GTAV: Enhanced version Import/Export is available

The Enhanced version runs on DX12 and has a major rendering code changes update under the hood. The game has got an optimization with the features DX12 offers, including a lot of parallel rendering and computations. Given that, the new game's engine requires geometry content to be updated. This includes geometry models and texture packages.

Game's shader names are generally the same and have some internal structure changes only. This should give no impact on your models saved as .z3d files, you should be able to export them to GTAV Enhanced with no or minimum changes in ZModeler. I do not include an update of configuration script yet (the "button with gears" in materials browser), as I expect the current configurations to work fine. Yet some parameters are different and you can specify them in user-defined options. You can see the parameters list and their values upon importing vanilla game models. As before, parameter value specified in user-defined options will override the value evaluated by exporter. (read full story...)

ZModeler3 rendering routines were updated to support post-render effects. This includes changes in engine, shaders and viewports rendering code, so the tiny visual update require version change to 3.3.1. It is advised to have this version unpacked into a different folder, so ZModeler will not use your current compiled cache of shaders code. (read full story...)

Materials editor provides an option to load and save individual material files. This was generally used by game formats that store materials as external files, so one was able to update or change materials without bothering with loading the model file itself.


However, it was a demanded option to be able to manage/access material files from the rest of supported game formats and/or be able to configure newly-created material to be game-ready.
An ability to save material (or several materials) from ZModeler in a native format with no loss of configuration data was the solution I have chosen. Now, you can Load/Save multiple materials as "ZModeler Materials Library" files (.zml) files, using "Load..." and "Save..." buttons in Materials browser:
(read full story...)

ZModeler application and all its binary modules have been signed with my personal code-signing certificate. This gives significantly higher score for an application in Microsoft SmartScreen Filter. In particular, this should resolve issues with automatic updates when Windows Defender deleted downloaded files before they were installed.

Also, for security measures license server will not provide validation for previous builds of ZModeler in automatic mode (automatic online validation). You can still install license key and apply validation in old versions manually.

ZModeler3 engine have been upgraded to DirectX11. Since this version is incompatible with previous builds, it is unavailable via automatic updates. You can download and install this version into a different folder manually. No more updates will be made for ZModeler 3.2.1 on DirectX9 engine. Also, mind the minimum OS requirement for ZModeler 3.3.0 is Windows 8.1. Mind the backward-only compatibility of .z3d files - you can open old files in ZModeler 3.3.0, but you can't open newly saved files (saved in 3.3.0) in any older version of ZModeler.

As this have been causing problems for some users already, I state this here explicitly:
Do not unpack ZModeler 3.3.0 files into the folder of your current ZModeler version!
Create a new empty folder for ZModeler 3.3.0 (perfectly not on a system drive) and unpack files into empty folder. You can copy your ZModeler_profile.xml file from an old installation to retain your preferences and settings. (read full story...)

GTA V: Glass crash data guide.

Updated: May 2022 (see below)

Vehicle model usually includes a set of glass objects (windscreen, rear windscreen, door windows) that can be crashed with several shots or during impact with other objects. This includes rendering of shatter-glass effect on glass objects and involves making of holes that can expand up to boundaries of the window. The technical background of this process is hidden inside the game and shaders code, and the data required for this logic is stored inside *.yft files. The data is not explicitly bind to the object itself, instead it just defines the boundary limits for the crash glass holes. The image below shows an original windscreen (orange) with original crash boundary data (red) and a modified windscreen (orange: it's moved aside and rotated), while crash data still makes crash holes in this object with original boundaries: (read full story...)