Release date: July 10, 2025
Plasticity 25.2 Release Notes
Plasticity 25.2 introduces a wide array of enhancements and new features aimed at improving surface modeling, enhancing usability, and streamlining operations. Below is a detailed overview of the updates:
1. New Commands
New Align Command
- Align Surfaces
Align is a tool powered by xNURBS and allows you to align two surfaces (sheets) with consistent G0 (positional), G1 (tangential), or G2 (curvature) continuity. You can select the target surface and adjust its degree, span, and other options to improve the quality of the transition. Note that this tool is available only with a Studio license.
New Measure Continuity Command
- Measure Continuity
Measure Continuity lets you select pairs of edges and evaluate their continuity (G0, G1, or G2) in real time while the command is active. This tool is also integrated into the Align tool to help streamline your workflow.
New Measure Curvature Command
- Measure Curve and Surface Curvature
Measure Curvature allows you to assess the curvature of surface edges and curves using a curvature comb. This tool provides a visual representation of curvature variation, helping you evaluate the shape quality and smoothness of surfaces and curves that may be difficult to judge visually.
New Fork Material Command
- Fork Existing Material
Fork Material is a command that duplicates and allows you to edit the material of selected objects. The new material is created and saved in the Assets menu.
New Unlock All Command
- Unlock All Objects
Unlock All is a command that will unlock all locked objects and groups in the outliner. It provides a quick way to unlock multiple items at once, saving time compared to manually selecting each object.
New Export Commands
- Export STEP and SAT
You can now export to STEP and SAT file formats directly from the Command Palette for faster access.
| Command | File Format |
|---|---|
| Export STEP | STEP (*.stp; *.step) |
| Export SAT | SAT (*.sat) |
New Select All Commands
- Select All Measurements, Solids, and Sheets
Quickly select all visible Measurements, Solids, and Sheets in the viewport. This is especially useful when objects are spread across multiple groups in the outliner, helping you work more efficiently without manually selecting each item.
| Command | Note |
|---|---|
| Select All Sheets | Select all sheets in visible viewport. |
| Select All Solids | Select all solids in visible viewport. |
| Select All Measurements | Select all measurements in visible viewport. |
2. Modeling Enhancements
Square Command Enhancement
- Individual Tension Settings
The Square command now allows setting individual tension values for each edge constraint.
Boolean Command Enhancement
- New Operation: Region
A new Region option has been added to the Boolean command. It creates individual solids from enclosed regions formed by overlapping bodies. - New Advanced Options Panel
An Advanced section is now available beneath the main Boolean dialog. It includes options like Target Material and Tool Material, giving you more control over object assignment during Boolean operations.
Bridge Curve Enhancement
- New Tension Gizmos
Tension Gizmos are now available for Bridge Curve and are precise in specifying the tension parametrization during the operation. This is intuitive to work with and streamlines the work. - Move Tension CVs
Tension for G1, G2, and G3 continuity can now be adjusted by directly moving the visible control-vertices (CVs) on the screen. - Curvature Combs
Curvature measurement is now optionally available during the Bridge Curve command under the Analysis menu. When the menu is open, curvature combs can be displayed to help evaluate the curve's shape in real time.
Fillet Shell Operation
- Tension Parameter
When filleting a shell or edge, you can now adjust the Tension parameter to control how pronounced or subtle the fillet appears. This option is available across all shape types but the Full Shape option.
Loft Enhancement
- Simplify Planar Surfaces
The Loft command now includes a new Simplify option that controls how planar sections of lofted surfaces are created. This option is enabled by default and generates simplified trimmed patches for planar sections where the CV layout would otherwise be inconsistent. When Simplify is disabled, the loft generates intermediate geometry between profiles, resulting in a "tweening" effect that preserves a consistent CV layout across the entire surface.
Isoparam Enhancement
- Subdivide Surface
The Isoparam command now includes a Subdivide option, which allows you to split a surface while preserving its CV layout. When enabled, this option inserts an isoparametric line that divides the surface in half, and the resulting surfaces retain the same underlying CV structure as the original.
Reverse Command Enhancement
The Reverse command can now handle multiple bodies at once, simultaneously reversing their direction (for curves) or normal direction (for sheets).
3. Improved Commands
Duplicate Command
- Duplicate Recursively
In the Outliner, it is now possible to duplicate group hierarchies recursively. Previously, only the parent group could be duplicated, and its child objects were not included in the duplication. With this update, all children within a group are now duplicated along with the parent.
Unjoin Command
- Unjoin Faces
The Unjoin command can now unjoin faces from multiple bodies simultaneously.
Dimension Command
- Line Segment
The Dimension command now supports modifying the dimension properties of individual line segments.
Loft Command
- Error Indicator
The Loft command now provides clearer error feedback by marking guide curves that fail to touch profiles with a red dot.
4. New features
Selection Command
- Invert Selection
The Invert Selection command now supports edges and faces.
Selection Context Menu
- Disambiguating Selections
When multiple objects overlap, a selection context menu helps clarify which object to select based on the current selection mode. To access this menu, hold Ctrl + Shift and left-click, or left-click while scrolling the mouse wheel.
Point Selection Mode
- CV Hull Selection
You can now select an entire row of CVs by hovering over the CV hull while holding Alt. The highlighted preview will indicate the direction of the loop selection before you click.
Selection Panel
- Rational or Nominal
The Selection panel now shows whether the selected surface is rational or nominal. - Parallel Distance
When planar faces are selected, the Selection panel now shows the distance between parallel surfaces.
Extend Command
- Extend Sheet
The command now has a dialog Limit option which will specify the sheet extension until it reaches the inside or outside of a target body.
- Extend Curve and Vertex
Both commands now optionally allow specifying a target to define the extension length of the curve.
Untrim Command
- Imprinted Edges
The Untrim command now has an option to retain imprinted edges after untrimming a surface.
Dialogues
- Numeric Fields
Plasticity has always supported basic arithmetic operations by default. Now, the mathematical constant π (pi) is also supported in all numeric fields within dialogs.
| Type | Operation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (+) | Addition | 35 + 12 (Result: 47.0) |
| (-) | Subtraction | 35 - 12 (Result: 23.0) |
| (*) | Multiplication | 35 * 12 (Result: 420.0) |
| (/) | Division | 35 / 12 (Result: 2.917) |
| (pi) | Mathematical Constant | 2 * pi * 3.15 (Result: 19.792) |
Additionally, numeric fields also support unit conversion based on the current units settings in Plasticity.
| Unit | Conversion to CM | Example |
|---|---|---|
| mm (Millimeter) | 1 mm = 0.1 cm | 5 + 2mm (Result: 5.2 cm) |
| cm (Centimeter) | 1 cm = 1 cm | 5 + 2cm (Result: 7.0 cm) |
| m (Meter) | 1 m = 100 cm | 5 + 2m (Result: 205.0 cm) |
| in (Inch) | 1 in = 2.54 cm | 5 + 2in (Result: 10.08 cm) |
| ft (Foot) | 1 ft = 30.48 cm | 5 + 2ft (Result: 65.96 cm) |
Cut Command
- Extend
The Cut Command now includes an Extend option for curve cutters. If the curve is too short to fully cut the target objects, this option will extend its length to ensure a complete cut.
Sweep, Pipe, and Curve Array
- Extend Methods
Sweep, Pipe, and Curve Array now include new Extend Methods - Sweep: Distance, Pipe: Distance, and Curve Array: Extend and Method - which allow you to control how much to extend or retract the sweep body, pipe body, or duplicates along the path curves.
Learn more Sweep, Pipe, Curve Array
Imprint and Project Body
Both commands now support multiple tool bodies simultaneously, instead of handling only tool pairs individually.
5. Improved features
Camera
- FOV Change
The default field of view (FOV) for the perspective camera has been changed from 50 to 35. This adjustment addresses reported clipping issues, which are often caused by unit scale or very small scene tolerances. If clipping still occurs, try lowering the FOV further to improve visibility.
Interface
- Visual Zoom
A new Zoom Factor option has been added in the Appearance section, allowing you to increase the interface's visual zoom level.
Toolbar
The toolbar now remembers its viewport side between sessions and after restarting.
Select All Command
Now skips locked items in the Outliner during selection.
Assets
The Assets menu now displays the material catalog with searchable previews and filters.
6. Shading Improvement
Plasticity now offers enhanced shading features that make it easier and more effective to visualize your work. Below are the key improvements and details:
Physical Materials
Plasticity now includes a collection of 34 physical materials accessible from the Assets panel. These materials become visible when Render Mode is enabled.
Render Mode
- HDRI
Choose from a selection of HDRIs and rotate them for custom lighting and reflections. - Ground-Plane Shadow
Shadows are now projected onto the ground plane, showing the silhouette of your object for better visual context. - Ambient Occlusion
Ambient Occlusion is always enabled in Render Mode and can be configured under Preferences > Appearance.
Shader Mode
- Ambient Occlusion
You can enable Ambient Occlusion even when Render Mode is off via Preferences > Performance. Note: This is recommended for machines with high-end GPUs (e.g., RTX 3060 or higher). - Topology Shader
A new shader that displays a wireframe look on your model, ideal for imported meshes and reverse engineering. It helps analyze complex organic shapes with intricate curves and deformations that might be hard to see with other shaders. - Normal Checker
This shader shows surface normal direction by coloring surfaces blue if facing outward and red if inward. It works with the Reverse command to help fix normal orientation quickly.
Past Update Information
- February 25, 2025 Version 2025.2