Release notes for VARKON version 1.17C

A minor bug in the DXF import function related to unknown sections has been corrected.

A new font for graphical text has been added. Fontfile 6.FNT includes a sans serif version of the ISO8859-2 character set also known as Central or Eastern Europeean. This font was created by Juraj Kurimsky as a free contribution to Varkon and is now included in the ordinary distribution. Thanks Juraj !

New spline algorithms have been implemented. The CUR_SPLINE-routine in MBS can now be used to create Ferguson, Chordlength or Variable Stiffness splines with prescribed or free end tangents. The create/curve/spline-menu in Varkon has been updated to support the new spline algorithms.

The hide-function now supports 3D text.

3D DXF export now supports points as well as B_planes and facetted surfaces. Blanked entities are not exported. These changes are made to faciliate export of Varkon models to Finite Element Programs. Some FEM programs support DXF import with automatic conversion of points to nodes and facets to elements.

A new graphical attribute CFONT=3 has been added for curves. A curve with CFONT=3 is automatically closed with a straight line and filled with the current color. This can be used to create 2D-shapes of any kind and fill with any color. Something similar to XHATCH but filled with solid color instead of hatchlines. CFONT=3 is currently supported in X, WIN32(display/printer) and postscript but not in older type plotter filters.

The TIME() procedure in MBS has been changed to make it easier to interpret the current year. The year parameter previousely returned the integer number of years since 1900. During 1999 this meant it returned the integer value 99 and with year 2000 it returned the value 100. MBS programs using the TIME() procedure had to cope with this to by adding 1900 to produce the right 4 digit year number. In 1.17B the year parameter of the TIME() procedure returns the actual year as a 4 digit integer number ie. 2000 during yerar 2000 and 2001 during year 2001 and so on. Existing MBS programs using the TIME() procedure may need to be changed to work as expected.

The full C-sources of the X version of Varkon have now been released under the GNU/LGPL license.

A bug in the SECTION_AREA() function has been corrected. SECTION_AREA() sometimes returned a slightly erronous value.

A new MBS function SECTION_CGRAV() has been added. SECTION_CGRAV() returns the center of gravity for a closed or open curve section.

A bug in the SUR_RULED() procedure has been corrected. SUR_RULED() sometimes didn't manage to create it's graphical representation because of tolerance problems.

Multiline comments in MBS using C syntax (/*......*/) have been added as a free contribution by Iouri Simernitski. Thanks Iouri.

More work on the IGES import functions has been contributed by Roy Kastelein. Roy has added support for entity type 110 (line) as well as some other improvments.

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