Merry Christmas! VERSION 2.9.1682

Merry Christmas!

This free update brings 3 new major things:

• hdr-image-output

• new help-module with links to the user's manual and official videos

• major ui overhaul: elements are now better grouped and distinguishable from each other. Also, you can add/remove multiple points at once on motion-curve- and gradient-editor

And, much more.

Complete changelog:

VERSION 2.9.1682 (24.12.2025):

- added separate options for move/rotate/zoom of layers (currently can not to

be animated) (SWAN-460)

- fixed: zoom/move for layers in flame-painter was not working (SWAN-442)

- made the appearance of flame-thumbnails more consistent (aspect ratio

sometimes was off) (SWAN-457)

- make the different application-themes more consistent (e. g. same corner

radius for fields) (SWAN-458)

- added different background colors for different themes (SWAN-459)

- removed selection-border around tree-views and item-list-views (SWAN-456)

- added section in the users manual about hdr-rendering (SWAN-446)

- gradient-editor: made it more easy to add/remove multiple points (SWAN-437)

- motion-curves-editor: made it more easy to add/remove multiple points (SWAN-461)

- motion-curves: allow curves with only one point (which also leads to an

animation when the constant curve is modulated) (SWAN-439)

- increased the maximum texture size to 16384, which seems to be the maximum

usable limit on a NVIDIA RTX 4090. For images in higher resolution we need

to implement some kind of segment rendering in the future. (SWAN-430)

VERSION 2.8.1671 (21.12.2025):

- creates new help-section which also shows links to the official introduction

videos (SWAN-450, SWAN-423, SWAN-373)

- chillout bricks:

- implemented CANNON powerup (SWAN-412)

- implemented DOUBLE_CANNON powerup (SWAN-413)

- main-editor: fixed: label of the frame-number changed while changing

the frame (which was part of the implementation before motion-curves) (SWAN-165)

- improved the handling of main-window-size/position on startup (SWAN-441)

- created a tutorial-video about working with random flames and

random flame-animations (SWAN-29)

- created a tutorial-video about application-settings (SWAN-35)

VERSION 2.7.1664 (19.12.2025):

- main-editor: made UI elements more distinguishable (SWAN-432)

- flame-painter: made UI elements more distinguishable (SWAN-453)

- flame-library: made UI elements more distinguishable (SWAN-454)

- jukebox: made UI elements more distinguishable (SWAN-455)

- sub-windows: made UI elements more distinguishable (SWAN-452)

- main-window: decreased tool-button-size (SWAN-449)

- do not save hdr-images on cancelled renders (SWAN-444)

- hdr-output: added support for oversampled images (SWAN-443)

- user-manual: make it an external link (like already on macOS) (SWAN-424)

VERSION 2.6.1655 (17.12.2025):

- flame-renderer:

- added support for exporting the tone-mapped image as HDR (SWAN-433, SWAN-429)

- added support for exporting the raw image as HDR (SWAN-434)

- added support for exporting the tone-mapped image as EXR (SWAN-435)

- added support for exporting the raw image as EXR (SWAN-436)

- save/restore options for generating HDR-images (SWAN-440)

- larger refactorings to the internal api

- application-settings: add default options for generating hdr-images (SWAN-451)

VERSION 2.5.1648 (15.12.2025):

- chillout bricks:

- implemented FIREBALL powerup (SWAN-410)

- implemented BALL_SLOW_DOWN powerup (SWAN-408)

- implemented multi-ball logic (SWAN-405)

- implemented MULTI_BALL powerup (SWAN-409)

- implemented SPINNING bricks (SWAN-414)

- make the game freely resizable/add scale-options for various elements

as well as the game area itself (SWAN-421)

- main-window:

- avoid automatic full-screen when window-size = screen-size (SWAN-447)

- don't switch position/size when switching between modules (SWAN-448)

VERSION 2.4.1640 (13.12.2025):

- chillout bricks:

- implemented BALL_SPEED_UP powerup (SWAN-407)

- implemented EXPLODING bricks (SWAN-416)

- added timed event to move bricks toward the player (SWAN-422)

- implemented MULTI_HIT bricks (SWAN-418)

- implemented PADDLE_EXTEND powerup (SWAN-404)

- implemented chain-reaction for EXPLODING bricks (SWAN-417)

- implemented HIDDEN bricks (SWAN-415)

- implemented STICKY_PADDLE powerup (SWAN-411)

- implemented PADDLE_SHRINK powerup (SWAN-406)

- created a tutorial-video about rendering flames (SWAN-31)

VERSION 2.3.1630 (12.12.2025):

- chillout bricks:

- added game-pause mode (SWAN-398)

- separated paddle-related logic into paddle-manager class (SWAN-390)

- implemented synchronous scan-flame-library mode to generate test-levels

on the fly when there are no levels loaded yet (this operation is

asynchronous per default which makes it not easy to call it directly

and work directly with the result) (SWAN-419)

- implemented EXTRA_LIFE powerup (SWAN-403)

- created a tutorial-video about the basic user-interface

- created a tutorial-video about the flame-editor (SWAN-30)

- flame-painter:

- mentioned in the manual, that you must hold the left mouse-button

while rotating, zooming and panning (SWAN-372)

- created a tutorial-video about editing variations (non-linear transforms) (SWAN-425)

VERSION 2.2.1622 (11.12.2025):

- chillout bricks:

- added pause overlay (SWAN-383)

- created debug-view to assign flames to levels (SWAN-394)

- separated flame-related logic into flame-manager class (SWAN-387)

- created debug view to edit flame-motion-mappings (SWAN-386)

- separated ball-related logic into ball-manager class (SWAN-389)

- created and save/restore highscore-list (SWAN-393)

- display the top highscores in the pause menu (SWAN-395)

- separated bricks-related logic into bricks-manager class (SWAN-391)

- made player name editable and store it to the highscore list (SWAN-392)

- optimization: skipped the flame-compatibility-check on rendering the

background flame (because this flame does not change in a structural

way) (SWAN-397)

VERSION 2.1.1612 (10.12.2025):

- started to create a new module "chillout bricks" which is both a challenging and

relaxing breakout-type-game. The game progress influences real-time-animated

fractals in the background. So, by playing the game you unlock new animation

features of the current flame. There are lots of levels and features like

powerups planned and there will be a nice soundtrack (SWAN-375)

- chillout bricks:

- added basic game mechanics (SWAN-376)

- added framework for powerups (SWAN-377)

- added basic level structure (SWAN-379)

- added title music (SWAN-378)

- added level music (SWAN-380)

- added basic game sounds (SWAN-382)

- added support for animated backgroind flame per level (SWAN-381)

- separated audio-related logic into audio-manager class (SWAN-388)