In today's Reader Mail & Rumor Report, we note the release of bCal 4.0, and the announcements of bPicture 2008, Babya System 2008,BabyaCAD and Babya Film Central Public preview 2.
Babya bCal 4:
bCal 4 is now available offering Babya E-Type 4.0 for notes saving,
Windows Vista compatibility and PDF conversion of saved notes.
Babya bCal is a easy to use, PIM program that supports multiple
calendars.
You can use Babya bCal to store your friends, business associates
name, address,
company, telephone, email, webpage, info, photos and more.
If there are several people using the same computer they could all
have their
own Contacts books (Contact databases)-you can create as many as you
want and
call them what ever you want.
Easily backup and restore your address book to any location you want.
You can open and send a email to current person or open his/her
webpage.
A easy to use search feature for easily locating information using
several search
criteria such as: Last Name, First Name, Company, Address, Telephone,
Use the included Babya E-Type to easily copy and save notes, then
convert them
to PDF with Babya PDF Converter.
Babya bCal 4.0 can be obtained at:
http://winsite.com/bin/Info?27000000037
Babya Film Central 1.1
BabyaCAD:
BabyaCAD is a powerful computer aided design software to be released in July or August-a summary of the feature is below:
:
Contents:
Position and rotation control
Adding polygons
Editing polygons
Editing points
Editing points extended
Textures
Materials
Light sources
Assigning textures and materials to polygons
View modes
Save as Shot It map
Restore original Shot It map
The position and rotation controls are left upper. There is only one basic rule: If there’s something selected, the position and rotation control works for the selected object. It there’s nothing selected, these controls works for the user position and rotation. This means you can move and look with these buttons if there’s nothing selected.
You can add polygons by clicking "Add object…" in the "Create 3d scene" menu. You get a form in which you can change between adding an object by defining its size manually or to add an object by defining its size and / or position by clicking on points of already existing polygons. Of course you can only choose this if there are already existing polygons.
You can choose which 3d object you want to add by selecting the repesentative point and clicking OK. Try the following: Choose "Add a floor" and enter, for instance, the following numbers: Width 10, Lenght 10, Begin height –2, P. in width 5, P. in length 5. You get an floor like the following screenshot:
Adding other objects works similar.
If you have choosen to add an object by clicking on existing points of polygons, you get a message box which tells you what to do.
Editing polygons
You can edit polygons only if they’re selected. To select a polygon, choose "Edit polygons" in the edit mode dropdown. After this, you can select a polygon by clicking on it. If a polygon is selected, it appears in a red colour. You are able to multi-select polygons if you press Strg and click on other polygons. You also can unselect a polygon if you click on a already selected polygon while pressing the Strg button, or if you click on any position where nothing is, all polygons become unselected again. If you click and move the mouse while the button is pressed you can define an area in which all polygons become selected. If you press Strg+A, every polygon becomes selected. Just try it!
With the Entf button you can delete the selected polygons. With the position and rotation buttons you can move and rotate the selected polygons in the representative direction. If the "Also move near polygons" option in the "Edit mode" is checked, every connected polygon also will be moved. If not, only the selected polygons are moved. Just try to select some polygons of the floor by holding the Strg button pressed and clicking on some polygons and move them up. To do this, you have to click the y+ button in in the position control some times. If you click on a button of the rotation control, the selected polygons rotate around their midpoint.
Editing points
If you select "Edit points" in the edit mode dropdown, you are able to select single points of any polygon. It works nearly in the same way as editing complete polygons. You can select points by clicking on any corner of a polygon and you also can multi-select point by pressing the Strg button. After selecting points, you can move them like polygons with the position control.
Editing points extended
To use this feature, you have to select the "Edit points extended" in the edit mode dropdown.
This is a very nice feature. You can generate hills with it. It moves the selected point(s) and also moves near points but not as much as the selected one. This generates a hill. Just check out the screenshot.
After changing the height with the y+ button three little hills were created. Pretty cool, isn’t it?Notice:
Textures
An important part of every 3d object are textures. In DX Cad, you can use every bmp file which has a width and height of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 etc. as basis for a texture. A 32 x 64 bmp file is valid, a 40 x 40 not. A invalid bmp file can’t be loaded in DX Cad. So, always change a bitmap file in a program like paint to a valid size before using it in DX Cad.
Every bitmap file which should be used as a texture has to be in the
Such files can be used for the texturing of any 3d object. Hint: Create for every obj file it’s own texture file except the files are using the same textures.
Materials
To render a 3d object, there are two things nescessary: textures and materials. You can define materials by choosing "Set materials…" in the "Create 3d scene" menu. Now select "Add new material". You can enter a name for the material. The other properties like colour and own lightning have default values which usually don’t have to be changed. There’s even a default material file (Standard.mat) which can be used for the most of the 3d objects so that you shouldn’t have to create your own material. The Global.mat is the material file used by the 3d ego shooter game Shot It.
Light sources
To generate a realistic 3d scene, you need to simulate lightning. The lightning info is usually not stored in the 3d object file itself, and BabyaCADsaves the lightning data to a lig file. Due to this, the 3d object is stored separtly in the obj file and the lightning in the lig file.
There are two light types: Directional light and indirectional light. The directional light is for example a point or spot light. The indirectional (also called ambient) lightning is a general lightning which floods the whole 3d scene. It is often used to keep a minimum lightness. In DX Cad, you are able to set both types of lights.
Indirectional lightThis light type intensity can be set if you choose "3D settings…" in the "Extra" menu.
Directional lightYou can edit directional lights by clicking on "Add / edit directional light source..." in the "Create 3d scene" menu. If you select "Add new light source", you’ll be able to change the light properties. It depends on the type of the light source which properties are enabled to change and which not. This type of light handling isn’t invented by me but DirectX needs this format. I’ll explain the most important light types and properties now.Pointlight:Spotlight:Directional light:
The lightning properties
You can enter a RGB colour between 0 and 255. A RGB of 0, 0, 0 means that the light colour is black and this is like there is no light. If the RGB is 255, 255, 255 you get the strongest white light which is possible. To create a normal light enter for the RGB values 10, 10, 10. If you want to create a coloured light source, enter for instance 10, 0, 0. This creates a red light source.
Light colour:Specular light colour:Position:Direction:Max. range:Reduction:Angel phi and theta:Reduction form phi to theta:
Assigning textures and materials to polygons
A polygon is only a valid one if it has a texture AND a material assigned. If a polygon has only one of these two necessary things or none of it, DirectX would render the whole polygon only in a black colour, and BabyaCADsimply doesn’t render such polygons because black polygons wouldn’t be very useful.
So this means that every polygon must have a texture and a material. To assign it to the polygons, select all polygons which should get the texture or the material. Now click on "Assign textures and materials to polygons..." from the "Edit 3d scene" menu. You get a form in which you can set many things.
At first you have to set the texture and material file for the whole 3d object, if you havn’t done this so far. You can do this by clicking on "Change texture / material file…". Have a look at textures and materials on how to create such files. In most cases, you can use the predefined material file "Standard.mat".
After defining the texture and material file, the other properties gets enabled.
You can select a texture with the scroll buttons or entering it’s number. You also have to select the alignment of the texture. At least you have to choose between two texturing modes: the first one puts the texture on every selected polygon seperatly and the second one pushes the texture as a whole over all selected polygons. If you are ready, click on "Assign texture to polygons".
The material can be selected like the textures (with the scroll buttons or entering it’s number). If you use the Standard.mat, ther’s only one material, the "Standard-Material". It’s recommended that you use this material. If you are ready, click on "Assign material to polygons".
View modes
There are three different view modes: The standard polygon model, the edit model and the preview.
In the polygon model, only rectangles are drawn.
In the edit model, every single triangle is drawn. If you select a polygon, you can see it’s normal vector. This vector says from which side the polygon is visible. You can change this in the "Edit 3d scene" menu by clicking on "Set visibility…".
In the preview, you can’t edit the 3d scene. The whole scene is rendered via DirectX. You can move and rotate with the position and rotation controls. Notice that only these polygons can be rendered which have assigned a texture AND a material and that you can only see the polygons from the side where to normal vector points to. This means for example that a floor is only seen if you are over the floor and look down to it. You won’t see the floor if you are under the floor and look up to it. This is done by DirectX because of the performance. You can change the visibility, as mentionted, in the "Edit 3d scene" menu by clicking on "Set visibility…".
Save as Shot It map
Someone asked me if it was possible with BabyaCA Dto generate own landscapes for the 3d ego shooter game Shot It.
I’ve implemented in BabyaCADan export function to the Shot It file format.
Just generate the landscape with BabyaCADas usual and select "Save as Shot It map…" from the "Shot It" menu.NOTICE:
You get a form witch contains conditions for your map. This is to mind bugs in the game afterwards. After defining all necessary points, you get a message that the map was sucessfully saved. You should be able now to play your map with the Shot It game.
You can easily restore the original Shot It map by selecting "Restore original Shot It map..." from the "Shot It" menu.
You just have to select the Shot It game directory.NOTICE:
You’ll get an error message if you try this when you havn’t exported a own level into the game so far. It’s easier if you open the original Shot It map and edit it as to begin a new one, but you can do both things as well. This is the internal light reduction from the upper to the inner core of the lightning from a spotlight. It’s recommended to let this value to it’s default.
This two angles are only used for the spotlight to define the lightning angle.
Their functionality is very complex, so let this value to the default. This is the reduction of the light over the distance.
Default is 1. If you want to get a light which rapidly falls off, enter a higher value. This defines the maximum range of the light source. This is also very simple. Here you can enter the direction of a light source. I think it’s known what this means. Here you are able to define the light source position. This is like the normal light colour but it’s used for specular reflexions. Notice: The preview 3d engine doesn’t support (render) this feature.
This light type is in my mention not very usefully. It also floods the whole 3d scene like the indirectional light, the only difference is that it has a direction. This light type can completly be compared with a torch. It has a position, a lightning direction and angles which define the lightning size. This is a light with a 3d position and it lights in every direction, so it’s like a little sun. The range of the movement can be changed if you choose "Settings" in the "Extra" menu and changing here the value of "Max. distance to points of extended movement". Increase this value if no points except the selected point are moved when clicking on a button of the position control.
Babya bPicture:
Official information about Babya bPicture can be found at:http://babyasoftwaregroup.googlepages.com/babyabpicture
A Flash SWF can be viewed from that page.
Babya today announced the upcoming release of Babya bPicture 2008-a completely reinvented version of its digital asset managenment software.
Babya bPicture has been completely rebuilt using the NET Framework for the fastest image browsing experience-it can handle browsing of thousands of images (compared to the old VB6 based version).
Babya bPicture now has a built-in, in-program editing and slideshows.
Completely reinvented
Use the completely redesigned and Windows Photo Gallery inspired interface to easily organise all of your precious photos-whether already digital or scanned-in.
The new bPicture works extremely well with Babya PhotoPro and Photo Workshop.
Optimized for Windows Vista and conforms to the Aero UI-also XP compatibile
Best of both worlds
Use the new Babya bPicture editor to perform edits to your images-it’s a hybrid combination of Babya Photo Workshop and Babya Photo Center.
Get the stats
Compared to previous versions, bPicture 2008 can display even more image data.
Prints and slides better
New to Babya bPicture is a print preview function and a simple slideshow option.
Babya's A.A. Fussy,"With the all-new bPicture, organizing a large photo library is suprisingly easy."
Babya's Alvin Novick said ,"The all-new bPicture lets you edit and show-off images in a photo library is easy to do, yet quick."
Pricing and Availability:
Babya bPicture 2008 will be shipping in early July, as a free download.
About Babya:
Babya Software Group is an award-winning developer of digital media software for Mac and Windows, including bSuite,Babya OneVideo, bPicture, Babya Firestorm, Babya Photo Workshop and Babya Logic.
Babya's software has won many awards over the past several years, including 5 stars (Babya bSuite, 2005), a Softpedia Pick and 100% clean award (2006) and has been featured in magazines such as PC Utilities and PC Format.
Babya System 2008:
With Apple announcing some of Mac OS X 10.5's new features and the announcement of a all-new Babya System release soon, we look at some rumors and answer questions.
:Interface:-Babya System's bDesktop is now a full desktop environment.Yes, it's true! Babya bDesktop is now OS X like in function,unlike many other Explorer replacements, bDesktop works in harmony with the Desktop.
Babya Film Central Public preview 2
Babya Film Central Public preview 2 screenshot-it now has a new interface with file scanning:
