SCONE Version History

Released June 19, 2020

• New Parameter View window that shows all optimization parameters in the current scenario.
• New Evaluation Report window that shows the measure results from the most recent evaluation.
• Context-sensitive help: pressing F1 in the scenario shows on-line help for the keyword under the cursor.
• New StepMeasure for penalizing stride length and/or step duration, thanks to Dimitar Stanev.
• GaitStateController can now have single-sided controllers, using the legs parameter.
• Help menu now has links for About… and User Forum
• New (very useful!) text editor option: Press Ctrl + / to toggle comments for the current selection.
• .scone files now support // and /* */ style comments.
• New menu option Window → Reset Window Layout to restore the original window layout.
• EffortMeasure now supports SquaredMuscleActivation.
• SequentialController now outputs which controller is active in the AnalysisWindow, as 'active_index'. Closes #200.
• FeedForwardController now has include and exclude settings for targeting specific actuators.
• Measures now have a threshold_transition setting for gradually decreasing the measure if they approach the threshold (if any).
• BodyMeasure now uses direction and has option for magnitude.
• GaitMeasure base_bodies now use model foot bodies by default, instead of toes_l / toes_r. This will result in a slightly different outcome for existing scenarios that have no base_bodies specified.
• New command line option -b for benchmarking a scenario
• MimicMeasure now has average_error_limit and peak_error_limit options for early termination
• Option to store linear and angular momentum.

• Edit → Find and Find Next now also work with .lua files.
• Find Text now starts at the next occurrence. Added a hint for using F3 / Shift + F3. Closes #188.
• RangePenalty documentation now shows min and max parameters instead of 'range'.
• The RangePenalty default of (-inf, inf) now works correctly with angle types, such as in DofMeasure postion / velocity.
• When creating a video while ffmpeg is not found, an error message is shown instead of a silent exit.
• Fixed issue where loading an invalid OpenSim model could crash SCONE.
• Fixed tab order in AnalysisView tab order between filter and select checkbox.
• Error for unnamed child controllers is now warning again.
• Fixed rare invalid cycle detection in Gait Analysis.
• Fixed Lua automatic indentation when using 'for' or 'while'.
• Simulation no longer crashes when no controller is defined.
• Models are now called ModelOpenSim3 / ModelOpenSim4 to be consistent with the online help. Tutorials have been updated.
• Current optimization progress is now shown in optimization window tooltip.
• SCONE now always logs to the terminal under Linux.
• Message “Invalid scenario settings” now shows invalid setting(s) in message window.
• Gait Analysis now provides more useful error messages when loading a template.
• No longer is a restart required after selecting a different gait analysis template.

Released March 3, 2020

• Gait Analysis support, allowing users to extract gait cycles from simulation results, and compare gait parameters to norm data
• Scripting improvements and updates:
  • Greatly improved error handling in Lua scripts, closes #184, closes #80, closes #81
  • ScriptMeasure and ScriptController now support 'external_files', which can be used to add files included by a 'require' keyword. closes
  • Support for automatic indentation when editing Lua files
  • Renamed LuaMuscle::fiber_force() to LuaMuscle:force()
• Video output and visualization:
  • Add option to automatically set resolution of a video by resizing the viewer window (floating windows only)
  • Video output now supports mp4 (default), avi and mov container formats
  • Added optional visualization of Body Center of Mass (COM)
• Data analysis:
  • Added option to permanently 'Keep' specific graphs in the Analysis window (Ctrl+Shift+k), allowing easy comparison between different results
  • Added option to extract specific channels to separate tab-separated file, via Tools → Preferences → Advanced
  • Added option to output relation between dof and muscle length to file, via Tools → Muscle Analysis
  • Added option to show model information to the messages window, via Tools → &Model Analysis
• FeedForwardController now supports SineWave, with parameterizable amplitude, frequency, phase, and offset
• Added initial_equilibration_activation parameter for to Model
• Pressing F2 in Optimization Results now allows renaming files and folders

• Fix several crashes related to scenario or script errors
• Progress window now report error message in case of flat fitness on first generation
• Fixed message “Could not find Optimizer”: SCONE no longer tries to evaluate a .scone file that doesn't have the word “Optimizer” in it
• Pressing “Cancel” when asked to “Save Changes” now works correctly
• Fixed default file type when using “File → Save As…”, closes #186
• Fixed crash when trying that write to an .sto that is open in anther program, closes #185
• Fixed GaitMeasure step length and step duration reporting
• EffortMeasure Wang2012 is now guaranteed to be non-negative
• Fixed potential crashes in SconeStorageDataModel::timeValue(), SconeStorageDataModel::label() and SconeStorageDataModel::getSeries()
• Many documentation fixes and updates
• Viewer no longer gets keyboard focus after evaluating a .par file
• Double-clicking a folder in “Optimization Results” now opens the folder instead of showing an error

Released January 7, 2020

• Updates to ScriptController and ScriptMeasure:
  • LuaBody now has support for mass(), inertia_diagonal(), closes #176
  • LuaDofs can now be used as actuators, through is_actuated(), add_input(), input(), min_input(), max_input(), min_torque(), max_torque(). See online documentation for details. closes #177
  • Added Lua string library to ScriptController and ScriptMeasure, closes #95
  • ScriptController init function now has 'side' parameter, which denotes if the controller is for a specific side (-1 = left, 0 = any, 1 = right). closes #96
  • Documentation updates
• Added support for concurrent_optimizations in CmaPoolOptimizer
• New output channels for muscles: mtu_length, mtu_velocity
• Improved performance of writing .sto output
• Added simulation statistics in output

• StudioModel no longer crashes when objective is no ModelObjective
• Fixed crash when trying to save as an unknown file format
• Improved error message when an invalid state is entered in GaitStateController. closes #179

Released December 10, 2019

• Added support for displaying .obj and .stl files
• Display geometries that exist in the model folder are now automatically copied to the output folder during optimization. To prevent excessive copies, please copy the display geometries to the shared 'geometries' folder.
• Optimizer report now includes time, number_of_evals, evals_per_sec

• Fixed issue causing the initial parameter file (init_file) of an optimization not to be copied to the output folder, making it impossible to playback optimization results that use init_file
• GaitStateController now displays a proper warning message when no legs are defined in the model
• Increased maximum data output frequency to 1e6

Released November 27, 2019

• Support for building SCONE on Linux, many thanks to Dimitar Stanev
• Support for Travis-CI build integration, many thanks to Dimitar Stanev and Chris Dembia
• Added support for optimizing OpenSim models with ContactMesh contact geometry
• 3D Viewer settings are now remembered when restarting SCONE
• Added joint force visualization option to 3D viewer
• Improved support for the concept of legs, which is used by GaitController and ground reaction force reporting. Model-specific leg elements can now be specified through leg_upper_body and leg_contact_force parameters in OpenSim3Model. Previously, these values were hard-coded to their default values femur and foot.

• Fixed issue where duplicate external resources would cause an error during optimization
• GaitMeasure documentation of upper_body and base_bodies
• Fixed infinite loop when no suitable initial state could be found in models that define contact geometry but no contact force
• Resolved issue where SCONE could crash if a ContactGeometry for a foot body segment did not exist

Released November 12, 2019

• SCONE scenarios are now loaded an visualized immediately after a file is opened or saved
• Improved support for editing and optimizing more model properties (using Properties { … }) directly in the SCONE scenario. These include ContactGeometry (position, radius, etc.), Joint, and Coordinate properties. Closes #78
• Major performance improvement of the SCONE User Interface when the 3D visualizer is not actively used
• 3D viewer now supports keyboard shortcuts for orbit (Left, Right, PgUp, PgDn), pan (Shift + Arrow keys) and zoom (Up and Down)
• Ctrl + Space now toggles playback
• Ctrl + E now evaluates the currently selected scenario
• Visualizer no longer uses emissive component, added ambient_intensity parameter
• SCONE Unit tests are now performed in parallel for improved performance

• When optimizing a scenario, the copied versions of models and scripts are now used, so you can freely edit the originals during an active optimization
• Fixed incorrect “Please select a .scone file” error while optimizing or evaluating a scenario
• PieceWiseLinear and PieceWiseConstant functions now check if dt > 0
• ImitationObjective was broken, now it works again

Released September 13, 2019

• ScriptMeasure / ScriptController: Fixed issue causing contact_force(), contact_moment() and contact_point() to return zero
• ScriptMeasureJump.lua (from Tutorial 6a) now demonstrates use of body:contact_force()

Released September 9, 2019

• ScriptMeasure / ScriptController: Contact forces are now accessed correctly using contact_force(), contact_moment() and contact_point()
• File Save (Ctrl + s) now works with .lua files (closes #77)
• Open File (Ctrl + o) now shows all supported file formats by default
• Jumping tutorials now explicitly maximize results
• Documentation fixes
• Minor performance enhancements

Released July 25, 2019

• ScriptController and ScriptMeasure: Lua scripts now support 'require' for including other scripts located in the same folder
• FeedForwardController now supports CoordinateActuators
• FeedForwardController no longer crashes when no actuators could be found

Released June 25, 2019

• Contacts forces are now correctly reported and displayed in the SCONE 3D visualizer.
• Ground plane visualization now supports tilt and offsets.
• GaitMeasure takes into account ground plane slopes when detecting falling.
• Improved support for defining symmetric / asymmetric controllsers. The 'symmetric' property now works as expected in all controllers and is inherited from parent controllers if not specified (root controller defaults to true).
• Scripting (ScriptMeasure and ScriptController):

* Added support store_data() for writing data to .sto and SCONE analysis window

	* Improved error handling and reporting for scripts
	* added body:point_pos and body:point_vel
	* added functionality to LuaVec3 and LuaQuat (see reference manual)
* Added warning in folder preferences dialog to avoid network drives (issue #53)
* Pressing F5 will now evaluate the currently active scenario (if any)
* When pressing Ctrl + T or Ctrl + F5 while a .lua file is active, scone tries to open a .scone instead.
* Updated tutorials and documentation

• All open files are now checked for modification when running a scenario
• Close current tab (Ctrl+W) now works correctly
• Jump tutorials now use correct init_file
• JumpMeasure now supports both 'body' and 'target_body', matching documentation and maintaining backwards compatibility
• Text modification detection now works properly with undo
• Text documents are now automatically focused when opened

Released May 29, 2019

• Added new MuscleMeasure for penalizing muscle activation, length and contraction velocity (issue #36).
• RangePenalty now supports 'mode' setting, allowing the final penalty to be the 'average' (default), 'lowest', or 'highest' of all recorded
• New measure_type in EfforMeasure: SquaredMuscleStress. This minimizes the sum of (F/PCSA)^2 for all muscles.
• Controllers now have 'name' member that is used as a prefix for all parameter names. This should prevent undesired parameter name clashes when combining controllers. CompositeController displays warning when child controllers have identical names.
• Added warning in folder preferences dialog to avoid network drives (issue #53)
• Documentation updates
• Tutorial updates

• SequentialController now works correctly
• NoiseController more accurately handles cases where the noise STD is zero
• tutorial 6b, renamed 'gyro' to 'external balance device'

Released May 20, 2019

• SCONE now has a powerful new scripting interface for custom controllers and measures
  • Using the lua scripting language (http://lua.org)
  • Create custom controllers using ScriptController
  • Create custom measures using ScriptMeasures
  • Support for writing custom data to .sto and SCONE Analysis window
• The SCONE Studio editor now supports Find (Ctrl+F) and Find Next / Previous (F3 / Shift+F3)
• The .SCONE file format is now more strict:
  • Comments using ;' // /* and */'' are no longer supported
  • Only single line comments '#' and multi-line comments '###' are supported
• Improved unit testing
• Many documentation updates and fixes

• Jump tutorials now use correct init_file
• Editor now handles undo/redo of document formatting as single step
• JumpMeasure now supports both 'body' and 'target_body', matching documentation and keeping backwards compatibility

Released April 18, 2019

• Documentation updates
• Depricated StateController, TimeStateController and SensorStateController

Released April 16, 2019

• Documentation updates
• Updates to unit testing
• SCONE now uses OpenSceneGraph 3.4.1 (see https://openscenegraph.org)

• SCONE now ignores the initial_load setting when a model does not have contact geometry, preventing the software from hanging.

Released April 4, 2019

• SCONE now displays a warning dialog when a scenario contains invalid setting
• New and updated tutorials
• Added keyboard shurtcuts in SCONE viewer:
  • 'r' reset viewer camera
  • 'x' view model along x direction
  • 'y' view model along y direction
  • 'z' view model along z direction
• Improved reading and error reporting of SCONE scenarios

• Fixed visualization of scaled OpenSim models (OpenSim3)
• Restored DATE_TIME_EXACT tag in signatures

Released February 13, 2019

• New tutorials
• Improved scone scenario notation, 'type' parameter can now be omitted
• Model properties can now be set via ModelProperties
• External files can now be included using « FILENAME »
• Improved appearance
• Added unit tests
• DATE_TIME year now uses 2 digits

• NoiseController now works when noise sigma is zero
• Better handling of upper / lower parameter bounds during optimizaiton

Released January 8, 2019

• Issue where negative tendon lengths would cause a crash in the visualization
• Issue where simulations with a duration with a decimal point would not terminate correctly

Released December 14, 2018

• Ground reaction force is now output both as normalized [gBW] as unnormalized [N] data.
• New data output: Center of Pressure (CoP) and Ground Reaction Moment [Nm]

Released December 6, 2018

• Fixed regression reading vector data

Released December 6, 2018

• When evaluating a scenario from sconecmd.exe, the average parameters are now used instead of the best, in order to be consistent with scenario test (Ctrl + T) from SCONE studio.

Released December 5, 2018

• Fixed issue reading state_init_optimization.exclude from legacy scripts
• Fixed issue where data output settings were not read when running from command-line

Released November 19, 2018

• Ground plane can now be hidden

• Fixed auto-formatting issues in scone editor
• Correctly handle transform and scale of display geometry

Released November 14, 2018

• Improved support for batch processing through the command line interface
• Added setting for output video quality and video frame rate
• Example updates

Released October 17, 2018

• MuscleReflex can now act with activation as source (using KA, A0 and allow_neg_A)
• Reflexes can now use contralateral sources, using `_o` postfix.
• Added initial_load and initial_load_dof to allow control over the initial position of the model

• Sided reflex data in analysis output is now displayed correctly
• Invalid initial_load settings now produce a warning instead of an error
• Documentation fixes

Released October 12, 2018

• Fixed issue where settings could not be loaded the first time
• Fixed error in the Gait GH2010 example

Released October 11, 2018

• Many visualization improvements
• New, more robust system for storing settings
• Example gait model updates (fixed gastroc length issue)
• Documentation updates

• Several minor stability improvements

Released October 5, 2018

• NoiseController for simulating Motor Noise
• BodyMeasure for measuring position, speed and velocity of a point on a body
• JumpMeasure now has offset on body for measuring height
• Controllers can now be defined outside Model
• Updated Examples

• Simulation errors are now properly reported
• .par filenames are now written correctly with extremely high / low fitness

Changes to SCONE are officially published since version 0.16.0