Cascadeur is a unique physics based animation system for Linux and Windows (Mac coming soon) that just released into Open Beta. Details of the first Cascadeur beta release:
New core architecture
The progress from the CBT to the OBT version may appear subtle on the outside, but on the inside the entire core architecture has been revised. As a result, the hardware efficiency and general performance of Cascadeur have improved considerably. With the new data-driven core design, we are able to optimize the software much easier and eliminate bugs faster in the future.
Improved rig creation
One goal of the core redesign was to simplify the rigging process in Cascadeur, by making the rigs adaptable at runtime. We are not there yet, but with the optimized core architecture, we have laid the necessary foundation for moving in this direction. Our long-term endeavor remains to give you instant visual feedback during the entire rigging process. Nevertheless, the new OBT version already offers you improved rig creation tools and other benefits, such as a more user-friendly controller behavior and improved interpolation.
GUI conversion to QML
During the past months, we migrated our GUI from the old QWidgets to the new QML standard. This goal has been achieved, and due to this important transition, we could remove several GUI bugs that came with using QWidgets.
Reverse compatibility issues
Unfortunately, switching to new core caused issues with reverse compatibility. Due to the optimized architecture, your scenes created in the previous versions of Cascadeur will not work in the OBT version. The problem is that old .casc scenes will load only as joints with baked animation and meshes. However, there are simple ways to transfer them to the OBT version. Please refer to this CONVERSION INSTRUCTION for more information.
Changed license model
And last, but not least, we have simplified our licensing model: Any animation created with Cascadeur’s new OBT version can be freely used in commercial games and movies – without asking for Nekki’s permission or paying any license fees.
The future goals of the Cascadeur development team are available on this Trello board roadmap. More details are available in the documentation as well as in their YouTube based tutorial series. You can learn more about Cascadeur and see it in action in the video below.