What’s new in version 3.1.0

  • The documentation/help has had a complete overhaul including:

  • A completely new presentation interface (Sphinx).
  • Proof reading!
  • Updating for latest features.
  • A Help (or sometimes ?) button has been added to every panel, and some sub panels if appropriate, linking to the appropriate section in the documentation.
  • The model help has been split so that the Details button now brings up a very short pop-up giving the equation being used while HELP goes to the section in the full documentation describing the model.

  • Extensive help has also been added for the new optimizer engine (see below) including rules of thumb on how and when to choose a given optimizer and what the parameters do.

  • The optimizer engine has been completely replaced. The new optimizer still defaults to the standard Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. However 4 other optimizers are now also available. Each starts with a set of default parameters which can be tuned. The DREAM optimizer takes the longest but is the most powerful and yields rich information including full parameter correlation and uncertainty plots. A results panel has been added to accommodate this.

  • The five new optimizers are:

    • A Levenberg-Marquardt optimizer
    • A Quasi-Newton BFGS optimizer
    • A Nelder-Mead Simplex optimizer
    • A Differential Evolution optimizer
    • A Monte Carlo optimizer (DREAM)

  • New models were added:

    • MicelleSphCoreModel (currently residing in the Uncategorized category)

  • Existing models were updated:

    • LamellarPS (bug in polydispersity integration fixed)
    • RectangularPrismModel
    • RectangularHollowPrismModel
    • RectangularHollowPrismInfThinWallsModel
  • A number of bugs were fixed including a thread crashing issue and an incorrect slit smearing resolution calculation.
  • Implemented much more robust error logging to enable much easier debugging in general but particularly the debugging of issues reported by SasView users.