This update brings new fur/hair-controls which can be combined with any material. But, please note, that computing fur is a real heavy operation. Even compiling the shaders can take up to minutes! If you encounter GPU-timeouts during rendering, decrease tile-size and/or quality budget. But, it can give really nice results!
Also, there are a lot of new procedural textures. To improve the handling in the user-interface, there is now a generic item-picker for textures, fractal formulas, primitives and deforming variations, which is sorted by categroy and also shows (for many of them) a preview-image. Some preview images are not good yet, or even missing, this will improve from release to release.
And, again, the pre/post-transforms at formula-level where generalized again/more and there also more transforms available, like a variation-deform or spherical inversion. These work with any fractal formula! Watch out for the new "Formula Transform"-tab.
For details, please consult the users manual.
Happy rendering!
Complete changelog:
VERSION 3.16.2421 (19.04.2026):
- mandelbro3d:
- added "Faehrten"-fractal-formula (SWAN-1182)
- added preview-images to the fractal-formulas-picker (SWAN-1184)
- added preview-images to the deforming-variations-picker (SWAN-1185)
- added preview-images to the primitives-picker (SWAN-1186)
- added "Abalone Shell"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1232)
- added "Cosmic Web"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1232)
- added "Kelp Forest"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1234)
- added preview-images to the procedural-textures-picker (SWAN-1183)
- added orbit-based curl-modulation of the fur (SWAN-1181)
- added "Chladni Plate"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1227)
- added "Fordite"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1228)
- added "Bone Cross-Section"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1229)
- added "Geiger Counter"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1230)
- added "Tectonic Fault"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1231)
VERSION 3.15.2407 (18.04.2026):
- mandelbro3d:
- added popup-window with categories for picking procedural textures (SWAN-1169)
- added some kind of gravity-effect to the fur (SWAN-1171)
- added some curl-effect to the fur (SWAN-1172)
- added popup-window with categories for picking deforming variations (SWAN-1174)
- added "Piezoelectric"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1121)
- added "Ferrofluid"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1222)
- added "Terrazzo"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1223)
- added "Verdigris Rivulet"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1224)
- added "Paper Fiber"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1225)
- added "Aurora Marble"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1126)
VERSION 3.14.2397 (17.04.2026):
- mandelbro3d:
- added procedural hair/fur as new feature which works with any material (SWAN-1166)
- added "Neural Pathway"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1214)
- added popup-window with categories for picking primitives (SWAN-1168, SWAN-1158)
- added a "Clear All"-button to the "Proc. Textures" tab (SWAN-1173)
- added orbit-based length-modulation of the fur (SWAN-1180)
- added "Sound Spectrum"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1215)
- added "Quantum Dot"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1216)
- added "Dried Mud"-procdural-texture (SWAN-1217)
- added "Storm Cell"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1218)
- added "Mokume-gane"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1219)
- added "Lichen Colony"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1220)
VERSION 3.13.2386 (16.04.2026):
- mandelbro3d:
- added "Patina"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1202)
- added "Suminagashi"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1203)
- added "Weathered Paint"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1204)
- added "Tide Pool"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1205)
- added "Stained Concrete"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1206)
- added "Northern Ice"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1207)
- added "Batik"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1208)
- added "EM Interference"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1209)
- added "Fluid Cells"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1210)
- added "Tidal Erosion"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1211)
- added "Bismuth Oxide"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1212)
- added "Volcanic Glass"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1213)
VERSION 3.12.2374 (15.04.2026):
- mandelbro3d:
- added generic sphere-inversion-transform for all formulas (SWAN-1164)
- updated the user manual regarding generic formula-transforms (SWAN-1165)
- added popup-window with categories for picking fractal formulas (SWAN-1167)
- broke down the procedural textures into more meaningful categories (SWAN-1175)
- added "Bismuth Crystal"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1187)
- added "Frost"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1188)
- added "Aurora Borealis"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1189)
- added "Damascus Steel"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1190)
- added "Erosion Strata"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1199)
- added "Holographic Foil"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1200)
- added "Ink in Water"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1201)
VERSION 3.11.2363 (15.04.2026):
- mandelbro3d:
- added generic affine-transforms at formula-level, which work for all formulas
(when they are outside of a hybrid container) (SWAN-1162)
- added generic variation-transform for all formulas (SWAN-1163)
- added "Magnetic Field"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1192)
- added "Psychedelic"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1193)
- added "Spirograph"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1194)
- added "Kintsugi"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1195)
- added "Bioluminescence"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1196)
- added "Chromatography"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1197)
- added "Brain Coral"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1191)
- added "Petri Dish"-procedural-texture (SWAN-1198)