Stella4D Changelog

What's new in Stella4D 5.4

May 10, 2014

Polyhedra may now have an internet link associated with them. Found in the Info window below the polyhedron's name. Right-click on it to open or edit the link. Each provided polyhedron that I have physically built now has a link to online photos of my paper model.
Added Coxeter's symmetry symbols to the display.
Added ability to cut just one edge in Cutting Mode with Shift+Right-click, rather than all edges of the same type (Shift+Left-click).
Added "Scale→Base Circumference" to view and set the circumference of a model's circumsphere.
Added "Help→Download Companion Android app MoStella".
Adjusted the default transition times, e.g. going to next/previous model is much faster now (0.5 seconds down from 2.0).
Search for compounds more intuitively by giving number first, e.g. "5 Cubes" rather than "Cubes 5".
Fixed: Search failed to find some polyhedra, e.g. "4-Freq" didn't find "4-Frequency Icosahedral Geodesic Hemisphere".
Search files in the polyhedron library with abbreviated words, e.g. "5 c" will find "Cubes 5" and "4-f t" will find "4-Frequency Tetrahedral Geodesic Hemisphere".
Show image scale/position in status bar when adjusting. Handy for matching scale/position of two images on separate faces.
Improved sphere mapping quality near poles when printing.
Symmetry symbols
Give error for invalid equations.
Fixed: Small Stella and Great Stella showed face counts and subsequent data in the wrong column in the polyhedron list (Stella4D was fine).
Fixed: Face-map displayed on image in Image Mode was wrong when image was clamped or had borders.
Fixed: Don't show background image in printed nets with images on faces.
Fixed: Mouse wheel for zoom didn't always work straight away.
Fixed: When printing 2D cross-sections of 3D polyhedra, the "Actual size" option didn't work.
Fixed: When entering number to define base of prism or antiprism, prompt said "Enter a value for" instead of "Enter a value for ".
Fixed: Entering 0 or negative number to define base of prisms and antiprisms would crash. Now gives error.
Fixed: Some users on Windows 8 would sometimes have to re-enter serial number more than once.

New in Stella4D 5.3 (Jul 15, 2013)

New in Small Stella, Great Stella, and Stella4D:
Updated "Tetrahedra 10" compound with better coloring and nets.
Remember cut edges and per-edge tab setting in .stel files.
Fixed: GIF images came in black and white (bug appeared in version 5.2).
Fixed: Images on hemi-faces were not projected properly.
Fixed: editing multiple image options always changed projection even when no projection option was selected.
Fixed: Save As could stop rotation, morphing etc and thus not save it in the file.
Improved texture memory management.
New in Great Stella and Stella4D only:
Improvements to image/video export
Added option to save settings without exporting.
Fixed: exporting AVIs would often crash, depending on the compression and dimensions chosen.
Fixed: when exporting image/video, selected orientation was not remembered as default for next time.
Fixed: switching between "Current orientation" and other choices didn't reset things properly.
Fixed: during video export, switching between tour and other animation could cause a few problems.
Fixed: mouse inertia is now recovered after going to the Export Image/Video dialog.
Fixed: stepping backwards during video preview could jump at frame where transitions start.
Fixed: tour video export didn't work properly unless "Current orientation" was selected (setting shouldn't affect tours).
Fixed: resources were not freed properly when AVI export failed due to incompatible settings (e.g. Xvid codec with odd width), meaning the same file could not then be written to again until restarting the program.
Moved noble faceting of snub cube from Faceting folder into Bruckner folder.
Fixed: not all faces were displayed when using a sub-symmetry group on a model with coplanar faces (bug appeared in version 5.2).
Fixed: a rare occasion when tabs weren't right.
Fixed: very rarely some stellation faces weren't recognised properly and were left unfilled in the Stellation and Net views.
New in Stella4D only:
Fixed: whole model disappeared when selecting a cell while 4D tunneling through a cell.
Fixed: during video export, 4D rotation didn't rotate through selected cell/vertex as it was supposed to.

New in Stella4D 5.2 (Apr 1, 2013)

New in Stella4D 5.1 (Apr 1, 2013)

New in Stella4D 5.0 (Oct 5, 2012)

Animated transitions between polyhedra!
Transitions
As you step through the polyhedra, each one will fly off the screen as the next one flies into place.
Use "Options→Transition Options" to customise the transitions used in different situations. Polyhedra can slide and spin off the screen, explode/implode, grow/shrink, or orbit each other as one replaces the other.
Hit Esc to quickly skip a transition.
Enable/disable transitions with "Options→Enable Transitions".
Animated polyhedral slideshows called "tours".
Polyhedral tour
Choose transitions between shapes in the tour. You can even have transitions between different types of view, or from 3D to 2D and back (some types of transition only apply to some views).
Lots of new controls for putting tours together and playing them back.
Each shape in the tour may be spinning, morphing, unfolding etc.
Right-click on item in tour list to open a context menu. Select "Inherit layout" to continue animation from the previous item, e.g. to match spin from one to the next.
Hit Esc when playing a tour to stop it.
Tours can be exported as videos (Great Stella and Stella4D only).
Improvements to nets.
Single tab method
Double tab method :
Added tabs! Choose your preference for the single or double tab methods (or no tabs at all). Print nets with tabs, and see tabs folding up in 3D.
Select paper colour from a list to print matching nets (no longer need to find a net of the colour you wish to print first).
Option to print edge connection IDs on nets to help with construction. Especially useful with tricky colouring schemes. Can also show these in the unfolded and folding net views using "Nets→Show Edge Data→Edge Connection IDs".
When nets don't fit on the page, the user is asked whether to reduce the size of the model so they just fit. Now this message also shows how much the model will be scaled down by.
May now create the convex hull of a 3D folding net.
Fixed: Nets for models with asymmetric colouring (e.g. one colour per face) sometimes had incorrect colour arrangement (e.g. great icosahedron nets). Some data printed on nets could also be wrong.
Improvements to morphing between duals.
Morph by tilting
to compound
New methods for morphing between duals.
"View→View Duals Morphing→By Tilting to Compound"
"View→View Duals Morphing→By Tilting to Rectify"
Renamed "Morph with Rectangles" to "Morph by Expansion".
Morphing by Expansion now uses a colour averaged from neighbouring faces for the new rectangular faces, rather than a fixed predefined colour.
Improved selection
Simplified selection. Now just use Shift+Left-click to select faces, edges, vertices, or rotational symmetry axes (when displayed with "s").
Ctrl+Right-click to select only edges.
Edges and rotational symmetry axes are newly selectable items in version 5.0. Along with faces and vertices as before, they may be used to orient the model by looking at or sitting on them, and for such things as setting the cross-section direction.
Improved navigation
Pivot around
symmetry axis
Use Space+Right-drag to pivot around an axis through the last selected item (cell, face, edge, vertex, or rotational symmetry axis).
As with other navigation, release mouse button while dragging for the pivot to continue on its own.
You may perform normal tumble and twist navigation while the new pivot continues.
If you find this more useful than the normal Right-drag to twist, you can swap the functionality of Right-drag and Space-Right-drag with "Options→Right-drag to Pivot Around Selected Item" or the matching toolbar button.
Added "View→Camera→Use Default". This does more than "View→Orientation→Default Orientation" as it also resets to the default field-of-view and fits the model to the screen.
Added "View→Orientation→Rotate Around X Axis" and similar for Y and Z, giving finer control when required over the exact model orientation. The axes referred to are screen-aligned: X to the right, Y up, and Z out of the screen.
Improvements to measurement mode.
Distance between
vertex and facial plane
Can now measure distance and angle between two items, where each item may be a point, line, plane or hyperplane (previously only distance between two points could be measured).
Distance and angle are shown on screen (previously only in status bar).
New button appears in measurement mode to set a point at the centre of the model.
Cross-section direction may be set based on point, line, plane or hyperplane defined in Measurement Mode. Section depth is also set to align with the item.
4D projection direction may be set based on a point, line, plane or hyperplane defined in Measurement Mode (Stella4D only).
"Stellation→Stellation Planes" has new button "Add Measurement Plane", to add a stellation plane based on a plane defined in Measurement Mode (Great Stella and Stella4D only).
More control over edges.
Select edges, using Ctrl+Right-click.
When selected, edge length is shown in status bar.
Use "Scale→Edge Length" to set the scale of the model based on the length of a selected edge.
List of edge types shown in Info window.
Each edge may have its own colour. Set the colour of a single edge, or all edges of the selected type.
Cylinder edges may use the same colour as normal line edges (thus allowing them independent colouring too).
Various edge colouring schemes.
Edges may be shown/hidden by type, by colour, or individually.
Colour and hidden state of edges is saved in .stel files and memory slots.
Added "Display→Hide Edges & Vertices Between Hidden Faces". When enabled, any edges or vertices surrounded only by hidden faces will also be hidden, regardless of whether they have otherwise been flagged as hidden. This replaces the previous option from Stella4D "4D→When Hiding Cells, Hide Vertices/Edges Too" which only worked in 4D.
More control over vertices.
Added option to colour vertices according to the colour of their dual face. Allows independent colouring per vertex. "Color→Vertex Colors→Color Vertices Same as Dual Face"
Individual vertices may now be hidden. They are hidden in sync with their matching face in the dual.
New option to specify actual vertex-sphere radius rather than setting it as a fraction of some other measurement.
Improvements to images on faces.
Added spherical and cylindrical image mapping.
Added option to keep images upright. Only applies when image is projected separately onto each face. When used, instead of snapping to edges when rotating, we snap to portrait and landscape.
May project image towards a selected item, or align the height of the image, or axis for spherical/cylindrical mapping, to the selected item.
When in Image Mode, and a face is selected, feint lines are drawn on the full image to indicate face mapping.
Middle button may now be used anywhere in place of Left+Right, so you can use Shift+Middle to rotate image too.
Added Geomag-style rendering.
Geomag
Icosadodecahedron
Geomag rocket
Geomag picture frame
Geomag castle
Render polyhedra as if made using Geomag's magnetic construction kit.
Common polygons not available from Geomag are subdivided using ones which are.
Colours for faces and edges are limited to those available from Geomag.
Able to recognise in many cases whether or not a model can be built using Geomag.
When images are applied to faces, they appear as if using Geomag's Deko panels. When nets are printed only the parts required for Deko panels are printed, ready to cut out and insert into the Deko panels.
New Geomag Library containing models designed specifically for Geomag.
Improvements to file browser.
When browsing to open/save a .stel file, select an existing file to see information about it at the bottom of the browser. Number of cells/faces/edges/vertices are shown, along with the first line of the comment, if one has been set. (Please re-save files from previous versions to enable all this).
When browsing to open/save an .OFF file, select an existing file to see the number of faces, edges and vertices. Note: number of edges may be incorrect, as the format does not require this to be provided correctly in the file. It will probably either be correct, or zero.
When browsing to open/save an image file, select an existing image file to see a preview of it along with some properties.
When browsing to open/save a text file (e.g. loading text onto faces or saving text from faces), select an existing text file to see a preview of the first couple of lines.
Improvements to built-in polyhedron browser.
Added search feature! Search the polyhedron library based on name and/or vertex/edge/face/cell counts. A range may be specified for the latter (e.g. find all polyhedra with between 12 and 30 faces). Comprehensive tooltips help explain what's what.
Find either the first match only, or find all matches and show them under the new "Search Results" category.
When looking at the "Search Results" category, use the "Locate search result" button to locate a particular item in the main list.
After opening a model from the "Search Results" list, step through other results with the arrow keys.
New tree structure for categories (e.g. Platonic and Kepler-Poinsot both come under the Regular category).
Added new columns to browser: index, cell count, face count, edge count, vertex count, Wenninger number, Maeder number.
Click on a column header to sort polyhedra according to entries in that column.
Browser position and size is now remembered.
Fixed: the browser can now be resized properly.
Fixed: Some entries had Wenninger numbers when they shouldn't have.
Improvements to 3D stereoscopic display.
Improved calculations for 3D stereoscopic projections (proper asymmetric frusta rather than "toe-in").
Stereo effect is a little stronger now.
Background image now supported during stereo display.
Made stereo effect more consistent for stellations.
Fixed small difference in lighting between left and right images.
With red/blue glasses etc, symmetry axes and reflection planes show up more clearly.
Panning left/right now works with parallel/cross-eyed.
Changing view layout now maintains stereo mode.
Changed "Wall-eyed" to "Parallel-eyed" on menu. More common usage and more obvious meaning.
Esc key now performs more functions. It performs the first appropriate action on the list below.
Skip transition (new)
Stop playing tour (new)
Stop all mouse inertia (new)
Cancel augmentation preview (Great Stella and Stella4D only)
Cancel creating facet (Great Stella and Stella4D only)
Exit any mode back to normal mode
Exit full-screen display
Exit 3D stereoscopic display (new)
Improvements to Info window.
Shows when one face/vertex type is a reflection of another.
Shows list of edge types.
Select part of compound in Info window to select a face/cell from that part.
Shows surface area of base and dual.
Added "Options→Allow Explosion Inertia to Implode". Decides whether Ctrl+Shift+Left-drag explosion inertia allows the faces to implode back through each other. Otherwise they will bounce at the point where the faces are back in their original places.
Hidden faces are now skipped when loading a list of images with "Image→Load Image List".
When showing vertices close to slicing plane, ones precisely in the plane are coloured green.
"Color→Replace Face Color Throughout" now affects both base & dual together (if there are dual faces of the same colour). Especially useful for compounds. Works with 4D too in Stella4D.
Browse paths now default to more standard locations, e.g. under "My Documents\Stella" on XP.
Field-of-view now stored in .stel file (change using Space+Left+Right-drag).
Small Stella only: made "v" and "e" show hide true vertices and edges rather than virtual ones, for consistency with Great Stella and Stella4D. You can look at the folded net view to see virtual vertices/edges.
I believe the requirement for admin priviledges when first licensing Stella on some systems has now been removed (am unable to test this).
Added link to online forums under Help menu.
Added link to Stella facebook page under Help menu.
Improved quality of main icon. Won't look so chunky at larger sizes now.
Fixed: Small buttons on caption bar of each view didn't visibly depress. Now they push in and act on release rather than on push.
Fixed: Mouse wheel now works in full screen mode.
Fixed: Crash in rare cases when cutting an edge of a net.
Fixed: For Great and Small Stella, in the cross-section view, right arrow key or the yellow right arrow button didn't work. They should step to the next slice depth which passes through a vertex.
Fixed: Occasional inconsistency between sequence of files when stepping through them with Left/Right arrow keys.
Color behind icons in view titles now matches current Windows color scheme.