The Away3d team are pleased to announce the release of the 2.0.0 update to
the Away3d engine!

you can download the update from the trunk in the svn repository:

http://away3d.googlecode.com/svn/trunk

or go to the downloads section of away3d.com where a new zip file is
available:

http://www.away3d.com/downloads

Some of the more perceptive of you have already noticed the changes - we
decided to jump to the 2.0 version number for a few reasons, but mainly a)
because there are a lot of new features and higher numbers mean more, and b)
we now have almost all of papervision 2.0's features covered, so it only
seemed fair. ;) This was a milestone being aimed at from the beginning of
the year, so it's great to finally reach it and release!

highlights of the update (posted on the site together with a new
demo<http://away3d.com/away3d-20-green-planet>
):

   - Simulated phong shading (with blinn-phong specular highlights)
   - Environment-mapped materials
   - Normal-mapped materials (an open source first for Flash)
   - Z-depth filter for large outdoor scenes
   - Fog filter
   - Straight-to-bitmap rendering for fast scaled views
   - Surface caching for fast rendered lights
   - Package refactor for easier learning of basic classes

The package refactor is worth drawing attention to, as it will most likely
be the only thing you will need to adjust if you have any projects you wish
to upgrade. The primary reason for this refactor is level of clarity for new
users - there are a number of principles we're working to that try to aid
the navigation of someone looking at the structure for the first time.

here is how the new package structure looks

----- cameras
----- containers
----- core
----- ----- base
----- ----- block
----- ----- draw
----- ----- filter
----- ----- light
----- ----- math
----- ----- render
----- ----- stats
----- ----- traverse
----- ----- utils
----- events
----- extrusions
----- lights
----- loaders
----- ----- data
----- ----- utils
----- materials
----- ----- shaders
----- primitives
----- sprites
----- ----- dof
----- test

a) first level packages contain classes that are used directly in normal
operation
b) second level packages contain classes that are used directly for advanced
operations
c) first level packages follow a naming convention that names the (plural)
content classes' type
d) second level packages follow a naming convention that describes the
content classes' function

because we realise any refactor is a royal pain for anyone currently using
an older version, the upgrade process has been made as painless as possible.
For the most part, it will require a simple re-write of the package imports
at the top of your files. Where possible, the format of classes themselves
haven't been touched, so once your app knows where everything is, you should
be fine!

other updates are listed below:

   - Added yUp flag on all primitves to allow a defined y-up or z-up
   orientation
   - Added addSourceURL method on view for view source option in
   right-click menu
   - Fixed 'end of file' error in 3ds importer for color_f values
   - Added material property to override materials in 3ds file
   - Added scaling option to MoveiClipSprite
   - Fixed broken interactive disable on MovieMaterial
   - Fixed transparent autoloaded materials in Collada and 3DS importers
   - Fixed Collada importer for ImageModeler file
   - Optimised BitmapMaterialContainer and added cache option for surface
   caching
   - Added BitmapRenderSession to allow views to be rendered straight to
   bitmap.

Obviously this release has been thoroughly tested, but as always, if anyone
does experience problems, please report them here and they will be dealt
with promptly. More tutorials will be available soon to demonstrate the use
of some of the new features.

cheers!

The Away3d Team

--
Rob Bateman
Flash Development & Consultancy

rob.bate...@gmail.com
www.infiniteturtles.co.uk
www.away3d.com