We cured the engine from crashing when loading text objects which could happen in some unlucky circumstances. This issue was reported via the Enterprise support channel
- The API method App.setCamera() now properly works when switching to a static camera
- We adjusted shadow settings in the Global Illumination demo to fix rendering issues after implementing cascaded shadows
- We fixed memory leaks happening when dynamic text is modified through the update text object puzzle