Alembic 0.9.2 ready for download
Joe Ardent
of Alembic, 0.9.2. This is somewhere between a major and minor update.
Numerous bugs have been fixed, some new functionality has been
introduced, and reference Maya plugins for import and export have been
added.
The code changes can be examined here:
http://codereview.appspot.com/4259042/
Some highlights in functionality:
- Maya export and import plugins are in the top-level "maya" directory.
- In the top-level "python" directory is the beginning of Python
bindings using Boost.Python. This effort is currently incomplete, but
with these bindings, the structure of an Alembic Archive can be examined.
- UVs on PolyMeshes and SubD meshes, as well as Normals on PolyMeshes,
are included in their definition, and can be written and read as indexed
arrays or expanded, non-indexed arrays, with automatic interconversion
between the two representations. However, none of the client code in
this release yet takes advantage of this mechanism; a 0.9.3 release will
have that feature, and should be available before the end of March.
There are a few things that did not make it into this release, most
conspicuously for us, a standard definition for a Camera type in
AbcGeom. However, we'll be sending a proposed standard out for review
on the discussion list, and we should have that in the next Beta release.
As this is still a pre-1.0 release, it is still to be considered Beta,
and should not be used for critical, deadline-driven production work.
Also as usual, feedback and questions are welcome! The main discussion
list is low-traffic, but anyone can sign up and participate:
http://groups.google.com/group/alembic-discussion
-The Alembic Team