OpenGLContext 2.0.0b1 now available...

[Mike C. Fletcher]

I have just released the first beta version of OpenGLContext 2.0.0 for 
PyOpenGL 2.0.1. 

OpenGLContext is a teaching/testing tool for those looking to learn 
OpenGL programming using Python and PyOpenGL.  It provides a large body 
of BSD-licensed PyOpenGL sample code for the beginning OpenGL 
programmer, and a simplified environment for experimenting with OpenGL 
programming.

Major new features since alpha 4 include:

    * cross platform polygonal text from (system) TrueType fonts,
          o (with the TTFQuery and FontTools packages)
          o applications can use non-system fonts with minimal extra effort
          o antialiased bitmap text also available from Pygame (with
            TTFQuery and Fonttools)
          o wxPython and/or GLUT can provide basic aliased bitmap text
            when ttfquery and/or FontTools are not available
    * frustum culling and bounding box calculations,
          o occlusion-culling is also available when the extension is
            available, but isn't currently supported by any of the
            scenegraph geometry types, so is not particularly effective,
            and is disabled by default,
    * optimization of the rendering pipeline,
          o includes introduction of C modules to accelerate "hotspot"
            operations
    * GLE-based extrusion geometry types,
          o screw, lathe and spiral
    * enhanced polygon tessellation code,
    * and a considerable number of bug fixes.

The new release has three new requirements beyond those for alpha 4:

    * Python 2.2.3
          o weak reference errors in 2.2.2 were found because of
            OpenGLContext's rather intense usage of them
          o OpenGLContext tries to minimize the effect of the errors,
            but there is no way to completely eliminate them without
            upgrading
    * FontTools
          o a cross platform library to read TrueType font files directly
    * TTFQuery
          o a Python package using FontTools to query and match system
            TrueType font names and families
          o also provides outline extraction for polygonal text

You can find updated installation instructions here:
    http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/documentation/installation.html

There are a number of areas where the API is likely to change during the 
upcoming beta process, particularly there will likely be a new 
configuration mechanism for user-specified preferences (for instance key 
bindings, frame locations, rendering-context-parameters and preferred 
GUI library).  Beyond this, I'm not planning any significant (i.e. core) 
enhancements, though adding a small 2D controls library may be necessary 
to allow the (planned) configuration system to work properly, and there 
will likely be a considerable number of bug-fixes and optimizations.

As always, you can find the download from the homepage:

    http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/context/

or directly here:

    http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=5988

Enjoy,
Mike

_______________________________________
  Mike C. Fletcher
  Designer, VR Plumber, Coder
  http://members.rogers.com/mcfletch/