Cheetah3D 3.6.1 review

Cheetah3D is a lean, fast and elegant 3D modeling, rendering and animation package for MacOS X with an easy learning curve.

License: Demo OS: Mac OS X File size: 20051K Developer: Martin Wengenmayer Buy Now Price: $99.00 Updated: 08 Jan 2007

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Cheetah3D is a lean, fast and elegant 3D modeling, rendering and animation package for MacOS X with an easy learning curve. It offers many tools from powerful polygon editing over advanced subdivision modeling to HDRI and radiosity renderings.

Here are some key features of "Cheetah3D":
Key Frame Animation
F-Curve editor
Radiosity
Image Based Lighting
Nondestructive Modifiers
Autohighlighting for Polygontools
Scripting.

Limitations:
You can download and try the demo version of Cheetah3D from this web site for free, but if you want to save your documents, you need to purchase a serial number.

Requirements:
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later
G3 processor or better / Intel Cpu
256 MByte RAM
16 MByte VRAM.

What's New:
Completely rewritten parameter system
Added priority property to "spline tracking" and "target" tag
Added loading of PSD textures
Improved .jas file format. Animation files have smaller size and support new parameter system
Set antialiasing default to 4x for second pass
Added animation hot keys
First Frame
Prev Frame
Stop/Play Animation
Record Key
Record Key For All Parameters
Next Frame
Last Frame
Added "Show Render Manager" hot key
Added "frames per second" property of FBX exporter
Added "addParameterSelector()" Javascript function
Automatically creates these folders (use these folders to store your custom scripts)
~/Library/Application Support/Cheetah3D/Brushes
~/Library/Application Support/Cheetah3D/scripts/Macro
~/Library/Application Support/Cheetah3D/scripts/Polygonobj
~/Library/Application Support/Cheetah3D/scripts/Splineobj
~/Library/Application Support/Cheetah3D/scripts/Tag
~/Library/Application Support/Cheetah3D/scripts/Tool
Fixed " cutOffAngle" typo to "cutOffAngle"
Fixed bug in .lwo loader (mirrored at XY plane)
Fixed bug in .3ds loader (crash of big scenes)
Fixed camera import in .3ds loader
Fixed bug in "Equal Tangent Direction" tool
Fixed bug in raytracer with distant objects
Fixed bug with smart folders which reset animation/rendering settings
Fixed bug with window layout hot-keys
Fixed bug with blurry reflections
Fixed delete animation key bug (interpolation was reset to soft)
Fixed bug with animation key drag and drop
Fixed drawing problem in UVMapper Tool
Fixed bug in UV Editor point drawing
Fixed crashing bug in smart folder
Fixed camera selection bug in smart folder
Fixed crashing bug in smart folder (automatic reload during animation rendering)
Fixed bug in frame counter view when displaying big values
Fixed bug when changing animation position by clicking on timeline
Fixed crashing bug when rendering long animations
Fixed crashing bug when rendering scenes with many materials
Fixed bug when rendering sweeped beziere curves
Fixed problem of order dependence of expression tags
Fixed problem with loading .jpeg files
Fixed problem that entering frame number (timeline now jumps to new frame)
Fixed bug in helix spline object
Fixed crashing bug when rendering animations without active camera
Fixed bug when adding a smart folder to a scene while the animation is running
Fixed problem with "Umlauten" in .3ds loader
Fixed problem with FBX files which contain "geometric transformations"