3. Changes

Changes from V2.2 to V2.3 are:

• General Changes:
  • New output format Wavefront OBJ.
  • The output format X3D now outputs Web3D X3D XML data.
• Changes to the Shell Laboratory:
  • Improved parameter names in the GUI.
  • Added wheel mouse bindings to the GUI.
  • Improved usability of generation curve editor (continuous insertion and deletion of points).
  • Added a texture macro recorder.
  • Texture macros/parameters are now also saved to ShellyLib data files.
  • There are now two adjustable background colors (for Wireframe and Shaded display modes).
  • Textures may now be imported from/exported to the TIFF image file format.

Changes from V2.1 to V2.2 are:

• General Changes:
  • A new parameter named "alpha2" has been introduced. This works much like alpha. It allows to adjust the growth rate of the generating curve without affecting the helico spiral. Oops? Read section Parameters of the Shell Generator for more information.
  • The 3DMF (3D MetaFile) output format has been added; NURBS and triangles are supported.
  • The RIB output now contains own texture coordinates, that improve the texture mapping quality. This change is only visible for custom generating curves (GCURVE-mode) where the points are not uniformly distributed.
  • A new simple shader (SLtxtsrf) for RenderMan has been added, that maps the generated textures on the shells just like the "Shell Laboratory" does. Besides that, it shows how to use the custom texture coordinates of the RIB output.
• Changes to the Shell Laboratory:
  • Several changes to the hotkeys in the 3D-View and other places have been made.
  • A new RIB output mode (export scene) has been added. This mode saves all movements and rotations etc. you made in the 3D-View as well as the shell.
  • Texture-mapping quality in the 3D-View has been improved for the NURBS rendering mode. This change is only visible for custom generating curves (GCURVE-mode) where the points are not uniformly distributed.
  • Loading of values (via .shy-files) with higher resolution as the corresponding slider allows has been corrected. The sliders resolution is now recalculated according to the loaded value.
  • Added Antialiasing via viewing-volume-jittering to the rendering code. This improves overall rendering quality and works in all rendering modes, although it is not meant to be used with the wireframe mode. Two levels of antialiasing are available.
  • Added a status-bar, that keeps you informed about whats going on at the moment.
  • Added simple (single step) undo to the texture generator.
  • Added simple image operations (mix, add, sub) to the texture generator. The new texture may be combined with the older one using this operations.
  • Exporting the image of the 3D-View did not work when it was resized, fixed.
  • The ambient, diffuse, specular and background color of the shell/view may be changed separately now. Check the "Color" submenu of the "Preferences" menu.

Changes from V2.0 to V2.1 are:

• General Changes:
  • Due to the low registration moral (I received one (!) registration request, thank you!) the license changed again. Please read the file "License" in the top level of the distribution. Important changes are that I do not release the source for free anymore and I crippled the free available executables of the Shell Laboratory. Registered users can still get the full source, however.
  • "libshelly" now simulates that the walls of the generated shells have a certain thickness, new parameters are "wall" and "wlen" (see section Parameters of the Shell Generator for more information).
  • Nodules are now possible in the "GCurve" mode.
  • The DXF output format has been added; Splines, polyface-meshes and 3dfaces are supported.
  • The RIB output now contains NURBS instead of B-Splines.
  • The RenderMan shaders have been rewritten. They do respect the new wall feature now.
• Changes to the Shell Laboratory:
  • The Shell Laboratory has been ported to WinNT/95.
  • The Shell Laboratory is now available as stand-alone executable that does not need a bunch of .tcl-files or an installed Tcl/Tk at all. Precompiled executables are available for Linux, WinNT/95 and Irix.
  • Several changes to the GUI (menu layout, hotkeys etc.) have been made.
  • The smooth-shaded rendering mode has been replaced by NURBS rendering using GLU.
  • Another rendering mode (NURBS+Wire) has been introduced. This mode displays a NURBS surface and the associated control polygon.
  • A generation curve editor has been added to the Shell Laboratory, see section The Generation Curve Editor for more information.
  • A texture generator has been added, that utilizes the algorithms published in "The Algorithmic Beauty of Sea Shells" by H. Meinhardt (see section Addresses, Pointers, Literature for a complete reference, and section The Texture Editor for the documentation).
  • It is now possible to export the rendered image.

A lot has changed from version 1.6 of Shelly (the ancestor of ShellyLib) to version 2.0:

• Legalities have changed, read the file "License"!
• Almost everything has been completely rewritten, therefore, I suggest to reread the whole documentation, even if you feel familiar with Shelly!
• Bezier output for POV-Ray creates really smooth surfaces now.
• Several new output formats, e.g. Truespace, RIB, SCED, have been added.
• The handling of scale factors has changed. There are file format dependant scale factors now, to ensure a unique size of the generated shells over the variety of output formats.
• ShellyLib has a really cool GUI now, unfortunately, it is not as nearly as portable as the library itself.
• The former "NewNod" mode is now called "Nodule" and has been improved in terms of speed and usability. The old "Nodule" mode is gone.
• The code has been split into several parts. The shell generation is done by a small library called "libshelly". Furthermore, there are two example frontends that use the library "shelly" and the "Shell Laboratory".
• The original algorithm of M.B. Cortie is limited to ellipsoid generation curves. ShellyLibV2.0 allows the user to define any generation curve in a special new calculation mode called "GenCurve". This is useful for Cones or the "Miraculous Thatcheria", which were impossible to generate with the old algorithm.
• Some special keywords regarding POV-Ray are gone.
• Various other goodies have been included in the distribution, for instance displacement and surface shaders for RenderMan and a reference sheet that helps to understand the algorithm.