Other than the new network rendering facilities and the general benefits gained from the incorporation of a newer version of the LightWorks rendering libraries, v. 4.0 has introduced a variety of mostly efficiency improvements to the rendering environment of form·Z. It has also made the following specific enhancements:

• The RenderZone Options dialog has been significantly reorganized and is now composed of four tabs, labeled Shading, Geometry, Scene, and Postprocess.

• The Smooth Shading and Smooth Objects options of all display modes have been condensed into a single, project level set of parameters that can be accessed by pressing the Project Rendering Options... button at the bottom of the RenderZone Options dialog.

• The Background map item has replaced what was previously called Image, in the Background popup menu, in the Scene tab of the RenderZone Options dialog.

• The previous restriction that only one global environment can be used has been voided. There are now two global environments, one mapped and one rendered. In addition, surface styles that use the Environment reflection shader can now define their own mapped or rendered environments.

• The Surface Style Parameters dialog has been reorganized and so have the shader menus (Color, Reflection, Transparency, and Bitmap).

• There are two new Color shaders: Roof Tiles, which is a wrapped texture, and Granite, which is a solid texture. Both shaders have also been added as Bump shaders.

• A new Reflection shader has been added: Generic, which is a ray-traced reflection. The Environment shader has also been enhanced.

• The Texture Map Options and Decal dialogs have been slightly changed. How faces are selected for texture/decal mapping has been improved and Auto Preview has been removed, since previewing now occurs all the time.