World of Video/World of Video.iso/gfxprograms/3dprograms/vertex/docs/changes.doc

Text File | 1995-02-13 | 8KB | 189 lines

Changes.doc




UpDated: 1/1/92

This is a quick list of the changes in this version of Vertex. If this is
an update version for you, then you can bypass re-reading the entire
manual, if you wish, unless specific details are mentioned which are only
present in the updated manual.

Changes to Version 1.26
(1/1/92)
(The docs aren't 100% yet, so when I get them up to speed I'll be sending
out the preferred user updates)

    .   Objects saved in Turbo Silver/Imagine will be created on their
        centroid, instead of all the objects overlapping one another.

    .   Sped-up the Turbo Silver/Imagine save routine. It only loops
        through the faces once now.

    .   Optimized view calculations when Front, Top and Side views are
        chosen, and no view rotations need to be calculated.

    .   Tried to optimize the extrude and bevel commands. They should work
        somewhat faster now.

    .   Added the select exterior edges routine. See the manual.

    .   Added the Delete useless routine - see the manual.

    .   Added the ability to hide vertices. Hidden verticies may not be
        selected or modified.

    .   Greatly sped-up the add-face command. It won't delay after exiting
        the function.

    .   I made sure the unselected vertices are drawn first, and then the
        selected vertices are drawn. Should make it easier to see selected
        vertices now.

    .   A command was added to find the distance from one vertex to
        another.

    .   Pick and Unpk buttons were added to the main window. Once
        selected, you may select vertices by clicking right on them or
        stretching a selector box.

Changes to Version 1.24
(12/29/91)

    .   Added a gravity (magnet) interface. The gravity will attract or
        repell vertices based on their distance from the centroid of the
        selected vertices. Also, the newly included Hot Spot can become
        the center of gravity.

    .   Added a Hot Spot which replaces the center of everything.
        Formerly, Vertex relied on the centroid (or average) of all
        selected vertices to perform certain transformations. Now you can
        place a moveable hot spot to replace this. The hot spot is sticky
        - in that it will attach itself to a vertex if you place it over a
        vertex.

    .   Added the Overlay Fuse command. This will attempt to do a fuse of
        all vertices which are on top of one another. With it, you can
        connect objects. Also, the command will delete any "garbage", such
        as faces and edges, which reside between the 2 connected objects.

    .   Object names in Turbo Silver and Imagine are now saved with the
        file. (Former versions didn't even attempt to do this) There are
        important side effects of this new feature, so make sure and read
        the documentation on the Impulse Save command. (See the manual!)

    .   Bugs fixed:

        -   Transform Point-Move will now correctly handle the view
            positions. (Before it didn't take them into account)

        -   Subdivide Edges will name the new vertex the same as the other
            two vertices at the endpoints.

        -   Planar fill works now! (Sorry about that one, I completely
            forgot to repair it after changing another routine)

        -   Fuse Vertices will always work, unless you specifically cancel
            it.

        -   I made some changes to the File writing routines to better
            capture errors.


Changes to Version 1.23
(12/27/91)

    .   Lots of little bug fixes. I fixed the Transform-Point move
        routine to reflect the current zoom level, and corrected the
        problems with vertex names across bevel, extrude and duplicate.

    .   I've also included a printable version of the documentation for
        the registered user. Currently, it is 67 pages, and contains a
        simple table of contents. Once I finish my indexing program, we'll
        have an index. The file contains the form feed character (ctrl-L),
        so pages will be split. Hope this helps.


Changes to Version 1.22
(12/24/91)

    .   Wavefront file reading has been further repaired. It now relies on
        the .obj on the end of the file to determine it it's type.

    .   The bevel routine has been further improved. It will currently
        bevel up to 1000 vertices. Whats more, the bevel will be correct,
        even on very tight corner angles. ie. no "windshield wiper"
        effect.

    .   A new point editing routine has been added under the transform
        menu. It's called Point Move, and it works by selecting a number
        of vertices, then it enables you to move those points
        individually. Check out the manual on this one - I'm sure many
        people will find it helpful.

    .   Apply curve has been fixed completely! (I hope!) Well, it should
        not forget any vertices now, and the interface has been re-worked
        to make it easier to understand.

    .   A subdivide edge command has been added to add detail to your
        objects. Read the docs for the skinny on this function.

    .   I re-did the Lightwave loading routines - they should be a little
        faster. I just recieved the real docs on this file format, so you
        should be seeing the promised face attribute stuff shortly.

    .   The limit for vertices, edges and faces has been expanded to
        64000. Currenty, this is the absolute limit, although I have plans
        to re-work some of the loading and saving routines to open this
        up.


Changes for Version 1.19    -   Registered Update for Preferred Users
(12/17/91)

    .   The Wavefront file format has been repaired. Unfortunately,
        Wavefront seems to be in the "habit" of changing their file
        format. The docs I used, dated January 1991, are already out of
        date. The problems have been fixed.

    .   The anim-render mode has been fixed. I had the workbench screen
        colors inverted (0 and 1) so 2.0 users were seeing a black image
        drawn on a black screen.

    .   The Basic Shape-Sphere routine has been fixed. Certain values
        which did not divide into 360 were causing odd-shaped spheres to
        be created.

    .   The mouse reading routine was slowed down. Some Amiga's,
        especially ones with 3rd party mice, were reading the mouse click
        too fast.

    .   Extrude is now smarter. It will not create faces on the interior
        of the extruded object, which never get rendered anyway.

    .   A Bevel Edges command has been added, under Modify. This will
        extrude, then "router" the edges of a flat object. I would
        strongly suggest reading the manual for further information on
        this command.

    .   I have double checked the "too much memory" problem of older
        versions. To date, I have sucessfully run Vertex on an Amiga
        3000 UX with 8 megs, and an Amiga 2000 w/1.3 and 2.0 with 10megs.
        If you have further problems with this, please notify me,
        and include descriptions of your system set-up and what actually
        happened at load time.

    .   Error catching and correction has been greatly improved. Errors
        are now correctly trapped at File Loading/Saving, Multiply, and
        render. Vertex, edge and face overflow errors are on my list. In
        order to speedily return from these errors, hooks have to be put
        in which would greatly slow down performance. Hopefully, the next
        version will see this problem solved.

    .   A new option has been added to the Lathe Menu. It is called Rewind
        Lathe. This will enable you to quickly re-create the last lathe
        created, without having to re-define it yourself.