3D Canvas(tm) 5.6 3D Canvas is a freeware real-time 3D modeling and animation tool that incorporates a drag-and-drop approach to 3D modeling. Complex models can be constructed from simple 3D primitives, or created using 3D Canvas' Object Building Tools. Creating an animated scene is as simple as positioning the objects within your scene for each point in time in your animation. 3D Canvas will ensure that the resulting animation runs smoothly. No complicated scene timelines are required. Your animation can be stepped through a frame at a time, viewed in real-time, or recorded to a Video (AVI) file so that you can distribute your creation. Minimum System Requirements --------------------------- Pentium Processor 64 MB RAM Graphics Adapter with 8MB RAM Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP DirectX 8 Internet Explorer 4.0 is required to view Help Installation ------------ 3D Canvas is distributed as a Windows Installer document in order to reduce its download size. Most computers will be able to install 3D Canvas by double-clicking the 3DCanvas Windows Installer file. If double-clicking the 3DCanvas Windows Installer file does not install 3D Canvas you will need to download the Windows Installer. Windows Installer is available at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=32831&area=search&ordinal=1 If you receive a warning that your computer requires Microsoft Data Access Components 2.5 (MDAC) you can download it at: http://www.microsoft.com/data/download_250rtm.htm IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PREVIOUS USERS OF 3D CANVAS: Previous users must remember to uninstall the previous version of 3D Canvas prior to installation of a new version. Answer yes if asked to the remove shared files. What's New in 3D Canvas 5.6 --------------------------- o) Shockwave 3D Export Export to the Shockwave 3D (w3d) format is now supported. Export of animation and skeletal information requires 3D Canvas Pro. o) Improved DirectX Export (Available with 3D Canvas LP/Pro) The DirectX export has been updated to conform to DirectX 8. This allows for the export of skeletal objects (skinned meshes). What's New in 3D Canvas 5.5c Revision 4 --------------------------------------- o) Enhanced Extrude Operation The Extrude Operation now extrudes edges as well as faces. o) Improved Wavefront (OBJ) Export Wavefront (OBJ) files are no longer triangulated on export. What's New in 3D Canvas 5.5c ---------------------------- o) Extrude Tool Enhanced The Extrude Tool is now capable of creating 2-d extrudes. o) Train Simulator Wizard Enhanced - Now supports all available compression formats. - Supports water and coal intakes for tenders. - Now permits animation information to optionally be updated so that pre-animated models retain their animation information. - Automatically orients the part identification view towards model. o) Triangulate Operation Improved The Triangulate operation now preserves materials and is considerably faster. o) Lathe Tool Enhanced The Lathe Tool now supports the creation of solid lathe segments. o) Boolean Operations Improved Boolean operations are now more accurate and no longer require pre-triangulation. o) UV Map/UV Re-Map/UnWrap Operations These operations now support mapping rotation. What's New in 3D Canvas 5.5b ---------------------------- This is a maintenance release. No new functions are included. What's New in 3D Canvas 5.5a ---------------------------- Minor revisions were made to face and point movement to make them consistent with object movement. What's New in 3D Canvas 5.5 --------------------------- o) Right-Click Access to Common Operations Many of the most common operations are now available via the right-click popup menu. o) Right-Click Selection Features Many new object, face, edge and point selection features have been added to the right-click popup menus. New features include Select Group, Grow Selection, Edge Loop, By Direction, By Material etc. o) Center Mouse Button Navigation The center mouse button is now used as a navigation button. Center-dragging while the mouse pointer is over an object examines the object. Center-dragging while not over an object results in zooming in/out. Holding down the ctrl, shift, or ctrl-shift keys provide additional navigation options. o) Chamfer Operation (3D Canvas LP/Pro only) Chamfers points and edges. o) Chamfer Scaling Chamfer scaling is available by shift-dragging on the scale planes of the Edit Control. o) Point Position Operation Permits direct entry of the position of the selected point. o) Inset Operation Creates a new faces inset within the selected face or faces. o) Smooth Operation Uses a new smoothing algorithm. This result is better adherence to the general shape of the original object. o) Soften Operation Softens the edges of an object. Similar to the Smooth operation though it does not increase the number of faces or points. It also can be used on a selection of faces, edges or points. o) Equalize Operation Equalizes a selection of points along either the X, Y or Z axes. o) Bridge Operation (3D Canvas LP/Pro only) Creates a bridge between two faces. o) Weld-Nearest Operation (3D Canvas LP/Pro only) Welds the nearest neighbouring point to the selected point. o) Weld-To-First Operation (3D Canvas LP/Pro only) Welds all selected points to the first selected point. o) Weld-To-Nearest Operation (3D Canvas LP/Pro only) Welds the selected point to its nearest neighbouring point. o) Divide Operation The Divide operation can now divide edges into a user-selectable number of edges. o) Mirror/Flip Operations (3D Canvas LP/Pro only) The Mirror operation has been renamed the Flip operation. A new Mirror operation takes its place which automates the entire mirroring process including the removal of interior faces. Also, both operations now support mirroring on the X, Y and Z axes. o) Extrude Operation The Extrude operation now has the option of extruding a group of faces as a region or individually. If faces are extruded as a region they remain linked after the extrusion. o) Trim Operation The Trim operation is now available in the freeware version of 3D Canvas. o) Scale Operation The Scale operation is now available in the freeware version of 3D Canvas. o) Improved Grouping 3D Canvas now uses a familiar grouping concept. Groups, and group hierarchies can be selected and manipulated as a whole. o) Automatic Face Re-Selection The faces most likely to be used for the next operation are automatically re-selected. o) New Scripting method (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) New Face object method: GetFaceNormal What's New in 3D Canvas 5.0.8 ----------------------------- o) Importing and Exporting of the MD2 Format (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) o) Adjust Points Operation (3D Canvas Pro only) Used to animate points. A typical use for this operation is the animation of facial expressions. o) Unlink Operation (3D Canvas Pro only) Used to unlink faces so that they no longer share points. When applied following a Burst or Swirl operation it permits their animation to be exported to MD2 and Neutral Object Format. o) Support for the PCX Textures o) Enhanced Neutral Object Format Import and Export (3D Canvas LP/Pro only) o) Skeleton Enabling and Disabling All bones associated with a skin can now be enabled or disabled en-masse. o) Combined Skeletal and Operation Animation Operation animation and skeletal animation can now be combined on a single object. As an example, this permits facial animation using the Adjust Points operation to be combined with skeletal animation of limbs. What's New in 3D Canvas 5.0.7 ----------------------------- o) Train Simulator Wizard 1.1 Adds support for the engineer "head out" view, fuel and freight intakes, and passenger view positions. What's New in 3D Canvas 5.0.5 ----------------------------- o) Flat-Wireframe Rendering Mode A new rendering mode where the faces that make up an object are rendered outlined. o) TrainSimWizard Plug-In (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) A wizard that assists in configuring and exporting models to Microsoft Train Simulator format. o) Translucent Grid Mode o) NormalizeFames Plug-In (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) Sets all of the scene's frames to the default orientation while retaining the appearance of the scene. o) FillUntextured Plug-In (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) Fills all untextured faces with the current material from the material palette. o) CountUntextured Plug-In (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) Counts the number of untextured faces. o) Importing and Exporting of Neutral Object Format (NOF) (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) o) New Scripting methods (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) New CanvasApplication object methods: GetTexturePath FormatExport FormatExportMeters New Scene object methods: GetLightCount GetLight New Frame object methods: GetLightCount GetLight SetParent New Light object method: GetType What's New in 3D Canvas 5.0 --------------------------- o) Direct raytracing (3D Canvas Pro only) A single click on the "Raytrace" button on the main toolbar raytraces your scene. The image is displayed directly in 3D Canvas. This requires that either POVRay or Blue Moon Rendering Tools is installed. Both are available for free. Clicking the Raytrace button on the main toolbar provides more information on where to download these products. o) Improved Importing and Exporting (3D Canvas Pro only) Importing and exporting are now faster and texture coordinates are preserved for most formats. New formats include Renderware (RWX) and limited support for Lightwave (LWO). o) Animated Light Properties Light properties such as light color/intenstity can now be animated. o) Animated Camera Properties Camera properties such as depth of field can now be animated. o) Bumpmapping (3D Canvas Pro only - Raytracing only) o) Support for RenderMan/Blue Moon Rendering Tools o) Object Nudge Objects can be nudged tiny increments using the arrow keys on the keyboard. o) Expanded Raytracing Material attributes (3D Canvas Pro only) Many additional POVRay material attributes are supported including predefined materials and color patterns. o) Terrain Building Tool (3D Canvas Pro only) Terrain can now be created using the new Terrain Building Tool. Terrain can be random, based on Height Maps, or created using Fractals. o) Oriented tools and operations All relavent tools and operations can now be applied using an orientation. The possible orientations are: Standard, Screen, World, Object and Face o) Integrated Timeline (3D Canvas Pro only) The timeline can now be displayed when animating. This allows for direct selection of animation times and easy manipulation of key-frames. o) Animation Sequences (3D Canvas Pro only) Animation sequences can now be saved with an object so that they can be used as needed when the object is used in multiple scenes. For example a walk-sequence, run-sequence etc. could be defined for a model of a human. This model could then be stored in an object library and used in multiple scenes including only those sequences necessary for a particular scene. o) Orientation Previews The orientation of an operation can now be previewed. An orientation map is applied to the active selection so that the exact orientation of the operation is visible o) Material Wrapping Previews The orientation and wrapping appearance of texture wraps can now be previewed. o) Operations can now be applied to groups Operations can now be applied to Object hierarchies that have been Alt-Selected. o) Enhanced Shift Tool Now permits the use of the edit control. This allows the center of rotation to be rotated as well as moved. o) Enhanced Rotation Axis Tool Now permits the use of the edit control. This allows more precise orientation. o) ActiveX Plugins (3D Canvas Pro/LP only) Developers can now create ActiveX plugins as well scripts for 3D Canvas Pro. The 3D Canvas API described in the online help is used in the same way for ActiveX plugins as it is for scripts. There are several plugin samples written in Visual Basic in the Plugins\Samples folder. Of particular note is the NameIt sample which uses a 3D Canvas viewport to view the scene, allow navigation and selection of objects from within the plugin. (Note that this viewport is not currently available due to an installation issue) o) New Orthographic Views In addition to the current Front, Top and Side (Left) views there are now Rear, Bottom and Right Side views. o) UV Re-Map Operation Permits adjustment of texture coordinates on texture mapped objects without affecting any other aspect of their material. o) Material Update Plug-in Updates the selected object, or object faces with the current material in the Material Palette. o) Enhanced Unwrap Operation Now permits adjustment of texture coordinates prior to creation of the texture map. Also permits an entire object to be unwrapped onto a single texture. o) Selectable Units Units of Meters, Centimeters and Feet can be selected. Units are displayed appropriately on status bars and with object properties. o) Automatic conversion of models created in Feet to Meters when exporting to Microsoft Train Simulator's "S" format o) Enhanced toolbars Toolbars can now be customized based on your usage of 3D Canvas. o) Objects can now be displayed using points o) Frame Orientation Reset Operation Resets the frame of the selected object to the default orientation. o) The 3D Canvas grid can now be displayed in wireframe or using points. o) Improved Flatten Operation (3D canvas Pro/LP only) Now permits flattening of object sub-sections and non-uniform flattening. o) Improved Crease Operation Now permits creasing of individual faces, edges and points. o) Area Lights (Raytracing only) When used with raytracing, Area lights produce soft shadows. o) New Scripting methods New Scene object methods: GetAnimationKeyFrameCount SetAnimationKeyFrameCount GetAnimationKeyFPS SetAnimationKeyFPS New Frame object methods: ExportToDirectX ExportToTrainSimulator o) Support for TIF textures What's New in 3D Canvas 4.24 ---------------------------- o) Added support for POVRay 3.5 Support for MegaPOV has been removed since MegaPOV was simply an early beta of the features of POVRay 3.5. The Light "Glow" function was removed since it is not support by POVRay 3.5. What's New in 3D Canvas 4.23 ---------------------------- o) Scene Details script (3D Canvas Pro only) Provides details about the scene such as number of points, number of faces, number of objects, object positions, materials used by objects etc. o) Support for Targa (tga) textures o) Custom Grids The standard 3D Canvas grid can now be replaced by custom front, side and top views. The Lathe and Extrude tools now permit a side view of the desired object to replace the standard grid. o) Microsoft Train Simulator export improvements (3D Canvas Pro only) -Full support for translucency. -Automatic generatation of distance-based levels of detail. -Improved Mipmap levels. -Exported file is now automatically converted to unicode. -Support for the numbering systems of non-english speaking regions. o) Scripting Enhancements (3D Canvas Pro only) Three new methods have been added to the Scene object that can be used to determine the number of faces in the scene, the number of points in the scene and the size of scene. o) UV Map operation enhancement The UV Map operation now supports zooming to permit more accurate mapping. What's New in 3D Canvas 4.24 ---------------------------- o) Added support for POVRay 3.5 Support for MegaPOV has been removed since MegaPOV was simply an early beta of the features of POVRay 3.5. The Light "Glow" function was removed since it is not support by POVRay 3.5. What's New in 3D Canvas 4.23 ---------------------------- o) Scene Details script (3D Canvas Pro only) Provides details about the scene such as number of points, number of faces, number of objects, object positions, materials used by objects etc. o) Support for Targa (tga) textures o) Custom Grids The standard 3D Canvas grid can now be replaced by custom front, side and top views. The Lathe and Extrude tools now permit a side view of the desired object to replace the standard grid. o) Microsoft Train Simulator export improvements (3D Canvas Pro only) -Full support for translucency. -Automatic generatation of distance-based levels of detail. -Improved Mipmap levels. -Exported file is now automatically converted to unicode. -Support for the numbering systems of non-english speaking regions. o) Scripting Enhancements (3D Canvas Pro only) Three new methods have been added to the Scene object that can be used to determine the number of faces in the scene, the number of points in the scene and the size of scene. o) UV Map operation enhancement The UV Map operation now supports zooming to permit more accurate mapping. What's New in 3D Canvas 4.22 ---------------------------- Version 4.22 is a maintenance release. There are no functional changes. What's New in 3D Canvas 4.21 ---------------------------- o) Enhanced Shift Tool An object's point of rotation can now be moved without affecting the position of the object. o) Glowing Lights (3D Canvas Pro - Raytracing only) Lights rendered with POVRay/MegaPOV .7 can now have a glow effect. o) Atmosphere Enhancements (3D Canvas Pro - Raytracing only) When rendering with POVRay visible light effects can be enabled without enabling fog. What's New in 3D Canvas 4.2 --------------------------- o) Weld Operation (3D Canvs Pro only) Welds object points together. o) Edge Operation (3D Canvas Pro only) Creates an edge between two selected points. o) Trim Operation Enhanced (3D Canvas Pro only) The Trim operation can now trim edges. o) Scale Operation Enhanced (3D Canvas Pro only) The Scale operation can now scale an object to specified dimensions. o) Microsoft Train Simulator Export (3D Canvas Pro only) Exporting to Microsoft Train Simulator format (.s) is now supported. o) Scripting Enhancement (3D Canvas Pro only) An object can be added to another object using the new AddObject method. Known Issues ------------ An up to date list of known issues is available at http://www.amabilis.com/supportissues.htm Support ------- Email support is available at support@amabilis.com For the latest information on 3D Canvas(tm) see www.amabilis.com. Copyright (c) 2002 Amabilis Software