Geo STUDIO 3.2 Release Notes
Geo STUDIO has been upgraded to OpenGL 3.2 and GLSL 1.5. This allows for Geometry Shaders to be used (although no direct support or use as of now). The Geo file format version has been upped to 3200 (or 3.2) for this release.
Fixed a bug that failed to load Wavefront .obj files in some circumstances
Fixed some bugs and made the "Remove Childless Nodes" optimization plugin available to be called either directly from another plugin or via a Plugin load/save Pre or Post Execution step.
The Wavefront Obj loader now calls the Remove Childless Nodes plugin directly to clean up the loaded file.
Fixed a bug where Geo sometimes failed to locate resource files (textures etc.)
Much improved handling for multiple loaded files. Previously OpenGL State could "bleed" when switching between loaded models. This has been fixed. Loaded files now store and restore their previous rendering state (ZBuffer on/off, texture on/off etc.) when switching between files.
Changed the toolbar icons for previous & next loaded files into a more industry-standard appearance. Also changed their location in the File Toolbar soo they come first and are more prominent.
Much improved Geo STUDIO rendering speed (now runs at a constant 60fps) and no longer suffers from visual glitches when resizing the window or updating some GUI elements.
Added a Fonts folder with a number of VFN format vector fonts available. This is especially useful for DWB format support and instrumentation/avionics modeling in general.
Added a new internal Wireframe shader for highlighting. This is used internally when the highlight style is Wireframe (settable in the Edit>Preferences>Selection tab) and highlighting polygon types with ZBuffer on. The new shader takes care of various visual anomalies.
Wireframe highlighting now co-exists well if Wire-Over-Solid global rendering mode is also enabled.
A new AutoSave folder has been added (to clean up where auto-saved files are written to)
Fixed many bugs and visual anomalies due to poor interaction between shaders and traditional textured geometry. The Mesh, Polygon and PrimSet Nodes have had their rendering code completely revamped to facilitate this.
The cylindrical texture mapping tool has been enhanced/fixed so that it now supports texture/re-texture of geoPrimSet nodes.
Improved functionality and fixed various bugs in the tree view (hierarchy) display. Just as in the 3D view. Holding down the CTRL-Key while clicking on a node name (picking it) in the Tree view will add the picked element to the selection. If it is already selected the node will be removed from the selection list.
There was a serious bug related to Drag-and-Drop (DnD) behavior in the tree view. The bug could result in your "dragged" node just disappearing from the scene. This has been fixed and the logic surrounding DnD behavior overhauled.
In addition, previously, DnD only allowed for single (i.e. 1) picked "Drag" node to be dropped and re-parented in the tree view. If the picked node was part of a larger selection then all other selected nodes were deselected on the initial tree view pick. This was because the act of "picking" a tree view item (before dragging it) would reset the selection list to the just-picked item. Now if you want to DnD a multi-selection list in the tree view hold down the ALT-Key while your pick and drag. When you do this the selection list is unchanged and when you "drop" the node over the new parent target, all selection list nodes will be re-parented and become children of the drop node (assuming the parent is a valid parent-type for the selection list node type).
You can DnD a child node onto its existing parent as a convenient way of moving it from its current position in the parent's child list to the last. This makes it easy to re-arrange child-nodes. Remember: there are a number of SceneGraph menu options (e.g. Move Before/Move After etc.) for other specialized hierarchy restructuring. This is especially important in avionics-type displays where the Z-Buffer is off and draw-order is important.
Copy/Paste between loaded files has been improved so that if the pasted nodes contain references to texture or materials (including Extended Materials) that do not exist in the target file then they will be loaded/created and all palette references fixed for the new file's palettes.
We now automatically setup the per-user location (and directory structure) for required writable Geo STUDIO sub folders (tmp, undo & autosave). By default these will be located under the "C:\Users\{USER-ACCOUNT_NAME}\AppData\Roaming\Carbon Graphics\Geo
Geo STUDIO now catches all C++ assertions, Windows SEH System exceptions, run-time errors and any force-quitting of the app (e.g. via the TaskManager, process kill commands etc.) and will force save the current file in .geo format with a modified name (but only if there are unsaved changes to the file). For example if the file you're working on is C:\folder\tank.flt, then the saved file will be C:\folder\tank.FORCESAVE.geo. Since the Geo format is a super-set of all supported formats and writes very quickly, the file is saved in this format rather than using plugin DLLs (especially when the application is closing and the environmental situation is not fully understood.
Geo STUDIO now detects when a previous run of the application required a modified file to be FORCESAVE'd (FS'd) and will ask the user if they wish the file to be loaded upon startup. Once loaded, you can re-save it with the original name and format so you don't loose any work.
The FREE VERSION, which would auto-configure the GUI by removing functionality when no valid license was detected has been removed as a fallback behavior. Now if no license is detected, Geo STUDIO will report the issue to the user and exit.
The logic for the Recent Files list was broken. Sometimes it would load another file from the list, rather than the named file you selected. This has been re-written and now works as expected
The Plugin.prefs file (which stored the users pre/post load/save plugin preferences) was broken. Its fixed and reliable now. Plugin preferences allow (for example) the OpenFlight loader to automatically call the "Decompose PrimSets" plugin after load to convert PrimSet nodes (which are what OpenFlight Mesh nodes are converted into on load) into Geo Mesh nodes (effectively breaking up the flt Mesh nodes into their constituent primitive mesh types (Triangle strips, fans etc.). Of course, the OpenFlight exporter can also have a Pre-execute plugin pref of 'Generate PrimSets' which will result in any saved OpenFlight files being exported with the expected OpenFlight Mesh nodes.
The license mangement system has been extensively overhauled and improved in this version. Geo STUDIO is now available with a hardware NODE-LOCKED, SOFTWARE-DONGLE or FLOATING-NETWORK license.
A hardware license is locked to a particular computer and cannot be moved.
A software dongle license also locks the program instance to one computer but users have the ability to deactivate and re-activate their license on a different computer. This is entirely user-controlled. and can be thought of as simple way to "float" your license between different computers.
The new floating network license actually licenses our new Network License Server to manage a number of Geo "leases" (corresponding to the number purchased). Allowing multiple instances of Geo to run simultaneously on the network (up to the maximum number of leases purchased).
With our new exception handling approach we are confident that Geo will always release the license lease on exit so that “zombie” licenses are not created (meaning a lease being retained by a dead program for the duration of the lease term and therefor unavailable for any users until the server free it for use after the lease length time has been reached.
Quantity discounts are available for all license types.
There's a new "Licensing Geo STUDIO.pdf" in the Geo STUDIO install/Docs folder that fully describes this.
The licensing start-up procedure is as follows: When Geo STUDIO starts up it looks for a hardware-locked license first and starts-up with this if one is detected. If not, it will requests a network lease from the floating license server. If there is a floating license server activated, installed and running on the network, and it has free leases available, then it will start-up using the lease obtained from the server. In all licensing cases there is significantly more information reported back to the user allowing for easier troubleshooting.
All license types can be activated and function on closed (offline) networks. These are typically Military or Government installations and are exclusively closed to the internet. So a network with intermittent internet connectivity is not a closed network.
We have introduced a new fallback licensing option with this release. With no activation key, it's now possible to run a fully-featured VERIFIED TRIAL of Geo STUDIO PRO for (currently set to) 7 days after the first run of the program. If Geo runs and finds no active license, it automatically gives you a key-less VERIFIED TRIAL with all features enabled, including OpenFlight import and export. No business communication is required with Carbon Graphics, for this but the Trial is activated (ie verified) with our servers. This is a fantastic way for potential users to evaluate the full potential of Geo STUDIO and try before you buy without the hassle of contacting Carbon Graphics. Verified Trials can also be extended but this requires contacting Carbon Graphics sales or support for a special trial extension key.
Verified Trials are not available for the Floating Network server.
Creator and OpenFlight were developed by and are registered trademarks of Presagis, inc.
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