POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.general : POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released Server Time
13 Aug 2024 19:26:59 EDT (-0400)
  POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released (Message 1 to 7 of 7)  
From: povray org admin team
Subject: POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released
Date: 28 Jul 1998 16:41:54
Message: <35be2830.1941071@news.povray.org>
The subject says it all. See

  http://www.povray.org/povbeta.html
or
  ftp://ftp.povray.org/pub/povray/beta/beta3.1-5/


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From: Jim Kress
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released
Date: 28 Jul 1998 19:28:44
Message: <35be509c.0@news.povray.org>
What changed?

Jim

povray.org admin team wrote in message <35be2830.1941071@news.povray.org>...
>The subject says it all. See
>
>  http://www.povray.org/povbeta.html
>or
>  ftp://ftp.povray.org/pub/povray/beta/beta3.1-5/
>
>


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From: Dan Connelly
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released
Date: 28 Jul 1998 21:15:01
Message: <35BE6984.92C299DB@flash.net>
Jim Kress wrote:
> 
> What changed?
>


The following is from changes.txt in the 3.14b5 windows package:


  o Add an option to stop the render animation (see the Appearance menu).

  o POVWIN should now detect Win98 and not draw the caption text in the
    title bar. One day we'll make it use DrawFrameControl () instead of the
    way we draw the extra button now. (DrawFrameControl () was not present in
    the earlier versions of windows that POVWIN was originally written for).

  o An old bug (solved in 3.02 but present in earlier versions) reappeared
    in 3.1 betas prior to beta5. This typically shows itself as corrupted
    text in the message window, and/or random crashes, particularly when
    starting a render or clearing the message pane from the edit menu.

    The cause of this is a memory overwrite coming from inside the generic
    POV-Ray code, and came back since the fix never made it into the generic
    source after the release of 3.02. It's now fixed for good.

  o There was a problem with POVWIN not releasing memory after a render. This
    actually was not as clear as it seems - POVWIN did in fact release the
    memory, but the C runtime library did not. The memory was not wasted in
    that if you did a new render, the memory got re-used. But it still was not
    available to other Windows apps.

    The solution is compiler-specific (see CONFIG.H if you're compiling your
    own copy of POVWIN). The official POV-Team version of POV-Ray for Windows
    (which is compiled with Watcom C/C++) now does release this memory, so the
    problem is fixed for most users.

  o The 'render from memory' feature is gone. It is a difficult feature to
    implement (because the main POV-Ray rendering engine does not have a
    concept of rendering from memory, so a simulation of a file had to be
    done. This did not always work as expected). We decided that the due to
    the restrictions that the above placed on the feature (and the problems
    that this caused for some users) it was best not to have it.

  o A new GUI extension call has been added that supplies GUI extensions with
    what is effectively an exact copy of the data (pixel by pixel) that would
    have been written to file. This works regardless of whether file output
    is on or not. This does not break compatibility with GUI extensions that
    were written for previous versions of POV-Ray - if they were written
    properly they will still work unchanged.

  o The Windows help file is now 'povray31.hlp' (previously povray30.hlp).

  o The registry keys now work this way -

    HKLM\
      Software\
        POV-Ray\

          Windows\
            Home          -> Points at either v3.0x or v3.1.

          CurrentVersion\
            Windows\
              Home        -> Path of current version always
              VersionNo   -> Current version number

          v3.0\
            Windows\
              Home        -> Points at path of v3.0x if it exists

          v3.1\
            Windows\
              Home        -> Points at path of v3.1

          v3.x\
            Windows\
              Home        -> Points at path of a hypothetical v3.x

    If there was no old version on the users computer, the old Windows value
    points to the new version of POVWIN. If there was an old version, the user
    will be asked upon installation if they want to have it updated to point
to
    the new one.

    Authors of utilities that read the registry to extract the install dir of
    POVWIN are requested to use the 'v3.x' keys to locate POVWIN if their
    program absolutely requires a specific version. Otherwise, they should use
    the 'CurrentVersion' key. Under no circumstances should any new utility
    use the old 'Windows' value as support for that entry will be removed in a
    later version of POVWIN.

-- 
http://www.flash.net/~djconnel/


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From: Jim Kress
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released
Date: 29 Jul 1998 15:27:02
Message: <35bf6976.0@news.povray.org>
Thanks!

Dan Connelly wrote in message <35BE6984.92C299DB@flash.net>...
>Jim Kress wrote:
>>
>> What changed?
>>
>
>
>The following is from changes.txt in the 3.14b5 windows package:
>
>
>  o Add an option to stop the render animation (see the Appearance menu).
>
>  o POVWIN should now detect Win98 and not draw the caption text in the
>    title bar. One day we'll make it use DrawFrameControl () instead of the
>    way we draw the extra button now. (DrawFrameControl () was not present
in
>    the earlier versions of windows that POVWIN was originally written
for).
>
>  o An old bug (solved in 3.02 but present in earlier versions) reappeared
>    in 3.1 betas prior to beta5. This typically shows itself as corrupted
>    text in the message window, and/or random crashes, particularly when
>    starting a render or clearing the message pane from the edit menu.
>
>    The cause of this is a memory overwrite coming from inside the generic
>    POV-Ray code, and came back since the fix never made it into the
generic
>    source after the release of 3.02. It's now fixed for good.
>
>  o There was a problem with POVWIN not releasing memory after a render.
This
>    actually was not as clear as it seems - POVWIN did in fact release the
>    memory, but the C runtime library did not. The memory was not wasted in
>    that if you did a new render, the memory got re-used. But it still was
not
>    available to other Windows apps.
>
>    The solution is compiler-specific (see CONFIG.H if you're compiling
your
>    own copy of POVWIN). The official POV-Team version of POV-Ray for
Windows
>    (which is compiled with Watcom C/C++) now does release this memory, so
the
>    problem is fixed for most users.
>
>  o The 'render from memory' feature is gone. It is a difficult feature to
>    implement (because the main POV-Ray rendering engine does not have a
>    concept of rendering from memory, so a simulation of a file had to be
>    done. This did not always work as expected). We decided that the due to
>    the restrictions that the above placed on the feature (and the problems
>    that this caused for some users) it was best not to have it.
>
>  o A new GUI extension call has been added that supplies GUI extensions
with
>    what is effectively an exact copy of the data (pixel by pixel) that
would
>    have been written to file. This works regardless of whether file output
>    is on or not. This does not break compatibility with GUI extensions
that
>    were written for previous versions of POV-Ray - if they were written
>    properly they will still work unchanged.
>
>  o The Windows help file is now 'povray31.hlp' (previously povray30.hlp).
>
>  o The registry keys now work this way -
>
>    HKLM\
>      Software\
>        POV-Ray\
>
>          Windows\
>            Home          -> Points at either v3.0x or v3.1.
>
>          CurrentVersion\
>            Windows\
>              Home        -> Path of current version always
>              VersionNo   -> Current version number
>
>          v3.0\
>            Windows\
>              Home        -> Points at path of v3.0x if it exists
>
>          v3.1\
>            Windows\
>              Home        -> Points at path of v3.1
>
>          v3.x\
>            Windows\
>              Home        -> Points at path of a hypothetical v3.x
>
>    If there was no old version on the users computer, the old Windows
value
>    points to the new version of POVWIN. If there was an old version, the
user
>    will be asked upon installation if they want to have it updated to
point
>to
>    the new one.
>
>    Authors of utilities that read the registry to extract the install dir
of
>    POVWIN are requested to use the 'v3.x' keys to locate POVWIN if their
>    program absolutely requires a specific version. Otherwise, they should
use
>    the 'CurrentVersion' key. Under no circumstances should any new utility
>    use the old 'Windows' value as support for that entry will be removed
in a
>    later version of POVWIN.
>
>--
>http://www.flash.net/~djconnel/


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From: Johannes Hubert
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released
Date: 30 Jul 1998 06:01:09
Message: <35c03655.0@news.povray.org>
Hey man! Ever heard of news-group "netiquette"?

Posting an article where you quote a long-long previous article only to say
"thanks" is not the way to go. People with low bandwidth would appreciate it
if you didn't do that.

Johannes.


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From: Nieminen Mika
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released
Date: 1 Aug 1998 10:00:18
Message: <35c31162.0@news.povray.org>
Maybe I'm a little paranoid... but I'm slightly unhappy. I see the word
"PovWIN" everywhere. povwin here, povwin there, povwin this, povwin that...
Hey, come on! It seems like you are putting more time in the windows GUI
than in povray itself. First you say that you are no longer supporting the
povhelp program because you want to concentrate in povray itself. Now all
what I see is povwin, povwin, povwin... Fixed bug x in povwin GUI, fixed
bug y in povwin version, always povwin...
  I'm not trying to offend anyone, but "povhelp is no longer supported because
we want to concentrate in povray itself" sounds hypocritical to me after this.
(I know this offends someone, and I apologize)

-- 
                                                              - Warp. -


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From: Dan Connelly
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.1 beta 5 released
Date: 1 Aug 1998 13:11:14
Message: <35C33E39.67E98A6A@flash.net>
Nieminen Mika wrote:
> 
>   Maybe I'm a little paranoid...

Maybe?

1. The changes.txt I posted applied only to the windows-specific changes.
   The general code changes were not documented there -- I don't know
   where they are to be found.

2. DOS was an obsolete operating system the day it came out.  At some
   point support for things needs to be relaxed, especially when manpower
   is so limited.   Issues like this are solved by volunteering, not
   complaining and begging, and it seems to me a volunteer has stepped
   forward in the DOS case.

I appreciate the services of the POV team.  While I agree a more open standard
would be preferable (the current beta-release strategy is stifling innovation
due to the fact that nobody wants to do anything with the most recently
available code right now), I don't see any alternatives out there.  

Before I complain too loudly, I'll volunteer to lead a new renderer project.  
I do not volunteer.

Dan

-- 
http://www.flash.net/~djconnel/


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