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2023-11-29 09:16

We release today Gaia Sky, 3.5.7-3, which contains only a few important bugfixes.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-11-21 12:10

The bugfix release of Gaia Sky, 3.5.7-2, is now available for download.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-11-07 09:43

Today, we release Gaia Sky 3.5.7, which contains some new features and some important bug fixes.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-10-24 09:19

We have released today a new bugfix version (3.5.6-2) which fixes a couple of shader issues with 3.5.6. Enjoy!

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-10-20 08:49

We are releasing today a new version of Gaia Sky: 3.5.6. This contains some neat new features. These are the most important:

• add film grain filter (disabled by default).
• set a maximum age for `.part` download files of 6 hours.
• improve recursive grid with travelling pulses and a noise mask.
• add 'animate' setting to recursive grid preferences to toggle animation on and off.
• add initial notice about Gaia Sky contacting the server to get the dataset updates list.
• improve shader compilation error handling.
• enable elevation (height) representation without tessellation in a new 'regular' mode. This is the new default mode, as tessellation is a bit to taxing on old and integrated GPUs.
• discontinue parallax mapping elevation type; the new vertex displacement type supersedes it.
• add full support for point lights, and use them for stars.
• true depth-tested close-by stars, also working with light glow enabled.

Additionally, some bugs have been fixed, most notably some shader crashes on macOS and the usage of predicted positions for tracked objects.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-10-04 10:42

Gaia Sky 3.5.5-2, released today, fixes a couple of small bugs and integrates some improvements in the build system. Nothing to write home about, really.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-10-03 17:59

Today we relase Gaia Sky 3.5.5-1, a bugfix release which fixes a couple of issues and adds some nice new features like diffuse scattering material properties.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-09-29 09:15

Another Friday, and another Gaia Sky release! Gaia Sky 3.5.5 comes with a few juicy new features, like the new UI or the updated close-up star shaders.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-09-22 08:41

We are publishing today a little patch release, Gaia Sky 3.5.4-1, which fixes a couple of small issues with the VR version.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-09-20 11:21

Today, we release the latest version of Gaia Sky: 3.5.4. It includes some exciting new features like the square recursive grid style, or the re-designed time pane.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-09-14 12:24

We release today Gaia Sky 3.5.3, which includes a rewriting of the keyframes system. The camera keyframes system enables the visual and interactive definition and edition of camera paths via keyframes. With this release, it is possible to interactively play and step through paths defined via keyframes without exporting them to a camera path file.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-07-26 09:40

We are here with yet another bugfix release in the 3.5.x family, Gaia Sky 3.5.1. It contains some fixes for the keyframes subsystem, and it should now start in full screen by default on the Steam Deck (and other small-screen devices).

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-07-18  13:40

Today, we publish a small bugfix release, Gaia Sky 3.5.1. It contains a fix for the bookmark system on Windows.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-07-17  13:22

Finally, we release today Gaia Sky 3.5.0! While it only represents a very small update since the last release candidate, 3.5.0-RC10, the amount of new features and bug fixes since the last stable version, 3.4.2, is actually huge. The release notes contain 69 new features, 52 bug fixes, 3 performance improvements and many other refactoring and build system items.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-07-11  09:59

Today we release the small Gaia Sky 3.5.0-RC10. It includes only bug fixes and library updates, so the update process should be pretty much painless.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-06-30  11:49

Gaia Sky 3.5.0-RC9 is now out. It includes improvements in the handling of velocity vectors in LOD datasets, fixes a bug with loading data via SAMP and adds some extra controls in the preferences.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-06-29  10:09

We are releasing today Gaia Sky 3.5.0-RC8, which contains a few neat features, additionally to the usual bug fixes and refactors:

Features

• Enable holding comma or period to slow down or speed up time. Map time speed up and slow down to d-pad up and down in game controllers.
• Add trailMinOpacity to trajectories. This raises the opacity of a trail to the given minimum value.
• Speeding up and slowing down time can be done by pressing and holding '.' and ',' respectively. No more frantically clicking a key. Also, the time warp change is smooth now.
• Add camera position/orientation named bookmarks, additionally to the already existing object bookmarks. Add bookmarks for many eclipses in the default bookmarks.txt.

Bug Fixes

• Look-up table paths in procedural generation window.
• Regression in go-to command with star and particle groups.

Code Refactoring

• Consolidate shader and resource disposing in post processors.
• Unify tessellation and regular shader infrastructure.

Downloads and full release notes are here.

2023-06-22  12:50

We are putting out GaiaSky 3.5.0-RC7 just one day after RC6. The new release contains a single bugfix which protects against crashes due to a corrupted configuration file.

Downloads and release notes here.

2023-06-21  14:04

Just a short note informing that GaiaSky 3.5.0-RC6 is now available. It contains several bug fixes, and implements support for eclipses.

Downloads and release notes here.

2023-06-07  15:44

The latest release candidate is out: GaiaSky 3.5.0-RC5. It comes with several critical performance improvements and many bug fixes.

Downloads and release notes here.

2023-05-24  08:32

Today we publish the fourth release candidate to Gaia Sky 3.5.0, Gaia Sky 3.5.0-RC4. It fixes some bugs and contains a couple of new features:

• Enable labels for regular particle cloud datasets.
• New unsharp mask algorithm which produces much better results.
• Remove non-instanced triangle rendererer for particle and star sets.
• Use screen-aligned billboards in regular mode, and scene-aligned ones in any of the cubemap modes (360, planetarium, etc.).

Here are the full release notes, and here the dowlonads.

2023-05-15  09:57

We have just published the third release candidate to Gaia Sky 3.5.0, Gaia Sky 3.5.0-RC3. It includes several bug fixes, a lot of library updates (and some removals),  and the following notable features:

• Support for textrue arrays in particle sets.
• Hard max. distance limit set at 50 Gpc.
• Activate v-sync in welcome and loading screens. Fix FPS lock mode to hit the defined target FPS setting with precision.
• Top info interface time and date are clickable, and open the date edit dialog.

Here is the full release notes, and here are the dowlonads.

2023-05-02  09:27

Gaia Sky 3.5.0-RC2 is now available. It contains some important bug fixes (especially for VR) and a global library update to the most recent versions. As always, this is an RC, so please do not forget to report any bugs you encounter in our bug tracker.

• Download Gaia Sky 3.5.0-RC2.
• Release notes.