Release notes for VARKON version 1.15C

The "save/exit"-menu in VARKON has been renamed to the "file"-menu and reorganized to the common layout of a "file"-menu in many other programs. All functions are the same as before it is only the standard menufile that is changed.

The POS()-function in MBS can now be used also in 3D.

A new easy-to-use plot function has been added to the plot menu. Select a rectangular area with the mouse (2 corners) and the image inside goes to your plotter or printer.

MBS now supports relational operators > (greater than) and < (less than) in string comparising. (Good for sorting).

The last piece of the work with a full implementation of the NURBS surface is now finished. MBS supports creation of NURBS-surfaces, conversion from other surface types to NURBS and import/export of NURBS surfaces from/to external files.

A problem with garbage collection in GM has been corrected.

DXF-import has been enhanced. Now you can restrict your import to a specific layer. Bugs have been corrected.

The MBS-routine CUR_USRDEF now takes an extra (optional) parameter wich makes it possible to create an UV-curve, ie. a curve on a surface.

A new MBS-routine for sectional area calculations has been added. SECTION_AREA calculates the area bounded by any planar (open or closed) 3D curve. You can also call it interactively from the "analysis-geometry-area" menu.

A new MBS-routine has been added to faciliate surface area calculations. SURFACE_AREA calculates the area of any sculptured surface in VARKON. You can also call it interactively from the "analysis-geometry-area" menu.

The Windows95/NT-version of VARKON is now compiled with version 5.0 of Microsoft Visual C++.

A problem with color-printing has been corrected. Color printing is now supported by the PostScript driver as well as the driver for Windows95/NT.

A new graphical attribute for lines, arcs, curves and text has been added. The attribute name is WIDTH and it controls the width of the entity it is used on. Deafult WIDTH is 0.0. Entities with default width are displayed and printed one pixel wide, just like in earlier versions of VARKON. A value of WIDTH > 0.0 displays and prints the entity with the actual width. WIDTH has nothing with PEN number to do. A line can be yellow and 5 mm:s wide at he same time. Color and width are now independant attributes. To accomplish this many of VARKON:s files have new internal structure. All older files are compatible with 1.15C (as usual) but files created with 1.15C or later can not be used by 1.15B or earlier versions of VARKON. A new GM-get routine GETWIDTH() has been added to get the actual WIDTH attribute value of a specific entity and an ACT_WIDTH() function has been added to get the currently active setting of the WIDTH attribute.

- This is what it looks like.

The postscript driver for UNIX and the printer driver for Windows95/NT (msw32.dll) have been modified to support wide lines through the new WIDTH attribute as well as color (through the PEN attribute). The old system of controlling linewidth by PEN number and PEN-files is no longer supported. Keep your old drivers (and rename them) if you still need them !

The Windows95/NT version of VARKON has been modified so that it will automatically insert default values for its environment into the registry if they are missing. The path to VARKON95.EXE is used to determine a VARKON_ROOT directory and the standard paths for environment variables are constructed relative to the root directory. If for example VARKON95.EXE resides in D:\Program\Varkon\Bin then a root directory of D:\Program\Varkon will be assumed and VARKON_ROOT will be set to this value. VARKON_ERM will be set to D:\Program\Varkon\Erm, VARKON_PID to D:\Program\Varkon\Pid and so on. All environment variables get standard values relative to VARKON_ROOT. This feature is useful in cases where VARKON is installed only on a server but executed on clients in a Windows95/NT network. There is no need to install VARKON separately on each client.

If the job-directory of a project does not exist VARKON now automatically creates one. If it exists but does not have write permission by the current user an error is reported.

The MBS-procedure CLOSE which is used to close an open file will now if called without any parameter close all files opened by the OPEN-procedure.

A beta version of a new viewingfunction is now included. f200 available through graphics-views-shading-dynamic creates a new window with controls for "dynamic" viewing. You can rotate, pan or scale your model with light and color on. Version 1.16 of VARKON will include a considerably enhanced function. No documentation on f200 is yet available. For maximum performance, set your varkon.shade.doublebuffer resource in your ini-file to True.

Many pages in the documentation have been updated. A new version of the documentation is now available for download.

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