• Removed the Enlarge % feature from the Save PICT File dialogs and the Save File Dialog of the Script… command. The proper way to do this is to set the Window size appropriatly so this was an unnecessary feature (a holdover from pre-release days) that caused other problems. It's GONE!!
• Changed the command character for the Script command from command-B to command-H. Command-B was also being used as the command key equivalent for the Progress Bar command (oops!).
• Changed the default suffix for QuickTime compressed still images from .PICT to .PIQT.
• Changed the default parameters for the following:
Fog Color
Height:Width Ratio
H Factor
Snow Threshold
Slush Factor
Transition Top
Transition Bottom
Some of these were changed because they made more sense with the new sub-division algorithm (see below) and some because Î found I was always changing them to something close to these values as a starting point.
• Changed the Alert message given when trying to run on a non-FPU equipped computer. This was unnecessarily abusive and was just a forgotten (humorous) holdover from early developement days.
• Modified the test image presented in the Compression dialog for Compressed image saves to use a small cropped section of the image as opposed to a scaled image. The user can drag this image to center on an interesting section of the image to use as a guide when choosing compression settings. This should allow for a more realistic represntation of just what the compression settings will do to the image.
Bug Fixes
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• Fixed a bug when dragging a Standard Window while the progress bar was active. This now works properly.
• Fixed a cosmetic bug in the Sky Color and Mountain Color dialogs that caused the box representing the lower color in both these cases not to be updated properly after a new color was chosen.
• Fixed a bug which caused Script… command rendering to pause with a call to the Notification Manager after each frame if Fractal! was being run in the background. This caused the obvious problem that you couldn't effectively generate an animation in the background. Now, the notification manager is only called after all images have been rendered and the Script file has been closed.
• Fixed a bug which caused the wrong Sky Color gradient to be used when opening Fractal! by double-clicking on a parameter file.
• Fixed a bug where the default parameter resource was not correctly added if it was found to be missing from the program's resource fork.
• Fixed a bug in the Wave dialog that did not do parameter validation properly.
• Fixed some bugs when trying to recover from an error while trying to change window parameters. If the program is able to continue now, it does so correctly.
• Fixed an bug where the default name for a parameter file was set improperly for Save or Save As operations where it is effectively a new file. Now the filename will default to "Untitled".
• Enabled the Apple Menu during rendering, though I disabled the "About" item. This should allow access to DA's during rendering -- but only if backgrounding is allowed!!
New Features
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• Added a new subdivision algorithm - Thanks to Gavin Miller! The user can select between the original (Carpenter's) and the new (Miller's) subdivision algorithm. Miller's algorithm totally alleviates the "creasing" problem present in Carpenter's algorithm. It is NOW THE DEFAULT algorithm, but old parameter files (pre version 1.2) will still use Carpenter's algorithm for compatibility (see opening note above on compatibility with older parameter files). Either algorithm is user selectable from the Subdivides menu.
• Added the option to save animations as QuickTime Movies as an alternative to a series of PICT files as in the previous versions of the program. When selecting an output filename for the animation, there will be 2 radio buttons present at the bottom of the dialog. If QuickTime is present in the System, the QuickTime choice will be available and selected as the default. If QuickTime is not present, the QuickTime choice will be dimmed and the default choice (and ONLY choice) will be PICT Files as described in the manual.
• Added a radio-button selectable choice to the Sky Color Range dialog. The user can now choose between an HSV space gradient and an RGB space gradient for the sky color gradient. Previously, all gradients were HSV space gradients. This new feature allows the user to achieve a wider range of sky color effects, most of which would likely be RGB gradients. This was intentionally NOT added to the Mountain Color Range Dialog because of the way in which the Mountain Color range is used. Since the Mountain Color Range is used in conjunction with the haze model (unlike the Sky Color Range which is simply a pre-fill of the z-buffer), it is handled as an HSV space range in the algorithm. RGB space gradient is now the DEFAULT gradient for the Sky Color Range, but old (pre version 1.2) parameter files will be set to HSV space gradients upon opening for compatibility.
• Added settable PICT File resolution. This is accessable from the Window… command dialog. The new dialog gives the user the ability to specify the size of the output image in a number of units and specify the horizontal and vertical resolution (dpi) as well.
• Added a gradient Sky color. This also meant fixing the frame (line) rendering to not do a background fill and just draw over a white background (which also looks better IMHO). The colors for the Sky gradient are specified in the same way as those for the Mountain Color Range. This is described in both the online help and the updated manual.
• Added more variables that can be modified via the Script mechanism. Also added better range checking to ALL variables modified via the Script command. The new variables are described in both the online help and the updated manual.
• Added the capability to save images as QuickTime™ compressed PICT files. This feature is accessed by a new menu item in the File menu (Save QT Compressed PICT…) and it will only be enabled if the computer has QuickTime installed. This is more fully described in the updated manual.
• Added a feature to allow you to easily turn Backgrounding back on during a render. Now, if Backgrounding is turned off, I read the KeyMap (GetKeys()) and look for command-K. This is still WAY faster than calling WaitNextEvent and yielding the processor as happens when Backgrounding is turned on. In any event, if command-K is pressed during the render with Backgrounding off, I turn it on, re-check the menu item, and cause the Cancel button in the progress bar (if it's showing) to reappear. This is described in both the online help and the updated manual.
• Fixed some obscure bugs found in porting the code to MPW for the Power PC. MPW is much more strict than Think C on syntax and some potential problems became apparent.
• Fixed a bug where any brightness change (via the Illumination Dialog) was ignored if Auto Render was turned off.
• Fixed a number of bugs with improper updating of a Standard Window if either of the Scroll Bars are active, especially when the system was running in a direct color mode (16-bit or 24-bit color). As a result of reviewing all of this code, there were a number of improvements and fixes to Standard Window updating, especially after dialogs with Auto Render on in a direct color mode.
• Fixed bugs in the explanation text of the Alert Dialogs for some low memory errors.
• Fixed a bug that caused Fractal! to corrupt the System Enabler (040) on the Centris 650. This was caused during the saving of custom Icons with PICT Files.
