sIBL_GUI 4.0.0 Alpha For Windows, Linux And Mac Os X

Hi,
I'm happy ( And proud

) to announce that after more than 7 months of intense and hard work, lost hairs, etc ... sIBL_GUI 4 is finally out!
With over 1250 commits, this release is sIBL_GUI biggest and most important one. Virtually every line of code has been affected in a way or another. sIBL_GUI weights now nearly 60000 lines ( 25000 logic code lines / 35000 code documentation lines ).
* * * Important Notices * * *
"sIBL_GUI 4.0.0" preferences are now stored per version in a directory following this structure : "./HDRLabs/sIBL_GUI/$MAJOR_VERSION.$MINOR_VERSION".
Previous Maya, Softimage / XSI and 3dsMax Helper Scripts are not compatible with sIBL_GUI 4.0.0 and need to be updated if you use them.
Here are some visible highlights:
- New unified dark themed Ui.
- New Inspect layout to browse your collections using large images preview.
- New "Edit" layout featuring Umbra Script Editor to interact directly with sIBL_GUI and the various resources files.
- Support for Ibl Sets plates has been added, although not in Templates yet.
- Startup speed has been dramatically increased ( Between 4 to 6 times faster, the first launch sIBL_GUI will have to compile the bytecode and will be a bit slower to start ).
- Templates settings are now stored / restored for each template.
- Maya templates have been ported to Python and feature a cleaner code.
- 3dsMax and Softimage / XSI templates have been refactored and feature a cleaner code.
- 64bit release.
- The Api has been added using Sphinx documentation system: http://kelsolaar.hdrlabs.com/sIBL_GUI/Support/Documentation/Api/index.html
I have much more good stuff planned, stay tuned

Here are some screenshots of the new Ui:
sIBL_GUI - Sets Centric Layout

sIBL_GUI - Inspect Centric Layout

sIBL_GUI - Edit Centric Layout

sIBL_GUI - Templates Centric Layout

sIBL_GUI - Preferences Centric Layout

And for the full Change Log:
- sIBL_GUI is now built around **Umbra**: https://github.com/KelSolaar/Umbra
- sIBL_GUI now features a refreshed new dark Ui theme with new logo, splashscreen and more!
- x64 is the default new sIBL_GUI architecture, there won't be anymore support for x86.
- sIBL_GUI 4.x.x preferences a now stored per version in "./HDRLabs/sIBL_GUI/$MAJOR_VERSION.$MINOR_VERSION" directory.
- A new "Inspect" layout has been implemented, it makes use of the new "PREVIEWfile" attribute of .ibl files and allows you to browse your collections using large preview images.
- A new "Edit" layout has been implemented, it features **Umbra** **Script Editor** component and allows you to directly edit Ibl Sets or Templates files and interact with sIBL_GUI.
- Support for Ibl Sets plates has been added (Templates don't create them in scenes yet).
- Major parts of the underlying architecture have been rewrote for better evolutivity and feature a cleaner code base.
- Startup speed has been dramaticaly increased (Non frozen application version is more than 4 times faster).
- sIBL_GUI can be toggled to fullscreen using the related option in the "Custom_Layouts" menu.
- A patches mechanism has been implemented to allow migrations between sIBL_GUI versions.
- The "logginWindow" component has been replaced by the "scriptEditor" component that allows direct interaction with sIBL_GUI.
- The "databaseBackup" component has been integrated into the "db" component.
- A database migration mechanism has been implemented using SQLAlchemy Migrate, it should allow database structure manipulation for future releases.
- A new "databaseOperations" component has been introduced to allow manual database synchronization.
- Adding / Renaming a collection using an empty name was possible, this incorrect behavior has been fixed.
- A "Logging Formatter" preferences option has been added, allowing to choose between different logging formatters.
- Added support for Templates strings: "nodePrefix = @nodePrefix | __Prefix__ | String | Node Prefix".
- Added "-f / --loggingFormatter" command line parameter allowing logging formatter choice.
- Added "-x / --startupScript" command line parameter allowing execution of an user script on startup.
- Added "-t / --deactivateWorkerThreads" command line parameter allowing Worker Threads deactivation.
- Renamed "-s / --noSplashScreen" command line parameter to "-s / --hideSplashScreen".
- Package directories structure has been deeply reorganized.
- Documentation has been updated and converted from textile to reStructuredText and is available in different flavors:
- Sphinx documentation with chapters and API.
- Inline monolitic file for HDRLabs.com.
- A "defaultScript.py" file is provided to showcase a few high level API features.
- Templates settings are now stored / restored in preferences folder for each template release.
- Most Maya templates have been ported toward Python for better maintainability and performance.
- 3dsMax and Softimage / XSI templates have been refactored for better maintainability.
- Most Templates allows the user to define the prefix the setup will use for better customization.
- The Maya, 3dsMax, Softimage / XSI helper scripts have been refactored to be inline with sIBL_GUI 4.0.0 release.
- A donations page has been added and is available here: http://kelsolaar.hdrlabs.com/sIBL_GUI/Support/Donations/Make_A_Donation.html
Maya, Softimage / XSI and 3dsMax Helper Scripts have been respectively refactored, updated and are available here:
http://www.hdrlabs.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1271609371/1#1With this release I decided to add a donation page so that if you like the software and think it's worth something you can contribute to it's development:
http://kelsolaar.hdrlabs.com/sIBL_GUI/Support/Donations/Make_A_Donation.htmlVoila

Enjoy!
KS