Behind the scenes: RTIViewer 1.1 release
by cdschroer
We are thrilled to announce the release of the RTIVewer 1.1 software!
This update release includes the most asked for features in the RTIVIewer. As with prior versions, this is free, open source software. We have been working with it for a while, and we are excited to get this out to everyone in the RTI community. I am most excited about surfacing all the numerical settings data within the interface. Of course those numbers were in the software, but you couldn’t see them or work with them directly. The new bookmarks and snapshots features take advantage of and keep track of these settings for you. Read more about all of the new features and how to use them in the updated User Guide.
For those interested in the back story, here is how this release came about.
We had a tiny amount of money in a 21st Century Museum Professionals grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services to pay for some software updates. We really wanted to add the support for normal visualizations, as that is incredibly useful both as a visualization of the surface normal data and as a way to compare the calculated normals over time, or across related data sets. We also heard over and over again that folks wanted to be able to get back to specific views in their RTI file. A significant amount of preliminary work for a bookmarks feature had been done by Leif Isaksen of the University of Southampton. We picked up his work (with his volunteer help) and expanded it to include interface updates and also to save these details with snapshots.
We were able to procure the development services of Ron Bourret, a senior developer who was willing to do some part time work at a very discounted rate. When the money for the project ran out, Ron volunteered his services to complete it. We also had volunteer help from Gianpaolo Palma, of the Visual Computing Lab in Pisa. Gianpaolo was one of the principal developers of the original version of RTIViewer. Then we had some testers, and time from the CHI staff to oversee it all, test it, prepare material for the documentation, etc. To complete things, the fabulous tech writer, Judy Bogart, stepped in and updated the user guide, as a volunteer. We had hoped to ship the release earlier in the year, but once it became a volunteer project, the work had to be fit in around other things people were doing, like travel and paid commitments.
While we are totally happy with and proud of the result, we know that the process can run faster and more efficiently when we have funding. Adequate funding is essential in these releases, even when we get incredible volunteer support.
If you use RTI tools, or if you think they are valuable – please support our efforts. We suggest a donation of $50 per year for users of the tools and services, like the CHIForums. We are a small independent nonprofit organization and we rely on donations to help support this work. We appreciate all donations, in any amount.
We accept donations any time, and right now through December 31, 2013 is our annual giving campaign. If you are in the US, your contribution is tax deductible. Thank you for your consideration
Cultural Heritage Imaging
Filed under: Commentary, News, Technology
We are thrilled to announce the release of the RTIVewer 1.1 software!
This update release includes the most asked for features in the RTIVIewer. As with prior versions, this is free, open source software. We have been working with it for a while, and we are excited to get this out to everyone in the RTI community. I am most excited about surfacing all the numerical settings data within the interface. Of course those numbers were in the software, but you couldn’t see them or work with them directly. The new bookmarks and snapshots features take advantage of and keep track of these settings for you. Read more about all of the new features and how to use them in the updated User Guide.
For those interested in the back story, here is how this release came about.
We had a tiny amount of money in a 21st Century Museum Professionals grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services to pay for some software updates. We really wanted to add the support for normal visualizations, as that is incredibly useful both as a visualization of the surface normal data and as a way to compare the calculated normals over time, or across related data sets. We also heard over and over again that folks wanted to be able to get back to specific views in their RTI file. A significant amount of preliminary work for a bookmarks feature had been done by Leif Isaksen of the University of Southampton. We picked up his work (with his volunteer help) and expanded it to include interface updates and also to save these details with snapshots.
We were able to procure the development services of Ron Bourret, a senior developer who was willing to do some part time work at a very discounted rate. When the money for the project ran out, Ron volunteered his services to complete it. We also had volunteer help from Gianpaolo Palma, of the Visual Computing Lab in Pisa. Gianpaolo was one of the principal developers of the original version of RTIViewer. Then we had some testers, and time from the CHI staff to oversee it all, test it, prepare material for the documentation, etc. To complete things, the fabulous tech writer, Judy Bogart, stepped in and updated the user guide, as a volunteer. We had hoped to ship the release earlier in the year, but once it became a volunteer project, the work had to be fit in around other things people were doing, like travel and paid commitments.
While we are totally happy with and proud of the result, we know that the process can run faster and more efficiently when we have funding. Adequate funding is essential in these releases, even when we get incredible volunteer support.
If you use RTI tools, or if you think they are valuable – please support our efforts. We suggest a donation of $50 per year for users of the tools and services, like the CHIForums. We are a small independent nonprofit organization and we rely on donations to help support this work. We appreciate all donations, in any amount.
We accept donations any time, and right now through December 31, 2013 is our annual giving campaign. If you are in the US, your contribution is tax deductible. Thank you for your consideration