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Issue Nr. 8
Sept 9th 2002
Contents:
With immediate effect, the update to Rayfront 1.0.4 is available
for download. The purpose of this update is threefold: First,
there are some changes that make it more practical to work with
the Raydirect plug-in. Most prominently, it is now possible to
render pictures with oversampling and filtering independently of
the QUALITY settings. Secondly, the documentation has been
updated and reformatted. And last but not least, the update
implements a number of fixes for bugs and other problems that
have been found by users over the last few months.
Find the download for the free update to Rayfront 1.0.4 here:
Two weeks ago, I have updated the web site with a completely new
design. The old layout was unusually clean and stringent for the
time when it was created, but it has collected a lot of dust over
the years. The pages were also rather technically complex, and
using an outdated HTML version.
The new pages are more compact, and implement modern standards
both technically and visually. The left column has shrunken, and
holds the main navigational elements. All the actual content is
now concentrated in the righ column. This clear seperation makes
it less confusing for the visitor, and easier to maintain for me.
I have also switched to the current web standard XHTML, and use
style sheets to control large parts of the visual appearance.
Despite the cutting edge technology, all pages are of course
accessible to every browser out there, even in plain text mode.
There are several new and useful features, like a search box on
every page, a feedback form for when you want to send me a notice
or ask a question, and the "tell a friend" link, which allows you
to send a notification about an interesting page to someone else.
I hope that you'll find the new layout faster to load, nicer to
look at, easier to navigate, but still just as informative as
before! If you haven't seen it yet, don't hesitate to check it out:
This may be a surprising headline in a newsletter that is really
designed to sell software. Unfortunately, it turns out that the
revenues from my software business alone will not cover all my
expenses in the long run.
Consequently, I need to diversify. Most of you are probably aware
of my qualifications in lighting design, daylighting, lighting
simulations, and a number of related fields. If you see any
places where such qualifications might be in demand, I'd be very
grateful to hear about it. I am open to collaborations as an
external consultant, or in any other way,
The Rayfront project will not be negatively affected by this
change. To the contrary, whatever I will do in the near future
will serve (among other things) the important objective to keep
Rayfront alive. Some development plans may not get implemented
quite as soon as I would wish, but there's definitively no lack
of good ideas on how to improve the software. The upcoming
Rayfront 1.1 already exists as a prototype, and will include many
helpful features to make it a worthwile upgrade.
Of course, support and maintenance for existing and future users
will also continue to be available as before. If you have a
problem with Rayfront, Raydirect, or 3Dsolar, please contact me
directly or through the support mailing list, and you will find
help. Rather than slowing down, I actually plan intensify my
efforts to find a larger market for those programs. The coming
changes can also be seen as good news under another aspect: Going
back into practical project work, I will gain further insights
about how to improve Rayfront. All my software was originally
designed out of my own needs as a practical lighting designer.
Continuing this tradition will make it even better in the future!
Educational License Changes
It has turned out that there is a high demand for Rayfront from
educational institutions. So far, the educational licenses for
Rayfront have been completely free. In the future, the first
license for an university user will be a normal paid license as
for everybody else. The nice trick comes with the second copy.
If the same institution buys two Rayfront licenses, then that
pair will automatically be expanded to a "lab license", which
means that they may install the program on as many machines
within the same building as necessary, eg. for the students to
use.
Raydirect at Radiance Workshop
Those familiar with the goings on among the Radiance experts may
know that there will be a workshop about scientific applications
of the software in a month, in the beautiful city of Friboug in
Switzerland. I will present the Raydirect plug-in to Rayfront
there, and meet a number of high-profile Radiance specialists.
I have had correspondence with most of those people over the
years, but there are actually quite a few that I have never
before met in person. There discussions will most certainly also
include the future direction for the development of Radiance
itself. You can expect to read more about those topics in the
next newsletter.
Issue 08 (2002 Sep. 9.)
Issue 07 (2002 Apr. 29.)
Issue 06 (2001 Jul. 10.)
Issue 05 (2001 Feb. 20.)
Issue 04 (2000 Dec. 5.)
Issue 03 (2000 Aug. 31.)
Issue 02 (2000 May 15.)
Issue 01 (2000 Mar. 19.)
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