Virtual Mechanics IMS Web Engine Software

June 27 1999

IMS Web Engine (Professional) -Version 1.61

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Version-1.61 Notes

Version 1.61 is a maintenance update with several none critical fixes.

1. The Publish Dialog Profile name edit box has been corrected to enter characters in the correct order.
2. A fix for Rich Text that would often appear scrambled in the Work Window when another Object was moved accross it. This did not affect the output.
3. On rare occasions, a Group Object would fail when ungrouped. This has been corrected.
4. An animated Object assigned to trace an elliptical path would somtimes be initially misplaced when assigned a trigger Behavior. They will now be positioned over the starting position of the ellipse.
5. Mouse Over Effects will now work with Group Objects.

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Version-1.54 Notes

Enhancements:

1. The Export operation has been optimized to reduce the size of some HTML files in large projects..
2. A 'Mouse Strobe' Effect Wizard has been added.
3. A 'Mouse Trigger', 'Drop Menu' Wizard has been added.
4. A 'Scroll' Wizard has been added.
5. A Shoot Wizard has been added.
6. A Motion Wizard has been added.

Corrections:

1. Vmmech.js has been updateed to operate correctly with pre version 1.5 Mouse Over Effects.
2. Several improvements and fixes have been made to the Publish Dialog.

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Version-1.51 Notes

Enhancements:

1. An updated Publish Dialog Sheet with FTP support and multiple Profiles has been added.
2. Clean Operations have been added to the Publish Dialog, Object Editor, Geometry Editor, Action Editor and Behavior Editor. The Clean Operation will check for unreferenced or orphaned components and offer to delete them from the Project. The component version will only check for that specific component. The Object and Publish version will check for all Objects and components. Cleanning the project is useful for optamizing IMS and HTML
files.
3. Startup tips have been added
4. Scrollbars have been added to toolbar combo boxes.
5. A 'Mouse Over Effect' Wizard has been added to assist in the creation of special effects. Additional Wizards will be added to future release.

Corrections:

1.A limit to the number of characters in a text paragraph has been removed.
2.A problem were a deleted object sometimes caused Script Errors has been corrected. Version

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Version-1.3 Notes

Enhancements:

1.Support for Affiliate Distribution has been implemented.
2.Support for up to 1000 Geometry Objects has implemented.
3.The Page Background editor will now display the path of the current background image.

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Version-1.23 Notes

Enhancements:

1.IMS Web Engine will now perform an auto-backup of your project whenever the projecct is Saved. In the event of an abnormal termination of the program for any reason, the backup file will be loaded the next time the program is started.
2.Restore and Recover commands have been added to the File Menu. The Restore command will re-load the project to its last Save state. The Recover command will load the IMS Backup file. This is usually equivalent to the Previous Save state.
3.You can now right click on an Object to display the Object Editor. If you right click on the Page outside of any Object, the Page editor will be displayed.
4.The Object Editor now includes Component Editor buttons on the first tag page to display the Component Dialogs without leaving the Object Editor.
5.The Object Editor now includes a Delete Button.
6.Page/HTML file names of up to 180 characters can now be entered. Previously, Page names were restricted to 10 characters.
7.When importing HTML, the program will prompt the user to remove Tags outside of and including the tags if the program finds them.
8.Import HTML and Import Bitmap commands are now available from the File menu.
9.An "Introductory Project" button is available from the File Menu to replay the Introductory tutorial that is loaded when the program is first installed.

Corrections:

1.Filled Geometry will now display and Export correctly. Previously, some machines would display a monochrome or incorrect fill.
2.Vector based Geometry should now Export on all platforms without errors.
3.It is now possible to Delete all Events, Actions and Shading.
4.A problem accessing the Help menu in version 1.2 has been corrected.

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Version-1.2 Notes

Enhancements:

1.Mouse Over Events have been added to the Object Editor Options tab. To create a Mouse Over Event place two Objects on top of each other. Select the Object Options tab and set one Object to "Visible on Mouse Over" and the other Object to "Visible on Mouse Leave". Any type of Object including Text and Sprites can be use. Mouse Over Events work in both HTML 3.2 format and DHTML 4.0 format. More complex mouse over events can still be created with Behaviors for DHTML 4.0 output.

2.A "Combine Output" option has been added to the Export Dialog for DHTML mode. When checked, script data will be combined with each HTML file instead of being copied into common ".js" file. This will simplify the publishing process and increase the download performance on the first page of multi-page projects. "Combine Out" will be the default for DHTML.

Corrections:
1.The Horizontal and Vertical Align operations have been corrected.

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Version-1.11 Notes

A correction to relative file paths was made.

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Version-1.10 Update and Change Notes

These Enhancements and corrections have been made since Version 1.03

Enhancements:
1.Shading has been added to Text Objects. Adding a shading component to Text Objects will set the Text background bounding box color to the selected shading color.
2.The operation of the text bounding box has been modified. When a new Text Object is saved in Rich Text or HTML mode. A 100x100px bounding box will be created. Drag, drop and scale the bounding box as desired. Editing and saving an existing Rich Text or HTML Object will not change the bounding box.
3.The text editor will now operate with a background color set to the Shading color of the Text Object if one has been defined or to the Page Background color if Shading is not assigned to the Object.
4.Vector geometry (rectangle, ellipse and polygon) no longer needs a shading component to display the geometry's vector. When a new vector Geometry is created, its line width will be set to 0 and displayed as a dashed line. Previously, vector Geometry was displayed with a solid line even though it was not visible. Setting the vector to a line width of 1 or
greater with the Geometry editor, will make it visible even without a Shading component. Shading can still be assigned to create a solid fill or texture pattern.
5.BODY link and ulink colors can now be assigned in the Page Editor -Anchor dialog.
6.The Object Sound effect component has been implemented through the Sound Dialog on the Components toolbar. Sound effects can be set to play a specified number of times or to repeat forever. The Sound Event On/Off switches have also been added to the Behavior Actions Dialog. This provides the ability to switch sounds as events occur. Currently, sound effects are only available for Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. An example can be tested at http://www.VirtualMechanics.com/demos/P&GWake.htm We will expand support for sound effects in future releases and will attempt to find a method to support Netscape Navigator. Background music is still supported across browsers with the Page Music dialog.
7.The vector editor button has been removed from the large Components toolbar to make room for the new Sound Dialog. The Vector Editor is still available on the small Components toolbar and through the Object menu.
8.A Cancel Button has been added to the Components 'New Component' dialog so that you can exit without creating a new component.

Corrections:
1.Background images and audio files will now be copied to the publish directory when Gather mode is selected in the Export Dialog.
2.A defined link scene will properly restore from an ".ims" file.
3.None printable characters can now be pasted into the text editor.
4.Stretching Objects while the snap grid is enabled is now operational.
5.Mouse selection will now work correctly when the browser screen has been scrolled.

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Version-1.03 Update and Change Notes

These Enhancements and corrections have been made since Version 1.00

Enhancement:
1. An Anchor dialog has been added to the Object Editor. This dialog provides the ability to add URL links directly to an Object without having to create a Behavior.
2. The Object toolbar will change the 'Lock Button' bitmap as locked and unlocked Objects are selected. Attempting to transform a locked Object will display a Lock cursor.
3. Locked Objects will no longer be included in a Group.
4. You can now change the name of an Object in the -Object Toolbar -Object List combo box.
5. An "Open Template" file command has been added to the File Menu that will automatically select the " \Template" directory
6. Several New tutorials and templates have been added including three advanced tutorials with instructions for creating a UFO Invaders style game. These are "Lock & Load", "Scramble" and "Defender". These tutorials are also available from the tutorials page of The Virtual Mechanics web site in the Support section.
7. The Export operation will pre-append an "O" to Object names and a "G" to geometry names. This will prevent the Browser from confusing Objects and Geometry with the same name.

Corrections:
1. An error that sometimes caused an Object to mysteriously change size when selected, has been corrected.
2. A resource overflow related to moving large text Objects or using the Polygon Sketch Mode that would issue an "Unable to Create DC" message has now been fixed.
3. An error in the directory path that occasionally occurs when Exporting HTML with the Relative Option has been corrected.
4. An error related to Ungroup Group Objects has been corrected.
5. Backgrounds will be copied to the Publish directory in Gather mode
6. Save will correctly save a new ims project. Previously you had to use the Save As command for a new project file.
7. The Delete Object operation will correctly update animation paths.
8. The Text editor caret cursor position will update correctly as new text is being entered.
9. The text color of Rich Text can now be changed in all cases.