FRED Version 14.40 Released!

Isolate in 3D view
Several versions ago we added the capability to isolate objects in the 3D view by selecting multiple sources and geometry elements on the object tree, right mouse clicking and then selecting the “Isolate and Fit View to Selection” option. This allows an unobstructed view of the selected components in the 3D view, which can be incredibly useful for inspecting components during construction or viewing raytrace paths through a system.

In this release of FRED, we have enhanced the flexibility of the isolation feature by allowing property based isolation. Multiple coatings, materials, raytrace controls, scatter models, and surface rougheners can be selected on the tree and then, from a right mouse click menu, the 3D view isolation feature can be invoked.

Multiple Selection Property Assignment
FRED’s implementation of drag and drop for assigning properties to objects on the tree is a quick and intuitive way to configure a target object. However, the drag and drop method of property assignment quickly becomes cumbersome when working with large models that contain many objects having similar properties but not located under a common node on the tree.

In this release of FRED, multiple properties (coatings, raytrace controls, materials, etc.) can be simultaneously assigned to multiple different nodes in the object tree using a new multiple selection method.

Keywords
Keywords are a new property type in FRED that are intended to help facilitate complex model construction and configuration by acting as pass-throughs for objects which have been assigned a keyword. Consider, for example, the basic scenario where custom elements located in multiple locations on your object tree all share a common property, such as a surface treatment. During model construction, all of these custom element nodes (and their children) can be assigned a descriptive keyword indicating the presence of the surface treatment. Once the keyword has been assigned, properties such as coatings and scatterers can be drag and dropped onto the keyword in order to pass the property assignments to all of the surfaces with that keyword. Not only is the property assignment and management process greatly simplified (no multiple drag and drop operations for each custom element), the risk of erroneous property assignment is reduced.

Edit/View Multiple Surfaces Upgrades
The edit/view multiple surfaces dialog has been updated to allow the list of surfaces to be filtered using the options, “All surfaces”, “Selected surfaces”, “Isolated surfaces”, or “Traceable surfaces”. Furthermore, the dialog can now be refreshed to reflect new selection or isolation lists by using the Reload button. Two new options to support these changes have been added to the Edit menu that affects how the multiple surface edit dialog is instantiated; either with a selected surfaces list or with an isolated surfaces list. In the case of selected surfaces, the selection identification is recursive so that if a lens node is selected on the tree, for example, the descendant nodes of that lens element are displayed in the multiple surface edit dialog.

IES-TM-27-14 Spectrum Import
The ability to import a spectrum using the IES standard TM-27-14 has been added to the Spectra folder of the object tree. This feature can be accessed by right mouse clicking on the Spectra folder and choosing the option, “Import an XML IES TM-27-14 Spectrum…”.

User-selectable 3D View Cursor
The ability to designate a custom cursor icon for the 3D view has been added to the FRED Preferences. Designation of the cursor icon (*.cur file) is performed by going to Tools > Preferences: File Locations and then selecting the “3D View cursor file (*.cur)” option from the file list.

Sentinel Key Driver
The latest Sentinel Key driver, version 7.6.7, is being used in this release. This will require that the Sentinel Server components be upgraded on network key license servers in order to run this release in a network configuration.

A complete list of the new FRED 14.40 features can be found in the developer release notes, accessible from the Help menu after installation.