Softpedia >Windows >Multimedia >Graphic >Graphic Editors >Alice >  Changelog

Alice Changelog

What's new in Alice 3.8.0.0

Sep 4, 2023
  • New features:
  • Indicate the default values of parameters
  • Add action for centering layout/ortho cameras on an object
  • New VR world type with distinct User, Headset, and Hands
  • User has scale - Drink me!
  • New camera marker model for VR User
  • New icons
  • Improvements:
  • Larger Run window
  • Better scrolling
  • Camera views are more functional and consistent
  • Improved Handle logic for model manipulation
  • Zoom improvements for mouse wheel and trackpad
  • Round out Camera FOV and Clipping Planes across Camera/VR and IDE/Player
  • Updated CameraMarkers.
  • Added support for VR
  • Support for custom colors
  • Bug fixes:
  • Update Install4j file to version 10 - Fixes Mac install error in dark mode
  • Fix Baby Penguin display seen on some Macs
  • Reconnect riders on Sims after resource change
  • Prevent array out of bounds error (seen most often on Sims)
  • Correct statement drag and drop from leaving screen residue
  • Attach exception handler dialog to run window if it is active
  • Improve Undo logic and inclusion
  • JavaFX replaced JMF and general audio improvement
  • Pause and resume audio when pausing and resume a world in the Run window
  • Stop playing audio when the Run window is closed
  • General improvements and cleanup
  • Optimizations and logic fixes
  • Right click selects in the scene and tree navigator
  • Project and migration improvements
  • Reduce unhelpful logging
  • Improve code clarity and organization

New in Alice 3.6.0.3 (Oct 26, 2021)

  • Fix for freeze that happens on some machines when running worlds that include ‘say’ or ‘think’ procedures.

New in Alice 3.6.0.1 (Oct 9, 2020)

  • Installers can now update previous install cleanly
  • Netbeans plugin feature coverage and error handling/notification
  • Billboard display issues
  • Better image handling regardless of image size
  • Allow use of jpeg extension
  • Procedure/Function sorting
  • Improve migration for some older worlds
  • Repairs to Collision, Occlusion, and Proximity detection and events
  • TextString insert at position works
  • Fix Spatial Relation to honor alongAxisOffset
  • Correct handling of long menus with submenus
  • Improved display of multiple visuals with alpha channel
  • Preserve position information with better precision
  • Prevent audio from playing after world stops

New in Alice 3.6.0.0 (Sep 30, 2020)

  • Exciting New Beta Features – We have rolled out with this build the inclusion of two big new beta features:
  • The Alice Standalone Player – This is a separate Unity player that allows you to run your creations without the full Alice IDE, allow you to wrap your own standalone Alice world application, and will even power your Alice creations in VR! A compatible version of the player for this version of Alice can be found on this page but for the latest and greatest Beta versions and to learn more about this player visit here!
  • Model Import – We have opened up the Alice gallery to allow you to build an import your own creations. We will continue to expand this functionality as well as roll out some customizable content. If you want the latest and greatest for this feature you can also get the newest Alice Player Beta builds as they will also include improvements to this feature. Learn more about how to use this feature here!
  • Important Installation Update – We have discovered that the upgrade path of the installer for our 3.5 release could have been leading to mismatched file directories. If you upgraded an old version of Alice to our last release 3.5 you may have experienced unintended bugs from older versions. We apologize for any problems this may have caused. This has been fixed for this release so upgrading older versions will not produce the same issues.

New in Alice 3.5.0.1 Build 343 Beta (Nov 21, 2019)

  • This is a very early Beta (possibly better called Alpha). We have chosen to release this very early in the development and testing cycle due to the excitement (both ours and the community) surrounding these new features. We still have a long list of known issues, bugs, and features to update. This list does not encapsulate all of the undeveloped functionality just the major issues you should know before attempting to use. Some issues will cause worlds to fail to export if the bug is on the Alice export side, other issues may allow the world to export and then fail to run in the player, and finally others may just cause odd behavior when the world is running:
  • Development Screen Resolution And Graphics Quality Menu The development resolution menu will appear when you launch the player. We have left this up until we optimize more and implement a settings menu. We suggest that you chose the highest graphic quality you can on your machine. Lower quality will cause models to render and animate differently. Very High is ideal for models to render as desired.
  • The loading interface is a placeholder design so may scale poorly and do weird things. You should be able to load new worlds fine which is the most important part (it just doesn’t look pretty yet).
  • Sims people are not yet supported with this build. Sims models will import but they will not animate as we are still working out the construction of the different meshes for the sims people models.
  • Known object export/import problems FirTrees have a class conflict issue so will not properly open in player
  • Known object display problems Most Transport class objects and some other prop objects including the toilet will have offsets of components.
  • The camera field of view and other details are not currently mapped exactly to the camera settings in the IDE so you may see variations in the view between the IDE and the player.
  • Built in joint arrays in things such as car wheels and railroad tracks may not function as expected.
  • The default addObjectMoveFor(object) event in Alice has an “as seen by ground” detail modifier that causes it to move objects it is set to on the ground plane (in Alice IDE). This has not been translated into the Alice Player at this time. If using this event to move an object make sure that the object has been oriented to upright (use the orient to upright one shot in the scene editor on the object) if you want it to stay at the same level (the camera is by default at a slight down angle for example so if not oriented will move down on forward and up on back)
  • The get(boolean,string,double,integer) functions displays should block other events from firing but do not (keypresses and mouse clicks to complete will trigger other key and mouse events).
  • There are still many edge cases that we have not yet found. These could include specific model oddities, certain procedures or functions acting strange, and much more. Be forewarned we have not even formally entered Quality Assurance (QA) or a formalized testing phase yet because we are still building out base functionality. We would appreciate any and all feedback and bug (error) reports. You can use our contact form to send us feedback (please select reporting a bug and the version Alice 3 Beta)
  • Exporting Worlds:
  • To run worlds using the Alice Player you will need to export a new save format for Alice that will have the file extension .a3w. To export to this format you will need to use the Alice IDE Export build found on this page. You will find the export function in the file drop down menu. You can take worlds created in other versions of Alice and open and export them from this version.
  • You will want to continuously check back for new builds of both the Alice IDE and the Unity player as changes will be made to both. Some worlds may cause Alice to crash or you may receive errors on export as we continue to work through bugs related to the export functionality to handle all Alice functionality and patterns that students may be creating.
  • Alice Player:
  • The Alice player when opened gives you the option to select the resolution you want to run. This menu will later be moved inside the application. You may want to launch in windowed mode in case you encounter errors or be aware that to toggle full screen in Unity you want to use command+f on mac and alt+enter on pc. These are not intuitive for people who have not used a lot of Unity applications so I wanted to point it out here. See above for impact of Graphic Quality choice.
  • Enabling VR Mode
  • Setting Up Alice Worlds for VR Tips:
  • The Alice camera is by default up in the air and angled down in a third person type position. If authoring for a first person camera view of the world you should a) use the one shot procedure in the scene editor on the camera to orient to upright to eliminate the angle b) use the input x, y, z value to set the y value to 1 (Alice is in meters so this will set the eye level at a good adult person height).
  • Oculus Rift and Rift S:
  • Our initial development is focused on integrating with Oculus Rift and Rift S. If you have these platform you will need to start the Oculus app and have it running before starting the unity player. It will then launch into VR mode when you start a world. We have not yet implemented a VR interface so you can either use the virtual desktop to navigate or start and manage world playback from the desktop. We are currently working on implementing the inputs for Oculus so check back soon for the newest version.
  • The headset has been mapped to the camera object
  • The joystick is mapped to the addDefaultObjectMoveFor (Object) procedure know issue is that it does not support left and right movements at the same time for smooth movement
  • The controllers have both been mapped to work for mouse pointers. The right trigger will work as a mouse click. This will only appear if you have implemented a mouse click event.
  • We have mapped the buttons to key presses so that you can author them using the following:
  • A, B, X, Y Key Events A, B, X, Y Buttons
  • Space Bar Key Event Left Trigger
  • Control Key Event Right Grip Button
  • Shift Key Event Left Grip Button
  • 1 Key Event Right Joystick Click
  • 2 Key Event Left Joystick Click
  • HTC Vive:
  • The player will also work with the HTC Vive at this stage. For this to work you will need to download and have running the Steam platform with the additional Steam VR plug in when you launch the player. This will currently support the same camera functionality as the Oculus platform. We are going to first work to implement Oculus inputs so it may be a while longer till we also have full Vive integration but you can still create some compelling VR content with just the camera to headset functionality for now.
  • The headset has been mapped to the camera object
  • Demo Worlds:
  • We have attached the demos we ran at CSTA and ISTE. The folder contains both the .a3p files for use with the IDE and the .a3w files to run with the player. The worlds are:
  • AmazonBoatRide this world makes use of one of the starter worlds in the gallery and simple object marker moves for the boar with the camera vehicled to the boat. It is an example of a good VR pattern for a ride experience.
  • UnderwaterExplore this world was used to show a simple open world explore at the conference.

New in Alice 3.3.1.2.0 (Aug 31, 2017)

  • Performance fix to address issue related to new autosave that overtaxes CPU – Update recommended for all 3.3.1 users especially those using Linux and Mac

New in Alice 3.3.0.0.0 (Feb 22, 2017)

  • New Features!
  • Added whole new top level class: Slitherers
  • Poses
  • Models now come with built in methods that animate the models to predetermined poses. Notably:
  • SpreadWings and FoldWings on Flyers
  • Added “strikePose” calls to one-shot menu
  • Copy model added to scene editor
  • Windows: Alt-Drag
  • Mac: Ctrl-Drag
  • Added object centric rotation handles (red, blue, and white)
  • Updates for speech bubbles:
  • Added:
  • fontStyle (bold, italic, normal)
  • fontType (monospaced, serif, sans serif)
  • fontScale
  • bubblePosition (left, center, right)
  • Icons for fields are now pulled from pre-generated thumbnails rather than dynamically rendered--done for performance reasons
  • Reorganized and commented generated Java code
  • Changed “<-” to “=” in java mode
  • Compute distance for good lookat
  • Added immutable comments
  • New Languages:
  • Greek added!
  • Turkish added
  • Bugs Fixed!
  • Fixed bug where camera markers would break if you opened a new world
  • Fixed crash when browsing files on Macs
  • Fixed speech bubble placement on retina displays
  • Fixed pick bug in mouse click events
  • mouse click events failed if models had their vehicle set to something other than the scene. this is now fixed
  • Handles no longer animate to address picking problems
  • Resource manager now stops playing sounds when you close the dialog window
  • TurnToFace fixed to work with objects that have vehicles other than the scene.
  • If a model is on a boat (and it’s vehicle is set to the boat), TurnToFace should now work
  • Fixed relational functions such as isToTheRightOf to return expected outcome
  • Made scene view camera pick work (1 -> -1)
  • Fixed speech and thought bubble colors
  • text color is now properly used when rendering bubbles
  • tail ellipse on thought bubbles now uses fill and outline color properly
  • Made default outline color white for speech bubbles
  • Fixed TimerListener event to properly trigger at set interval
  • Use new field icon generation
  • Better camera calculations for icon capturing
  • Gallery New Assets, Changes, and Bug Fixes:
  • One of the big QA passes was to make sure joint orientation was consistent within classes. This may cause items to act differently in older projects but will make inheriting procedures far more reliable.
  • Browsing for MyClasses in the gallery now shows you .a3c files and remembers the directory you selected a class from (it will use the parent directory of the file)
  • Starter Worlds:
  • Updated theme thumbnails in gallery
  • Added ground to room blank slate
  • Expanded starter project selection
  • Added to and updated blank slate worlds
  • Biped:
  • Bat
  • BlackCat
  • CheshireCat grin
  • Ghost
  • PumpkinHead
  • Skadi
  • Skeleton
  • UtahRaptor
  • Valkyrie
  • Flyer:
  • Eagle
  • Raven
  • Quadruped:
  • Bear
  • BearCub
  • Elk
  • Moose
  • RiverOtter
  • Skunk
  • Squirrel
  • StuffedZombieKitten
  • Tiger
  • Added STONE texture for Yali
  • Slitherer (New!):
  • HermitSnail
  • LongNeckedSnail
  • Nagi
  • Train (New!):
  • TrainCar
  • TrainCarFlat
  • TrainEngine
  • Prop:
  • AdelaideBust
  • AlienHelmet
  • AncientTempleTile
  • Textures for AncientTempleArch, AncientTempleBlock, AncientTemplePiece, AncientTemplePillar, AncientTempleWall, AncientTempleWell, AncientTempleTile:
  • INDIA_BRICK
  • INDIA_LIGHTEST_BRICK
  • INDIA_LIGHT_BRICK
  • INDIA_MEDIUM_BRICK
  • Arm
  • Arrow
  • Arrows
  • Bell
  • BonePile
  • Bones
  • Bow
  • New resource for Cave:
  • Wide
  • CedarTree
  • CedarTreeLog
  • CedarTreeStump
  • CircusBleachers
  • CircusGround
  • CircusPost
  • CircusPoster
  • CircusRing
  • CircusTent
  • CircusTrampoline
  • CircusTrapeze
  • CircusWagon
  • Coal
  • CoatRack
  • EstherBust
  • Femur
  • FirTreeMountain
  • FirTreeTrunk
  • FirTreeTrunkMirror
  • FirTreeTrunkSnow
  • FirTreeTrunkSnowMirror
  • FirTreeTrunkSnowTall
  • FirTreeTrunkSnowTallMirror
  • FirTreeTrunkTall
  • FirTreeTrunkTallMirror
  • Flames
  • Foot
  • GideonBust
  • Hand
  • HandOfSkeleton
  • HauntedHouse
  • HeadOfPumpkin
  • IceRamp
  • LeatherBook
  • Leg
  • Logs
  • Mausoleum
  • MausoleumPieces
  • NicholasBust
  • OldShipWheel
  • OvenMitts
  • PeabodyGarage
  • Pillow
  • PillowSitting
  • Pumpkin
  • Quilt
  • Quiver
  • RailroadTrack
  • RattlerCottage
  • RibCage
  • RingMasterCoat
  • RoyalHotel
  • Textures for SandDunes:
  • BEACH
  • DESERT
  • DRYGRASS
  • FORESTFLOOR
  • FORESTFLOORBROWN
  • FORESTFLOORRED
  • GRASS
  • JUNGLE
  • SNOW
  • OCEAN (just on Flat)
  • OCEANNIGHT (just on Flat)
  • Shovel
  • Ski
  • Skull
  • SoccerGoal
  • Spear
  • StaircaseDown
  • StaircaseUp
  • TrainStation
  • Trestle
  • TrestleTriangle
  • Tunnel
  • UpperArm
  • WagonBed
  • WagonDesk
  • Textures for WaterTank, WaterTankPillar, WaterTankShrine, WaterTankTower, WaterTankWall, WaterTankWell:
  • INDIA_WATER_TANK_LIGHTEST
  • INDIA_WATER_TANK_LIGHT
  • INDIA_WATER_TANK_MED
  • WaterTower
  • CedarPole
  • FishingPole
  • GopherHole
  • HookAndBobber
  • PlankHouse
  • Textures for SavanaGrass
  • BRIGHT_GREEN
  • DARK_GREEN
  • YELLOW_GREEN
  • Renamed SandDunes to Terrain
  • Added WHITE and RED variations to WonderlandTree
  • FirTreeTrunk and variations consolidated down to one class
  • Added Quaint_WHITE Sofa
  • Shapes:
  • Ground added to gallery
  • You can now add a new ground to your scene if you have deleted the original
  • Axes upgrades:
  • Made axes a SShape
  • Changed axes appearance
  • Made axes calculate its bounding box correctly
  • Axes now track their scale and can be scaled
  • Made axes not have the visual reference axis that shows up when manipulating models

New in Alice 3.1.81.0.0 (Oct 3, 2013)

  • Alice 3.1 will not import worlds or objects created in Alice 2.x, nor will it open worlds created in AliceBeta3.0.x.x.
  • A frequent cause of problems on Windows machines is out-of-date video drivers. This problem is recognizable when a red-screen occurs in the scene view or in the run-time window. Updating the video drivers of your machine is recommended.
  • The Intel Integrated chipset that is found on many notebook, netbook, and other machines has trouble trying to run Alice 3.x. Some higher-end Vista machines have also had difficulties. Decreasing hardware acceleration or decreasing color resolution (from 32 bit to 16 bit) has sometimes been helpful. Updating the video drivers of your machine is recommended.
  • Alice 3.1 will run on some netbook computers, albeit very slowly and verging on the painful. We have taken strides to get Alice to run on netbooks, but the unfortunate fact is that the graphics capabilities are simply not up to snuff for delivering 3D content. With that said, as netbooks continue to improve and Alice gets more efficient, we expect performance to improve.
  • Alice will not run on smartphone/tablet/portable device/gaming consoles.