So much to do, so little time... (Timeline Shift)

The release announced today is a major upgrade, and signifies the last Win/Mac Public Beta for Stykz 1.0... don’t worry, Undo is still coming, but it will be in “Release Candidate 1” (the next release after this one) and will most likely be the last feature added to Stykz 1.0 before its official release. The way this is going to go is:

• Last Public Beta (this one)


• Release Candidate 1 ("RC1") – Includes bug fixes from the public beta and Undo support


• Release Candidate 2 ("RC2") – Includes bug fixes only, along with working on support files (help/tutorials/etc.)


• Final 1.0 Release

Now as you can see, it’s currently April 23, and there's still Undo to add, bug fixes on the list left to do as well as for any found during this last Beta and the RC1/RC2 releases, so there’s unfortunately no way to release 1.0 as planned on April 30.

The release date for Stykz 1.0 has been moved back to May 21, which is only another 3 weeks but should give enough time to get everything done. The Linux releases have been affected as well.

Hopefully there will be no more need to push back the timeline, and we appreciate your understanding.

The Stykz Development Team

Stykz/Windows (Release 3) and Stykz/Mac (Release 5) Now Available!

I’m excited to announce that Windows Release 3/Mac Release 5 is now available for download at the Stykz web site. This version contains a LOT of bug fixes, stability increases, performance enhancements and the following new features:

• "Insert Frame" and "Delete Frame" are now menu items (Edit menu), so you can execute them with shortcut keys.


• You can now delete selected segments with the Delete/Backspace key or through the Edit menu.


• You can turn off the ability to switch between Select and Subselect tools by double-clicking (in Preferences).


• You can set the default frame rate and GIF animation export frame delay time (in Preferences).


• Abilty to show or hide antialiasing for the currently displayed frame (for Windows only atm...)


• You can now create new segments by choosing the Add Line or Add Circle tool in a more "Pivot-like" way: click once to "plant” the starting node, then move the mouse to where you want it to be (the segment will track with the mouse), and finally click again to plant the end node. This takes the place of the old way of just clicking on a node to get a fixed length segment that you had to adjust later, and is much more intuitive than right-click-and-drag. BTW: The "Notes for Pivot Users" window has been revised to include instructions about this and to make the layout more intuitive.




(From the "Notes for Pivot Users" dialog)



• There are now some additional “tool-based instructions” that show up in the lower-left corner of the stage when you choose tools like the Polyfill or Add Line/Add Circle tools to walk you through making a polyfill, using the "click/click" method for creating segments, etc. These can be turned off in Preferences as well, if you like.


• You can now duplicate segments by simply clicking and dragging them. You use the Subselect tool, click anywhere on the segment and drag... a translucent proxy of the segment moves with the mouse until you get over a node where the node is surrounded by a red circle. Release the mouse and the segment attaches to that node. You can do this between figures or within the same figure, and if you release before you have a highlighted node displayed, the action is automatically canceled.


• You can drag figures out of the Library palette to the desktop by holding down the Alt (or Option) key when you drag it. This is a lot easier than having to open a folder and hunt down the .styk you’re trying to send someone.


• The "known bug" about clicking on vertical/nearly vertical segments has been fixed.


• A new "Commands" palette has been added that lets you add/edit/delete buttons that trigger actions in Stykz. The default Commands palette ships with a layout that is very similar to the button layout in Pivot, but of course you can modify it to suit your needs. It's fully resizable so you can have as small or as large a window as you want in whatever orientation suits you. Here's what the Mac version looks like (from the main site) and the corresponding Windows versions:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Of course there's a lot that can be done to extend and enhance the functionality of this palette, but this should be a good start!

Note that you can see a comprehensive list of everything done for this release by going to the Release Notes page on the Stykz web site.

Oh, and this release includes a bunch of .styk files for use in the Library - numbers 0-9 along with a handful of .styks done by Ipwnall from DarkDemon including a cityscape, a couple of different grounds, grass, a sword, etc. On Windows it gets installed in the My Documents/Stykz folder and on Mac it's included on the .dmg.

Enjoy!

The Stykz Development Team

Stykz/Windows (Release 2) and Stykz/Mac (Release 4) Now Available!

I am happy to announce that Windows Release 2/Mac Release 4 is now available for download at the Stykz site or through "Check for Updates" in the current version of Stykz.

The main things available in this build are:

• Nodes can now either float on top of segments or be interleaved with segments – your choice! You can set the way you want it to be 90+% of the time in the Preferences window, and then switch the node method on/off through the View menu for temporary changes.


• The StykzPlayer is now a window with a close box, and I’ve made other changes to make it easier to stop playback at any time and at any framerate


• The Frames palette was completely re-engineered so that large files with hundreds of frames would open very quickly and not display cut off or overlapping frames.


• Onionskins have been darkened so they don't get lost on bright monitors


• Performance has increased across the app for most actions, especially in manipulating complex figures... the increase ranges from 125% to 500%, depending on what you’re doing.

Of course there were dozens of bug fixes and a handful of enhancements that you can read about on the Release Notes page.

The intention is to finish with any additional features and bug fixes by April 15 so that the last two weeks before April 30 can be used to focus on support items and to get the Linux version to its first beta state.

Enjoy!

The Stykz Development Team