CTP 1.8 NEW FEATURES

    1.   No more sound levels by default when creating a scene

When a new scene is created, the S01 and S02 sound levels are no longer included in the exposure sheet. Older scene files, and new scene files in which the user added sound levels are still supported and open correctly.

    2.   Variable speed playback

Playback speed can now be adjusted while CTP is in playback mode. The user can lower/higher the speed from 1 fps to as many as 100 fps, if the computer allows such a fast playback. There are 3 ways to do that:

-         From the Player menu, the user will find two new options: Slower and Faster.

-         Hot keys )Ctrl+PgUp to play faster/Ctrl+PgDn to play slower) are also available.

-         Finally, two new arrow buttons in the view/player area (next to the frames slider) can be used to change the playback speed.

The current playback speed is still indicated in the status bar at the lower end of the window.

When trying to play faster, the user might find that the computer that is being used is not able to show at the desired frame rate. In that case, the desired frame rate is updated to that maximum speed.

    3.   New scanner resolutions

Previous CTP versions would allow up to 4 times (4x) the resolution of a scanned drawing to preserve detail. CTP 1.8 now offers up to 32 times (32x) the resolution.

    4.   Go to nth frame when clicking in camera curve preview window

When the user clicks in the camera curve preview window (while editing camera motion, zoom, rotation), the corresponding frame will automatically be activated in the exposure sheet.

    5.   Named cells

Cells can now be renamed with any combination of characters and numbers. Up to 21 characters/numbers can be used to name a cell. In other words, users are no longer forced to name cells with the “A0001” naming model.

    6.   Gradient fills

Two new fill modes are added to the fill tool: Cartesian and Radial gradient fills. The user can use the tools options dialog to choose which gradient fill mode to use. The fill tool still works as before, but using the alt key while clicking on the region to paint will perform a gradient fill.

Gradients are defined by the foreground and background colours that are available in the paint area of CTP; it is  therefore a 2-colour gradient.

When using the Cartesian fill mode, the user can define the angle of the fill by dragging the mouse button  with the Alt key still pressed. When the mouse button is released, the fill is performed.

When using the Radial fill mode, the user can define the centre of the fill by clicking on a precise point  in the region to fill. The radial fill is performed inside the rectangular region defined by the actual region to fill.

    7.   Textured Fills

The Tools Options dialog (see 8) offers another new fill mode called Textured Fill. The mode lets the user fill a specific area with a specified textured file. To use the textured fill mode, select the Fill mode, select the fill tool, then select the Textured Fill mode in the Tools Options dialog, click on the browse … button to select an image file (any image file type that is normally recognized by CTP can be selected as a texture), and finally, use the Alt key while clicking the desired region to be filled. The texture is centred at the mouse location when the button is clicked.

Note: The texture filename and its size are written in the Tools Options dialog.

An additional feature called “Repeat Texture” is available when Textured Fill is selected. When activated, this feature repeats the texture if the whole texture has been used in the fill algorithm (i.e. when the region to fill is bigger than the texture itself).

Another new feature called “Use first pixel for overflow” can be used whenever the texture is not repeated. When activated, overflow pixels are set to the first pixel of the texture (at (0,0)) instead of repeating the first/last available pixel of the current scan line from the texture.

Alpha channel information is preserved when using a partially transparent texture, as all colour/alpha channels are used by the fill algorithm.