version 4.0 changes (17.01.2004)

• [new] docking window
• [new] resizable window
• [new] draggable bar
• [new] colored interface
   
• [changed] updating list of names
• [changed] wheels
• [new] communication handlers
• [new] search with wild char
• [new] Filtering Havok objects
• [new] light transform infos added
• [Bugfix] Renderer-Tab PopUps
• [Bugfix] Tracing in the sprite-Tab
• [small correction] stepSize for wheels / little arrows
• [small correction] loc of Backdrops/Overlays

Director MX 2004 offers the possibility to dock and group MIAWs (Movie In A Windows) with other windows - and of course the 3DPI takes adavantage of this feature.

In the preferences of the 3DPI you can choose, whether you want the 3DPI to be dockable or not. (Of course the feature is only available in Director MX 2004 and it is greyed out in previous Director versions.)

If you switch the dockingenabled feature on, on top of the 3DPI window appears the typical dockingBar of Macromedia products:

If you have 'floating' of the 3DPI window switched ON, you can dock or group the 3DPI with any other floating windows, in example with the Object Inspector.

If you have 'floating' of the 3DPI window switched OFF, you can dock the 3DPI with any other document windows, in example with the Score.

The 3DPI is now a resizable window, all elements should fit to the current window size.

Please note that when working with previous Director versions than MX 2004, the window is only resizable if you switch 'floating' off.

KNOWN ISSUES If dockingEnabled is switched ON, it sadly is not possible to change the rect of a window. Out of this fact you can resize the 3DPI window smaller than it should be, and I cannot correct the size afterwoards to the 'minimum size'.

 

The bar in the center between the upper list of names and the properties on bottom is now dragable. Take it on the dot and drag it down to scale up the space for the upper name list if you want see more names at once. The bar is draggable from the texture Tab on, which means in all Tabs except in Renderer-, Picking-, Sprite- and Member-Tab.

In the 3DPI Preferences you can now choose the interface color.

The 3DPI does not anymore check all existing 3d objects each frame and so does not anymore update the list of names each frame. With bigger projects, where having lot of objects (>300) in the selected Tab, it did slow down the performance too much.

Instead the list of names is now only updated if
- the number of objects is changed (i.e. tMember.model.count),
- the selection changes,
- the index number for the selected object changed.

All wheels (endless sliders) are changed.

The big, horizontal wheels do now also have scroll arrows to make it easier changing a value by 1.

The small, vertical wheels are exchanged to little Arrow-Buttons.

It is now possible to communicate with the 3DPI alittle bit. A few handlers are prepared to get or set the selection. Please see more at communication.html.

The string, that you type into the Search-field (the field that is placed on the left-bottom of the name list and opens when clicking on the search-arrow) always did search for the first object, whichs name STARTS with your search-string. Now you can type * as wildcard at the beginning to search for the first object, whichs name INCLUDES your search-string.

The little Filter-Button "F" on the right of the nameList, that offers filtering the list of objects by special definitions, is now also available at Havok objects.
(Remember to press the alt key when clicking on the Button to define the filter criterions.)

For all lights except ambient lights more infos about the transform is now available in the same way as it works at other nodes.

The content of the popUps for textureRenderFormat and depthBufferDepth did not list the available values. Fixed.

is fixed.

The little Arrows (wheels in prev. versions) at the shaders texturetransformList for the position- and scale- values are corrected, so they change the values about 0.1 instead of 1.0 at each step.
Similiar correction is done for some RigidBody-values.

The fields for the location ("loc") of Backdrops and Overlays now also allows to type negative values inside.