What's new in the 1.6.0 version (February 4th 2008)
Please find here below what's new in the version 1.6.0. This versions is a free upgrade.


You can use the 4 arrow-keys to select the thumbnail. Press Option-Arrow Up or Down to go the first or last thumbnail. Press Return or double click to play the selected movie. Click on a thumbnail holding down the Control key to show the contextual menu to Reveal the thumbnail file in the Finder or to open that file with its application.

   • Finder Browser

You don't longer need to pick and drag your images, movies, sounds and text files from the Finder. You can now inspect images, movies, sounds... from the Inspector:Browser panel then drag them onto the Stage on onto a surface of the selected object. The Browser panel offers a thumbnail list showing images and movies contained within the selected folder. Also it offers a preview area where you can get a sample of the selected file (image, movie or song). The Browser lists all the file kinds Kinemac can import, therefore images, movies, songs, text, svg, 3ds and obj files. Double click on a folder thumbnail to list the contents of that folder. Use the popup menu to go out from the selected folder. The Browser panel offers also a "Previous/Next" button to navigate through the latest folders selected and a "Choose Disk" button to select the disk and the favourite folders you have defined in the Finder "places" area.







 
• Detach Windows from the Inspector

Click on the buttons of the Inspector (here aside) holding down the Command key to detach that Tab into a brand new window. Working with several windows open makes your work easier and faster.


 

• QuickLook

Now Kinemac supports QuickLook. Activate the QuickLook option on the Kinemac Preferences:Export panel, and save your animation. Kinemac will embed a thumbnail and a preview within your kmc animation file. Kinemac takes the thumbnail and the preview from the current frame at the moment you save the file. Later on you will be able to browse your animation files in the Finder activating the Cover Flow view mode and see the preview.


 
• Space navigator

Now Kinemac supports the SpaceNavigator input peripherical by 3DConnection.com (a Logitech company). With SpaceNavigator you can easily move the camera without using the mouse. You can quickly translate, rotate and zoom the camera. Push, pull, tilt and twist the controller cap to fly through three dimensional scenes with a freedom many call "addictive". To know more about the SpaceNavigator please go to http://www.3dconnexion.com


 
• Quartz Composition as animated texture

Simply drag a Quartz Composition file onto a surface of a selected object to apply that QC as texture to that surface. Also, if you drag a QC file onto the Stage Kinemac automatically will create a Rectangle with the QC texture. Later, open the Texture panel (Command-5) to set the texture options as the number of the texture repetitions (tiles), the crop, the offset.. You will get an animated texture onto your surface. In the sample here aside we have set a QC as Background texture, then we added the same QC to a rotating rectangle and set 4 repetitions. Last we combined the QC texture with another texture onto the surface of the sphere. Click to see this movie.



 
• Animated Strips and Pipes

The 3DPath object can now be used to create strips and pipes. Firstly draw your own path (3D Bezier curve) or import a curve from an SVG file. Then choose the profile (None, Strip, or Pipe) from the "Profile" popup menu and set the width of the object. You can animate the surface of the object just adding keyframes to the object parameters. For example, you can animate the length of the stripe (growing film), the starting point of the stripe (decreasing film), the width of the stripe on any given point, the texture offset X and Y (to create a kind of film scrolling along the stripe) and the link point position. Key framing the link point means that any object linked to that path (e.g. a camera following the 3D bezier path) can accelerate, decelerate, go back and forth, and stop at any given point.





Drag the sprite to link onto this field or click on the triange at the left and choose a sprite form the pop–up menu.



Once linked, the sprite field will look this way.



If you dragged a star the sprite field would look this way.

  
• Link Sprites to Sprites

You can set a sprite to move together with another sprite by linking the 2 sprites. For example, you can link a 3D Text to a 3D Path and make that text moving along the path. Also, you can link a camera target to any sprite (actor). This way the actor will always stay on the center of the Stage, no matter where it moves. Linking the 2 sprites is very simple. Select a sprite then click on the triangle ad choose the sprite you want to link to.

In the sample here below we link a camera eye to a 3D path. The pop–up menu shows the sprite you have already set in the Sprite window (timeline).

Alternatively you can drag a sprite from the hierarchical sprite list onto the link sprite field.



 
• Rounded Rectangle

The Rectangle object can be set to show rounded corners. Select the rectangle object on the Stage then, on the Inspector:Parameters panel, set the radius of the rounded corner.



 
• Rounded Cube

The Cube object can be set to show rounded corners. Select the cube object on the Stage then turn on the "Bevel" surface on the Inspector:Textures panel. To set the radius of the rounded corner, go to the Inspector:Parameters panel. On the Inspector:Textures panel you can apply a color and a texture to the rounded (bevel) surface. Open the "Texture Options" panel (with Command-5) to set more parameters of the selected surface.



• Text Stroke

On the 2D Text Editor window, you can now select a text and set the stroke width and the stroke color. When the Stroke Color Well is active (grayed-out), the color panel will let you set the stroke color. When the Stroke Color Well is not active, the color panel will let you set the normal text fill color to the text selected.

• As requested by the users, we have added the check-box "This window transparent" to set this window opaque or transparent. Please note that the transparency affects only this window and not the 2D Text object on the Stage, which is always transparent.



 
• Static Lights

• The Static Lights table has been enlarged and shows the icon of the light kind (bulb, spot or sun).
• Added the "Save Current Static Light List as default" button to the footer of the Static Light panel.
• On the Static Light panel, you can now load the factory Static Lights settings clicking on the "Restore Default" button holding down the Option key. If you don't hold down the Option key, the last saved settings will be restored.
• Last, you can rename each static light in the list.



 
• Background Movie Volume

• Added the Movie Volume slider to the Background Texture Options panel.




The menu "3D Objects" in the toolbar
  
• New Interface

We have improved the look and feel of the user interface. New buttons, new scroll bars, new frame counter, new sprite icons, new objects menu with icons in the toolbar (see aside)... Click here to see a big screenshot.


 
  
• Sprite Alignment with Snap

In the picture shown below we are dragging the sprite "Cylinder". When dragging a sprite horizontally in the time line, the user will be shown 2 red vertical red lines at the start and at the end of the sprite to allow the alignment with the utmost accuracy. Furthermore, holding down the Command key and rollovering another sprite (in the picture below we have rollovered the sprite "Tube"), the dragged sprite ("Cylinder") will be snapped and aligned to the beginning of the rollovered sprite. The snap occurs in case the user drags the whole sprite and in case he extends the duration of the sprite dragging the left (snap to the start sprite) or the right border of the sprite (snap to the end of the rollovered sprite).
If no sprite is rollovered during the drag when holding down the Command key, the dragged sprite will snap to each 10 ticks of the sprite line.




 
• Go Full Screen button

Added the "Go Full Screen" button to the ToolBar of the Stage Window. If you can't see it, please delete the Preference file from the Preferences folder then launch Kinemac. Then open the Toolbar clicking on the white button at the top-right corner of the Stage Window.



 
• Arrow and Pen buttons

Added the "Arrow" and "Pen" buttons to the ToolBar of the Stage Window. If you can't see them, please delete the Preference file "com.kinemac.kinemac" from the Preferences folder then launch Kinemac. Then open the Toolbar clicking on the white button at the top-right corner of the Stage Window.



 
• Parameters panel

The Inspector:Parameters panel will shows automatically the proper subview when the user selects an object (e.g. 3DPath, Chart, Sphere, Pie, Cone, Cube, Rectangle...). The buttons to select the "3DPath" and "Chart" panels in the previous version have been removed from the Inpector panel. Select the Inspector:Parameters tab view and the object to get the controls over the parameters of that object.



 
• Multi Selection on the Bezier window

On the Bezier window you can now select end edit multiple points simultaneously. Click and drag the mouse over an area to select the points or click on a point holding down the Shift key to extend the current selection. Then drag all the points (white, orange and green) to change their positions, or hold down the Control key and click to toggle between line and curve, or press the delete key to delete all the selected points.



 
• Grab Selection on the Stage window

On the Stage window you can now select multiple objects in one click only. Hold down the Command key then click and drag the mouse over an area. Hold down the Shift key too to extend the current selection.



 
• Align Object

The Inspector:Alignment panel features now the "Distribute Objects" option. You can distribute the selected objects along the axes x, y and z.


Other Features and Fixes

• Added the "Sprites:Group Sprites" menu item. Select various sprites then choose this menu item to move all the selected sprites within a brand new sprite folder. Easy and quick.
• Added the "Texture Mirrored Tile" option to the "Texture Options" window (Command-5 to open it) and to the "Background Texture Options" window (double click on the Background Image well in the "Inspector:Stage" panel to open it).
• Added the "Projection" popup menu to the "Texture Options" window. You can choose from "Wrap", "XY", "XZ", "ZY" projection.
• Added the menu item "Views:Show/Hide Grid".
• Added the menu item "Objects:Import:Audio File".
• Hold down the Option key and click on the menu "Views" to get the menu item "Edit Grid..." instead of the menu item "Show/Hide Grid".
• The grid shows darker lines (your step) and brighter lines (your step * 5).
• You can now customize the background color of the Bezier window. Just drag a color from the Color palette onto the Bezier window to set its background color.
• The 6 views Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left and Right are always hortogonal. Dragging an object on one of these views, properly moves the object under the mouse pointer all the time.
• The command "Sprite:Duplicate" now works on all the selected sprites.
• The command "Sprite:Duplicate Multiple" now works on all the selected sprites.
• Adding, removing or draggin a key frame on the time line now works on all the selected sprites.
• When several sprites are selected, click on a selected sprite holding down the Shift key to deselect that sprite.• Hold down the right mouse button to rotate the current camera. You don't lose the selected object.
• Hold down the Command key and drag a Photoshop file (.psd) from the Finder onto the Stage window to create a rectangle from each layer contained within the psd file. If, for instance, your Photoshop file contains 4 layers, you will get 4 sprite-rectangles, each one with a different texture coming from a single layer.
• Drag an audio file from the Finder or a song from iTunes onto a sound-sprite on the Sprite window to replace the audio track of the sprite with the one dragged. The keyframes, the start and the duration of the sprite will be left untouched. You must drag the audio file onto the coloured sprite and not onto the hierarchical sprite list (which would create a brand new audio sprite).
• Show the view icons pressing the ' key. Then clik on the view icons and drag to rotate the 3D view. Drag holding down the Option key to zoom the view.
• Rotate the mouse wheel to increase/decrease the zoom level even when running in Full Screen mode.
• Clik on the "Display Frame Counter" in the Sprite Window holding down the Option key to set the "home frame" to the current frame.
• Double click on the "Display Frame Counter" in the Sprite Window to go back to the "home frame".
• Double click on the "Display Frame Counter" in the Sprite Window holding down the Option key to go to the beginning of the animation (frame zero).
• Click on the "Display Frame Counter" in the Sprite Window and drag the mouse to the right or to the left to Forward or Rewind the animation. More you move the mouse to the right/left and more you increase the forward/rewind speed. Kinemac will automatically set the "home frame" to the current frame before the drag started. So, as stated above, double clik on the "Display Frame Counter" in the Sprite Window to go back to the "home frame".
• The button "Surfaces to Sprite" on the Inspector:Surfaces panel has been removed. You can perform the same command choosing the menu item "Surfaces to New Sprite" in the menu "Sprite". Also you can now drag one or more surface-rows from the list to the Stage to move that surface to a new sprite. To select a surface directly on the Stage, hold down the "q" key and click on the surface of the object. Hold down the Shift key to extend the selection.
• The "Look Ahead" check-box in the Inspector:Geometry panel has been activated. Mark that check-box to tell your sprite to orient his front face to the direction of the linked sprite. For example, if you link a path to a sprite, so that sprites moves along the path, if the check-box is on, the front face of the sprite will look ahead along the path. If the check-box is off, the sprite will follow the path (xyz translations) but will only rotate accordingly to its own xyz rotations.
• When importing a 2D SVG file to revolve you can now set the offset between the profile and the rotation axis. You can always modify this value in the Inspector:Parameters panel (see radius).
• If you change the text of a 3D Text object (Command-E) and apply the change, the geometry gets scaled proportionally. This way it's easier to replace the 3DText strings on any template.
• The sprite name of the new 3DText and 2DText doesn't longer contain returns.
• The Sprite Library list now allows to rename any entry. Double click on a row and enter a new name.
• Many improvement to the interface look and feel.
• Fixed a bug at lightening an SVG revolved object.
• Fixed a bug at pasting Sprite Values and Frame Values to a sprite folder.
• Fixed a bug occurring when moving a control point (green or orange) of a bezier path.
• Fixed a bug when exporting the soundtrack of the background movie to a QT movies.
• Fixed a bug when calling the "Save as" command. Now the old kmc file gets deleted properly.
• Fixed a minor bug when choosing some menu item from the popup menu "Stage Size" on the Inspector:Stage panel.
• Fixed a minor bug when changing the slices of a cylinder.
• Fixed a minor bug about the texture onto the right and left surfaces of the Cone.
• Fixed a minor bug when resizing the split views (sprites and stage-sprites) in the grouped Stage window.
• Fixed a bug when undoing a multiple sprites hierarchy change.

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