CGAL users discussion list

["Laurent Rineau (CGAL/GeometryFactory)" <>]

The CGAL Open Source Project is pleased to announce the release 4.11
of CGAL, the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library.

This release is pretty special by its number of breaking changes in the
API. In order to have a better feature set, or a better API, several
packages have been reworked in a way that breaks the back-compatibility
with the previous versions of the API.

Besides fixes and general enhancement to existing packages, the following
has changed since CGAL 4.10:


* 3D Periodic Regular Triangulations (new feature)

  - Added the class Periodic_3_regular_triangulation_3, which provides
    functionality for 3D periodic weighted Delaunay triangulations. The
    construction is fully dynamic: it provides both point insertion and
    vertex removal.


* dD Regular Triangulations (new feature)

  - Added the class Regular_triangulation, which provides functionality for
    dD weighted Delaunay triangulations. Note that the removal of points is
    not yet supported.


* 2D and 3D Linear Geometry Kernel (breaking change)

  - Breaking change: The dangerous implicit conversions between weighted
    points and points in the concept Kernel have been
    disabled. Constructors offering to build a weighted point from a point
    (and reversely) are still requested by the concept Kernel but must now
    be marked with the explicit specifier.

  - Breaking change: The removal of implicit conversions between points and
    weighted points in the concept Kernel has incidentally created various
    minor breaking changes in the following packages: 2D Alpha Shapes, 2D
    and 3D Triangulations, and 3D Mesh Generation. See the full changelog
    for details.


* Triangulated Surface Mesh Parameterization (breaking change)

  - Breaking change: The package has been rewritten and can operate on any
    model of the MutableFaceGraph concept. All previous parameterization
    methods are still offered, although with a different, simpler API. The
    documentation has been updated and offers a gentle introduction to the
    new API. Users who wish to use the former API must use a version prior
    to 4.11.

  - Breaking change: The adapter to add virtual seams is now the class
    CGAL::Seam_mesh in the package CGAL and the BGL.

  - Breaking change: The package has been restructured and most headers
    have been moved. In a general manner, users should replace <CGAL/XXX.h>
    with <CGAL/Surface_mesh_parameterization/XXX.h>

  - Add the As Rigid As Possible Parameterization method. This
    parameterization allows the user to prioritize angle preservation,
    shape preservation, or a balance of both.

  - Add the Orbifold Tutte Embedding method. This parameterization method
    allows to parameterize meshes that are topological spheres.


* 3D Surface Subdivision Methods (breaking changes)

  - The subdivision algorithms now work on any model of a
    MutableFaceGraph. A new API to the subdivision methods is offered,
    which uses optional named parameters to pass the number of iterations
    and a vertex property map.

  - Breaking change: Removed the headers <CGAL/Subdivision_method_3.h> and
    <CGAL/Subdivision_mask_3.h>. The headers <CGAL/Subdivision_method_3/
    subdivision_methods_3.h> and <CGAL/Subdivision_method_3/
    subdivision_masks_3.h> should respectively be used instead.

  - Sqrt3 subdivision can now handle input surfaces with a border.


* Scale-Space Surface Reconstruction (breaking change)

  - Breaking change: the API was rewritten to separate the smoothing and
    meshing algorithm and making it possible for the user to use different
    ones. The default algorithms used are the same as before this API
    change, but methods are moved to the classes Weighted_PCA_smoother and
    Alpha_shape_mesher.

  - Alternative smoothing and meshing methods are provided: Jet_smoother
    and Advancing_front_mesher.


See http://www.cgal.org/2017/09/21/cgal411/ for a complete list of
changes.


The CGAL project is a collaborative effort to develop a robust,
easy-to-use, and efficient C++ software library of geometric data
structures and algorithms, like
- triangulations (2D constrained triangulations, Delaunay triangulations
  and periodic triangulations in 2D and 3D),
- Voronoi diagrams (for 2D and 3D points, 2D additively weighted
  Voronoi diagrams, and segment Voronoi diagrams),
- Boolean operations on polygons and polyhedra,
- regularized Boolean operations on polygons with curved arcs
- arrangements of curves,
- mesh generation (2D, 3D and surface mesh generation,
  surface mesh subdivision and parametrization),
- alpha shapes (in 2D and 3D),
- convex hull algorithms (in 2D, 3D and dD),
- operations on polygons (straight skeleton and offset polygon),
- search structures (kd trees for nearest neighbor search, and
  range and segment trees),
- interpolation (natural neighbor interpolation and placement of
  streamlines),
- optimization algorithms (smallest enclosing sphere of points or
  spheres, smallest enclosing ellipsoid of points, principal
  component analysis),
- kinetic data structures




Some modules are distributed under the terms of the LGPL Open Source
license (GNU Lesser General Public License v3 or later versions).
Most modules are distributed under the terms of the GPL Open Source
license (GNU General Public License v3 or later versions).
If your intended usage does not meet the criteria of the
aforementioned licenses, a commercial license can be purchased from
GeometryFactory (http://www.geometryfactory.com/).


For further information and for downloading the library and its
documentation, please visit the CGAL web site: http://www.cgal.org/


-- 
Laurent Rineau, PhD
R&D Engineer at GeometryFactory           http://www.geometryfactory.com/
Release Manager of the CGAL Project       http://www.cgal.org/