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We are currently at version 5 of Imagine, and working towards version 6. The Amiga Constant Upgrade Program (ACUP) has been introduced to allow users to try-out the latest updates as they become available, rather than waiting for the whole of version 6 to be completed. Upon subscribing to the ACUP, you will receive a username and password to allow access to the ACUP files download area. Once the Constant Upgrade Program has been completed, V6 will be issued to all subscribers on disk media. |
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A brief list of what has been added/changed in the Imagine ACUP releases so far is shown below. Icon and Datatypes support. Datatypes The 24Bit-datatypes system is now supported for brushmaps - So you can now use 24Bit JPEG's, PNG's, TIFF's, or indeed any 24Bit file format that you have a datatype for, as a brush map. MPEG support As of V5.15, It is now possible to create MPEG animations, in addition to IFF and Imagine formats, directly from the project editor. Encoding can be performed by using either the PPC or 68k processor. V5.16 further optimized this PPC version of the MPEG video creator to now utilise the custom PPC maths routines. PPC support As of V5.14, Imagine now has PPC support. The WarpUP software from Haage & Partners is used as the PPC support software. Most of the global effects now have PPC support, with future releases of the ACUP providing further support for these fast range of processors. PPC math libraries In a future update, PPC optimized math libraries will be added (they are currently in beta testing). They should give a further 1.5 to 9 times speed increase over their current versions (where applicable). Updated GUI The current Imagine custom user interface is being redesigned with an "AmigaOS friendly" GUI. - out goes the old "orange" custom interface, and in comes a GUI system that is more Amiga like. For a comparison of the old and new GUI, click here. Popup-menus Added new "popup menu" functionality; When in an Imagine editor, press the right mouse button to show a new popup-menu with various options. To activate the main Imagine menu bar, move the mouse to within the titlebar area of the window (or above) and press the right mouse button. This popup menu functionality will be expanded in a future release to allow for more context sensitive feedback; It will adapt the available options on display within the menu depending on what object or item was "right-clicked". New object export formats Added support for exporting objects in the Lightwave and 3DStudio formats; These can be found on the new Object/Export menu. New primitive object types Added three new primitive object types - Hemisphere, Rod and Box. Optimized Perspective view Using solid or shaded views should now be faster on the 040 and 060 CPU's. Optimized textures The procedural textures have been optimized for the 040 and 060 CPU's. On average, the textures are now around 40% faster on the 040 CPU... Imagine executable enhanced The main Imagine exectuable now works faster on the 040 and 060 CPU's - From improved rendering speed, to improvements in general editing tasks. Future ACUP releases will bring even further improvements. Object textures Added a check to tack-on the ".itx" texture file extension if it was not found within the object. Now, when using this type of object, the error is automatically handled by Imagine without any user input being required. New lighting textures Added two new "lite" procedural textures: Purplehaze - This is a cool, psychedelic type of texture. As with all lighting textures, the distance or placement of the light will have a large affect on the texture's look. Move this light around and render the scene, then move it closer or farther away and re-render the scene; The change will be dramatic. This is a good texture to create wildly lighted scenes. Caustics - This texture should be applied to an object/axis light source and used as shadow casting. It will give the effect of passing your light through another object, like water or similar. Moving the light away from your object will greatly affect the texture. Like most textures, modifying the settings can produce many varied and interesting results. New procedural textures Added three new procedural textures (originally designed by S.J.Spikings). These textures have been optimized for 040 and 060 CPU's: SSFBumps - (Fractal Bumps) A texture which can be used to produce random bumps over an object. SSPBumps - (Peak Bumps) A texture which can be used to produce random peaks over an object which rise from smoother surroundings. SSRBumps - (Rock Bumps) A texture which can be used to produce random rounded bumps over an object which fall into more detailed cracks. This is an attempt to mimic the weathering of the more exposed surfaces. Standard filerequesters Imagine now uses standard AmigaOS ASL filerequesters. Consequently, filerequester clones such as MUI-ASL (which can be found on the Aminet) will also now work with Imagine. Public screens The Imagine screen is now a Public screen - This allows for, among other things, arexx scripts to include their own GUI for user interaction, and have it open directly onto the current Imagine screen. Multiple Arexx ports Imagine now supports up to 9 simultaneous instances on the same Amiga, with a unique Arexx port name for each instance - Interaction between between different Imagine instances is now possible. External Picture viewers A new preferences item has been added to allow the use of an external picture viewing program, rather then the internal Imagine viewer. For example, it is now possible to use programs such as Multiview or CyberView to view pictures and brushmaps. Also, it is now possible to view renders/quickrenders/brushes and pictures in 24Bit on a graphics card. External Animation viewers A new preferences item has been added to allow the use of an external animation viewing program, rather than the internal Imagine viewer. For example, it is now possible to use programs such as Multiview or CyberAnim to view animations. Quickrender base filename A new preferences item has been added to allow the use of a user defined name for the quickrender files. Quickrender files are not deleted, instead subsequent quickrenders increment the extension number of the filename. e.g. If the base name was set to "MyQuick", then the filenames would become "MyQuick0000", "MyQuick0001", "MyQuick0003" etc. If a period symbol "." is required, simply add it to the end of the base name setting e.g. If the base name was set to "Render.", then the filenames would become "Render.0000", "Render.0001", "Render.0003" etc. Default pick method A new preferences item has been added to allow the use of a default pick method. Click, dragbox, or lasso can now be used as the default. Default paths Support for user defined default paths in the ASL filerequesters has been added. Load/save paths can now be defined for objects, textures, attributes, brushmaps, and arexx scripts. The paths can either be absolute (e.g. work:imagine/objects), or relative to the current project (e.g. myprojectname/objects). Rendering presets The rendering resolution presets has been enhanced with common sizes for PAL, NTSC, VGA and SVGA. Delete key The delete key can now be used to delete groups, objects, points, faces etc. Editor Menus Reworked Detail and Stage editor menus to bring them into line with the PC version (Imagine for Windows). Changed positions of items, and reworded things where necessary. Added visual indicator ">" to show where sub-menus are available for selection, and "..." indicator to show where further requesters exist. Overwrite requester The save object "overwrite requester" has been improved; it now adapts the warning message to suit the width of screen (Intelligently adapts the filename and path to allow best fit on the users preferred screensize). This should solve the problems with the window and its cancel gadgets extending out of the screen whilst trying to overwrite an object saved with a large path/filename. Sharp edges option Added new "sharp edges" option to the following primitive types: Tube, Cone, Hemisphere and Box; This will enhance the definition of the objects edges. Primitives window updated Added support for double-clicking an object type within the primitive object window; Simply double-click on the required object from the scrollable listview display, and the default settings will be used to create the object, whilst automatically closing the window. Path length option Added "path length" option to the Detail editor; Now it is possible to determine the length of a path object, without having to switch back and forth between the stage and detail editors. Render resolution window updated Added support for double-clicking a render size type within the sub-project/render resolution window; Simply double-click on the required rendersize, which will select the size and automatically close the window, without the need to move and select the ok button. Splash screen Added an Imagine Splash screen. This uses the OS3.x Datatypes, and also supports the 24Bit datatype system if available, to load the IFA_logo picture from the main Imagine directory. New preferences editor The new preferences editor (to be released in a future update) will be completely rewritten to make it more user friendly. Support for the new GUI system will include such things as: tabs, scrollers, colour picker, etc. Electronic Manual The new manual will be provided in an electronic format. This media will allow for things such as searching, interactive turorials etc... There are still a lot of things to be done - Please keep looking here to find out about the latest additions. |
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