But if you’re on the lookout for a CAD/pre-processing tool then I recommend you at least take the free trial of Rhino3D for a spin. I can understand it if you’re not on board with this one, I’m in the minority here. I’m not sure how good it will be for data plots, but I think it looks great for geometry images (see below). The implementation in v5.9 works in real time (as opposed to the ray tracing options) & it works really well. It’s essentially “self-shadowing” which really brings out the details in complex models – learn more about it here. The feature I’m most looking forward to though, is a new rendering option – screen space ambient occlusion or SSAO.

Colour maps have been sorted into groups, including an “isoluminant” group for maps with “perceptually uniform luminance” which I know will excite some people.

You can now add additional text sources & filters to charts.

Ray-tracing improvements including a new version of OSPRay and a whole host of new materials for the path tracer.

Extractors – a new filter type, mainly for use with Catalyst, that can automate the writing of datafiles, images.

A new reader for Converge CFD – always good to see readers for more CFD codes.

The Kitware release notes are always detailed and well worth a scroll – here’s what I picked up on my first pass The most recent, RC3, is looking pretty good on my Mac. This new version of ParaView hasn’t been officially released, but there are several release candidates that you can try right now. So, here’s what I’m looking forward to in the new versions of ParaView & Rhino… ParaView 5.9 I tend not to jump on upgrades immediately, but I’m always keen to see what shiny new things are on offer.

With the new release that landed in December ( see last week’s issue), Rhino3D v7 which debuted in November and a new ParaView release just around the corner, it seems like all my upgrades have come at once.

An release for meshing, solving & post-processing.

Rhino3D for all of my CAD & snappyHexPrep.

Quick refresher, my core CFD toolkit looks like this: I’ve been checking out a couple of updates that you might be interested in – ParaView 5.9 & Rhino3d v7 – plus I have an update of my own, on the membership idea I floated before Christmas.

It Robin from CFD Engine and this week I’m still on the trail of shiny new stuff.

Rhino 3d free trial