- **raylib extra libraries cleanup**: raylib has been on diet and all the _extra_ libraries included on previous releases have been removed from raylib. Now raylib only includes the original **7** raylib modules: `rcore`, `rlgl`, `rshapes`, `rtextures`, `rtext`, `rmodels` and `raudio`. But no worries, _extra_ libraries have not been deleted, they have been moved to their own repos for better maintainability and more focus on its functionality. The libraries moved out from raylib repo are: [`raygui`](https://github.com/raysan5/raygui), [`physac`](https://github.com/raysan5/physac), [`rmem`](https://github.com/raylib-extras/rmem), [`reasings`](https://github.com/raylib-extras/reasings) and [`raudio`](https://github.com/raysan5/raudio) (standalone mode). On that same line, a new **amazing GitHub group:** [`raylib-extras`](https://github.com/raylib-extras) has been created by @JeffM2501 to contain raylib extra libraries as well as other raylib add-ons provided by the community. Jeff has done an amazing work on that line, providing multiple libraries and examples for raylib, like [custom first-person and third person camera systems](https://github.com/raylib-extras/extras-c/tree/main/cameras), [Dear ImGui raylib integration](https://github.com/raylib-extras/rlImGui), [multiple specific examples](https://github.com/raylib-extras/examples-c) and even a complete [RPG Game Example](https://github.com/raylib-extras/RPGExample)! Great work Jeff! :D
- **raylib examples review**: The +120 raylib examples have been reviewed to add clearer information about when the were first created (raylib version used) and when they were updated for the last time. But the greatest improvement for users has been the **addition of an estimated difficulty level** for every example, [web has been updated accordingly](https://www.raylib.com/examples.html) to reflect those difficulty levels. Now examples are classified with **1 to 4 stars** depending on difficulty to help users with their learning process. Personally, I think this "small" addition could be a game-changer to better guide new users on the library adoption! Additionally, this new raylib release includes 7 new examples; the most interesting one: [`text_codepoints_loading`](https://www.raylib.com/examples/text/loader.html?name=text_codepoints_loading) that illustrates how to load and draw custom codepoints from a font file, very useful for Asian languages.
- **raylib examples review**: The +120 raylib examples have been reviewed to add clearer information about when the were first created (raylib version used) and when they were updated for the last time. But the greatest improvement for users has been the **addition of an estimated difficulty level** for every example, [web has been updated accordingly](https://www.raylib.com/examples.html) to reflect those difficulty levels. Now examples are classified with **1 to 4 stars** depending on difficulty to help users with their learning process. Personally, I think this "small" addition could be a game-changer to better guide new users on the library adoption! Additionally, this new raylib release includes 7 new examples; the most interesting one: [`text_codepoints_loading`](https://www.raylib.com/examples/text/loader.html?name=text_codepoints_loading) that illustrates how to load and draw custom codepoints from a font file, very useful for Asian languages.
- [**`rres 1.0`**](https://github.com/raysan5/rres): New `rres`**resources packaging file-format**, including a [`rres-raylib`](https://github.com/raysan5/rres/blob/master/src/rres-raylib.h) library implementation and [`rrespacker`](https://raylibtech.itch.io/rrespacker) tool. `rres` file format has been [under development for +8 years](https://github.com/raysan5/rres#design-history) and it was originally created to be part of raylib. It was highly inspired by _XNA XNB_ resources file format but design has changed a lot along the years. This first release of the format specs is engine-agnostic and has been designed to be portable to any engine, including lots of professional features like data processing, compression and encryption.
- [**`raygui 3.2`**](https://github.com/raysan5/raygui): The **official raylib immediate-mode gui library** designed for tools development has been updated to a new version aligned with raylib 4.2. Multiple controls have been reviewed for library consistency, now all controls follow a similar function signature. It has been battle-tested with the development of +8 published tools in the last months. The tools can be seen and used for free in the [raylib technologies tools page](https://raylibtech.itch.io/). Worth mentioning that several of those **tools have been open sourced** for anyone to use, compile, contribute or learn how the code works.
- [**`raylib_parser`**](https://github.com/raysan5/raylib/tree/master/parser): Multiple contributors **using the tool to automatize bindings creation** have contributed with improvements of this **tool to parse `raylib.h`** (and other raylib-style headers) to tokenize its enums, structs and functions. Processed data can be exported to custom file formats (i.e XML, JSON, LUA) for bindings generation or even docs generation if required.
- **New file system API**: Current API has been redesigned to be more comprehensive and better aligned with raylib naming conventions, two new functions are provided `LoadDirectoryFiles()`/`LoadDirectoryFilesEx()` to load a `FilePathList` for provided path, supporting extension filtering and recursive directory scan. `LoadDroppedFiles()` has been renamed to better reflect its internal functionality. Now, all raylib functions that start with `Load*()` allocate memory internally and a equivalent `Unload*()` function is defined to take care of that memory internally when not required any more!
@ -414,21 +414,21 @@ Highlights for `raylib 4.5`:
- **`NEW` Improved ANGLE support on Desktop platforms**: Support for OpenGL ES 2.0 on Desktop platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS) has been reviewed by @wtnbgo GitHub user. Now raylib can be compiled on desktop for OpenGL ES 2.0 and linked against [`ANGLE`](https://github.com/google/angle). This _small_ addition open the door to building raylib for all **ANGLE supported backends: Direct3D 11, Vulkan and Metal**. Please note that this new feature is still experimental and requires further testing!
- **`NEW` Camera module**: A brand new implementation from scratch for `rcamera` module, contributed by @Crydsch GitHub user! **New camera system is simpler, more flexible, more granular and more extendable**. Specific camera math transformations (movement/rotation) have been moved to individual functions, exposing them to users if required. Global state has been removed from the module and standalone usage has been greatly improved; now `rcamera.h` single-file header-only library can be used externally, independently of raylib. A new `UpdateCameraPro()` function has been added to address input-dependency of `UpdateCamera()`, now advance users have **full control over camera inputs and movement/rotation speeds**!
- **`NEW` Support for M3D models and M3D/GLTF animations**: 3d models animations support has been a limited aspect of raylib for long time, some versions ago IQM animations were supported but raylib 4.5 also adds support for the brand new [M3D file format](https://bztsrc.gitlab.io/model3d/), including animations and the long expected support for **GLTF animations**! The new M3D file format is **simple, portable, feature complete, extensible and open source**. It also provides a complete set of tools to export/visualize M3D models from/to Blender! Now raylib supports up to **3 model file-formats with animations**: `IQM`, `GLTF` and `M3D`.
- **`NEW` Support QOA audio format (import/export)**: Just a couple of months ago the new [QOA file format](https://qoaformat.org/) was published, a very simple, portable and open source quite-ok-audio file format. raylib already supports it, added to `raudio` module and including audio loading from file, loading from memory, streaming from file, streaming from memory and **exporting to QOA** audio format. **Because simplicity really matters to raylib!**
- **`NEW` Module for compressed textures loading**: [`rl_gputex`](https://github.com/raysan5/raylib/blob/master/src/external/rl_gputex.h), a portable single-file header-only small library to load compressed texture file-formats (DDS, PKM, KTX, PVR, ASTC). Provided functionality is not new to raylib but it was part of the raylib `rtextures` module, now it has been moved into a separate self-contained library, **improving portability**. Note that this module is only intended to **load compressed data from files, ready to be uploaded to GPU**, no compression/decompression functionality is provided. This change is a first step towards a better modularization of raylib library.
- **Reviewed `rlgl` module for automatic limits checking**: Again, [`rlgl`](https://github.com/raysan5/raylib/blob/master/src/rlgl.h) has been reviewed to simplify usage. Now users do not need to worry about reaching the internal render-batch limits when they send their triangles to draw 2d/3d, `rlgl` manages it automatically! This change allows a **great simplification for other modules** like `rshapes`, `rtextures` and `rmodels` that do not need to worry about bufffer overflows and can just define as many vertex as desired!
- **Reviewed `rshapes` module to minimize the rlgl dependency**: Now `rshapes` 2d shapes drawing functions **only depend on 6 low-level functions**: `rlBegin()`, `rlEnd()`, `rlVertex3f()`, `rlTexCoord2f()`, `rlNormal3f()`, `rlSetTexture()`. With only those pseudo-OpenGl 1.1 minimal functionality, everything can be drawn! This improvement converts `rshapes` module in a **self-contained, portable shapes-drawing library that can be used independently of raylib**, as far as entry points for those 6 functions are provided by the user. It even allows to be used for software rendering, with the proper backend!
- **Reviewed `rshapes` module to minimize the rlgl dependency**: Now `rshapes` 2d shapes drawing functions **only depend on 6 low-level functions**: `rlBegin()`, `rlEnd()`, `rlVertex3f()`, `rlTexCoord2f()`, `rlNormal3f()`, `rlSetTexture()`. With only those pseudo-OpenGl 1.1 minimal functionality, everything can be drawn! This improvement converts `rshapes` module in a **self-contained, portable shapes-drawing library that can be used independently of raylib**, as far as entry points for those 6 functions are provided by the user. It even allows to be used for software rendering, with the proper backend!
- **Added data structures validation functions**: Multiple functions have been added by @RobLoach GitHub user to ease the validation of raylib data structures: `IsImageReady()`, `IsTextureReady()`, `IsSoundReady()`... Now users have a simple mechanism to **make sure data has been correctly loaded**, instead of checking internal structure values by themselfs.
As usual, those are only some highlights but there is much more! New image generators, new color transformation functionality, improved blending support for color/alpha, etc... Make sure to check raylib [CHANGELOG]([CHANGELOG](https://github.com/raysan5/raylib/blob/master/CHANGELOG)) for a detailed list of changes! Please, note that all breaking changes have been flagged with a `WARNING` in the CHANGELOG, specially useful for binding creators!
**raylib keeps improving one more version** with a special focus on maintainability and sustainability. Always working towards making the library more **simple and easy-to-use**.
**raylib keeps improving one more version** with a special focus on maintainability and sustainability. Always working towards making the library more **simple and easy-to-use**.
Ray
1 year ago