| What's New in IMO 1.5 |  |  |
The ability to import the transformation hierarchy of the model
IMO 1.5 imports the VRML scene while keeping the transformation hierarchy of the model's parts. It is useful if you need to add extra functionality to a model in the future, e.g. to animate its parts by using ParallelGraphics Internet Scene Assembler.
Support for instantiation
Instantation, that is, using multiple references to the same geometry instead of copying it, leads to more effective results in optimizing models with complicated structures. Both the time needed for the optimization, and the size of the optimized file, are reduced significantly.
Support for inlining
IMO enables you to open a model whose parts are located in separate VRML files. This means that IMO now recognizes the typical CAD assembly file structure where the main file references other files that contain information about the parts of the model.
Ability to edit and preview materials
IMO now contains the visual Material editor which allows you to easily create and edit surface materials. IMO comes with a pre-built material library.
The Add command
This places the geometry from other files in a currently opened scene. It is useful if the parts of the model are stored in separate files but are specified in the same coordinate system.
By using the Add command, you can optimize them together and also save them as a single file.
New selection mechanism
A new selection mechanism was added. Now you can quickly select several shapes by drawing a rectangle in the 3D View window.
Improved navigation
The navigation paradigm in the 3D View window has been changed to the Turn and Plan navigation mode (CAD-like navigation).
Merging shapes
You can merge shapes to create a compound object. It is useful in the following cases:
- when you do not need the hierarchy information for some parts of the model, merging lets you simplify the Scene Tree and reduce the file size.
- when you are planning to manipulate these shapes as one object in the future (e.g. to animate them with ParallelGraphics Internet Scene Assembler).
The shape details option
This option gives you statistical information about each separate shape for managing its size and complexity. This option also gives you the control over the visibility of the face of a shape from one or both sides (Solid flag).
Converting primitives to indexed face set
IMO automatically excludes VRML primitives from the optimization process, but if you want to optimize them, you can convert them to the IndexedFaceSet VRML nodes during the preprocessing procedure.
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