Unleash your photography skills in Toolbag 4.04, a free update for all Toolbag 4 users. This update focuses on emulating physical camera qualities to help you capture even more realistic renders.  We’ve also updated the rendering backend to the latest API, DirectX 12, boosting ray tracing quality and overall performance. 

Some exciting new features include ray-traced Depth of Field and Motion Blur and we’ve enhanced a handful of rendering features, including the Grain post effect, Lens Flare, Shadow Catcher, and introduced Advanced Light Sampling. By popular request, we’ve added an Autosave feature. Finally, we’ve updated the Library to give you a smoother user experience. Learn more about Toolbag 4.04 in detail below.

Review the complete 4.04 changelog here.

DirectX 12 Migration

(only)

DirectX 12 now runs the show in the rendering backend! Toolbag’s migration to DX12 opens the door for many new features and improvements. Most notably, users on AMD Radeon RX cards now have access to hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and rendering performance and memory use with Toolbag’s ‘Accelerated’ rendering backend has been improved on both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs.

4.04 Rendering Speed Improvements
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NVIDIA GeForce RTX
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AMD Radeon RX

Physical Camera Effects

Post Effect DoFRay-Traced DoF

Ray-Traced Depth of Field

We’ve updated Depth of Field in the Camera object to include Ray Traced Depth of Field (DoF) alongside the existing Post Effect version. Ray-traced DoF produces a higher quality effect with more natural transitions between the subject and out of focus areas and gives better results for transparent and refractive materials. 

Using Depth of Field

Featured art by Vadim Sorici

New DoF Focus Tool

Depth of Field can now be dialed in with an aperture (f-stop) setting akin to a 35mm film camera. The new Focus Tool lets you set the focal point on any mesh. You can use Ctrl+LMB to adjust the aperture/amount of blur and click and drag to set the focal point. 

Featured art by Jake Woodruff

Motion Blur

Create a natural sense of motion for your animations and turntables using the new Motion Blur. Reduce the shutter speed dial to produce exaggerated motion and increase it for fast-action sequences. 

Motion Blur Quick Guide

Updated Lens Flare Effect

We’ve updated the Lens Flare effect to accurately replicate how light interacts with real-world lenses. You can control the intensity of the lens flare per light source, and find more flare settings in the Camera object properties.

Adding Realistic Lens Flares

Updated Grain Effect

The Grain post effect now randomizes each frame to help create a dynamic, organic result, which is important for video renders.

You can choose one of two grain styles,  film and digital, and adjust the coarseness of the effect. Dirt can add an extra layer of interest by placing random scratches and stains on the render with controls for density and scale.

Camera Grain Quick Guide

Rendering Improvements

Improved Shadow Catcher

We’ve expanded the Shadow Catcher controls to more convincingly ground your subject in the scene. Indirect Shadow mode (Ray Tracing on) allows Shadow Catchers to catch reflections and bounced lighting. They also work on arbitrary mesh objects, where you can drag any mesh to a Shadow Catcher object.

Creating Shadow Catchers
Indirect Shadow OFFIndirect Shadow ON

Shadow Catcher Meshes

Shadow Catchers now work with custom mesh objects by simply dragging any mesh onto the Shadow Catcher object. This image shows a pavement mesh parented to a Shadow Catcher object with Indirect Shadow enabled.

Advanced Light Sampling

Create better quality renders in less time with the Advanced Light Sampling rendering mode. This can reduce noise in scenes with many direct lights and lower sample counts. Additionally, Advanced Light Sampling can improve the user experience when real-time GPU denoising is enabled.

Adv. Light Sampling Quick Guide

Library Improvements

Toolbag 4.04’s Library now has improved visual cues and provides a much smoother user experience. 

  • Generate multiple Library windows
  • Changes to Library UI are saved, including position and filtering
  • Asset thumbnail sizes are now adjustable

  • New icons for assets that are available to download or update

  • A progress bar appears for each downloading/updating asset
  • New filter buttons to show downloadable assets/available updates
  • You can filter library assets used in the current scene
  • Color-code many assets selected at once
  • View properties of each asset by right-clicking
  • Long asset names are now truncated

Autosave

Toolbag 4.04 introduces the much-requested Autosave feature. You can choose the file path and the maximum size for the autosave directory via Edit > Preferences. You can check Save Relative Scene if you want autosaves to be created in the same directory as your scene file.

Get Started with 4.04!

Check for an auto-update prompt in-app, or follow the links below to download the latest installers, and review the complete list of changes, bug fixes, and quality of life improvements.

4.04 Changelog
Download 4.04

Featured art by Jake Woodruff