Many changes were made to PlantStudio® between versions 1.6 and 2.0. Several 3D export formatsExporting_3D_models_in_general were added, posingPosing_plants was added, more arrangementMoving_and_arranging_plants options were added, and many small improvements were made. You can find out about most of these things easily as you use PlantStudio, but there are a few things we especially want you to notice.

New file format version

▪        PlantStudio 2.0 uses a new version 2.0 of the PlantStudio file format (*.pla). The 1.0 and 2.0 formats are forward and backward compatible. That is, PlantStudio 1.x can read version 2.0 files and display them properly (ignoring parameters for the new 2.0 flower parts). PlantStudio 2.x can read version 1.0 files and display them properly, though all of the parameters new to PlantStudio 2.0 will be set to defaults. If you open a version 1.0 plant and save it in PlantStudio 2.x, it will turn into a 2.x file. 

New settings file version

▪        There are many new options in PlantStudio 2.0 and so the settings file is somewhat changed. The old settings file, called PlantStudio.ini and placed in your  Windows directory by default, is left alone by PlantStudio 2.0. Instead, PlantStudio 2.0 makes a NEW settings file called PlantStudio2.ini and places it in your Windows directory by default. PlantStudio 2.0 copies the information from your PlantStudio 1.x settings file so you don't have to re-enter it, but then writes to the new settings file. 

▪        Special note: if you use an alternate settings fileUsing_an_alternate_settings_file, PlantStudio can't tell what version it is and so it will just update your settings file with the new PlantStudio 2.0 settings. This should not cause any problem in now PlantStudio works.

Primary and secondary flowers

▪        The two types of flowers and inflorescences have been renamed from “female and male” to “primary and secondary”. This is more botanically accurate, since we had been using "female" to mean "female or hermaphroditic". Actually, 90% of flowering plants have "perfect" flowers with both male and female parts, so the new naming convention is easier to understand.

Posing 

▪        Posing is a new addition to PlantStudio 2.0. If you send a posed plant to someone using PlantStudio 1.x, they will not be able to read the posing information.

▪        In the beta versions for PlantStudio 2.0, you could set special colors in posing. We had to remove this in the final version because it was too much of a hassle to make it work correctly with all the different 3D export formats. Besides, it was confusing, and people can just color plant parts in their 3D software. If you used the beta version and really liked posing colors, send us a note. 

Interface changes

▪        We changed the "concentrate" terminology to two more clear choices: "view one plant at a time" vs. "view all plants", and "place drawing area on top" vs. "place drawing area on side". We also added buttons in the tool bar to change these more quickly. There are many other smaller interface improvements throughout the program.

You can find detailed information about all changes in PlantStudio 2.0 in the readme file located in the same directory as the PlantStudio program.

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