TPE Web 4.1 – Beta Available

Hot on the heels of the 4.0 release on July 2 comes the 4.1 Beta.

Lots of bug fixes and polishing (more pending that I have yet to get to), but the biggest change is in the first-person view in the 3D page.

The major changes include:

  • Terrain distance slider is gone: it loads everything automatically, preserving near camera detail
  • There’s a new Highest quality setting (MAX plan) that pulls in even more data
  • You can control the focal length using two fingers on a trackpad or a mouse wheel mouse; effective focal length is displayed at the bottom of the scene; works with or without FOV tool enabled
  • Loading indicator added – high quality loads of complex terrain can pull ~90MB of data the first time around, so a fast connection is recommended
  • Mini-map added to /3d page – you can now relocate the pin on the 2D mini-map to change the 3D viewpoint without switching back and forth to the map page
  • The Moon rendering in FPV has been improved: better texture maps, correctly oriented for the observer location, time/date, libration
  • Fixed an gap below the Milky Way, occasionally visible if the observer was elevated above the horizon

Many other minor fixes and refinements.

I’d love it if you’d try it out and report back.

Stephen

1 Like

Very nice! Having the mini-map for location change is a great time saver. I had no problems using the highest quality settings

Is there a way to scroll in azimuth and not change altitude or vise versa (using a mouse)? In trying different modifier keys on my Mac, I noticed hitting the Option key blacks the sky…

Greg

1 Like

Hi Greg – thanks for checking it out!

I think adding a modifier key to change only az or alt would be very doable – leave it with me.

I can’t quite recall why I added the Option key “sky off” thing now! I’ll have to review – I’m sure there was a reason for it at the time…

Stephen

This probably wasn’t added in 4.1 BETA, but I love the little touches like the (accurately placed) reflection of the sun on the Gray pin in FPV mode. I’ve told myself that now is the time to really spend some time and really LEARN how to USE this amazing tool.

2 Likes

I’m so pleased you like it! That effect was first added in the TPE 3D iOS app in 2017, then ported into the Web App 3D view in 2021 or so. The FPV view kinda automatically inherited it from there! I hadn’t even thought to check it :slight_smile: