[Visualpython-users] Released: VPython 4.beta2

[Jonathan B. <jbr...@ea...>]

Get it from the Sourceforge download pages at
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/visualpython
Probably not more than one or two more beta releases will be pushed out
before 4.0, so please test out these builds!  Also, the time that I will
have to work on VPython will be much more limited from here out, so the
sooner we get bug reports, the better.

The Windows build should work for users of Windows 98 and ME, as well as
XP.  This build uses the Win32 API natively, rather than using Gtk.  It
still uses libsigc++, which is licensed under the LGPL.  Therefore, its
source code is available as win32_source_deps_LGPL.tar.bz2.  At this
time, the native windows build does not support the toolbar that the Gtk
build does.  If there is sufficient interest, it may be possible for us
to publish a native Windows build as well as a Gtk+-on-Win32 build.

Enjoy!
-Jonathan

Visual 4.beta2
================================================================================
    NEW FEATURES:
    * The Windows build is no longer dependent on Gtk+; it uses the Win32
        API directly.  Windows 98,ME,XP,2K are supported.  Windows 95 is _not_
        supported, and will not be for the forseeable future.  The official
        Microsoft end of life date for Windows 98 and ME is coming soon 
        (30 June 2006).  Support by VPython for those versions of Windows is
        deprecated.
        This build depends on a third-party library, libsigc++, which is licensed
        under the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1.  (which was also
        the case for Gtk).  To comply with the terms of this license, the source
        code for libsigc++ is available from our download site alongside the
        Windows package.
    * Ring objects support translucency. (but it is somewhat expensive)
    * Graphs of points utilize the new points object
    * (Actually present since 4.beta0) Label objects' text supports Unicode
        strings.  On Linux/Unix, any unicode character supported by the selected
        font should be displayed correctly.  This feature is not implemented for
        Windows.  Additionally, the default text font for Linux is the system
        font (rather than courier), rendered using Freetype 2.
    * The colorsliders demo includes an alpha (opacity) slider
    * The gdots object uses the new points object for rendering cleaner point
        graphs

    BUGS FIXED:
    * Programs that track UI events should exit cleanly when the user closes
        a window, rather than hang.
    * A universe consiting of only one instance of a points, curve, convex, faces,
        or ellipsoid will be displayed properly.
    * Boxes with negative dimentions are rendered correctly
    * renderable.shininess = 1.0 is no longer a synonym for diabling shininess
        (shininess is maximized in this case)
    * Label object color properties are applied correctly
    * Copyright notices (license.txt and LIBSIGC_COPYING.txt) have been added to
        the Windows distribution.
    * (Linux/UNIX only) label.text returns a properly formed unicode string