We’re preparing to bump the Triton Ocean SDK up to version 4.0, and rolling out some of the larger changes incrementally ahead of time. We just released Triton 3.78, and it includes a few changes worth noting:
New support for multi-threaded rendering in DirectX 11. A big objective for Triton 4 is better support of rendering multiple viewports concurrently; this is especially important for people developing VR applications. We’ll be rolling this out for OpenGL as well, but for now you can refer to the DirectX11MultipleContextsSample included in the SDK’s sample applications to see how this works. In short, there is a new Triton::Camera class that encapsulates a given view. Instead of using Triton::Environment::SetCameraMatrix() and SetProjectionMatrix() to change Triton’s camera, you’ll pass a pointer to your Camera instance in to any Triton methods that draw. This way, we can ensure the camera you want is being drawn even if another is being drawn concurrently. When drawing multiple views concurrently, you’ll want to use the new Triton::Ocean::DrawConcurrent() method instead of Draw(), and call Triton::Ocean::PostDrawConcurrent() after all views have been drawn to clean things up.
Everything is still backwards-compatible, so you don’t need to change your existing applications unless you want to take advantage of this new capability.
Work-in-progress wake improvements. Triton 4 will also feature better ship wake effects. Triton 3.78 includes the beginning of this, featuring improvements in the foam effect surrounding the ship. This will continue to be refined, and we’re also turning our attention to improving spray particle effects and the prop wash effect.
A new Triton preview tool. Also a work in progress, Triton 3.78 will install the Triton Preview tool into your start menu under the Triton SDK. You can use this tool to visualize changes to the ocean conditions and to ship wake parameters interactively, to get a better feel of the effect different parameters have under different conditions. We’re using it internally while tuning our new wake effects, and thought it might be useful for our customers as well. A shot of this new utility is above.
More is to come; it’s an exciting time as both Triton and SilverLining are getting close to major version updates! Don’t worry, updates – even between major versions – are free to anyone with a current support and maintenance plan.
