It gives me great pleasure to announce the next major release of Radiance. Let’s get to what’s been fixed, and what’s been added. First, I’m going to use emojis to mark different parts of it like this:
💔 marks an incompatible API / binary change
🎁 marks new features
🔧 marks bug fixes and general improvements
Component
- 🎁 Add tri-state checkbox component
- 🎁 Add switch component
- 🎁 Migrate previously internal circular progress component to public API
- 🎁💔 Revisit layout configuration of command button panels. Support fixed-column and adaptive layout spec for row fill and column fill panels.
- 🎁 Support configurable content padding in command buttons and command button panels
- 🎁 Add more presentation model options for command button panels
- 🎁 Add presentation model for rich tooltips
- 🔧 Fix crash on displaying rich tooltips under Java 17+
- 🔧 Fix text wrap logic in command buttons under big presentation state
- 🔧 Fix vertical positioning of command button content under tile presentation state
- 🔧 Fix issues with command popup menus not closing in certain scenarios
Theming
- 🎁💔 Revisit configuration of popup content. Full documentation here.
- 🎁💔 Unify fill and highlight painters.
- 🎁💔 Revisit how specular fill painter is configured.
- 🔧 Fix crash in specular fill painter
- 🔧 Fix crash in table UI delegate
- 🔧 Fix crash in opening the window title pane menu
- 🔧 Fix crash in update font of a tree component
- 🔧 Fix incorrect offset of vertical scrollbars during scrolling
Kotlin extensions
- 🎁 Add indexed access operator overload for
ResourceBundle.getString
I’ve wanted to get this release out a bit earlier than anticipated to cover the functionality gaps between Radiance and Aurora, and to address some crasher bugs that snuck into the last major rewrite of Radiance’s rendering pipeline. With this release out of the door, the roadmap for 2023 remains as planned:
- Add the ribbon / command bar component to Aurora
- Revisit the way colors are defined and used in both Radiance and Aurora
There’s still a long road ahead to continue exploring the ever-fascinating depths of what it takes to write elegant and high-performing desktop applications in Swing. If you’re in the business of writing just such apps, I’d love for you to take this Radiance release for a spin. Click here to get the instructions on how to add Radiance to your builds. And don’t forget that all of the modules require Java 9 to build and run.
It gives me great pleasure to announce the fourth release of Aurora. Let’s get to what’s been fixed, and what’s been added. First, I’m going to use emojis to mark different parts of it like this:
💔 marks an incompatible API / binary change
🎁 marks new features
🔧 marks bug fixes and general improvements
Release notes
There’s still a long road ahead to expand Aurora’s capabilities in 2023 and beyond, with the ribbon / command bar planned as the next big addition. If you’re in the business of writing desktop Compose apps, I’d love for you to take Aurora for a spin. Stay frosty for more features coming in 2023!
Continuing the ongoing series of interviews with creative artists working on various aspects of movie and TV productions, it is my pleasure to welcome Eve McCarney. In this interview, she talks about balancing the art and the craft in the field of visual storytelling, doing research, the ever-rising bar of expectations from episodic productions, and the impact the global pandemic has had on the industry. In between all these and more, Eve dives deep into her work on “American Horror Stories”.
Kirill: Please tell us about yourself and the path that took you to where you are today.
Eve: I’m a production designer for film and television. I was working at a boutique advertising agency in New York City in 2007 when I started looking for another career since I wasn’t inspired by my work anymore. I remember watching the Oscars that year, and there was an art direction category. I thought, I’m an art director what’s the difference?
I started doing research on what the job entailed, and the more I read, the more interested I became. I had also worked at a newspaper in New York, and with that professional experience together with my work at the advertising agency, it looked to have a lot of overlap with my skillset along with my studies of film and art history. My background as an artist and photographer didn’t hurt either.
I applied and was hired to art direct a short film called Officer Down shooting the very next weekend, and that’s how my journey in the world of art direction and production design began. When I walked into the prison on the first day of shooting, I just knew this it was it. It was exciting and social, creative, and challenging. I was 27 at the time, a bit older than others when they join the industry and already had two careers at that point. About six months later after designing various small jobs around NYC, I quit my job and moved to Los Angeles.
Kirill: Do you find that your background in other industries give you a bit of an edge who have started in this industry straight out of college?
Eve: I think so. I find that my previous experiences help me in ways I couldn’t have envisioned prior to being in this field. Dealing with clients has been quite helpful in dealing with producers. Dealing with ad campaign budgets has translated directly into managing budgetary complications for sets builds. My extensive background in graphic design translated directly into a skill set for creating presentations, concept art and environmental design pitches.
Most production designers come in after having learned architectural design in college. I love taking classes and expanding my knowledge and skill set and I made it a goal to learn the technical side of designing by taking courses to learn hand drafting, sketch up and photo render programs. As I started working on bigger shows around 2010, I gained practical experience with larger set construction and was able to apply the skills I gained into technical applications.
Dollhouse bedroom keyhole, production design of the “Dollhouse” episode of “American Horror Stories” by Eve McCarney.
Kirill: If your start was watching that Oscars ceremony, how much of your work life is glamor, and how much of it is grind and long hours on set?
Eve: Very little glamor [laughs]. It is a grind. It’s hard work, but I was an athlete my whole life, and I’m used to working hard. I used to wake up while it was still dark and practice in the pool in the winter in Pennsylvania, and I would train all summer too. I’m used to that dedication and hard work.
Quite honestly, I thrive off it. When I’m working and creating, I’m at my full potential. The hardest times for me are the breaks between the jobs. It’s definitely a grind, but I’m happy to do it. I find so much joy in designing.
Kirill: How many hats do you wear? You’re an artist, a craftsperson, an accountant, a timekeeper, a psychologist / psychiatrist, and maybe a babysitter for grown people in your department. Does it get overwhelming sometimes?
Eve: Sure, sometimes it can, especially on the smaller projects where you have less support. In that case you are wearing many hats and you’re doing things practically with all of those various hats. I’m designing the graphics, and creating / managing the budget, and helping to paint the set, whatever was necessary on those earlier shows. On the bigger shows, when you have a full team in place and a proper support structure, it makes a world of difference.
I was fortunate to have two amazing art directors on “American Horror Stories” as well as two fantastic set decorators. My construction coordinator is fantastic, along with his whole team. When you have that support in place, it takes a lot of pressure off. Regardless, it can be overwhelming at times. During those moments I’ll take a minute, breathe and try to get some perspective. In my experience, it’s always worked out. You need to stay positive.
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It gives me great pleasure to announce the third release of Aurora. Let’s get to what’s been fixed, and what’s been added. First, I’m going to use emojis to mark different parts of it like this:
💔 marks an incompatible API / binary change
🎁 marks new features
🔧 marks bug fixes and general improvements
Dependencies for core libraries
- Compose Desktop: 1.1.0 ➡ 1.2.0
- Kotlin: 1.6.10 ➡ 1.7.20
Release notes
This release (code-named Cryo) brings a couple of new APIs, and otherwise is focused on stabilizing and improving the overall API surface of the various Aurora modules. There’s still a long road ahead to expand Aurora’s capabilities in 2023 and beyond, with the ribbon / command bar planned as the next big addition. If you’re in the business of writing Compose Desktop apps, I’d love for you to take Aurora for a spin. Stay frosty for more features coming in 2023!
