Re: [Visualpython-users] Hungry users look forward to VisualPython 4

[Bruce S. <Bru...@nc...>]

For your convenience, here is the note I posted yesterday. The key 
sentence is, "I can't yet
estimate when there will be a real release of Visual 4."

Bruce Sherwood

----------------------------------

Here is an important announcement from March 10, a copy of which you'll
find in the "Recent developments" section of vpython.org:

"A major redesign for Visual-4 Beta is underway. The central goal of the
new design is to create an architecture which is more robust, easier to
maintain and to extend, and easier to install and to use. The principal
architects are David Scherer and Bruce Sherwood. Steve Spicklemire and
Ruth Chabay have also been involved in discussions. As a result, a
number of changes to the current beta version are likely. Support for
textures will change. Rather than creating a texture bitmap, a
programmer will be able to specify a material (such as wood).
Transparency will be supported. At this point it is unclear exactly what
support there will be for bitmapped images; they may be supported only
as "decals" which can be applied to flat surfaces. Lighting options may
change; it is likely that spotlights will not be supported at first in
this version. You can look forward to higher-quality rendering of scenes
on computers with modern graphics cards. A Macintosh version which does
not require X11 or Fink will be created. Both the Windows version and
the Mac version will no longer depend on the large GTK libraries, which
will however still be the foundation for Linux."

So feel free to play with the beta version, but expect problems, and
also expect the details of how to use the new features to change, so
don't write lots of code that will need rewriting.

Here is a brief update for everyone:

Major progress has been made toward improving performance and fixing
bugs, and there is now a Carbon-based version for the Mac that does not
use X11 or the Fink package manager. None of this is ready for release
because 1) there remain some bugs and performance issues and 2) not all
changes have been made to the language as discussed above. I can't yet
estimate when there will be a real release of Visual 4.

Hugh Fisher created a partial implementation of a Carbon-based Mac
version of Visual 3 (the older, production version that does not support
transparency, etc.). Starting from what Fisher built, David Scherer,
assisted by me, created a Carbon-based Mac version of Visual 4. Scherer
also made a number of important structural changes to Visual 4,
including using a single rendering for all windows rather than separate
renderings for each window, thereby making it much easier to apportion
time between your Python calculations and the graphics rendering.
Scherer also implemented support for unicode text in labels on Windows;
new code was necessary after abandoning GTK on Windows.

Emanuele Gissi wrote:
> Open source software is usually "ready when it's ready...".
>
> But let me ask this dumb question:
> Sourceforge still has the VisualPython 4.beta26 version that was out 
> in february.
> When will the refactored VisualPython 4 version be ready for us hungry 
> users to test?
>
> I am looking forward to materials, box with different faces, 
> transparency, and new frames capabilities...
> I suggest the possibility to put pull-down menus and custom buttons 
> (to build a simple toolbox) on the 3d scene window and not only in a 
> separate control window.
>
> Thanks in advance, as usual (Grazie in anticipo, come sempre)
> Emanuele
>
>