Release Notes

Bug Fixes

• camera turn depends on fov
• stars with negative parallaxes use default #329
• load VO table crash on Windows #329
• program crash when minimizing in windows #333
• do not assume default location for hip, pass as argument
• file count value when max number of files is specified
• safecheck to prevent window sizes of 0x0 on resize events with AMD graphics on windows
• transition from point to billboard in star shading
• remove rounding in generic dialog positioning for smooth rendering
• adjust brightness scalings, remove unused variables and parameters
• wrong synchronize location in streaming octree loader #332
• camera mode change in SAMP select row call
• goToObject() skip fix
• SAMP local icon to work with dev version and releases
• get object positions by name in particle groups
• fix UI layout of date dialog
• star cluster loader to use mas/yr instead of deg/yr as proper motion units
• several fixes (UI, STIL), see desc
• load multiple catalogs with same name
• slider step and control buttons size
• double stars caused by incorrect shading

Build System

• fix publish-javadoc script
• update build script to latest gradle version
• more robust way to get size and nobjects from generated catalogs
• improve catalog generation scripts for faster deployment
• add/update scripts to build catalogs
• fix build files
• add catalogpack script
• update build and installer scripts to install4j8
• update data descriptor with new base and hi-res texture packs
• add bookmarks and VR.md to build, update modes to gradle 6.x
• update to gradle 6.2.2, prepare build files for gradle 7
• pkgbuild epoch set to 2 by default

Code Refactoring

• use java collections instead of libgdx’s, implement parallel loading in octree gen
• update DR2 loader to generic csv loader. Add compatibility mode to binary data format for tycho ids (tgas/DR2)
• ColourUtils -> ColorUtils
• use local application icon for SAMP
• move default location of mappings file to config folder
• fix spacing in focus info interface names
• update data descriptor for new star clusters load mechanism
• star clusters to use the catalog infrastructure
• move all file operations to nio (Path)

Documentation

• update gaiasky VR info in repo
• improve run from source for Windows in readme file
• update VR docs and readme file to include new VR build
• fix setCameraSpeedLimit() API docs
• fix typos in comments for star/particle groups

Features

• better random text generator
• fov-based visibility, autoremove popups
• adjust size and intensity of stars in milky way model
• add ref epoch to catalog descriptors and loaders
• magnitude and color corrections (reddening, extinction) are now applied by default if ag and ebp_min_rp are available. Flag is now needed to explicitly deactivate them
• redefine eDR3 catalogs
• add procedural star shader, muted for now
• new star shading method
• replace fibonacci numbers for made-up phrases
• update distance font to include more characters
• add crash window with tips and instructions on how to fix/report the problem
• add shortucts for ‘show log’ and ‘open catalog’
• make all limit/target frame rates floating-point numbers
• comments in camera path files: prepend ‘#’ to comment
• limit framerate to target framerate in camrecorder
• API call to record camera path with given filename
• use votable units for star clusters if available
• load star clusters with STIL so that it also works via SAMP
• set fov step to 0.1 to have smoother fov changes
• grid annotations contain degree symbol and sign (latitude only)
• select first object in newly loaded catalogs
• add icons to bookmarks tree
• additional cameraTransition() that accepts camera position in Km
• add folders to bookmarks
• add bookmarks module
• move individual visibility to own dialog
• several UI fixes and QOL improvements
• add label colors to star cluster datasets, update docs ref
• multiple name support for star cluster loader
• add description to star clusters dataset loader
• star clusters can now be loaded with the rest of the catalog info infrastructure
• velocity vectors sliders to use new slider plus
• cap length of long ids in focus info interface, add tooltips, fix skins
• show criteria for catalog chooser
• add sensitivity and power function to controller properties
• adjust focus info style to make it more compact
• add exit confirmation setting and checkbox in preferences window and exit dialog
• add pointer guides
• adjust star brightness parameters
• improve VOTable loader with default units and more safechecks
• clean up HiDPI themes, slightly reduce icon sizes and spacings
• add URL bar to file chooser
• add limits to particle sizes
• improve file chooser dialog
• particles get right name in focus info interface
• particle datasets may have per-particle names

Reverts

• fix: remove rounding in generic dialog positioning for smooth rendering