Bob's Track Builder - News Archive

News Archive
20th August 2007	New version available - 0.3.1.14 Fixed Fixed bug that caused a crash when attempting to add a surface material without having selected a material first. Altered default wall cross-section to have consistent default panelling. See download section
7th August 2007	New version available - 0.3.1.13 Added More control over export to rFactor - you can now elect individually to overwrite the GDB, TDF, SCN, AIW and CAM files. Fixed Slight imperfection with material mapping for tracks with linear-sized panels, also especially noticeable when using the new textures soon to be released. ;) See download section Note 1: You can just download the patch if you are already running v0.3.1.9 or above; extract the contents to your BTB folder. Note 2: If you find that the license no longer works, please send an email to - do NOT reload your HID file again.
3rd August 2007	New version available - 0.3.1.12 Fixed Slight imperfection with material mapping, especially noticeable when using the new textures soon to be released. ;) See download section
22nd July 2007	New version available - 0.3.1.11 Fixed Problem with controls not displaying properly when Windows Font DPI setting set to anything but "Normal Size (96 DPI)". Bug with some buttons not displaying when editing materials. See download section
19th July 2007	Work In Progress Video Surround Ground (17 MB) - Development update of next main feature currently being added to BTB - Terrain!
18th July 2007	New version available - 0.3.1.10 Fixed Bug when editing the rFactor material name. See download section
7th July 2007	New version available - 0.3.1.9 Added Settings added to Track and Walls that allow setting of Driveable (HAT), Collision, Render and Visible settings (currently only for rFactor). Remembers last used export tab. Updated Venue material window. Now splits the window to show material details. Increased the interaction between the material tree, the thumbnail viewer and the properties. User Manual Fixed Bug when applying a Global material of a different panel length. Changes were not being reflected immediately. See download section
24th June 2007	New version available - 0.3.1.7 Added Improved material interface - includes new buttons to add / remove Venue materials, better linking between tree and thumbnails. You can now select a material, then click the Add button to add the selected material (previously you had to add a surface first, then double-click a material) Check to ensure that a new material can be added to a surface only if an open mesh space is available; this should reduce the opportunity for confusion when multiple materials are applied to the same section. Auto change to rFactor material name when a copy of a material is made thus encouraging a lack of duplicate rFactor material names. Fixed Saving of window positions now only occurs if not maximised or minimised. Bug when displaying surface materials properties. Title not showing proper path to Venue.xml when Save As performed. See download section
22nd June 2007	New version available - 0.3.1.4 Added Axis lock – Press X, Y or Z to restrict movement to just that axis during node movements. Axis lock to Resize function. Hold X, Y or Z when resizing to only perform the function in that direction. Support for various types of Google Earth kml files. Added ellipsoid calculation to Google Earth kml and Longitude/Latitude imports to account for changing radius of Earth along the longitude. Still won't be perfect until we smooth out the planet a little. More tutorial videos. Fixed Ability to edit rFactor Material Name and added warning message that you must ensure that it is unique throughout your Venue if exporting to rFactor. Error when removing last node of open-ended track when a wall extends into the last section. Bug when opening Surface window before any track had been laid. Bug when opening an old track containing more than one user-created material. Error when trying to Export an empty track/surface. Problem when rendering in solid with wireframe with background image. Fix bug where after an undo BTB, a "Save As" thinks the file belongs in the temp folder. Locking of texture rbr files after track export. Simplified some texture folders. See download section
10th June 2007	New Demo and New Pro Version v0.3.1.0 The Demo allows you to try the latest version of BTB with all the same features as the Pro version, minus the extra materials and textures for a period of 14 days. Pro users use the same application, however they have the ability to obtain a license file that will unlock the application permanently. DOWNLOAD HERE Additions: Added Richard Burns Rally support. Includes new plugin. See HERE for a small video showing how easy it is. Sped up loading of track window. Implemented new iconic method of selecting materials / textures. Materials can now optionally used the Specular and Bump maps thus allowing better framerates. Specular colour and power now editable. Can set rFactor material name that is then matched to an entry in the TDF file. "Mat Packs" can be added to group materials and textures together for distribution, also allowing default values to be set via xml. New default shapes determined by cross-section xml files. Textures can be rotated any angle, not just 90 degree increments. Added a "Update Immediately" option that, when unchecked, will speed up the interface when modifying large tracks. Only loads/exports textures being used. Rewrote the Undo function to be more reliable and offers new method of retrieving work in case of a crash. Google Earth KML import. Support to import Longitude, Latitude, Height from CSV. Ability to ignore first row of CSV import. New Licensing technology to allow Demo of latest version. Removed: Removed BTB support. Use ISI’s GMT, RBR or DirectX export. Coming this week: Material Packs for more Materials/Textures. More video tutorials.
3rd May 2007	New Pro version available - 0.2.2.3. Take a tour of the new features. (5MB) Download Here Thanks to the Seriously Cool guys who supported this release. New features include: Ability to rotate, resize track(s) using mouse or numeric entries. Also rotates/resizes the background. Can resize the track to a specific length. Made default orientation point to North. Added version number to titlebar. Bug fixes: Fixed export rFactor folder button when no location or an invalid location specified. Adding background via menu now works again. Work continues on the next release that will improve the Materials/Textures interface and allow for export to Richard Burns Rally. It will still be a while before it is ready and I will hold off updating the User Manual till after its release since there are many areas affected.
13th April 2007	New Pro version available - 0.2.1.5. Due to a couple of nasty bugs I've had to release this one a little earlier than first planned. New features include: GPS Import - provides a basic way of getting X,Y,Z data into BTB. See demo (4MB) Bug fixes: Fixed bug when exporting to rFactor (missing CAM and AIW files). Minor changes to rFactor SCN file. Minor spelling corrections.
11th Apr 2007	New Pro version available - 0.2.1.4. New features include: Direct export to rFactor. Copy Track function (see Track window). Multiple tracks shown onscreen together. Added Track Visibility. Optimised Wall calculations - calcs only occur when node or camber changes their position. Added Node "snap" - hold M when moving a node to allow it to snap to another Node's position. Number Pad can now control scrolling/zooming in the views. Can also left-right click in 3d view to translate the view. Helps people without a middle mouse button. Added Project folder. Texture Paths now saved relative to project folder (where possible) so sharing track with friends is now easier. Bug fixes: Fix bug when exporting to Direct X after a fresh load. Fixed bug with Wall texture not being loaded for walls after the first one. Fix bug with mapping of wall being upside-down when material is re-clicked. Uses full-stops for decimal points in XML regardless of language being used. Required for shape definitions and future work. Fixed texture mapping on walls for DirectX export. Next up .. Material/Texture reorganisation and RBR support.
31st Mar 2007	rFactor - Native support - kiss your Max goodbye. Soon to be released is the next version of BTB which will have native support for the rFactor track format. This means you will no longer be required to own 3d Studio Max in order to load your files into rFactor. The process now becomes more streamlined allowing you to test your changes even faster. See the video Thanks to ISI for their great support and patience.
21st Mar 2007	Richard Burns Rally - Demo track available. Having witnessed the amount of interest in the possibility of new RBR tracks, I decided to take a night away from coding, and instead try my hand at track design. Admittedly it needs a lot of work to become a great finished product and there are still quite a few issues to sort out but it should at least give you a taste of things to come. DOWNLOAD HERE (You will need to be registered). Also many thanks to ColdFever for allowing me to host the BTB videos, now all can enjoy the cinematic experience as the dull tones of my voice send you off to sleep.
6th Mar 2007	Richard Burns Rally support announced. See the first announcement here. It will likely be a couple of months before I can get proper support into RBR because of current development commitments. Initially it will only include features that currently exist in BTB, being the road surface and walls. Eventually the other future features for BTB will be delivered.
2nd Mar 2007	Pro Version 0.2.1.3 released. New features include: Walls / Fences can now be created easily. See Demonstration Wall Video for an example. More work is planned to further optimise calculations. More "Wall features" are planned for future releases. Fine tuned the 3D Zoom in/out feature. Added saved filename to title bar. Added basic support for defining default Shape and Materials (see CrossSections folder for a hint of how this will work). Surface materials saved in slightly different manner to allow for future expansion. Bug Fixes: Fixed snapping effect when placing modifiers near nodes. Fix bug when removing first node of open ended track, the surfaces would misbehave. Surface name change wasn’t immediately updating in listbox. Fix error that occurs after loading a Venue with more than one track, then trying to export.
27th Jan 2007	Pro Version 0.2.1.2 released. New features include: Better Surface Start/End Visualisation. Surface, Cambers & Widths Start/End Manipulation improved when zoomed in.
26th Jan 2007	Demo Version 0.2.1.1 released. Fixes include: Loading of background image when reloading a saved track. Bug when cancelling dialogs windows. Error when export filename set to folder. Surface polygons between nodes not recalculating automatically when some nodes are deleted. Corrected User Manual typo, added more detail to Installation and Export sections. Added more detail to export section of the user manual.
16th Jan 2007	Demo Version 0.2.1.0 released. There have been many changes, the main points being: Multiple Material Support Editing of Cross Section Shape Save and Load Undo / Redo Export to 3d Max
9th Sep 2006	New demo available (0.0.1.1). Made some fixes. Added linear panel positioning. Added and Cardinal Curves. Included minor background image control.
3rd Sep 2006	Released demo (0.0.1.0) to the community. Added new sections to website.
1st Sep 2006	Showed off first video of BTB in action.