Changelog Blender 2.28c release

NEW:

* "Seperate loose parts" in the PKEY popup (in Mesh editmode), it seperates a mesh based on the parts in it that are not connected.

* "Select same UV" in the WKEY popup (in FaceSelect mode), selects all faces in the mesh that have the same UV texture assigned as the current active face.

**** METABALL

- improved polygonization (linear interpolation) 
- added new MetaElem types (plane, elipsoid and cube) 
- old TubeX, TubeY and TubeZ will not be supported
- new buttons in Edit button window (dx, dy, dz)
- added new items into the headers menu and toolbox menu


**** RECURSIVE ENVIRONMENT MAPS

Multiple environments now can be rendered in one pass. Previously the other objects with environment maps didn't show up in a reflection. Like this:
http://www.blender.org/bf/dep.jpg

By default, Blender renders now this result:
http://www.blender.org/bf/dep0.jpg

For a further 'recursive ray-tracing effect' you can give each EnvMap texture a higher "Depth" value. Here is a result with depth set at '2':
http://www.blender.org/bf/dep2.jpg

Related new options:
- in (F10) DisplayButtons, environment map rendering can be turned on and off.
- in EnvMap texture buttons you can free all environment maps
- Environment map sizes are also reduced with the (F10) 'percentage' option.


**** RADIO RENDER

Without preprocessing needed, while rendering each renderface with 'emit material' and each renderface with 'radio material flag' set will be used to iterate to a global illumination solution. Per face with high energy (emit) little images are rendered (hemicubes) which makes up lookup tables to 'shoot' its energy to other faces. 
In the end this energy - color - then is directly added to the pixel colors while rendering, Gouraud shaded. 
Since it's done with renderfaces, it works for all primitives in Blender. 
  
What it doesn't do yet: 
 - take into account textured color of faces. Currently it uses the material RGB color for filtering distributed energy. 
 - do some smart pre-subdividing. Right now it means that you'll have to balance the models yourself, to deliver small faces where you want a high accuracy for shadowing. 
 - unified render (is at todo list) 
  
Rendering without lamps: 
http://www.blender.org/bf/raptor.jpg 
  
This is obviously the advantage; animated radiosity: 
http://www.blender.org/bf/0001_0031.avi 
http://www.blender.org/bf/0001_0040.avi 
The specular is done by adding Lamps with "no diffuse" option set. 
  
http://www.blender.org/bf/monkey.jpg 
Note the subtle color bleeding in the head. Its a nice toy! 
  
http://www.blender.org/bf/0001_0100.avi 
Check the chin. This is a clear problem with a model moving close through the hemicubes. 
  
Testfiles: 
http://www.blender.org/bf/room.blend 
http://www.blender.org/bf/Raptor_radio1.blend 
  
Notes: 
- per Material you want to have included in radiosity render: set the 'radio' flag. For newly added Materials it is ON by default now. 
- the Ambient slider in Material controls the amount of radiosity color. 
- for enabling radiosity rendering, set the F10 "Radio" button. 
- the Radiosity buttons now only show the relevant radiosity rendering options. Pressing "collect meshes" will show all buttons again. 
- for meshes, the faces who use Radio material always call the 'autosmooth' routine, this to make sure sharp angles (like corners in a room) do not have shared vertices. For some smooth models (like the raptor example) you might increase the standard smoothing angle from 30 to 45 degree. 
- When the 'hemisize' (radiosity buttons) is too low, you'll see aliasing artifacts, especially in smaller faces.
- While itterating the steps are printed in the console. 
- At the end, the amount of 'unshot energy' is printed in the console, this can be used to set a minimum for the Convergence button. 
  
**** PYTHON:

* bug fixes:
 - Object: obj.get/setEuler() methods
 - Curve: curve.getControlPoint()
 - Lamp: lamp.setDist() was missing
 - Scene: scene.frameSettings()
 - vectors representation: write the right number of components
* internal improvements: Object, NMesh, Curve, Text
* Additions:
 - Added the 'site' directory to the default path, so that external Python packages (like wxPython, etc) can be found;
 - Object: object.getBoundBox(), object.makeDisplayList() methods;
 - Window: Get/SetCursorPos(), GetViewMatrix(), GetViewVector();
 - Lamp: added modes NoDifuse and NoSpecular;
 - Registry: new module to handle persistent data (in the future);
 - Draw: PupMenu() function.


**** GENERAL FIXES:

* 2.28 bug: Shadow buffer crashed with odd sizes (Not multiples of 16)
* fixed stringlength for texture plugin path button, max 160 chars now.
* BUG #500: extreme wide spotbundles (>170 degr) didn't render correctly.
* BUG #492: while rotating with middlemouse, the X11 system was flooded, causing a hickup
* Dashed line displays again (OSX, Nvidia systems) while rotating around cursor
* On popular request, the "Sync" button (correct realtime synchronization (framedrop) in ALT-A and) off by default.
* The "extrude" operation now automatically sets newly created faces "smooth", when any of the faces attached to any of the edges that have been extruded were "smooth"
* Many tooltips in Blender were rewritten
* BUG #448: 'only shadow' lamps won't give light anymore when rendering without shadows.

**** KNOWN PROBLEMS:

* the Hemi lamp still doesn't support the new shaders