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XFROG 3.21 RELEASE NOTES NOTE: If you have not read the release notes for 3.2 BETA, read them first. They are included after this section for your convenience, and all notes there apply to this release too. Additions, removals, bug fixes, and changes related to XFrog 3.21: BUGFIX: File saving, loading, and inserting would crash if the animation was playing. Animation is now stopped before file saved, loaded, or inserted. BUGFIX: A warning appears if files cannot be saved. BUGFIX: There was a crash that would happen when a spline editor was used on a component, and a component was reselected. This is repaired. BUGFIX: Slowdowns related to spline and shape editing are fixed. BUGFIX: Slow updates that happen durring editting 3D splines are gone. BUGFIX: Slow updates that happen durring editting 3D patches are gone. BUGFIX: Double clicking on the timeline to create a new keyframe now places the new keyframe at the mouse position as expected, not at the last play time. BUGFIX: If a model sequence is exported before a target directory is chosen, the sequence is saved in the current directory, not an unknown unexpected directory. BUGFIX: Spline editor windows are no longer truncated on the right hand side. BUGFIX: Some functions int the range editors no longer crash for negative values. These functions are: sqrt log asin acos BUGFIX: With obj export, the geometry file now includes the material file reference. ADDED: All scalings (x, y, and z) have returned to the basic tab of each primitive type. ADDED: In rib export: - references to shaders are exported - dounding box has been added - 'PointsPolygons' is used instead of polygon primitives - rib 'archives' are saved with rib models for those pieces of the hierarchy that are linked with the 're-use' option ADDED: HyperPatch compenent to: - hierarchy viewer's popup's 'new' popup menu - main application's 'edit' popup's 'new' popup menu ADDED: Xfrog now comes in two versions, Full and Lite. Full has animation, Lite doesn't. CHANGED: Different error messages relating to file problems. CHANGED: Information messages that appear in a popup window are no longer titled with 'Error'. BUGFIX/CHANGED: When a spline or shape is being editted in a popup, it is no longer possible to delete the component that contains the spline being editted. The component may be deleted after the window is closed. As a result, it is no longer possible to crash the program by opening a spline editor on a component, deleting that component, and then attempting to edit the spline. CHANGED: In each component's parameter editor, the 'cube' promitive has been changed to be a 'box' primitive. This is to make it more consistent with the rest of the interface. (Only the name has changed.) CHANGED: When saving out a sequence, the info popup explains that the entire sequence will be saved out, split into the number of frames you have selected. The behavior has not changed. CHANGED: Better format in message windows. CHANGED: Discussion group is now Yahoo Groups, not eGroups. Additions, removals, bug fixes, and changes related to XFrog 3.2: ADDED: The timeline and track highlight when they are active. ADDED: Setting of current time is 'quantized' to frame boundaries. This prevents the user from using times which are actually non-existent in the animation system. ADDED: Setting of a keyframe's time is 'quantized' to frame boundaries. This prevents the user from setting keyframe times which are actually non-existent in the animation system. ADDED: Ability to export model sequences. ADDED: Ability to export image sequences for making animations, complete with resolution selector. ADDED: New "Triangle Up" and "Triangle Down" primitives. ADDED: In the parameter editor, some of the labels appear with an '*' after there name. Clicking these labels produces a popup menu for further options on this parameter. ADDED: Copy-to-all-frames for parameters. (In parameter label's popup menu.) ADDED: Start and end markers for animation playback and saving (in the timeline.) ADDED: The leaf component now has a limited set of primitives instead of none. (None, Square, Triangle Up, and Triangle Down.) ADDED: More tooltips on some widgets to guide you better. CHANGED: When moving a keyframe, the time moves with it. CHANGED: When the time marker is selected, it becomes darker. CHANGED: Time measurement line in the animation timeline now shows the number of keyframes. CHANGED: Time can only be moved in the time measurement bar. CHANGED: The camera store and recall menu options in the model view window have changed names. CHANGED: Error windows pop up in a different location so they get don't get overlapped by other windows. (When an error window is being displayed, XFrog is locked and waiting for the user to close the error window. It used to be that the error windows would sometimes end up hidden beneath other windows, making it impossible to cancel them, and locking the entire program.) CHANGED: It is now possible to open multiple curve editors of the same type. CHANGED: Actions done to keyframes (i.e. selecting, copying, deleting, moving, etc.) in timeline first stop the animation if it is playing. CHANGED: Time playback is no longer limited between the first and last keyframes. CHANGED: The wait cursor temporarily appears when a new keyframe is selected. CHANGED: The start end end frame markers reset when the number of frames are changed. CHANGED: The start end end frame markers reset when a file is loaded. BUGFIX: The 'resolution' slider in the 'primitive' tab in the parameter editor sometimes would not function. This is fixed. BUGFIX: Hyperpatch grid rotates around center, in the hyperpatch editor. BUGFIX: It is possible to cancel out of the hyperpatch editor without crashing. BUGFIX: Texture inheritence is propogated to all keyframes when it is changed in one keyframe, like some of the other parameters. The texture inheritence stays constant durring animation playback. BUGFIX: All points are now movable in the small snapshot curve editors in the parameter editor, even when the number of points are changed. BUGFIX: It is not possible to set the number of points in a 2D curve editors to less than 3 points. Doing so would cause the curve to sometimes be destroyed and unrestorable. BUGFIX: When a 2D curve changes in one of the large delux curve editors changes the number of points, the corresponding small snapshot curve in the parameter editors (if there is one) also changes the number of points. BUGFIX: The checkboxes for the 'lock axis' menu selections (in the modelview window's "camera" menu) are now exclusive. This means that if one axis is already selected, selecting another axis unselects the first one. BUGFIX: It is easier to move the time marker to the correct position without it always seeming to be one keyframe lower than selected. BUGFIX: It is possible to reliably select the last keyframe. BUGFIX: It is easier to set keyframes exactly where they are intended. BUGFIX: Undo works better. It is no longer necessary to undo twice to undo single changes. BUGFIX: Re-ordering keyframes now works, and moving one keyframe before another no longer moves the later keyframe. BUGFIX: The model no longer updates twice, showing slightly different models, when a change is made. BUGFIX: Strange behaviors for setting texture inheritance are gone. BUGFIX: Adding a component no longer refreshes the parameter window twice. BUGFIX: Time no longer stalls or skips for two frames when dragging the time slider or a keyframe. BUGFIX: Animation plays smoothly. BUGFIX: Locked scales work again in the parameter editor. BUGFIX: Multiple updates to parameter editor have gone. BUGFIX: Errors and notifications should now fit properly in the warning and info windows. These are the windows that pop up to communicate to the user. BUGFIX: Model no longer disappears. BUGFIX: Undo no longer crashes. BUGFIX: Creating new keyframes by double clicking on the timeline works more reliably, and the state of the newly created keyframe is correct. BUGFIX: Times and keyframes that are moved and created out of the boundaries of the start/end markers are permitted. BUGFIX: Keyframes are easier to select when there are a large number of frames. BUGFIX: The grabbing presendence is changed when trying to grab the frame markers in the animation timeline window. The current frame marker takes presedence over the start and end frame markers. BUGFIX: The current frame marker is visible over the start and end frame markers. Additions, removals, bug fixes, and changes related to XFrog 3.2 Beta: NOTE: Documentation is not yet available for this preview release. ADDED: Animation interface. Documentation is coming. ADDED: Horn components now have 3D spline editor to control curvature. Documentation is coming. ADDED: Tree components now have 3D spline editor to control curvature. Documentation is coming. ADDED: New hyperpatch component to control free form deformation of models. Documentation is coming. ADDED: All 2D point editors (leaf shape, horn shape, revo shape, and primitive profile) can be zoomed in or out. This is done by holding down both the left and right mouse buttons at the same time and moving the mouse up and down. ADDED: There is a way to lock rotation to an axis in the modelview window. There are options for this under the "camera" window. There are also keyboard shortcut (as shown in the menu). REMOVED: Control-X hot key from hierarchy viewer. This is a misleading key, since there is no comparitive pasting function. REMOVED: The following controls have been removed in the parameter editor under the 'primitive' tab when certain primitive types are used: Tube Scale Z Area Scale Y, Scale Z, Rotation X Square Scale Z Circle Scale Z CHANGED: Default size of window is better. CHANGED: Selection color of connections in hierarchy viewer is consistent with the rest of the application. CHANGED: The options and behavior for editting profile points has changed. The options are now "on" and "off" instead of "2D" and "off". If an XFrog2 model is editted and this model has a 3D profile, the 3D profile will remain intact. (However, there is currently no way to edit the third dimension of each point.) 2D profiles will continue to work as they always have. CHANGED: The horn's curve type widgets are different in the parameter editor. There is now a single combo box containing "implicit range", "fixed range", and "spline" instead of two sets of buttons for range/spline and fixed. CHANGED: Many of the button radio button widgets in the parameter editor have changed to combo boxes. This is so that the text is easier to read and fits on the screen better. All on/off buttons remain as radio buttons for easy control. CHANGED: The register button on the registration pannel is easier to find. CHANGED: The behavior of the profile editors, the 2D spline editors, the 3D spline editors, the slidebar based number and range editors, and all other points editors has been changed so that the model changes once the mouse is released. This makes editting complex models much less difficult. CHANGED: When XFrog is started, it maximizes better such that the windows taskbar is not overlapped, and the widgets have better visibility. BUGFIX: Clicking the close box on any of the point editors now keeps the changes made, and does not cancel changes. BUGFIX: Keyboard shortcuts to control the modelview window no longer have any effect when the mouse is not in the modelview window. BUGFIX: "Locked scales" for all components, under the "basic" and "primitive" tabs in the parameter editor now work again. BUGFIX: The scroll bar in the parameter editor no longer gets out of sync, and all of the parameters can be scrolled to. BUGFIX: The parameter editor no longer jumps back up to the top when a change is made to one of the parameters. This would happen occasionally if the parameter window was too small vertically to show all of the widgets. BUGFIX: The 'horn' and 'tree' components made in XFrog2 that use 3D spline deformations will now display properly in XFrog3, and will not distort the model improperly when an attempt is made to edit the spline type. BUGFIX: Widgets no longer appear and then disappear suddenly in the parameter editor. BUGFIX: A few memory leaks have been repaired, resulting in greater stability. BUGFIX: Column widths are better chosen so that the parameter editor always starts with the correct width for different size monitors. BUGFIX: Less 'blinking' of widgets in the parameter editor when a component is selected for edit. BUGFIX: The "profile" buttons labeled "off" and "2d" were having a reverse effect. This is fixed. BUGFIX: The model now updates when it's profile points are moved in the 2D primitive profile editor. BUGFIX: XFrog2 models containing 3D profiles will not suddenly distort or 'pop' when an attempt is made to edit their profiles. BUGFIX: Leaves with 3D profiles in XFrog2 models will no longer suddenly flatten or distort when an attempt is made to edit them. BUGFIX: Points that are "out of bounds" in the 2D point editors are now reachable by zooming out in those editors. Known bugs and limitations: Export 'rib' files still has some problems. For saving images, some graphics cards have trouble rendering the textures of the model, so the image will appear without textures. WORKAROUND: For small images, use the 'print screen' button, and paste the resulting clipboard image into a paint program. Some machines have problems with the function selectors in the range editors. Functions that have no real number results for negative numbers seem to cause a crash on these machines. WORKAROUND: Avoid using negative numbers with the functions that should not take them, such as 'sqrt'. You should experiment with what your machine will handle. If a curve editor, 3D spline editor, or hyperpatch editor is open and the component that it is a part of is deleted in the heirarchy viewer, this editor is still there. An attempt to use this editor crashes the program. WORKAROUND: Always close the editor after use. Do not delete the component it is part of until you close the editor. When editting a model made in XFrog2, there is no way to edit the third dimension of a point in the profile editor. WORKAROUND: Currently, XFrog3 onlyu supports 2D profile editting. However, if the model has a 3D profile specified, you will still be able to edit the 2D qualities of these points without destroying the 3D profile. Some PNG files will not load. (In particular those saved under Photoshop5.5) WORKAROUND: We believe there is a bug in the Photoshop5.5 .png implementation. To fix, save the .png as "save for web" in Photoshop5.5 (instead of "save as") or save from any earlier release of Photoshop. If you are using a different image editor, try reducing the size and saving again. Large PNG texture files do not load. WORKAROUND: Reduce size. There is no GIF support for texture mapping in XFrog. WORKAROUND: Use .png There is no TIFF support for texture mapping in XFrog. WORKAROUND: Use .png If I try to load a texture, and loading fails, the hourglass cursor never goes away. WORKAROUND: XFrog is still functioning normally, there is simply a problem with the cursor. Since this can be quite annoying, save out the file and restart XFrog. XFrog crashes when I make something complicated. WORKAROUND: Since XFrog generates complex models, it is possible to suddenly generate a model of extreme complexity. Be careful with your memory. There is currently no workaround. We are working on these problems now. When I use 'scale growth' on leaves, XFrog crashes. WORKAROUND: See above. Generally speaking XFrog can create a tremendous number of polygons if one scales the leaves on a heavily leafed tree. Undo does not work for changes made to the camera settings. WORKAROUND: Instead, you can save a viewpoint and recall it when necessary. The ctrlZ and ctrlY shortcut keys for undo and redo do not work in the shape and spline editors. WORKAROUND: If you do not like what you have done in the shape or spline editors, quit out of the editor using the 'cancel' button. This will restore your curve to the way it was prior to editting it. If a component is textured, and the alpha of the color on the component is set to a value below 0.5, the component disappears. WORKAROUND: Edit the texture in an image editting package such that it has the alpha you want. In XFrog, load this new texture, and set the alpha value on that component to 1. Instance copies of components must have a parent. WORKAROUND: If this is a problem, you can first create a 'simple' component, and then use this as the parent for your instanced copy. When the color of a component is editted, it appears to change slightly before any modification has actually taken place. WORKAROUND: None. This is usually not an issue, since by editting the color, the user expects to choose a totally different color than the default color it was. To get back to the default color, you can always turn the color off on that component by selecting 'inherit; again. But, yeah, it is weird. Sorry. Double clicking on an XFrog file opens another instance of XFrog, and doesn't open the file in the current XFrog window, if one is already open. WORKAROUND: Load the file from within the currently open window using the 'File' menu's 'open' option. Images cannot be saved on some machines. WORKAROUND: Make sure your graphics card supports multiple GL contexts. There are a lot of graphics cards out there that cannot. In the meantime, you can take screen shots using the windows system. Try this: 1) Press the 'Print Scrn' button on your keyboard (usually someplace above the number pad.) This will take a screenshot of the screen as it is. 2) Open any image editting program. (Try going to the Start menu, choosing "Run..", and typing "mspaint" (without the quotes) and hitting return. Or if you have a better image program, use it instead.) 3) Select "paste" under the "edit" menu in your image editting program. You should see your screen shot appear. And, you should be able to save this image under different formats (if you are using a good image editor, other than "mspaint".) "A strange component is in my scene graph, and I don't know what it is. When I try to edit it, nothing happens. Sometimes, when I remove it, the model changes." WORKAROUND: These are components that are currently unfinished in the Windows version of XFrog, but are present in the old SGI release. They only appear in XFrog models that were once made on the SGI. Currently, the user is not allowed to edit these components. However, XFrog on Windows understands them and knows how to render with them. We will be supporting them very soon. 3D patch editting is not yet supported for any components. WORKAROUND: None. Attempting to edit patches that use this will cause the patch to change. Avoid editting these patches, or attempt to build new components in XFrog 3.0 that use only the features currently supported. This will no longer be a problem in the near future. Absolute (full) paths for textures are ruining my life. WORKAROUND: There is a bug that seems to be forcing absolute texture paths for textures chosen using the file dialog box. This only happens when you are changing textures on a file that you have opened by double clicking on it from the desktop. If you open this file from within XFrog, textures chosen from the texture file dialog will no longer be foreced into full paths if they are local. Files opened across a network connection won't load and/or crash XFrog. WORKAROUND: Move your files a harddrive local to XFrog, and try again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Additions, removals, bug fixes, and changes related to XFrog 3.01: ADDED: If youy haven't bought XFrog, it doesn't bother you so much. ADDED: More powerful licensing scheme for resellers. If you are interested in reselling XFrog, we can provide you with custom registration numbers. ADDED: Documentation in the form of a reference mamnual and a tutorial has been added. See the documentation forlder. For updates, see the website. BUGFIX: A bug that was preventing some buttons under the 'primitive' tab of the parameter editor from being displayed correctly has been fixed. BUGFIX: A bug that sometimes made the 'points' edit button appear under the 'primitive' tab of the parameter editor, even when the profile was set to 'off', is fixed. BUGFIX: A bug that sometimes made the 'hotspot' widgets appear under the 'primitive' tab of the parameter editor, even when the attractor was set to have no hotspot, is fixed. BUGFIX: Reduced occassional multiple-update of material tab (widgets would 'flash' multiple times. BUGFIX: If an .xfr model is loaded, and it cannot find it's textures, XFrog no longer freezes on startup. Additions, removals, bug fixes, and changes related to XFrog 3.0: CHANGED: Still more cosmetic improvements. Be on the lookout for buttons who have moved, widgets who have shrunk, labels that have changed, and other stuff like that. ADDED: More functions have been added to the custom function lists. CHANGED: JPEG image save quality has been changed from 75% to 100%. CHANGED: The shape editor windows have been made square. This is a more proper way to represent a normalized space. BUGFIX: The shape editor for the 'revo' component editor is now scaled to the proper size in the y direction. BUGFIX: Horn component's 'z translation' slider now works. BUGFIX: Reload textures no longer resets the camera view. BUGFIX: Crashes related to undo after changes made to custom functions on the 'z translation' of the horn component have been fixed. BUGFIX: All points in the small spline editors (found in the parameter editor lists for certain components) are now always editable at all times. BUGFIX: (Actually, bug avoided.) XFrog would crash if an attempt was made to delete a textured component that was used in multiple locations. This is no longer possible to do - for now. BUGFIX: There was a problem with setting texture names. Now, if a texture is chosen that is at or below the model's directory, the path name will be made 'relative', and there will be not be a full path added. If the texture is someplace about the model's directory, a full path name will be used. It used to be that very often the full path would be used. This is not longer the case. BUGFIX: A problem with setting profiles has been fixed. It used to be that some models did not know wether they were using a 2D profile or no profile, and when an attempt was made to edit this component, the profile would suddenly pop into a new shape. BUGFIX: The bug where saving a file would sometimes place it in a directory above the one you chose and give it a different name, has been fixed. Additions, removals, bug fixes, and changes related to XFrog 3 Beta 2: NOTE: Numerous cosmetic changes have been made. Labels and menu item names have been changed. Much of the interface strangeness has been cleaned up. ADDED: The parameter editor is cleared when an attempt is made to edit a currently unsupported component. The incomplete parameter editors are no longer displayed. (i.e. The 'world' component is currently unsupported, but you may find it in older xfrog files. Although you will see it in the scene graph, you will not be able to edit it.) ADDED: You can save out JPEG images, as well as PNG. ADDED: A message box appears warning the user that the primitive type cannot be set on the camera, if an attempt is made to do so. ADDED: Component library icons and primitive library icons re-order to fill the library window they are in, depending on the window's size. ADDED: Shape/Spline editors now have a cancel button. ADDED: Shape/Spline editors now have rulers. BUGFIX: When a component is renamed to a name of another component, the user is warned that there is a name conflict. But, it used to be that the changes to this name after the conflict correction were not shown immediately in the hierarchy viewer. This bug is fixed. BUGFIX: File extensions are now added to the filename before the file dialog is opened, so that you can see how the file would be saved. They are ALSO auto-added after the file dialog is closed, so if there was no extension added by the user, one will be added. BUGFIX: Custom function windows no longer pop up when a component containing custom functions is selected. BUGFIX: Disabling a texture no longer clears the texture path field. BUGFIX: When the mouse enters the heirarchy viewer, it takes keyboard focus. This insures that keyboard-based heirarchy operations work. CHANGED: The global resolution window has been removed from it's own window, and moved to the bottom of the main application window. this means number of polygons is updated constantly onscreen. CHANGED: When windows are popped out of the interface, the window titlebar displays the name of the window, and the smaller label bar (the one that was double clicked to bring the window out of the interface) goes away. CHANGED: Widget sizes and shapes in the parameter editor, so that everything lines up better and makes more sense visually. CHANGED: The defualt color mode has been changed back to 'inherit'. This was necessary so that old XFrog models appear properly. CHANGED: There is now one shared points editor that is shared for all points editting operations. Subsequent presses of 'edit' will reuse this same editor, filling it with the new shape or curve. CHANGED: Many cosmetic changes have been made to the interface. Many labels have changed, as well as styles and positions of objects, CHANGED: Once again, we have changed the way material editting works. Textures now have two options: 'set' and 'inherit'. To turn textures off, use 'set', but don't choose a filename. The 'local' labels have been changed to 'set', and the 'parent' labels have been changed to 'inherit'. CHANGED: Shape editors in the parameter editor no longer show the admittedly awkward shapes in the parameter editor list. Splines are still visible, but shapes are not. Changes, additions, removals, and bug fixes for XFrog 3 Beta 1: ADDED: Undo and Redo. Currently 5 levels deep. ADDED: Image save. (Only PNG output is supported.) ADDED: JPG textures. ADDED: A '*' appears next to the filename in the titlebar if the file has been changed. ADDED: When a file is dragged onto the hierarchy viewer (from outside the window) that file is loaded. ADDED: A cancel button has been added to the final close dialog, so the user can cancel out of quitting. ADDED: To preserve user sanity, the hourglass cursor appears when a complex operation is being computed, to let you know XFrog is busy. ADDED: Right clicking one of the elements in either one of the libraries windows brings up a small menu. ADDED: Names are shortened if too long to fit in the hierarchy viewer. ADDED: Under the 'special' menu, a 'reload textures' option has been added. This is usefull to use if texture files have changed on disk, but there paths and names are the same. ADDED: New 'fixed' buttons for curvature ranges. This controls whether the horn's length changes when its number of segments changes. ADDED: Custom functions for range sliders. (Click on 'custom..' in the slider's combo box.) CHANGED: Color mode 'defined' has changed to 'local' and inherit has changed to 'parent'. CHANGED: Texture mode 'defined' has changed to 'local' and inherit has changed to 'parent'. CHANGED: File menu options for 'save component' and 'save subheirarchy' grey out when no component is selected. CHANGED: The color editors have once again been changed slightly. CHANGED: Many of the hotkeys have been changed. CHANGED: A real filename other than 'untitled' appears in the file save dialog when exporting to another file type. CHANGED: Camera view starts off farther away from object. REMOVED: Useless hotkeys have disappeared from the libraries windows. REMOVED: It is no longer possible to manually delete points in the shape editors. This made it possible to permenently damage the shape, and create irreversible conditions. Instead, the slider bars are used to change the number of points. REMOVED: Useless 'segments' slider in revo component is gone. BUGFIX: Instance copies can be reparented without disconnection from the wrong parent. BUGFIX: Link types from different parents to the same instance copy can be changed without affecting all links to that instance copy. BUGFIX: Loading a file with textures followed by loading another file afterwords no longer crashes. BUGFIX: Reloading a file no longer crashed. BUGFIX: 'New file' no longer occassionally crashes. BUGFIX: SGI RGB images now work. Old models made on the SGI should load their images correctly. BUGFIX: It used to be that if you changed the number of segments in the component specific tab for leaf (with the slider), these would change the number of points in the shape editor at the same time, but not all of these points were editable. This complicated bug has been fixed. BUGFIX: If two of the same component were created, and if the texture mapping mode of one component was defined before the other one, it used to be that the second component also seemed to take this mapping mode. This bug has been fixed. BUGFIX: The automatic adding of file extensions durring a save operation no longer messes up filenames. BUGFIX: Text input boxes no longer loose keyboard focus when the mouse leaves them. BUGFIX: Hierarchy viewer no longer looses keyboard focus when the mouse leaves it. BUGFIX: Double clicking on a texture file in the texture file dialog no longer unparents the currently selected component in the hierarchy viewer. BUGFIX: When editting a horn's shape, the single apex point is reflected across the y-axis just like all the other points. BUGFIX: When editting a revo's shape, the topmost apex point is reflected across the y-axis just like all the other points. BUGFIX: When editting a leaf's shape, the apex point is not selectable or moveable. BUGFIX: The profile points widget is no longer displayed in the component editors if it doesn't make sense for the component's primitive type. BUGFIX: Hotkeys don't die when text edit fields are used. BUGFIX: Texture name string entry widget no longer has strange, unmodifiable selection. BUGFIX: If a text entry field is blank, pressing return in this field will send that empty string to xfrog (i.e. texture names.) BUGFIX: When the 'cancel' button is pressed in the file dialog for finding textures, it no longer clears the texture name. BUGFIX: It is no longer possible to reparent a component to be a child of one of it's own children or grandchildren. This used to result in the subgraph disappearing. BUGFIX: It is no longer possible to reparent the camera. BUGFIX: XFrog no longer asks you to save changes when nothing has changed. BUGFIX: When saving files, if the user specified a file extension and the file extension was not in all lower case, and additional file extension was added. This is no longer the case. BUGFIX: The minimum number segments in the leaf component is 3, which prevents irriversible problems. BUGFIX: Lower limits on the sliders in the shape editors are now 3, making them consistent with related sliders in the parameter editor. BUGFIX: Lower limits on the sliders in the spline editors are now 2, making them consistent with related sliders in the parameter editor. BUGFIX: The profile points editor is no longer displayed in the parameter editor for a particular component unless the profile editting is turned on. BUGFIX: When points are added and deleted from the spline editors, the slider bar is aware of this and updates accordingly. Changes, additions, removals, and bug fixes for XFrog 3 Alpha 9: ADDED: "mtl" files for obj export. ADDED: Global resolution slider.. under new menu. ADDED: Right clicking in the hierarchy viewer brings up a popup window for available operations. ADDED: A new menu has been added to the modelview window. The following options now exist: camera reset camera fit to window camera store snapshot camera recall snapshot ADDED: Leaf components have phototropism. ADDED: Leaf components have gravitropism. ADDED: A new "arrangement" parameter has been added to the tree component. This controls branching styles. ADDED: Hierarchy window buttons (copy, copy all, delete, etc..) deactivate when no component is selected. ADDED: Menu entries in hierarchy pulldown menu are active or inactive depending on wether a component or link is selected. ADDED: "Hide" and "Group" buttons will change to "UnHide" and "UnGroup" when needed. ADDED: Some of the hierarchy window buttons are disarmed when the camera component is selected. ADDED: User is warned about name conflicts. ADDED: Licensing. (Last Alpha.) CHANGED: When a texture is loaded, its path string is relative if the texture file is at or below the current working directory. Otherwise, the path string is absolute. This may change. CHANGED: The licensing scheme has changed. CHANGED: Many of the menus and menu items have changed names and locations. CHANGED: Horn curvature flags have been temporarily removed. CHANGED: Obj export now stores an MTL file, instead of the old format COL file, along with the model. CHANGED: Component and primitive icons in the interface have improved. CHANGED: License warning popup now includes a text box for entering a license key. CHANGED: The background color editor has changed. (This was done to avoid bugs on many of the graphic boards out there.) CHANGED: The color editors in each component have changed dramtically, and will probably change again before the final release, so beware. (This was done to avoid bugs on many of the graphic boards out there.) BUGFIX: The black selection box that appears around components in the heirarchy viewer now only appear when the mouse is over the actual icon for that cell. BUGFIX: Freezing modelview windows should no longer happen. BUGFIX: Messed up color editors should be fixed. BUGFIX: Tiny unreadable fonts on some Windows 98 machines is fixed. BUGFIX: Strange scrollbar behavior (as if there were extra space) in the the heirarchy viewer, primitive library, and component library windows has been fixed. BUGFIX: Setting primitive type of a component to 'none' in the parameter editor now works, and the image is rendered properly. BUGFIX: If an model is loaded by double clicking on the model file (before xfrog is loaded) the model is now able to find the textures specified with relative texture paths. Changes, additions, removals, and bug fixes for XFrog 3.0 Alpha 8: ADDED: Hierarchy menu. ADDED: Double clicking on a component in the library creates a new component of this type under the currently selected component. ADDED: Double clicking on a primitive in the library changes the primitive on the currently component. CHANGE: Some of the control key shortcuts have been removed. It was just getting too ridiculous. We only have control keys associated with the most important actions now. Take a look at the menus to see what control key shortcuts are used. CHANGE: Camera tab only has a 'camera' tab in the parameter editor. CHANGE: Primitive type "Undefined" has changed to "None". CHANGE: All push buttons now behave correctly. It used to be that some of the push buttons would react immediately when pressed. CHANGE: Line edit text boxes keep their focus when the mouse leaves them. CHANGE: Clicking in the hierarchy viewer causes it to regain it's keyboard focus. BUGFIX: Control key shortcuts no long stop functioning after using the hierarchy viewer. BUGFIX: Color editors now work better for component color editting. BUGFIX: Background color now works. BUGFIX: Color editor widgets should now render correctly on all NT machines. For machines running earlier versions of windows, we cannot guarantee that they will work as many graphics boards do not support multiple GL contexts on older versions of windows. BUGFIX: 'Area' primitive now works for 'tree' componenets. BUGFIX: Editing the primitive profile curve shows closed loops for most primitives, except 'area' primitives. BUGFIX: The default functions on some of the range sliders were not being accurately set. All functions are not set properly and yeild predictable behaviors. BUGFIX: The "Z Translation" slider is now fixed, and has become a range slider. The outrageous limits of the sliders are now more reasonable. BUGFIX: Loading a model while a component is selected no longer crashes. This crash would occur often after 'New' or 'Open' was used, usually after multiple opens. BUGFIX: Needless multiple updates in parameter editor window do not happen. Changes, additions, removals, and bug fixes for XFrog 3.0 Alpha 7: ADDED: Splash screen. ADDED: "Help -> About" window added. ADDED: The PNG file format is now supported better. Alpha channels are rendered properly. (Be carefull with PNG files saved from PhotoShop!) ADDED: It is possible to export to several file formats other than XFrog's native .xfr format. This ability is only available in the full version for now. But, we are planning on making this available before then, just because we're so damned nice. Anyway, the supported formats are: OBJ DXF RIB VRML 1.0 RayShade ADDED: "File -> Save Component" saves out single components (without their children.) ADDED: "File -> Save Sub Hierarchy" saves out single components and their children. ADDED: "File -> Insert" reads in components, sub hierarchies, or hierarchies saved to disk, and include them as part of the current scene graph. ADDED: The "Edit -> Info" window now displays the number of polygons in the model. CHANGED: There is no way to change the primitive type for leaves or revo components. CHANGED: There is a longer pause at startup, but there are now much shorter pauses when opening components. CHANGED: Single clicks on components open the parameter editors. (Not double clicks.) CHANGED: Grabbing multiple points in the shape editors works better. Holding down shift collects points. Selecting an already selected point does not clear the entire selection group. CHANGED: The hierarchy window conserves more space. CHANGED: Tube and area primitives now have a 'points' slider instead of a 'resolution' slider in their primitive tab. CHANGED: Tube and area primitives now have a 'points' slider instead of a 'resolution' slider in their profile editors. CHANGED: The leaf 'segments' slider int the leaf tab and the leaf shape editor's 'points' slider are linked. CHANGED: The leaf 'points' slider int the primitive tab and the leaf profile editor's 'points' slider are linked. CHANGED: The horn 'points' slider int the primitive tab and the horn profile editor's 'points' slider are linked. CHANGED: The revo 'points' slider int the primitive tab and the revo profile editor's 'points' slider are linked. CHANGED: Leaf profile curves no longer render in a closed loop. BUGFIX: Grouping a component and then deleting the component and then hitting delete a second time no longer crashes. BUGFIX: Multiple points are no longer selected with a single click in the curve editors. This happened when many points were close together. Changes, additions, removals, and bug fixes for XFrog 3.0 Alpha 6: ADDED: It is not possible to "Copy" or "Copy All" the camera. ADDED: CTRL+SHIFT+C in the heirarchy windw copies the current component as well as recursively copying all of it's children (same as "Copy All"). CTRL+C copies the component only. ADDED: Holding down SHIFT and reparenting a component (moving one component to another parent) in the heirarchy window now instances the moved component. If SHIFT is not held down, the component is reparented, and the behavior is the same as always. CHANGED: The "termination" link has been removed in the link editor. (This is related to recursion, which has not yet been implemented.) CHANGED: The size of the window is better maximized at startup so that the message bar is visible. CHANGED: "Instance" checkbox has been changed to "ReUse". CHANGED: In the heirarchy viewer, "Copy" now copies only a single component. CHANGED: Reference Copy has been removed, as there is a new way to create references now using the SHIFT key. CHANGED: In the heirarchy viewer, "Copy All" now copies an entire heirarchy beneath a component. CHANGED: One color editor is reused for editting all colors. CHANGED: The color editor now has "use" / "ignore" buttons next to the color name, in the parameter editor. The "edit" button does not appear unless "use" is activated. CHANGED: It is no longer possible to re-order the windows in the interface. CHANGED: The gap between the menubar and the other main controls has been removed. CHANGED: The strange collum number controls that would sometimes appear in the gap between the menubar and the main controls are now gone. CHANGED: Minor changes to messages and labels in interface. Changes, additions, and bug fixes for XFrog 3.0 Alpha 5: ADDED: Attractor component and attractor primitive now work - but most people will have no idea how to use them yet. Stay tuned for documentation. ADDED: It is possible to view areas of influence of attacrtors in the modelview window. See the View menu. ADDED: It is theoretically possible to view spline curves in the modelview window. See the View menu. (Currently, there is no way to create or edit spline curves .. so you will not see them yet if you create your own model. You can however see them in older models.) ADDED: Separators between important File menu items. These help prevent accidental selection of the wrong items. REMOVED: Help menu. REMOVED: Edit->Info menu item. REMOVED: Edit->Size menu item. BUGFIX: Decimal points can be entered into the number editors (the text boxes with the single slider bars) in the parameter editor before other numbers can be entered. BUGFIX: Decimal points can be entered into the range editors (the text boxes with the double slider bars) in the parameter editor before other numbers can be entered. BUGFIX: When a primitive icon is dragged onto a component icon that is open in the parameter editor, the primitive type changes also in the parameter editor. BUGFIX: Dragging components from the components library from an empty location in the library no longer crashes or creates a simple component. BUGFIX: Dragging primitives from the primitives library from an empty location in the library no longer crashes or removes the primitive from the destination component. BUGFIX: Occassionally, when changing a primitive type in the parameter editor for a component, these changes would appear in xfrog, but would not be savable. However, changes to the primitive type done by dragging a primitive icon from the primitives library onto a component would be savable. This bug has been fixed, and now changes to the primitive type done in both instances are savable. BUGFIX: A bug where the primitive type was occassionally not updated in the parameter edit for some of the components has been fixed. CHANGED: All name widgets require a return to be pressed or the mouse to leave the widget for the change to take place. CHANGED: Number editors (text boxes with the single slider) work better. CHANGED: Number editors (text boxes with the single slider) require a return to be pressed or the mouse to leave the widget for changes to take place when entering data in the text box. CHANGED: Range editors (text boxes with the double sliders) work better. CHANGED: Range editors (text boxes with the double sliders) require a return to be pressed or the mouse to leave the widget for changes to take place when entering data in the text box. CHANGED: Single clicking in the hierarchy viewer always closes the parameter window. This is to avoid user confusion of having a sleected component that is not also open in the parameter editor. (This may change.) CHANGED: The 'hotspot' widgets (for the attactor primitive) only appear when the hotspot direction is selected, as they should to avoid confusing the user. CHANGED: Only components that will be supported in the beta release appear in the component library, and can be created. CHANGED: The order of the components has been changed in the component library. Changes, additions, and bug fixes for XFrog 3.0 Alpha 4: ADDED: It is possible to edit leaf shapes with the spline editor. (There are bugs .. see the bug list.) ADDED: It is possible to edit horn shapes with the spline editor. (There are bugs .. see the bug list.) ADDED: It is possible to edit primitive profile shapes with the spline editor - for horns and trees. (There are bugs .. see the bug list.) ADDED: It is possible to edit revo shapes. (There are bugs .. see the bug list.) CHANGED: Minor changes to button labels. CHANGED: Color editor always stays in front. CHANGED: Spline editor always stays in front. CHANGED: Color editor widgets raise every time they are edited. CHANGED: Spline editor widgets raise every time they are edited. CHANGED: It is not possible to change the primitive type of leaf or revo components, since they in effect are their own primitives. CHANGED: Double clicks on a component in the heirarchy viewer open the parameter editor, instead of single clicks. CHANGED: Double clicks on empty space in the heirarchy viewer clear the parameter editor, instead of single clicks. BUGFIX: Profile flags work better for all components. BUGFIX: The Instance-Hidden-Unselected icon is fixed. BUGFIX: It is not possible to name two components the same name. Changes, additions, and bug fixes for XFrog 3.0 Alpha 2: ADDED: Textures work. Accepted formats are currently: BMP XBM XPM PNM (PBM, PGM, PPM, PBM, RAW, PGMRAW, PPMRAW) ADDED: When the mouse is held down and dragged out of the hierarchy window, the window scrolls. ADDED: Background colors of all windows with scrollbars blend better. ADDED: The 'delete' key deletes selected components in the hierarchy window. ADDED: The 'delete' key deletes selected spline points in the spline editting window. ADDED: If a grouped component is deleted, then it's entire subtree is deleted as well. ADDED: Range sliders (double sliders) now have functions. ADDED: Name of file being editted appears in the title bar. ADDED: Current filename appears in filename field of the Save As dialog box for convenience. REMOVED: The parameter editor does not come up with the component to edit as soon as the component is created. CHANGED: Icon sizes are smaller. CHANGED: Initial window sizes are different. Model view and hierarchy viewer open larger. CHANGED: Ref and Reference have have been changed the Instance. CHANGED: Camera cannot be hidden (with the 'hide' button). CHANGED: Slider bars in parameter editor render better. CHANGED: XFrog starts maximized. CHANGED: Simple editor widgets in the parameter editor window are easier to use and smaller. CHANGED: 'Cancel' button temporarily removed from the 'Save?' dialog when quitting. CHANGED: Selected components in the components library unselect when the mouse leaves the window. CHANGED: Selected primitives in the primitives library unselect when the mouse leaves the window. CHANGED: New smarts added to prevent two components from having the same name. BUGFIX: Texture mapping modes 'linear' and 'spheremap' did the same thing. They now do different things, like they should. BUGFIX: Two components cannot be named the same thing, and so any bugs associated with this are gone. BUGFIX: The 'quit' button (in the alpha versions) actually quits. BUGFIX: XFrog no longer crashes when 'New' is selected while a model is already loaded or constructed. BUGFIX: XFrog no longer crashes when 'Open' is selected while a model is already loaded or constructed. BUGFIX: Models from the original XFrog load. BUGFIX: A bug relating to the combined renaming and reparenting of components has been repaired. Changes, additions, and bug fixes for XFrog 3.0 Alpha 1: ADDED: Component color editting is available. ADDED: New display options have been added for the camera shading wireframe shading gouraud display vertices normals world axis local axis BUGFIX: The bug where the modelview window would turn black has been repaired. CHANGE: The 'leaf' link type has been changed to 'termination'. CHANGE: When no component is selected, parameter editor clears. BUGFIX: The rotation sliders in the 'simple' section of each component, in the parameter editor, only caused rotations about the x-axis. This has been repaired. CHANGE: Faster camera update. ADDED: XFrog now warns before writing over files. ADDED: XFrog warns the user to save the model, if has not been saved, before every File:New operation. ADDED: XFrog warns the user to save the model, if has not been saved, before every File:Open operation. ADDED: XFrog now automatically adds a .xfr file extension to files saved, if the user has not supplied one. CHANGE: The file open dialog box now has the option of displaying only .xfr files. CHANGE: The file save dialog box now has the option of displaying only .xfr files. ADD: An introductory splash screen appears at startup. BUGFIX: The 'Fan' label was repeated in the hydra component when it appeared in the parameter editor. This has been fixed. The labels are now: Fan, Twist, Spin CHANGE: The color editor dialogs have had a section added for color mode. The mode is either 'local' or 'inherit'. This will change. BUGFIX: RefCopy no longer makes two reference copies, but only one. BUGFIX: RefCopy no longer causes a crash. BUGFIX: Setting Ref on a link no longer crashes. CHANGE: The hierarchy viewer displays differently, and for now there is no recursion field. BUGFIX: Color editting no longer crashes. BUGFIX: Color editting now changes the model. BUGFIX: Alpha has been added for color edittors. CHANGE: The exponent has been removed from the color editors for now. CHANGE: The reference links render differently in the hierarchy viewer. CHANGE: Parameter editor clears when the component it displays has been deleted. BUGFIX: It is now not possible to edit deleted components in the component editor. BUGFIX: Small curve editors in the parameter editor are now syncroniyed to large curve editors that appear when the edit button is pressed. They keep the same number of points. CHANGES: Strange rendering artifacts have been mostly removed from the pushbutton widgets. BUGFIX: When a primitive is dragged from the primitive library onto a component, the primitive changes in the parameter editor like it should, if it is being displayed. BUGFIX: Errors in console window relating to a problem with the 'painter' have been fixed. CHANGE: Slider bars render differently so that it is easier to see the origin. BUGFIX: Slider bars now work if the user desires the minimum value to be greater then the maximum value. CHANGE: The on/off button for the photo vector in the parameter editor has been removed. CHANGE: The texture widgets in the parameter editor now include a 'name' field as well as a 'filename' field. CHANGE: The texture mapping modes now include 'none', 'linear', and 'reflection'. CHANGE: All widgets pertaining to light direction have been removed for the 'world' component. This will change. CHANGE: All widgets pertaining to gravity direction have been removed for the 'world' component. This will change. CHANGE: All widgets pertaining to light strength have been removed for the 'world' component. This will change. CHANGE: All widgets pertaining to gravity strength have been removed for the 'world' component. This will change. CHANGE: Some of the widget lists appear differently in the parameter editor .. some lines have disappeared and some labels have changed to say different things. CHANGE: Double clicking on the text of either of the limites of a slide bar now brings up a text entry box instead of a slider. CHANGE: Key controls added to the hierarchy viewer. Backspace = delete Ctrl+c = copy Ctrl+r = ref Ctrl+g = group Ctrl+h = hide CHANGED: Font displays more reliably in the primitive library. CHANGED: 'Front' tab has been removed from the modelview window. CHANGED: Single click on component raises the parameter editor, instead of double click. CHANGED: Primitive library icons are spaced closer. CHANGED: Component library icons are spaced closer. CHANGED: The saving of individual items has been temporarily removed. CHANGED: The loading of individual items has been temporarily removed. ADDED: Simple tool tips added for window titlebars. ADDED: Simple tool tip added for primitive library. ADDED: Simple tool tip added for component library. CHANGED: Once a component is created, it is opened in the parameter editor immediately. ADDED: A 'please wait' message when new parameter editors are being created. Message appears in status bar.