Welcome to the Beta release of the POV-Ray 3.0 ray tracer for Macintosh! This Release note is intended to summarize the current state of the project, and describe the new features, bugs, and fixes. NOTE that although this is an external public release, it may not be bundled on any CD-ROMs, shareware packages, or in magazines... it is a timed application, and will cease to work after April 1, 1996. Full distribution will be OK with POV-Ray 3.0 final. Please read the accompanying documentation in the POVDOC archive, and start playing with the new interface and features. Use the bug form at the end of this document to inform me of any bugs you might find. Exercise POV-Ray 3.0 Beta hard, and of course have fun with it! :-)
Contents
========
This package contains:
* A Power Macintosh Metrowerks application (povpmac.sit)
* Latest Demo scenes and INCLUDE folder (POVSCN.Scenes)
* Documentation & Mac Notes (POVDOC.Documentation)
This package does not yet contain:
* A regular 68K Metrowerks application (povmac68.sit)
* Full Source code for CodeWarrior 8/MPW 3.2/Think C 8 (povmsrc.sit)
New Features since...
=====================
POV-Ray Mac 2.2
---------------
It cannot be found anywhere else yet, so here's a quick and incomplete list of what's new on the Mac since 2.2...
-System 7 only, System 6 support code dropped.
-New Official PowerMac native version.
-No more slow Mac SmartMalloc memory cleanup, now done (fast) inside POV-Ray engine.
-POV-Ray now uses "temporary memory" for scenes, so small and large scenes can be
rendered without changing the Application Memory Size.
-Templates are read from a user-editable text file, easy to customize.
-Application Prefs and File Rendering Prefs dialogs are completely re-done as movable modal dialogs, and menus rearranged and cleaned up a little.
-New application icon, splash screen, about box, and preferencess file format
(leaves old 2.2 prefs untouched.)
-Can use Finder "File:Print" menu item to open a single scene and immediately render it after opening it.
-Output image size maximum increased from 4,000 x 4,000 to 30,000 x 30,000 pixels.
POV-Ray Mac 3.0 Beta 4
----------------------
-Changed prefs version number to reset older 3.0 beta prefs since they changed.
-Added new checkbox in App prefs per Joris' request, now you can tell POV-Ray to keep on rendering even if it gets scene errors, just skip and continue.
-Major additions done to the templates file/menu, still needs lots of work though.
-Added alpha channel checkbox and bit depth in Output File prefs for PNG.
-POV-Ray will now be very friendly on first install, and automatically look for the :INCLUDE: directory next to the directory that holds POV-Ray itself. The archives are arranged so that it is found as-is (looks for ::POVSCN.Scenes:INCLUDE: relative to application).
-Added beta time-expiration code, won't render anything after April 1, 1996, but stays in application so user can see about box and menu layout.
Bugs Fixed
==========
-About box scrolling is MUCH better (faster & less jerky) now, esp. on slower 68K macs.
-Now PNG and PPM files will have animation suffix, just like Targa always has.
-Added Quality +11 back into rendering prefs dialog.
-Reworded some options in rendering prefs to make more sense.
Known Bugs not yet fixed
========================
-Radiosity still has memory leaks, so a memory.log file is created, but it works now.
-Low memory conditions are not handled well yet, could still lock up or bomb.
-App Prefs popup to do something after each job doesn't really do anything.
-No Balloon help yet/ever? Anyone care? I got about 10% caring on questionaires. It is a difficult task to do well, and may be really time-consuming where it matters most (rendering prefs dialog.)
-Optional QuickTime compression of the Pict image is not (yet) in the rendering prefs dialog.
-Scroll bars on status window don't always track when user scrolls during text output.
-Rendering Prefs dialog, Output Size, sometimes a changed height/width field doesn't get read if you change it and click OK, you have to tab to another field first.
-There are still a couple of areas where POV-Ray will go into some tight loops without releasing control to the user interface (during parsing when it is building bounding structures.)
-The platform-specific "sys" file type is not supported, and probably will not be for 3.0. This is the allowing of importing of Mac PICT files for image-maps and bump-maps.
-".INI" file processing is not yet available, but will be in the final release.
Bug Report Form
===============
Please use the following form when returning reports of bugs or problems:
(Fictitious sample filled in)
Name: Richard Feynman
E-mail: manhattan@whitesands.nm.gov
Date: 2/10/96
POV-Ray version: 3.0B5a.mac3
Computer Model: PowerMac 8500
Memory: 32 MB, Virtual Memory: off
Monitor size/depth: 17" millions of colors
QuickTime version: 2.1
Weird extensions: SpeedDoubler, After Dark 3.0b
Describe Problems:
1. Renders so fast I don't have time to _________.
2. Doesn't render in background when I play Havoc.
Return bug reports to
---------------------
Eduard Schwan
CIS: 71513,2161 or
Internet: 71513.2161@compuserve.com
and put "POV-Ray 3.0b5a bug report" in the subject line.
Thank you!
==========
Thank you for participating, and remember, the sooner you find bugs and send me the bug reports, the sooner a solid POV-Ray 3.0 will be released! Go forth and trace some rays!
