Sycles 1.12

What's new:

1. Compiled with the Cycles version from 13.03.2022. This version of Cycles render has many changes with respect to the previous one. The most important are:

• Remove Branched Path Tracing mode. Now there is only one more simple mode with one quality parameter - sampling count
• Remove progressive rendering. In fact the render mode now is always progressive. But there is possibility to split rendered image into different tiles. By default the engine render the whole image as one tile. This mode is optimized for CPU and GPU
• Remove NLM denoising mode. Now there are only two different denoising modes: OptiX and OpenImageDenoise
• The render speed is increased
• Improved shadow catcher. Now the engine allows to output the special pass, which can be used in composition. This pass contains not only the shadow information, but also secondary light and reflections
• The interface of the Sycles is changed: some parameters are removed, some are moved into another location, some are new

2. New output passes:

• If the parameter "Combine Render Passes into Single EXR" is activated and denoising is ON, then there is possibility to save as additional layer noisy images for Combined Pass and Shadow Catcher and also passes (albedo, normal and position), which can be used for denoising
• Add Position output pass
• Add Shadow Catcher output pass

3. Now Cycles render engine supports primitive point clouds. It renders the points as procedural spheres instead of instances of polygonal spheres. This is much more optimal with respect to sphere instances.
4. Shader node updates:

• PointInfo node for shading procedural point clouds
• New "Random Walk (Fixed Radius)" mode for subsurface scattering
• New nodes FloatCurve and VectorMapRange
• Add Alpha output port for ObjectInfo and Attribute nodes
• Add Length output for HairInfo node

5. Add vertex creases for subdivided polygonal meshes
6. Add "Invisible Tiles" parameter in Performance tab of the render settings. When it activated, then the render does not update image on the screen during the render process. It output to the screen only the final image. May be now this parameter is not actual, because by default the tile size is big, and image is not updated frequently during the render process.
7. New mode of the panoramic camera: Fisheye Lens Polynomial
8. Denoising now can be activated for the light baking