=================================
SharpConstruct 0.12 Release Notes
=================================
This release features a Windows port, a masking tool to improve modeling and
deformation control, adjustable shading with GLSL vertex shaders, and
support for the Lightwave object format. Also new are interactive
deformation controls, curve-based brush control, and extra tablet controls.

* Support for loading and saving Lightwave's LWO files. Saving LWOs is twice
  as fast as saving OBJs, and loading is about five times faster.

* Shading can now be controlled. Model curvature is easier to see with
  specularity, which is controlled by two new properties, and another option
  controls the overall strength of the lighting.

* The model can now be automatically rotated to show the top, front, or side,
  similar to, and using the same shortcuts as, Blender.

* The sliders for the Move and Scale deformations, as well as the Mirror
  button, have been replaced with interactive deformations. These appear as
  3D controls overlayed on the model, similar to most 3D modelers.

* The interface has been reorganized; it follow the GNOME HIG in more areas.
  In particular, the brush is now selected from four large buttons at the
  top of the screen, and the brush options now follow a more vertical
  format. Also, the sidebar can now be flipped to the other side of the
  screen.

* Several improvements to tablet support: there is now a slider to control
  Zooming so that there's no need to switch to the mouse to zoom, also,
  a second brush circle is drawn to indicate the amount pressure is
  affecting the brush. Finally, when "Simple Rotation" is on, the model can
  be rotated by clicking on the background and dragging.

* The brush can be controlled using a strength curve. This can be used to
  smooth the edges of a brush shape without filtering it in an external
  2D editing program.

* SharpConstruct is better integrated into the desktop; it shows a menu item
  in GNOME.

* The open model dialog now has a preview in which the model is shown and
  can be rotated.

* Portions of the model can be masked. Masked areas stop most operations
  from affecting that area; for example, subdivision can now be controlled
  by masking off areas that are already subdivided enough.

* Vertex shaders are now used to display masks and alter shading. Drivers
  that do not support vertex shaders are still supported, but masking will
  not be visible. There is also a secondary shading mode that uses normals
  to show details more clearly.

* Thanks to Timon Christl, SharpConstruct now runs under Windows.

=================================
SharpConstruct 0.11 Release Notes
=================================
This release features a new GTK+ interface that greatly improves usability by
using standard interface elements. SharpConstruct now supports graphics
tablets, dynamically adjusting the brush with pen pressure. Also new is a
display accelerator, which can increase the speed of small detail modeling. 

-----------
What's new:
-----------
* SharpConstruct's interface now uses GTK+ and gtkmm. OpenGL rendering is done
with GtkGLExt and GtkGLExtmm.

* Tablet input is now supported. Pressure data can be used to affect brush
size, strength, and intensity. Any of these can be turned off with the toggles
at the right of their respective sliders.

* Color selection now uses GTK+'s color dialog, which adds support for HSV and
hex colors. It also has an eyedrop tool capable of grabbing color from anywhere
on screen.

* A new logo is now used for the icon and about dialog. The new logo was
designed by coschi.

* Zooming now works much more like zooming a camera rather than moving the
camera closer to the model, avoiding the problem of the camera moving inside
the model.

* Shortcuts have been added to control the brush size; F will increase the size
by two, D will decrease by two.

* The format in which data is sent to the graphics card can now be manually
changed between VBO (Vertex Buffer Object) and VAR (Vertex Array).

* The sidebar containing all interface widgets except the menu and toolbar can
be toggled off with View > Show Sidebar to create more room.

* The Unify deformation now affects the scale of the model as well as its
location. Unify now resizes the model to fit within one unit.

* Numerous improvements to both performance and stability have been made
throughout the program.

=================================
SharpConstruct 0.10 Release Notes
=================================
A new tool in this release adds support for temporarily hiding 
portions of the model; partial model visibility improves the speed of 
editing and drawing the model. The addition of several new brush 
modifiers extends the way the brush interacts with the model. Important 
bug-fixes include reduced CPU usage and a memory-efficient undo system.

-----------
What's new:
-----------
* Portions of the model can now be hidden with a new partial-visibility 
tool. The tool is activated by pressing CTRL while dragging on the 
model; a translucent rectangle shows the area to be affected. On mouse 
up, the selected portion of the model is hidden. Not only does this 
speed up drawing, but the speed of most other calculations is 
also improved.

* The undo/redo system has been completely reworked. It is now much 
faster, mostly because it now copies only small portions of the mesh 
data, instead of making complete copies.

* The program's interface no longer runs at 100% CPU usage, so it plays 
nicely now with other programs.

* The Draw brush has two new options that modify its behaviour. The 
first, labeled "Layer" produces flat layers on the model instead of the 
usual rounded hills. The second option, labeled "Dot", makes it easier 
to exactly position a dot on the model. When Dot is active, the brush 
draws only one dot on the model, which can be dragged around.

* All of the brush modes now affect the model on mouse down (except 
Grab, where it wouldn't make sense.) It is no longer necessary to move 
the mouse to see changes on the model.

* Reference images can now be displayed while modeling. When loaded, the 
image is drawn behind the model. The image can be moved and resized, and 
the model can be drawn translucently so that the image shows through.

* A new way of finding the depth of the model beneath the mouse has been 
added. Using this new method improves the feel of the brush, especially 
when Layer or Dot mode is active, however the new option can make 
modeling slower. It can be disabled in the Settings dialog.

* The program now excepts the standard "--help" and "--version" options. 
Also, if a filename is added after the program name, that file will be 
loaded on startup.

* Selecting a brush mode now disables unneeded interface controls; for 
example, the Grab brush disables the Add/Sub/RGB controls, none of which 
affect the Grab brush's operation.

* The SharpConstruct package now includes a manpage.

=================================
SharpConstruct 0.09 Release Notes
=================================
This release contains many important changes to the brush system. Most 
notably, alphas are now used to control the shape and strength of the 
brush, making it easy to smoothly add small details quickly. Many 
improvements have been made to the interface and to common operations, 
such as subdividing and model rotation.

-----------
What's new:
-----------
* The brush can now be controlled with an alpha. Alphas are simple 
grey-scale images that control the strength and intensity of the brush. 
These brushes make it easy to add small details quickly. Thanks to one 
of SharpConstruct's users for suggesting this!

* The old parabola-shaped brush has been removed; a new default alpha 
replaces it with a much smoother curve. Several other alphas are also 
included; all were created in the GIMP.

* The brush is now drawn on-screen with a red circle, indicating the 
boundary of where the brush can affect the model.

* The size of the brush now corresponds to pixels; instead of having to 
resize a large model to fit the brush, the brush automatically scales 
itself by using its size on the screen.

* Markers are now drawn to indicate symmetry; a small triangle is 
drawn at the center of each additional area that is being modified.

* Subdivide now produces only quads. Previously, subdividing a triangle 
resulted in four new triangles. This has been changed to produce three 
new quads.

* A new Smooth toggle has been added for the Subdivide deformation; when 
used it automatically smooths vertices after a subdivide.

* Sliders can now have shortcut keys. The shortcut not only gives the 
slider keyboard focus, but also draws a copy of the slider beneath the 
cursor for easy mouse modification.

* Most controls in the program now have tooltips. Some have additional 
information that can be accessed by holding CTRL down while viewing a 
tooltip. All controls with shortcut keys show the shortcut in their 
tooltips.

* The latest NVidia drivers (7664) now work correctly with SharpConstruct.

* Instead of simply failing if VBO support is not available, the model 
is now rendered using plain vertex arrays.

* Rotation now supports angle snapping. By holding down the SHIFT key 
while rotating the model, it will snap to 45 increments.

* Moving the model (on the screen, not the Move deformation) is now done 
using the middle-mouse button; this fixes the problem on many window 
managers that use ALT+drag to move the entire window. The old 
middle-mouse-button click to reset the model view has been moved to the 
space bar.

* Buttons are now clearly differentiated from Toggles.

* The File Dialog's "New Dir" button now creates directories properly.

* Finally, there is a new and fully up-to-date manual on the 
SharpConstruct website:
http://sharp3d.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/Manual_for_SharpConstruct

-Nicholas Bishop
