From: Allan Schaffer (allan++at++sgi.com)
Date: 09/27/2001 11:36:38
Performers,
A number of important (brief) news items, please take a moment to
have a look through:
1. The Performer 2.4.2 for Linux update is released!
Download the free demo edition from:
http://www.sgi.com/software/performer/downloads.html
2.4.2 contains many library enhancements, as well as an updated
demo license, and compatibility with RedHat 7.x (and glibc 2.2):
fixing the run-time linker "Unresolved symbol: stat" problem.
More details in the "what's new" section from the release notes,
appended below.
If you have purchased a copy of Performer 2.4 for Linux and
received a permanent MP license, the same license should be used
with Performer 2.4.2.
Also note, the Performer 2.4.2 for IRIX update (released in
August) is available at the same location, as part of the IRIX
6.5.13 maintenance upgrade.
2. Demo License extended
An updated demo license is available, expiring in January 2002.
For the license and installation instructions, see:
http://www.sgi.com/software/performer/license.html
3. info-performer archives
As you might be aware, the web site hosting the info-performer
archives was taken off-line. We are making arrangements for a
new archive site and hope to have them up again soon.
In the meantime, please refer to the archives hosted by NCSA:
<URL:http://mailarchivers.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/mailarchivers/mainscreen.pl?archive=PERFORMER>
4. OpenGL Performer 2.5 progress
Our early-access program is underway and we are on-target for
release at I/ITSEC this November; hope to see you there! Refer
to the recently-posted Friends of Performer Meeting summary for
details about new features. Contact us if you have any special
needs.
Enjoy,
Allan
ps. Glad to be back in the U.S.! & thanks to the team for sending
out the FOP summary while I was away.
-------------
What's new in OpenGL Performer 2.4.2
This section identifies incremental changes and enhancements
since OpenGL Performer 2.4. Changes are presented in reverse
chronological order, with the most recent releases listed first.
Problems fixed in OpenGL Performer 2.4.2
- Updated for glibc 2.1.3 (so no unresolved symbols occur on
Redhat 7.1)
- Added recognition for GeForce3 and later cards.
- Added support for anisotropic textures in .pfa files. They
were previously only supported in the .pfb files. (bug
#818183)
- Enabling CPU stats was causing Performer on Linux to core
dump. Fixed. (bug #820725)
- Fixed precision issues in pfVolFog with aligning pixel copy and
polygons covering patchy fog area.
Problems fixed in OpenGL Performer 2.4.1
- Intersection testing was limited to geosets with fewer than
2^16 triangles. This limit has been increased to 2^32 (no SCR
number).
- A successful intersection with an indexed triangle strip geoset
did not fill the 'prim' field of pfHit. This has been fixed
(SCR 816478).
- Intersections and picking with an off-axis viewing frustum was
not functional. This has been fixed, in both the 2.4.1 and
2.2.12 versions (SCR 803898).
- Intersection testing with pfDoubleDCS, pfDoubleSCS, or
pfDoubleFCS nodes was not implemented in Performer 2.4. A
limited fix has been made, in which single-precision versions
of the matrices are used for the intersection test (no SCR
number).
- DSO IVERSION identifiers specified by Performer on IRIX had an
invalid format, sgiX.Y.ABC. The proper format is sgiX.Y. This
could cause applications using the backwards-compatibility
libraries to fail and has been fixed (SCR 816478).
- Calling pfGetChanESky() before defining a pfEarthSky could
cause a crash. This has been fixed (no SCR number).
- Calling pfGetCurLights() before defining any lights could cause
a crash. This has been fixed (no SCR number).
New features and improvements in 2.4.1
- pfVolFog
OpenGL Performer 2.4.1 extends the algorithm for rendering
layered fog by incorporating self-shadowing and scene
shadowing. The lower parts of a dense fog or objects below a
dense fog then appear darker.
Self-shadowing is enabled by setting flag 0x40 to 1. The fog
mode should be set to PFVFOG_EXP. If the fog has different
colors at different elevations and the flag 0x0100 is set to 1
a secondary scattering of light is approximated. In this case
the color of higher layers may affect the color of lower
layers. If the flag 0x80 is set the scene objects below a
dense fog become darker. In all these effects the light is
assumed to come from the top.
---- Allan Schaffer allan++at++sgi.com Engineering Manager, OpenGL Performer 1-650-933-2160 Silicon Graphics
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