panda3d/doc/ReleaseNotes

------------------------  RELEASE 2004-07-27  ------------------------

Configuration, installation, and execution environments:

  * We have moved to a new, more explicit naming convention for our
    import statements.  Rather than installing all Python files into
    one big flat namespace, we now import them from their appropriate
    directories, e.g. "from direct.actor import Actor".

  * "from ShowBaseGlobal import *" is replaced with "import
    direct.directbase.DirectStart" and/or "from pandac.PandaModules
    import *".

  * The old "generatePythonCode" script has been replaced with a new
    "genPyCode" script that automates the Python wrapper generation
    process without requiring any special parameters.

  * The old dependencies on environment variables have been removed.
    There are no longer requirements for any environment variables to
    be set in either the build process or the runtime environment
    (although a few optional environment variables remain to allow
    custom configuration).

  * INSTALL document greatly enhanced for clarity.

  * An automatic build script is now provided to further simplify
    building Panda3D for Unix and Cygwin users.

  * The old "Configrc" filename to identify runtime configuration
    files is deprecated; configuration files should now be named
    Config.prc, or in general, *.prc.  The system-default
    configuration files are auto-generated as 20_panda.prc,
    30_pandatool.prc, and 40_direct.prc (the numeric prefixes control
    the order in which these are loaded at runtime).

Rendering system:

  * Some deprecated methods of CollisionEntry have been flagged to
    raise an exception now; these are replaced with the newer
    interfaces that can return a collision point in an arbitrary
    coordinate system.

  * Camera::set_cull_center() can be used for debugging culling by
    setting the effective point of visibility culling different from
    the actual point.  From Python, use base.oobeCull() to examine
    this effect.

  * Alt-Enter in pview toggles between fullscreen and windowed modes.

  * Added experimental support for GL display lists.

Scene graph:

  * Exposed methods to directly retrieve and set the individual
    vertices of a GeomNode from Python code.

  * The new PortalNode defines the interface for Panda's new
    cell-portal visibility system; each PortalNode is a window into
    another zone, or a separate subgraph; the PortalNode can hide or
    show the subset of its zone's geometry visible through its
    "portal".

  * The new PolylightNode applies a simple lighting-like effect
    without actually using lighting; objects will brighten or darken
    as a whole according to their proximity to the light.  Use
    PolylightEffect to enable this effect.

  * The new FadeLODNode works like ordinary LODNode, but the switches
    are alpha-blended in over a short period of time rather than
    popping immediately.

Text display:

  * Text now supports embedded mode changes--special characters to
    switch fonts, colors, scale, etc. within a line or within a
    paragraph.

  * Windows IME is better supported by Panda/Direct widgets
    (e.g. PGEntry and/or DirectEntry) in fullscreen mode as well as in
    windowed mode.

Model converters:

  * dxf2egg and egg2dxf added to converters, as well as to inline
    conversion supported via ptloadeder.



------------------------  RELEASE 2004-03-29  ------------------------

Miscellaneous:

  * We once again support the Microsoft VC6 compiler.

  * The "pstats" program is now provided in the Windows environment as
    part of pandatool.  It is similar to "gtk-stats" on a Unix
    environment, and can be used to view a real-time graph of
    performance timing in a running Panda process.  See
    panda/src/doc/howto.use_pstats.

  * New session recording and playback support allows capturing user
    and network input to a disk file, for replaying later, offline.
    Use "record-session filename.boo" and "playback-session
    filename.boo" in your Configrc file.

  * The genPyCode script now uses PythonWare's SqueezeTool to
    "squeeze" the large number of generated .py files into a single
    shared library, for substantially improved startup times on
    Windows.

  * The Task system now has substantially reduced overhead when many
    doLater's are waiting in the system.

  * The png image file type is now supported.


Rendering system:

  * Introducing native DirectX9 graphics support, although we do not
    yet support any features specific to DirectX9, such as
    programmable shaders.

  * DirectX7 and DirectX8 modules are now somewhat more robust.

  * New support for offscreen rendering and render-to-a-texture, which
    will become part of a general multipass-rendering interface.
    Presently supported in OpenGL, with limited DirectX support.  Use
    GraphicsWindow::make_texture_buffer() to make a buffer you can
    render into and apply the result as a texture map to objects in
    your scene.  The NonlinearImager in the distort directory is a
    complex example of using this interface.

  * Explicit support for the Mesa 3D library's software-based
    offscreen rendering, allowing a Panda program to generate
    offscreen images as a background process, independently of any
    graphics card or desktop environment.

  * GraphicsLayer and GraphicsWindow render order can now be easily
    adjusted dynamically with set_sort() methods.

  * Built-in frame rate meter can be activated by setting
    "show-frame-rate-meter 1" in your Configrc file.


Scene graph:

  * New tag system on PandaNodes allows storing of arbitrary string
    data on nodes, keyed by a string dictionary.  The
    NodePath::get_net_tag() interface retrieves the data value for a
    particular tag on a node or the nearest ancestor of the node.
    NodePath::find() can search for a node in the scene graph with a
    given tag or tag/value pair.

  * Explicit shear transforms are now supported on nodes, as well as
    in character animation tables.

  * Characters now have an interface to control joint and slider
    values dynamically, instead of strictly from an animation file.
    Use Actor.exposeJoint() and/or Actor.controlJoint().

  * Nurbs surfaces and curves can now be rendered directly by Panda,
    which will tesselate them on the fly at some CPU cost.  This is a
    modeling convenience only; it is not intended to be used for
    production code.  Triangle strips are still the fastest way to
    render complex surfaces.

  * However, Rope.py is now provided as a high-level wrapper around
    Panda's runtime NURBS curve evaluator; it can render dynamic
    curves in a variety of ways.

  * The egg library is now published to Python, allowing construction
    of geometry on-the-fly by show code for convenience.  This is also
    intended as a developer's convenience more than a production
    feature.


Text display:

  * The special character \3 (ASCII 0x03) embedded in a text string
    indicates the position of a soft hyphen when wordwrap mode is in
    effect.  The character \4 (ASCII 0x04) serves as a hyphenless
    invisible break point.

  * A default font is compiled in even if the FreeType library is not
    available.

  * pnmtext library added for rendering text directly into an image.

  * New egg-mkfont utility uses FreeType to generate static font
    models that Panda clients without FreeType can use to render text.


Collision and physics system:

  * More robust collision interface, supporting NodePaths properly so
    that collisions detected into (and from) particular instances of
    nodes can be differentiated.  CollisionEntry has a much simpler
    mechanism for getting the intersection point and normal in an
    arbitrary coordinate space defined by a NodePath, instead of the
    user having to convert the coordinate space by hand.

  * New CollisionVisualizer object to visually show collisions as they
    are tested and detected, useful for optimizing collision
    performance.  Activate this with
    base.cTrav.showCollisions(render).

  * Implicit velocity system is now integrated with scene graph; the
    relative velocity of moving nodes is automatically considered when
    testing for most kinds of collisions.  Use
    NodePath::set_fluid_pos() to indicate that a node is moving
    fluidly to its new position and should test for collisions along
    the way (as opposed to the more traditional NodePath::set_pos(),
    which unconditionally sets the node to its new position).

  * Introduction of "tube" collision shapes, sometimes called
    "capsules" in other libraries.  It is a cylinder capped with
    hemispheres.

  * CollisionSolid::set_effective_normal() provides a way to define a
    sloping surface with an apparently vertical normal, to prevent
    characters standing on the surface from sliding down.

  * Collision polygons now respect clipping planes.

  * Many changes to physics system.


HTTPClient and net systems:

  * More verbose error reporting.

  * Better support for proxy servers, including SOCKS5 proxies.


Model converters:

  * maya2egg converter now supports skeleton/morph animation files
    fully, including soft-skinning, hard-skinning, and morphs (blend
    shapes).  NURBS and polygon meshes are both supported.

  * A new Maya plugin called libmayapview allows opening a Panda
    window from within Maya to view how the scene will look once it
    has been converted to Panda.

  * New soft2egg converter supports models and animation stored in
    SoftImage 4.3 files.  (Newer versions of SoftImage are not
    supported.)

  * New egg2flt program more or less reverses flt2egg.

  * The ptloader Panda loader allows direct loading into Panda of most
    model file types defined within pandatool: Maya, flt, and lwo.
    Specify load-file-type ptloader in your Configrc file.

  * New egg-optchar preprocessor improves character animation runtime
    performance by eliminating unneeded joints.  It can also
    reorganize a skeleton and/or expose joints for the show code's
    convenience.

  * New egg-qtess utility converts NURBS egg files to polygon egg
    files with either a trivial interface for quick conversions or a
    sophisticated parameter file for more precise control.  It
    preserves soft-skinning and animation information.

  * New visibility flag in egg format allows model files to define
    invisible subtrees which will be initially stashed when loaded.

  * The egg library now allows implicit forward references to vertex
    pools, making it much easier to generate a valid egg file from a
    third-party model format.