I am pleased to announce the release of RTEncoderPy version 1.0.0. This is a rewrite of RTEncoder version 1.0 with platform portability in mind. Versions of RTEncoderPy for Windows, OSX Intel and OSX PPC are available for download. RTEncoderPy can encode and decode RTE version 1.0 files.

RTEncoderPy was written in Python using the wx gui framework. Rather than trying to do the Python version dance in tying RTEncoderPy to some version of Poser, I have bundled the Python runtime with the distribution, making it a stand-alone application on all platforms.

Please note that RTEncoderPy 1.0 only supports RTE files in the 1.0 format. It is not compatible with RTE files created with RTEncoder version 2.0.

If you have any problems with this new release, please send an email to support@rtencoder.com.

I’m about ready to release a new version of RTEncoder that has been ported to Python. I’m looking for a few beta testers to help make sure there are no cross-platform or backward compatibility problems. I’m especially looking for folks with older versions of Poser and Mac Poser users.

If you would like to get an early beta copy of RTEncoderPy, please send an email to support@rtencoder.com with your name, platform (Win/Mac) and version of Poser.

RTEncoder version 2.0.1 is now available. It is a very minor update made to improve forward compatibility with future features of RTEncoder. It is an attempt to fail more gracefully if you are running the current version, and try to decode an RTE file encoded with a future version of RTEncoder.

In this post I will present a step by step visual tutorial showing you how to decode an RTE file. Click the thumbnails to view a larger image.

Step 1 - Startup. Launch the RTEncoder application. To begin the decoding process, select the File, Decode menu option.

Step 2 - Select RTE File. You should now see the Select RTE Source File wizard page. Pressing the Browse button will open a File Open dialog where you can select an RTE file from your computer than you want to decode back into its original source file. Then press the Next button to continue.

Step 3 - Select Output File. You should now see the Select Output File wizard page. Pressing the Browse button will open a File Save dialog where you can select the output filename and directory to decode your source RTE file to. The original source filename is automatically suggested to you as the default filename. If the file already exists, you will be prompted to overwrite the file. Then press the Next button to continue.

Step 4 - Select Key Files. If you are decoding an RTE file where key files are needed, you should now see the Select Key Files wizard page. For each key file that is needed, a Browse button will be enabled. Press each Browse button to open a File Open dialog box and locate the needed file. The filename of the needed file is automatically suggested to you as the default filename. When you have selected all the needed key files, press the Next button to continue.

Step 5 - Enter Key Phrase. If you are decoding an RTE file where a key phrase is needed, you should now see the Enter Key Phrase wizard page. Type in the key phrase needed to decode this RTE file. Do not confuse this page with the encryption key phrase page. When you have entered the key phrase, press the Next button to continue.

Step 6 - Enter Encryption Phrase. If you are decoding an RTE file where an encryption phrase is needed, you should now see the Enter Encryption Phrase wizard page. Type in the encryption phrase needed to decode this RTE file. Then press the Next button to continue.

Step 7 - Verify Decoding Settings. You should now see the Verify Decoding Settings wizard page. Review the settings you have chosen. If you need to make any changes, press the Back button and make the changes on the appropriate page. When you are satisfied with your settings, press the Finish button to decode your RTE file into the original source file using the selected settings.

Completion. You should see a progress dialog during the decoding process. If there are no errors during the decoding, the progress dialog will disappear and your output file should be successfully decoded.

I am pleased to announce the release of version 2.0.0 of RTEncoder. It is available for immediate download from the Downloads page.

Important Changes Since Version 1.0

RTEncoder has become a commercial product. It is still available for free download, and can decode RTE files without cost. But to encode RTE files requires the purchase of a license.

Major Features in RTEncoder 2.0

• easy to use Wizard style interface for encoding and decoding
• backward compatibility with version 1.0 RTE files for decoding
• supports encoding with up to three key files and one key phrase
• supports strong file encryption via the Blowfish algorithm
• supports compression of the source file prior to encoding for disk and bandwidth savings
• ability to check for an updated version of the software either automatically or manually
• installing a purchased license will unlock features without requiring a new download

Major Website Update
Most of the pages on RTEncoder.com have also been updated with new content reflecting the new release, including a new informational front page and many updated FAQ entries.

I have moved the site to a new template. While I liked the look of the old template, it was a fixed width template which really annoyed me when looking at the site on a widescreen display. This template has a fluid width and is more pleasant to view on a larger display, but should still look acceptable on lower resolution displays.

I pushed out what I hope is the final test version of RTEncoder 2.0 to the beta testers tonight. If nothing major is reported, then I plan to make the official 2.0 release in about a week or so.

Expect a lot of changes around the site during the release. I have to update several pages, entirely replace a few, and may even update the site template to something a little more friendly with wider screens.

The (hopefully) last beta version of RTEncoder 2.0 is finally in the hands of beta testers. Assuming no serious bugs are reported, there are no more code changes in the works for this version. There is still some documentation work and website work to finish up before final release of version 2.0, which hopefully will happen by the end of August.

Thanks to all the beta testers for their hard work in making this a successful release.

This is a quick update to let you know the development progress on RTEncoder version 2. All the features of the software are complete, and I am releasing an alpha version to select individuals in the community for testing. There are still a few user interface issues that need to be cleaned up, and I hope to have that done in the next week or so. After that, I plan on a beta release to a wider audience later in August. At that point, I will be making a few posts on various Poser related community sites looking for a few beta testers.

If you would like to be considered for participation in the beta release later this month, please send an email to support@rtencoder.com with a link to your website or product store, as priority invitations are given to Poser community merchants, testers and community staff.

In this post, I wanted to go through a few of the features planned for the upcoming version 2.0 release of RTEncoder. Please keep in mind that development is still ongoing, so this list is still subject to change.

RTEncoder version 1 allowed you to encode a source file against a single key file. Version 2 will expand this to allow encoding against up to three key files. I heard of several cases of people jumping through hoops to accomplish encoding against two key files using version 1, so I wanted to make sure that it was a snap to do with version 2. And just to be sure, I added a third key file option, just in case.

A brand new encoding feature that you will find in version 2, is the ability to encode against a pass-phrase, rather than a key file. The way this will work internally is that a random number generator will use the entire pass-phrase as an initialization vector, and a random stream of data will be generated in place of a key file. The better the pass-phrase, the better the randomness of the data stream. So, on the surface, this could provide an easy way to password protect a file, even without using a key file for the encoding process. But wait, there is a better option for file protection coming up later in this article.

Another new feature for encoding in version 2 will be the ability to compress the source file prior to encoding. Since one of the primary uses for RTEncoder, and the original reason for its creation, is the encoding of the 3d format OBJ files, file compression should result in significant file size savings. Preliminary testing shows over 50% size reduction of OBJ files using this option on average. This would translate into both disk space and bandwidth savings for the distribution of RTE files.

And finally, as I promised earlier, an option for those just wanting to password protect a file. Much more secure than a simple XOR with a random data stream, version 2 will offer true encryption via the Blowfish encryption algorithm. Blowfish is a very fast block cipher algorithm and will do an excellent job at protecting your data so only those you give the pass-phrase to will be able to open your RTE file.

A final note, you will be able to use any of the above mentioned new features in combination when encoding your version 2 RTE files. So for example, you will be able to encode your source file against three separate keys files and a random data stream created from your pass-phrase, while compressing your source file and encrypting the output using the Blowfish algorithm.