Intervista Software, Inc. is proud to announce WorldViewΓäó 2.0 Macintosh Special Edition, the VRML 2.0 plug-in for Netscape Navigator.
Please read these release notes carefully to help you avoid problems we already know about. Please report any new problems you encounter to macbeta@intervista.com. Please include specific information about your problem including:
ΓÇó Type of Macintosh system
ΓÇó Amount of physical RAM installed
ΓÇó Version of Netscape
ΓÇó Version of WorldView
ΓÇó Description of your problem. If possible, attach a copy of the wrl file, or give us a URL.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
WorldView for Macintosh requires:
ΓÇó Macintosh PowerPC computer. 680x0 is not supported.
ΓÇó MacOS version 7.5 or later
ΓÇó 16 MB RAM installed, 32MB or more preferred
ΓÇó 20 MB of disk space free
Additionally the following software components are required. If you don't already have them, you can download an installer containing much of the system software from our site.
ΓÇó SoundSprocket 1.0 (installed as :Extensions:Sound Manager, SoundSprocket Filter, and SoundSprocketLib)
ΓÇó QuickDraw 3D 1.5.3 (installed as :Extensions:Apple QD3D HW Driver, Apple QD3D HW Plug-In, QuickDrawΓäó 3D, QuickDrawΓäó 3D IR, QuickDrawΓäó 3D RAVE, and QuickDrawΓäó 3D Viewer).
ΓÇó QuickTime 2.5 (installed as QuickTimeΓäó, QuickTimeΓäó Musical Instruments, and QuickTimeΓäó PowerPlug)
ΓÇó Thread Manager (installed as :Extensions:ThreadsLib)
ΓÇó Netscape Navigator 3.01. To obtain this, download it from www.netscape.com.
INSTALLATION
• Verify that Netscape Navigator 3.01 is installed on your system.
• Double-click the WorldView Installer or WorldView Full Installer application to begin. Follow the instructions to install the software. You will need to restart your Macintosh.
• Verify that the WorldView Plugin and the WorldViewStuff folder are installed in the :Netscape:Plugins: subfolder
• Increase the amount of memory available to Netscape Navigator by selecting the icon in the Finder, choosing Get Info from th efile menu, and typing in a number into the Preferred Size. This number should be large, but not greater than the amount of free memory. To find out how much free memory you have, quit all active applications and select About This Computer… from the Apple menu. Choose a value that is approximately the amount of Built-in Memory minus the System Software, leaving a few megabytes free. In this beta version of WorldView, you will be able to navigate many VRML worlds with a 16-20 MB partition given to Netscape Navigator. This release won't work very well on a machine with only 16 MB physical RAM, even with Virtual Memory turned on.
NOTES
To get to the options menu, hold the option key down and press the mouse key while over the content area of the window. Alternatively, click and hold the mouse button down in the content area without moving it until the menu pops up.
NEW SINCE BETA 2
ΓÇó Many content crashes have been fixed.
ΓÇó Large worlds are more stable (check out www.lightscape.com).
ΓÇó Faster load times for worlds with many in-lines.
* Object transparency supported if hardware acceleration is present.
NEW SINCE BETA 1
ΓÇó VRML 1.0 files now work
ΓÇó Textures now use much less memory
ΓÇó Normal interpolators don't crash
* Orientation interpolators no longer have strange discontinuities
ΓÇó Keyboard accelerators work
ΓÇó Multiple windows or embeds work much better
ΓÇó The installer is properly licensed
ΓÇó Options is now called Preferences
ΓÇó Supports QuickDraw 3D plugin renderers. To choose one, visit the Preferences/Options screen.
ΓÇó Supports SoundSprocket setup. To do this, visit the Preferences/Options screen.
ΓÇó QuickDraw 3D 1.5.3 is included and required. This fixes a number of rendering problems and is faster.
ΓÇó Many other bugs are fixed.
KNOWN ISSUES
ΓÇó Movie textures and movie sounds unsupported at this time
ΓÇó Java is unsupported at this time
ΓÇó Fog is unsupported at this time
ΓÇó Collision detection is not completely implemented
ΓÇó UTF8 support is not implemented.
ΓÇó Some preferences have no effect, for example Hardware acceleration off.
ΓÇó Internet Explorer is not supported.
ΓÇó Loading the plugin takes a long time
ΓÇó If an animation is started before sounds are completely downloaded, sound is not synchronized.
ΓÇó Can't load BMP files.
ΓÇó QuickDraw 3D sometimes stops rendering, usually because it runs out of memory. To remedy this, increase the application partition. You can sometimes unwedge it by making the window smaller. Sometimes you must click in the scene to update it.