A useful new version of 3D Topicscape Pro, the information organizer and 3D mind mapper, is now available that implements four specific requests from our users.  As usual this update is free to all who have licenses or are still in their free trial period.

1. Topicscape is noted for the visibility it gives of tasks and information.  Now you can see even more at one time: Choose the number of columns for Current Topic’s children - previously four, now you can show five or six as well.  This stays at four columns until you change it in the Options panel (User Preferences).

2. Reduce distraction: Minimize the Topicscape window to an icon while you work on other tasks.  This is a customizable option that defaults to Not Hidden, so you need to take action to see it.

3. Get more of your information when importing from PersonalBrain: For PB4 users, we have enhanced PB import to Topicscape beyond the limits of the data exported by PersonalBrain itself.  Importing from the .pba file exported by PB is still an option.

4. Navigate large Topicscapes even more quickly: The programming for “Make Current” has been optimized to provide a faster re-calculation of the scene when the user selects a different topic to be the Current Topic.  This is particularly noticeable with large Topicscapes (several thousand topics).

You can read all the details at the What’s New page:

And you can download the new 3D Topicscape Pro installer from the usual place.

We hope you like the new version, 1.59.  Within the next month, we hope to release an exciting new Beta version those who have registered with our Beta program.

Roy

AN EXTREMELY RARE BUT CRITICAL BUG AFFECTING 3D TOPICSCAPE PRO AND LITE HAS BEEN FIXED

New versions with fixes are now on line: 3D Topicscape Pro 1.57 and 3D Topicscape Lite 1.11

A user reported a problem resulting from an action that we had never anticipated: If you drag a partition (that is, a logical disk drive, not a folder) into 3D Topicscape Pro 1.56 or earlier, or Topicscape Lite 1.10 or earlier, the software gave an error report and lost files and folders.  In the nearly two years that users have been making 3D mind maps and organizing their information with Topicscape, we believe no one has tried this operation on a partition before, or even thought of it.  Fortunately, we were able to help the user to rescue all his files.

Do not try the action described with any versions of 3D Topicscape Pro before 1.57 or Lite before version 1.11 because you WILL loose files and folders.

Using the import functions to make a new Topicscape or a floating topic from a partition was already prevented by earlier versions of Topicscape Pro, but not Lite.

3D Topicscape Pro version 1.57 and Topicscape Lite version 1.11 now detect and prevent such a drag operation and give an explanatory message.

To import an entire partition into Topicscape, you could make a new folder in the root directory of the partition, and drag all the other folders into it.  Then drag that single folder to Topicscape.  Note that generally an entire partition would make a very large Topicscape, and if you chose the move or copy option, the contents of the whole partition would end up as a sub-sub-folder of your ‘My Topicscapes’ folder.

You may download the latest Topicscape installers here:
http://www.topicscape.com/download5.php

Roy

P.S.   A note to avoid uncertainty: This does not apply to the Student Edition, because that does not support dragging in folders.

The April (print) edition of PC World will have a review of 3D Topicscape Lite.  PC World’s site here:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,69200/description.html
already has 3D Topicscape Lite on it.

Argey

Dragging and dropping of files and favicons into Topicscape has been re-designed.  Difficulties with this action had been observed occasionally on a few computers and the computer code for this process has been re-written.

Some minor bug fixes have also been done.

The new version is here: http://www.topicscape.com/download5.php

Roy

Staying up to date:
You can sign up to learn about updates to our different products here: 
3D Topicscape Lite
3D Topicscape Pro
3D Topicscape SE

Email addresses given will be used for this purpose only.  We do not spam and we remove addresses for our list when requested.

3D Topicscape Student Edition today moved from Beta to live.  Version 1.0 of our free 3D mindmapping software replaced the Beta version on our web site, just before the Beta expired (phew!)

Just to be perfectly plain, the live version never expires.

Roy

You may know that we are based in Hong Kong. 

We are part-way through implementing an improvement for users in the Americas and Europe by providing a server in the USA, which should give faster downloads to you if you are not in Asia.

These will come from our embryo site InformationTamers.com

We have great plans for that site as a source of reference on organizing information in the age of info overload.  Meanwhile, we shall take advantage of it to save you time when downloading from us.  So if you’re in the Americas or Europe and see a link on our site that offers to download from there, don’t be surprised when the download shows up as from informationtamers.com  

For users in Asia, Australasia or Africa, the download will be faster directly from Topicscape.com’s site.

Right now, only 3D Topicscape Student Edition is on there, but we expect to add others soon.

Roy

3D Topicscape is the extraordinary 3D mindmapper, concept mapper and information organizer that is increasingly being taken up by people who have never tried mindmapping before.  We’ve been getting questions about mindmapping from people who have bought Topicscape, so just recently, we added a mindmapping Q&A section to our website here: http://www.topicscape.com/mindmapping/37

Back in the development area, all three versions of 3D Topicscape (Pro, Lite and SE) have just been updated and the new versions are available for download now.  Here are the changes:

3D Topicscape Pro

1. If you have Windows Desktop Search, you can choose to use it from inside 3D Topicscape to speed your file content searches. This will give more reliable results from searches of .MHT files, MS Word .DOC files and Excel .XLS spreadsheets.   This does not affect normal searches in topic and occurrence names, descriptions, authors, etc.   Keep in mind that when you first install Windows Desktop Search, it needs time to index your disk, and make sure My Topicscapes (or wherever you keep you Topicscape files) is included in WDS Options as areas to index.  3D Topicscape Pro has for some time been able to work with Google Desktop but at the time of writing, GD is unable to search MHT files and doesn’t update its index when files are moved (for example when they are imported into Topicscape).
2. There is now a much simpler, more user-friendly search panel. You can still see the Advanced Search Panel at any time, using a checkbox on the Simple Search panel, and there’s an option to allow you to see this every time, if you prefer.
3. Topicscape will watch how new users use it, and if they stay in Limited Mode, or don’t try flying with the mouse, will show a reminder after a few uses that they can switch other features on. It will also offer to do that for the user.  By the way, that’s all it watches and, as ever, it doesn’t send us any information.
4. Some elements of the 3D scene have been hidden when not in use or when in Limited Mode.
5. If you minimize the DP panel, as you may know, it pops up again when you hover over the minimized panel. Previously it popped back to the place from which you minimized it. Now it pops up close to the minimized panel, which is more convenient for quick text changes or reference. If you click the restore button, it will go back to the original location.
6. Some tidying, consistency improvements and bug fixes have also been done - all minor.

Pro is available here: http://www.topicscape.com/download5.php

3D Topicscape Lite

1. Topicscape Lite will now watch how new users use it, and if they stay in the mode where mouse flying is switched off, will show a reminder. It will also offer to do that for the user.
2. There’s a quick way to show the Options panel now: Alt+O
3. Some elements of the 3D scene have been hidden when not in use.
4. Some tidying, consistency improvements and bug fixes have also been done - all minor.

Lite is also available here: http://www.topicscape.com/download5.php

3D Topicscape Student Edition

This is on track to come out of Beta by the end of the year as scheduled. It has already proved itself to be as robust as other versions of 3D Topicscape.

1. Topicscape SE will watch how new users use it, and if they stay in the mode where mouse flying is switched off, will show a reminder. It will also offer to switch it on for the user.
2. There’s a quick way to show the Options panel now: Alt+O
3. Some elements of the 3D scene have been hidden when not in use.
4. There is now a _much_ simpler search panel. You can still see the Advanced Search Panel at any time, using a checkbox, and there’s an option to allow you to see this every time, if you prefer.
5. Some tidying, consistency improvements and bug fixes have also been done - all minor.

SE is available here:
http://www.topicscape.com/student-edition.php?display=5

Whichever edition you’re using, we hope you’ll want to bring your Topicscape up to date.  And if you’re using Pro, we hope the Windows Desktop Search makes Topicscape even more useful.

Roy

At last, our Student Edition is ready for release!

We’ve been working on this for over a year and it got pushed to the background with all the updates to 3D Topicscape Pro, and other developments that we’re not ready to uncover yet.

This is a fun Topicscape with brilliant, glowing colors, stars, galaxies and planets in the sky, but the underlying serious ability to make 3D concept and mind maps to support students in their homework, term papers and research on the web.  And did we mention it’s FREE?  This is a Beta version, but that’s not why it’s free.  It’s going to remain free when it comes out of Beta and goes live.

You don’t need a Beta User’s account, just read all about this new 3D mindmapper, download it here and off you go. 

Worried about the expiry at the end of this year?  Don’t — that’s just to encourage our users to move on to the next version, or to the live version when it’s available.   We don’t want you using an old version when there’s a new one available.  Oh, and it’s a little bit selfish: We’d rather not receive reports of known and fixed bugs from people using out-of-date versions.

We hope you like it, and we look forward to your comments, plaudits and brickbats.

Roy

Our past few months of beta tests have been strenuous, exciting and, eventually, very satisfying. We have had a flood of suggestions, bug reports and comments from around the world and we have now released the result of all this work as new Live version of Topicscape Pro. This is version 1.54 and comes with a new Skins installer.

This is a big step up from version 1.3 (until yesterday, the current Live Topicscape Pro). It went through version 1.4 in internal testing, followed by five versions during which our Beta Users provided great feedback - our thanks go out to everyone. Below is an outline of how Topicscape Pro 1.54 will help you as an information and ideas organizer.

The download is here:
http://www.topicscape.com/tnc.php?productID=14&downloadID=14

And the new installer that replaces the previous Skins installer is here:
http://www.topicscape.com/downloadFile.php?productID=13&appID=7

Below there’s some indication of what’s new.  We’d like to hear what you think of the new Topicscape Pro.

Roy

What’s new

Below is just a summary. See the What’s New page at
http://www.topicscape.com/Topicscape-Pro/whatsnew.php?page=1

The Help system in 3D Topicscape Pro 1.54 has been updated. The on-line browser version of the Pro User Guide will be uploaded sometime in the next 24 hours and the updated PDF is already available for download here:
http://www.topicscape.com/downloadPDF.php?downloadID=16 These all contain the same substance, it’s just a question of how you prefer to read and refer to it.

Importing
Turn MindManager 5, 6 and 7 .mmap files directly to 3D information landscapes.

Turn your Personal Brain files into Topicscapes using a simplified process (reads .pba export files directly). Also updated to work with the latest version (PB4).

Eliminate duplicate files
Check files before bringing them into Topicscape, to see if they are there alread (including checking for changes).

Better descriptions for your topics and occurrences
Plain-text descriptions in the Details Panel extended to 2000 characters.

Opt for a rich text (rtf) topic or occurrence description (”Description+”) linked to the Details Panel. Allows colored text, tables, images and embedded OLE objects, for example portions of a spreadsheet.

Flag your occurrences
Spot and sort out your occurrences, by flagging them with one of 5 colors.  Colors show up in the Topic Center, lists, etc. Customize the five colors.

Mark occurrences as “Finished with”. They will be moved to the foot of the occurrence list and turned gray.

Merges
Experience an automated offer to merge a newly-introduced folder to topic
where the name is the same.

When you find that you have accidentally set up two topics covering the same
ground, merge them easily.

Show how Topics are associated (Association Types)
Capture more knowledge in your Topicscapes. Topics are connected by associations in Topicscape. You can now describe those associations, so that two topics and their association types become a record of some piece of knowledge. This is a feature of concept maps. They can go two ways. Here are examples: France “has its seat of government in” Paris, and Paris “is the capital of” France

You can add and edit these, see them as hints, see them floating in 3D between the topics they describe and search them.

Despite the fact that FreeMind, being a mindmapper, does not directly support association types, association types are exported to FreeMind from Topicscape (as FreeMind “attributes”) and they will be correctly re-created on re-import.  Please note that this only works with FreeMind 0.9.0 v.8 Beta and later, not version 0.8.0.  Although 0.9.0 is a Beta version, we have been using it without problems for a year now.

The standard association types “is parent of” and “is child of” will generally be suppressed unless you use the option to show them.

Contents of topics more visible
Open an occurrence file directly from the 3D landscape (the ‘Scape) with Quickopen.

And without opening the Topic Center, it’s easier to know what occurrences are in each topic:

• with the view button at the right-hand end of the Details Panel title bar (only visible if topic has occurrences).
• with a right click on a topic and select the menu item: Show contents.
• with a right click on a topic and hover over the menu item Show contents - shows a list of contents as a cascading menu from which you can open an occurrence.

Performance
Smoothness of flying has been improved and start-up times have speeded up on most PCs (some optimization is done the first few times you run after installing, so you won’t see the full benefit at first).

Making web archive (MHT) files
Topicscape Pro’s MHT maker has been improved to handle authentication (save web pages where you have to log in) and save web pages that are RSS feeds.

Convert all your URL occurrences in Topicscape with the Mass URL - > MHT converter. You could, for example, import all your favorites or bookmarks, then use this, and you would have a frozen view of your favorites for indexing and reference.

Skins
Choose from two new skins, so there are now 17 to choose from.

Adjust the transparency of the Hit and History Lists to allow for different
field textures.

Transparency settings and color of topic lettering (black or white) are now
saved as part of the skin.

Searching
If a search yields a single hit, Topicscape now takes you straight to the hit.

Return to previous search phrases more easily: The Advanced Search Panel carries a drop-down of your search phrases. There is a “Clear search history” button.

Search by topic- or occurrence-created date.

Search occurrences by colors and take the ‘Finished with’ setting into account on searches. For example, exclude all “Finished with” items from a search.

If you have Google Desktop installed, you can opt to use it in Topicscape file-content searching.

Search in Orphans or Islands topics specifically.

Usability improvements
Quickzoom has been improved by hiding intervening topic cones if they would obstruct your view too much.

View your occurrences in the preview panel in three sizes: small, medium or large.

Edit large text fields more easily with the new text editing panel - press Shift+F2.

Find often-used items more quickly in the Tools menu - it’s been re-organized.

Save screen-space now the minimized Details Panel is easier to work with, using hover.

See more in some cases now the Full view (”Shift+Home”) has been improved.

See more occurrences in the Topic Center (especially with bigger screens and a full-height window) with the expanding occurrences list — length depends on window height.

A “View” button on Details Panel now shows any topics loosely associated with the selected topic. Another shows topic contents list (see above).

Maximize visible space in the Topic Center with the new draggable Details Panel.

Leave the Topic Center more quickly with a double-left-click on the wall of the cone. In addition, Ctrl+I and Ctrl+R now work from inside the Topic Center.

Choose how some mouse double-clicks work to your own taste: You can swap mouse buttons for certain functions.

Find the skin customization controls more easily. The View menu has new items, and the Options panel has a new button labeled “Show individual topic color picker (F4)”.

New users should be able to find things in the Options panel more easily. It can be opened conveniently with a new shortcut: Alt+O.

Repair
Data Repair has been extended to check the new data for association types and Description Plus files.

Do you sometimes find that searches filtered with the occurrence file modified date miss results you expected to see? This can happen if you open, change and save files from outside Topicscape, or even if you open them from within Topicscape, but save changes after you’ve closed Topicscape. There’s a new process to fix this under the Tools | Data checks menu, and the same process is built into the Data Repair wizard.

Fixes
Make Outlook 2007 work with Topicscape as it did for previous Outlook
versions.

PCs not having Outlook Express installed could not start Topicscape at all,
and this has been corrected.

Help
Find your way around the new features with the comprehensively updated Help system.

Vista news
We are NOT claiming that this is a Vista release of Topicscape Pro. However, Topicscape Pro 1.5 will now run on some computers operating under Microsoft Windows Vista. We have an internal test PC on which it runs completely normally and another on which it runs with some graphics anomalies. The main issue is believed to be that some graphics chipset manufacturers are slow at producing fully OpenGL-compliant Vista drivers for all their chipsets.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/26/microsoft_windows_vista_facts/
says “… Windows Vista has come up short on third-party support. … In May Mike Nash, Windows product management corporate vice president, … attributed 80 per cent of user complaints to 4,000 drivers. Among those suffering: gamers and laptop users - with even Microsoft execs complaining Windows Vista does not support their branded laptops.”

We expect this to gradually get sorted out. Meanwhile, anyone who is prepared to give us feedback on Vista / drivers / Topicscape Pro Beta will be listened to with great attention.

Our experience and that of our Beta users is that nVidia graphics seem most likely to be able to Run Topicscape on Vista, and Intel do give some problems at present. One Vista-based Beta User found that running Norton anti-virus software slowed Topicscape down greatly. Our tests indicated that it speeded up in later runs and ended up about 5% lower.

If you see a message “The color scheme has been changed to Windows Vista Basic.”, this is normal, because Topicscape uses OpenGL for 3D graphics and Vista is based on Direct3D.

Updated 12 Dec 2007

The new 3D Topicscape Pro, version 1.54, just just come out of six months Beta testing and is now available at the usual link
http://www.topicscape.com/download5.php.  When you install this, it will install over your Topicscape Pro v.1.3 Live.

We thank all those Beta Users who have given their time, ideas, energy and enthusiasm in making this a better Topicscape.  The Topicscape Pro Beta we’ve all been working on will expire very soon.  We recommend uninstalling it, it’s just a waste of disk space now - Live is where the action is.

We shall be making formal annoucements, with all the details, over the next 24 hours, showing you why this is the best information organizer ever for mindmappers.

Roy