POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.news-submissions : JPatch 0.2 released Server Time
28 Mar 2024 19:12:56 EDT (-0400)
  JPatch 0.2 released (Message 1 to 3 of 3)  
From: sascha
Subject: JPatch 0.2 released
Date: 25 Apr 2003 05:54:31
Message: <3ea905d7@news.povray.org>
=============================
JPatch 0.2 pre-alpha released
=============================

Today we* have made availible a new pre-alpha version (0.2) of
our 3D Modeler "JPatch". It can be downloaded from
http://jpatch.sourceforge.net

JPatch is an sPatch like modeler and can export to RIB (RenderMan)
and POV-Ray.

Requirements:
=============

    * Java Runtime Environment Version 1.4 or later
    * Optional: Java3D Version 1.2 or later (for the
      Java3D preview)


Supported Platforms:
====================

    JPatch should run on every platform which supports Java. It has
    been tested on:
    * Microsoft Windows
    * Linux
    * Mac OS-X


What's new:
===========

    1. Java3D Preview
    -----------------
    JPatch now has a shaded preview (requires Java3D)

    2. Javascript
    -------------
    JPatch now embeds Rhino, the Javascript engine from mozilla.org.
    It includes three demo scripts to produce circles, spheres and
    grids.

    3. Background Images (Rotoscope)
    --------------------------------
    JPatch can now load and display a background image in each
    viewport.

    4. javax.vecmath Package
    ------------------------
    We've bundeled Kenji Hiranabe's unofficial free Java3D vecmath
    package into this JPatch release. So there's no need to install the
    complete Java3D distribution anymore (unless you want the Java3D
    preview feature, of course). For more information see
    http://objectclub.esm.co.jp/vecmath/

    5. Bugfixes
    -----------
    We've fixed all bugs that we found in version 0.1


Limitations:
============

    Javascript can only start the three included demo-scripts (circle,
    sphere and grid). Since the internal design of JPatch will change
    completely (see Future Plans), Javascripts written for this version
    will not run in the next version of JPatch anymore. We therefor
    decided to deactivate the possibility to execute custom scripts.


Future Plans:
=============

    We're currently re-writing much of the code to support
    Animation:Master style hooks and five-point-patches. This took a
    little longer than expected, so we decided to release another
    pre-alpha version, still based on the old code, but including
    several new features and bugfixes. The next version (0.3) will
    most likely support hooks and five-point-patches and Animation:Master
    model import.
    Animation features (Morphs, Bones) will follow in 0.4.



*The JPatch-Team are (in alphabetical order):
---------------------------------------------
Dan Bishop          Developer
Robert Hemby        Consultant / Tester
Sascha Ledinsky     Project Administrator / Developer
Giovanni Martone    Project Administrator / Consultant

Other Contributors:
-------------------
Gregg Patton



Best regards,
Sascha Ledinsky


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From: Thomas Willhalm
Subject: Re: JPatch 0.2 released
Date: 25 Apr 2003 10:16:44
Message: <3ea9434c@news.povray.org>
sascha wrote:

> =============================
> JPatch 0.2 pre-alpha released
> =============================
> 
> Today we* have made availible a new pre-alpha version (0.2) of
> our 3D Modeler "JPatch". It can be downloaded from
> http://jpatch.sourceforge.net

Cool. The screenshots suggest that it's already something very useful,
so "pre-alpha" is perhaps a little bit too modest.

Thomas (who unfortunately doesn't have the time at the moment do to some
modelling)


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From: sascha
Subject: Re: JPatch 0.2 released
Date: 25 Apr 2003 11:55:42
Message: <3ea95a7e@news.povray.org>
Does pre-alpha suggest that it isn't useful?
Hmmm...

Well, what it's trying to say is that
1) there are some features missing we'd like to implement before a 
feature-freeze and "real" alpha, beta and finally a stable 1.0 release.
2) it's probably full of bugs ;-)
3) it's under active development and in a state where we easily can 
integrate new features/improvements/etc...

The primary reason for releasing it in this "pre-alpha" state is to gain 
as much user-feedback as possible.

I'd say it's about as "useful" as sPatch is, but might have some bugs. 
At the current state Windows-users may prefer using sPatch or hamaPatch, 
but even yet it might be of some use to Mac- or Linux-users.

I've done some testing and fixed every bug I've found - so in general 
you could trust the program and it's undo feature, but still it's better 
to save often...

-Sascha Ledinsky

Thomas Willhalm wrote:
> sascha wrote:
> 
> 
>>=============================
>>JPatch 0.2 pre-alpha released
>>=============================
>>
>>Today we* have made availible a new pre-alpha version (0.2) of
>>our 3D Modeler "JPatch". It can be downloaded from
>>http://jpatch.sourceforge.net
> 
> 
> Cool. The screenshots suggest that it's already something very useful,
> so "pre-alpha" is perhaps a little bit too modest.
> 
> Thomas (who unfortunately doesn't have the time at the moment do to some
> modelling)


Post a reply to this message

From: Lenx
Subject: Re: JPatch 0.2 released
Date: 25 Apr 2003 14:13:05
Message: <3ea97ab1@news.povray.org>
great program!
i will try to model something in it instead of hamapatch


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From: Thomas Willhalm
Subject: Re: JPatch 0.2 released
Date: 28 Apr 2003 12:00:02
Message: <3ead5001@news.povray.org>
sascha wrote:

> Does pre-alpha suggest that it isn't useful?
> Hmmm...
> 
> Well, what it's trying to say is that
> 1) there are some features missing we'd like to implement before a
> feature-freeze and "real" alpha, beta and finally a stable 1.0 release.
> 2) it's probably full of bugs ;-)
> 3) it's under active development and in a state where we easily can
> integrate new features/improvements/etc...

I would call it "alpha" then. However, version 0.2 already suggests
that you plan to incorporate more features, so adding "(pre-)alpha"
is kind of redundant.

> I'd say it's about as "useful" as sPatch is, but might have some bugs.
> At the current state Windows-users may prefer using sPatch or hamaPatch,
> but even yet it might be of some use to Mac- or Linux-users.

In my opinion "sPatch" is very useful. I still keep a copy although I
don't boot to Windows to often. So - apart from the bugs you mention -
JPatch is useful, too, according my definition (especially for
non-Windows users).

However, this discussion might be not so useful (keeping
you from working on JPatch). I just wanted to mention that you are
probably too modest.

Thomas


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