Quoting from the release documentation:
- New option to overlap I/O and computation if there is sufficient memory (>100 megabytes per megapixel); see Options > Preferences > Multiprocessing > “Overlap I/O with computation if possible” (Pro-only).
- New option to throttle the display of in-progress results while stacking; see Options > Preferences > Look & Feel > “Set output display interval when stacking” (Pro-only).
- Reduced cpu overhead for memory management during stacking.
- Improved parallelization of alignment computation.
- Shortcut some computations when no alignment options are selected.
- Avoid certain computations if screen image caching is not selected.
- Much faster computation of depth map after threshold selection.
1. Current full release T201402072140, 3:40 (min:sec)
2. Turned off caching, 3:30
3. New beta T201403071805_beta, 2:38
4. Turned on I/O overlap, 1:57
5. Throttled display to once per 15 seconds, 1:32 (min:sec)
As always, your mileage will vary. Many of the mods were motivated by this application and my new 6-core hyperthreaded machine, so they won't have as much effect in other situations. I'll be interested to hear what other people see with their different tests and configurations.
--Rik