News: The new release of GIMP version 2.10.20 .

This new stable release version 2.10.20 come at 2020-06-07 for all users.

The release can be download for GNU/Linux, OS X ,and Microsoft Windows on the official webpage.

The team development tells us about this release here:

GIMP 2.10.20 comes with new features as well as important bugfixes.

Release highlights:

    Tool-group menus can now expand on hover
    Non-destructive cropping now available by cropping the canvas rather than actual pixels
    Better PSD support: exporting of 16-bit files now available, reading/writing channels in the right order
    On-canvas controls for the Vignette filter
    New filters: Bloom, Focus Blur, Lens Blur, Variable Blur
    Blending options now built into filter dialogs
    Over 30 bugfixes

Shadertoy: A simple round square.

This is a simple tutorial about how you can create a simple round square build using the math function sqrt and the shadertoy web tool.

The source code is very simple and all the lines of source code come with explained comments

Let's see the source code:

// create a function for round square 
vec3 round_square( vec2 uv )
{
 // Set the size of the square, can be changed .01 6.
 float square_dimension = 6.;
 
 // Create math function for round sqare shape 
 float my_square = sqrt(length(pow(uv-vec2(.0,.0),vec2(square_dimension))))-.1;
 
 //Set default poz 
 vec3 poz = vec3(1.,1.,1.);
 
 // Return the result 
 return mix(vec3(0.1),poz*poz, smoothstep(0.,.001,my_square));
}

// Set color for the round square
vec3 color = vec3(.1, 76., 76.);

void mainImage( out vec4 fragColor, in vec2 fragCoord )
{
 // Normalized pixel coordinates (from 0 to 1)
 vec2 uv = (fragCoord-.5*iResolution.xy)/iResolution.y;
 // Set color 0,0,0,0
 fragColor = vec4(0);
 // u=Use for to build with round_square
 for (int i = 0; i < 10+int(min(0,iFrame)); i++) {
 // Set UV2 from basic UV
 vec2 uv2 = uv + 1. / iResolution.y * 1.25;
 // Create the round square
 fragColor += vec4(round_square(uv2) + color.xyz , 1.);
 }
 // show the square
 fragColor.xyz = (fragColor.xyz/fragColor.w);
}

This is the result:

Blender 3D : The new long-term support release version 2.83 LTS.

The Blender 3D team comes with this new release version 2.83 LTS and with this short intro:

With over 1250 bugfixes, and further critical fixes due throughout the next two years as part of the Long Term Support program, Blender 2.83 LTS provides the performance and stability needed for major projects. New features include VR support, OpenVDB import, OptiX viewport denoising and a powerful new physics-enabled Cloth Brush.

These features are show on the official website:

• OpenVDB files can now be imported and rendered with the new Volume object;
• Files may be generated by Blender’s fluid simulation cache or even other software such as Houdini;
• Blender now ships with the first milestone in VR support powered by OpenXR;
• Use the OptiX VIEWPORT DENOISER from NVIDIA;
• Sculpt realistic wrinkles with the new Cloth Brush;
• Sharpen mode in Mesh Filter;
• The new Face Sets system lets you control the visibility of individual parts of a mesh, or automatically mask parts of its surface for sculpting;
• Significant changes on the Grease Pencil;

All of these features and the download installer can be found at the official webpage.

Krita 4.3.0: Another released from Krita team.

On International Children's Day, the Krita graphics team came up with a new release.

Here are the new enhancements and features that this release brings.

This is the second beta release for Krita 4.3.0. It’s later than expected because our system for making release builds was temporarily unavailable.
Since the first beta, the following issues have been addressed:

Fix Color picking in freehand path and bezier curve tool (BUG:373037).
Fix zooming after changing the image resolution (BUG:421797)
Switch the stabilizer to always use scalable distance (BUG:421314)
Make sure channel thumbnails are not inverted when working with CMYK images (BUG:421442)
Make it possible to use save incremental and incremental backup on files in folders that are named to look like incremental saves or backups (BUG:421792)
The Python API for handling Document and Node objects is now synchronous: you do not have to add extra waitForDone calls anymore. (BUG:401497)
On macOS, support for using modifier keys with canvas input actions has been improved ( BUG:372646, BUG:373299, BUG:391088)
Implement touch support for Wacom tablets. Patch by P. Varet — thanks! (BUG:421295)
Fix issues with files taking a long time to save (BUG:421584)
Make the placeholder text in the text shape shorter and translatable (BUG:421663)
Shift-click on a layer to see the layer in isolation doesn’t change the visibility state of all layers anymore
Animation frames outside the requested range are no longer rendered
Make the autosave recovery dialog clearer (BUG:420014)
Properly play animations and show onion skins when viewing layers in isolation (BUG:394199)
Fix the position of the text shape editor on Windows (BUG:419529)
Fix gamut mask rendering (BUG:421142)
Fix artefacts when rendering the marching ants outline for small or complex selections (BUG:407868, BUG:419240, BUG:413220)
The animation timeline now correctly highlights the current frame after loading a file (BUG:403854)
Correctly align the onion skin after cropping an image (BUG:419462)
Fix rendering animations with odd render dimensions (BUG:396128)
Set the default values for the split layer dialog to something sensible
Fix eraser mode to be reset when the same color is picked from the canvas (BUG:415476)
Fix the aspect ratio of layer and channel thumbnails
Show the unsqueezed text of a squeezed combobox as a tooltip (BUG:415117)
Add more translation context in several places
Fix selecting colors in the stroke selection dialog (BUG:411482)
Fix the memory management of documents created from Python (BUG:412740)

This website comes with a lot of PNG images with transparency.

This website is a good database with images all into PNG format.

These images can be used in many tasks and are very helpful because has a background with transparency.

See this screenshot of the website:

News: The new Unity 2020.1 beta.

The new Unity 3D Beta 2020.1b has also appeared.

I've been waiting for some time to see the changes made by the Unity 3D development team.

I'm super happy with how it's progressing.

Here are some features and a video about these new changes:

Known Issues in 2020.1.0b10

• Animation: Editor crashes with Animator::CreateInternalControllerPlayable when GameObjects are mached (1245074)
  
• Animation: [macOS] Inconsistent crash in objc_msgSend/objc_retain when previewing
  
• Animations with Animator window open (1242026)
  
• Asset Import Pipeline: Unity YAML Upgrading project to 2019.3 Asset Database V2 makes the project crash on startup (1228192)
  
• Asset Importers: Crash when importing Elongata package from the Asset Store (1209240)
  
• Audio: Editor crashes on changing 'System Sample Rate' when Audio track preview is being played in Timeline window (1232743)
  
• Audio: [Windows] Editor uses one CPU Logical Processor at 100% while the game is in Pause Mode (1219619)
  
• Collab: Collab re-enables itself after being turned off (1244885)
  
• GI: Fixed GI baking in batchmode when using Scriptable Render Pipelines. (1211448) Fixed in 2020.1.0b11.
  
• GI: Fixed the lightmapper sometimes getting stuck, especially on undo after moving instances or changing resolutions. (1144403) Fixed in 2020.1.0b11.
  
• Global Illumination: Crash with empty stacktrace when starting bake in the new scene after baking previous scene with GPU PLM (1244384)
  
• Global Illumination: [OSX][GPUPLM]OS Kernel Panic crash with 'Thread may have been prematurely finalized' after baking the scene with AMD GPU (1160419)
  
• Global Illumination: [URP] Transparencies are ignored because URP uses _BaseMap as main texture identifier (1246262)
  
• Global Illumination: [macOS] BugReporter doesn't get invoked when the project crashes (1219458)
  
• Global Illumination: gi::InitializeManagers() takes 0.6s during Editor startup (1162775)
  
• Graphics - General: AsyncGPUReadback.Request never releases unused allocated memory (1234193)
  
• Graphics - General: Crash on startup when Shader Variant with Standard ForwardAdd DIRECTIONAL is assigned and SourceAssetDB present in Library (1235969)
  
• Graphics - General: Plugging time into a master node on HDRP crashes Unity (1246991)
  
• Graphics - General: [Performance Regression] AssetBundleLoadAllAssets -
  
• Load_Prefabs_AllAssets is significantly slower than 18.4 (1203512)
  
• Graphics - General: [Performance Regression] AssetBundleLoadSingleAssets :
  
• LoadAsync_Prefabs_SingleAssets is significantly slower than 18.4 (1203511)
  
• Graphics: Crash on PrepareShadowMaps when entering Play Mode (1233829)
  
• This is a change to a 2020.1.0 change, not seen in any released version, and will not be mentioned in final notes. Fixed in 2020.1.0b11.
  
• IAP: Unity purchasing gives error on project upgrade due to failing to find UnityEngine.UI assembly (1193773)
  
• IL2CPP: Fix JSON exception when building project with large number of scenes (1240780) Fixed in 2020.1.0b11.
  
• IL2CPP: Fix a severe performance regression in UnityLinker when building a player for UWP. (1229420)
  
• This is a change to a 2020.1.0 change, not seen in any released version, and will not be mentioned in final notes. Fixed in 2020.1.0b11.
  
• IMGUI: Editor crashes on StageUtility::IsGameObjectRenderedByCameraAndPartOfEditableScene when calling Undo.PerformUndo() method (1242926)
  
• Linux: Selection frame drawn in Scene view when a GameObject is selected while Alt and left mouse buttons are pressed (1239227)
  
• MacOS: Unity kernel crashes Mac with OpenGL when only Intel Graphics are present (1225380)
  
• MacOS: [HDRP][Metal][macOS 10.14] Unity freezes the whole OS or crashes when opening prefab (1219198)
  
• MacOS: [macOS] Mac crashes when opening the project with m_APIs under WindowsStandaloneSupport with only integrated Iris GPU (1232673)
  
• Mobile: [iOS] Debug .pdb files are added to iOS release builds (1232798)
  
• Mono: Crash with various stack traces when exiting Play Mode after recompiling scripts (1238859)
  
• Packman: [PackMan] Search results for "My Assets" don't match the package count displayed below and neither do they refresh (1222784)
  
• Scripting: Intellisense does not work when External script Editor is changed and set back to Visual Studio 2019 (1249626)
  
• Scripting: Entering Playmode with Scene Reload disabled crashes when DestroyImmediate is used in OnDisable (1250550)
  
• Scripting: Script importing no longer fails when method is called on integer literal. (1247409). This is a change to a 2020.1.0a7 change, not seen in any released version, and will not be mentioned in final notes. Fixed in 2020.1.0b11.
  
• Scripting: [SerializeReference] non-serialized Initialized fields lose their values when entering and during play mode. (1193322)
  
• Scripting: [SerializedField] fields produce "Field is never assigned to..." warning (1080427)
  
• WebGL: Using XElement.Load(string uri) causes an uncaught abort exception when using dlopen() dynamic linking in Emscripten (1192963)
  
• Windows: Cannot activate license within a docker container (1193364)
  

Aladin lite version of Aladin Sky Atlas.

Aladin lite is a lightweight version of the Aladin tool.

Aladin lite is powered by the HTML5 canvas technology, currently supported by any modern browser.

Aladin lite is easily embeddable on any web page and can also be controlled through a Javacript API.

This running in the browser and geared towards simple visualization of a sky region.

Read more on the official webpage.

This is a short intro from the official youtube channel of CDS - Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg.

Another topographic map.

This time, I found another website with topographic maps.

You can see my location on the map online.

Hubs the online VR platform by Mozilla team

Today I will show you a great social environment build on VR platform by Mozilla team.

They tells us about this online web tool named Hubs:

Hubs is a social VR platform that runs right in your browser.With Hubs you can create your own virtual space with a single click and invite others to join using a URL. No installation process or app store required.

Watch videos with friends, give presentations, or meet with colleagues remotely.Hubs makes it easy to connect with others and share images, videos, 3D models, and more.

Hubs works across platforms.Got a VR headset? Awesome! If not, you can use your desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile device.

Hubs is open source and customizable.You can choose how you represent yourself by uploading your own avatar, and build your own world using Hubs' environment editor Spoke.

This great online tool and you can read more about the whats-new webpage.

Spoke is an online 3D scene editor developed by the Mozilla Mixed Reality team and let you to build your own scenes for Hub.

You can test my chat room I build it.

To custom your avatar use the template from the GitHub project and this online tool.

Godot 4.0 : New features for godot game engine.

I used this game engine with the property scripting code GDScript and is easy to learn.
This is an procedual programming scripting language without OOP features.
The Godot game engine can be used with C# programming language.
Now, the author of this article name Juan Linietsky comes with news:
Yes, indeed. Godot 4.0 will also have a very cool Voxel based real-time GI.

Still, that is a different technique aimed at different use cases. Lightmaps offer significant advantages over any other technique when the following requirements are met:

• Performance above anything else (for mobile, lightmaps are still a must-have)
• Quality above anything else (no light leaking, ideal for architecture)
• Lighting will not change (lights won't move)

If these requirements are met, then lightmapping is probably the best for you.

On this official youtube channel the author show us the result of these features.
You can download this engine from the official webpage.

ISS Docking Simulator.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon is set to launch on its first crewed mission to the International Space Station on May 27th.
The full article about Crew Dragon mission can be found here.
Crew Dragon’s system includes touch screens and physical manual control options with robust fault tolerance built into the system.
he touch screens have been tuned to operate with and without the SpaceX spacesuit gloves to high reliability.
Behnken and Hurley have used same SpaceX docking simulator for training.
You can test this simulator here.

Unity give us the Heretic asset.

As you know already, the Heretic - Unity Short Film.
This movie has 1,534,208 views from date when was released Jan 22, 2020 by Unity 3D.
Now, they tell us:
When we revealed our short film The Heretic, the question you asked the most was, “Are you going to release this?” We’re happy to tell you that one of the most requested elements of this production – the Digital Human Character and Technology stack – is now available for you to download.
The full article with the link to the Heretic asset from Unity team can be found here.
The full movie can be see on youtube.

The new video tutorial about how can be used can be see on youtube.

Fantasy-Map-Generator online tool.

This online map generator is a simple way to generate maps.
The full source code is free and can be found at this GitHub project.

You can test it at Fantasy-Map-Generator online tool.