PC World 2001 October

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3D Canvas(tm) 4.22 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 32 MB RAM Graphics Adapter with high color support Windows 95/98/2000 DirectX 8 Internet Explorer 4.0 is required to view Help Recommended: Graphics adapter with 8MB RAM and 3D hardware acceleration Installation ------------ Unzip the 3DCanvas.zip file using your favourite Unzip program. In the folder you created, there is a program called Setup. Run the Setup program by double-clicking it. This begins the Setup program for 3D Canvas which will prompt you with further set-up instructions. 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 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. What's New in 3D Canvas 4.1 --------------------------- o) Reduce Operation (3D Canvas Pro only) Reduces the number of faces and points in an object while maintaining object detail. o) Particle Operation (3D Canvas Pro only) Used for creating large numbers of clones of an object. This can be useful for creating a forest of trees from a single tree or a plume of smoke from a single smoke particle. o) Bone export (3D Canvas Pro only) Bone information can now be exported to the DirectX file format. o) Bulge Operation (3D Canvas Pro only) Bulges an object. o) Auto-repeating animations Animations can now be set to automatically repeat. This can be useful for ensuring that a section of an animation is animated smoothly. o) Mixed Translucency Objects can now have faces with varied levels of translucency. o) Scripting Enhancements (3D Canvas Pro only) Two new methods have been added. The parent frame of an object can be found using the GetParentFrame method. The 3D Canvas path can be found using the GetPath method. What's new in 3D Canvas 4.04 ---------------------------- A maintenance release with a few performance improvements. What's new in 3D Canvas 4.03 ---------------------------- o) Added explicit MegaPOV exporting to the File Menu. o) Scripting now includes SetName and GetName for objects and frames. What's new in 3D Canvas 4.02 ---------------------------- o) Five new object libraries including more than twenty new primitives Also note that some infrequently used functions previously in 3D Canvas have been moved to 3D Canvas Pro. We anticipate that the majority of 3D Canvas users will be unaffected by these changes. Functions moved to 3D Canvas Pro: o) Solidify Operation o) Optimize Operation o) Scale Operation (Note that scaling is still possible using the Edit Control) o) Shift Operation (Note that shifting is still possible using the Shift tool) o) Twist Operation o) The Surface Tool o) Rounded Cylindrical and Spherical Bones (Note that Standard Bones are still available) o) All Export functions with the exception of POVRay (pov) Scenes and DirectX (x) Objects. What's new in 3D Canvas 4.0 --------------------------- o) Translucency Maps A Translucency Map can be applied to an object in the same way as a texture. This allows you to have an object with varied translucency. o) Multi-texturing Allows you to mix two textures together to create a new one. o) Named Colors In addition to the ability to create your own custom color, you can now select a color from a large number of predefined colors. o) Non-Square textures o) JPG, GIF and PNG textures. Note that the loading of PNG textures can be slow. PNG textures have a Translucency channel that 3D Canvas extracts. POVRay users should note that the POVRay usage of PNG textures has not been implemented according to the PNG specifications and will result in inverted translucency (Transparent is Opaque and Opaque is Transparent). o) Two-sided faces Faces are now rendered two sided. There is still the option to render single-sided faces if you wish. This can be set by selecting "Options" from the tools menu and selecting the "Device" tab. o) Invert Operation now Inverts individual faces. o) Compact Scene Hierarchy The Scene Hierarchy has been made more compact so that moving scene components from frame to frame is easier. o) DirectX Imports Imports of DirectX files now include the scene hierarchy. o) Edge editing The edges of faces can now be selected, moved, rotated and scaled. o) Hover highlighting Components/Faces/Edges/Points are now highlighted as you move the cursor over them. Clicking the left mouse button will select whatever is highlighted. It is no longer necessary to exactly click on a "point handle". o) Deform Tool Enhancement The deform tool now highlights the portion of the object that will be deformed. o) Face Scaling Faces can now be scaled unequally. Equal scaling in all directions is no longer required. o) Arbitrary Point Selection Arbitrary points can now be selected. It is no longer necessary to select a face to expose its point handles. o) Group Selection The Group Selection tool now selects points as well as faces. The default mode is point selection. Using the tool with the Shift key held down selects faces. To select points or faces within the selection rectangle that are not visible, click the Alt-key while selecting. o) Enhanced Key-Frame handling Right-clicking on the Key-Frame Move/Copy buttons on the Animation Toolbar now permits the selection of the destination key-frame for the move/copy. o) Constrain options now applies to face/edge/point scaling. o) Tracking Improvements Tracking can be cancelled by tracking the scene grid. o) Exports a) Exports now provide greater levels of precision. b) POVRay exports now include comments so that you can more easily determine which 3D Canvas scene objects translate into what POVRay objects. o) Grouping a) Objects may now be grouped using the new Group operation. This works much like a merge operation except the two objects are moved to the same frame rather than being merged. b) Objects may now be ungrouped by right-clicking on the object and selecting "Ungroup". This will move the object to its own frame at the base level of the scene hierarchy. o) Reduced Resources When 3D Canvas is inactive it now uses considerably less system resources. o) Improved Specular Highlighting What's new in 3D Canvas Pro 4.0 ------------------------------- o) Scripting 3D Canvas now supports the Microsoft Windows Script Host. This provides scripting within 3D Canvas using JScript (JavaScript) and VBScript. Users now have the ability to write scripts to create objects, animate lighting, export scene information etc. Documentation of the 3D Canvas API will be available in the near future. Three example scripts have been provided to give a preview of this feature. You can try them by selecting "Run Script" from the Tools menu. Scene components can also have animation scripts attached to them. This is done by right-clicking on a component and selecting "Open Component Script" or "Open Frame Script" For more information on JScript and VBScript visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/default.htm?/scripting/vbscript/default.htm o) Post Rendering effects using Photoshop Filters Snapshots and Videos can now have post rendering effects applied to them using Photoshop filters. Unfortunately many Photoshop filters are not scriptable so they can only be applied using their default settings. Scriptable plugins are indicated by a ">" o) Motion Blur Recorded videos can now include motion blur. o) Radiosity Lighting (Raytraced rendering only) This is a file property that can be set by selecting "File Properties" from the "File" menu. o) Atmospheric Effects (Raytraced rendering only) This simulates the effect of light reflecting off of particles in the air. It is useful for producing "visible light" such as Spotlights in fog. This is a file property that can be set by selecting "File Properties" from the "File" menu. o) Material Brilliance (Raytraced rendering only) The Material Palette's "Raytracing Material Attributes" allow you to specify the brilliance an object. This is useful for increasing the brilliance of metallic materials. o) Material Reflection (Raytraced rendering only) The Material Palette's "Raytracing Material Attributes" allow you to specify how reflective an object is. o) Material Patterns (Raytraced rendering only) The Material Palette's "Raytracing Material Attributes" allow you to specify a pattern on the object including Bumps, Dents, Ripples and Wrinkles. o) Material Iridescence (Raytraced rendering only) The Material Palette's "Raytracing Material Attributes" allow you to specify that an object has an iridescent appearance. o) Material Roughness (Raytraced rendering only) The Material Palette's "Raytracing Material Attributes" allow you to specify a specular highlighting refinement that adjusts the size of the specular highlight. o) Material Metallic (Raytraced rendering only) The Material Palette's "Raytracing Material Attributes" allow you specify a specular highlighting refinement that indicates that the material should be made to look metallic. o) Refraction (Raytraced rendering only) The amount that an object refracts light can be specified. This is set by right-clicking on an object and selecting "Properties" o) Focal Blur (Raytraced rendering only) Snapshots and Animations can be set to simulate focal blur/depth of field blur as would be seen with a real camera. This is set by right-clicking on the animation camera and selecting "Properties". o) Divide Operation enhancements a) The Divide operation can now divide edges as well as faces. b) The Divide operation now has less effect on surrounding faces. What's new in 3D Canvas 3.32 ---------------------------- o) In the case of a system crash, unsaved work can usually be recovered. This is done automatically the next time 3D Canvas is run. o) Model importing and exporting is now faster and in most cases preserves color information. o) Increased hardware compatibility. o) Improved support for the numbering systems of non-English speaking regions. o) New options for the Scale and Shift operations. What's new in 3D Canvas 3.3a ---------------------------- o) Export of DirectX Frame Hierarchies What's new in 3D Canvas 3.3 --------------------------- o) The Surface Object Building Tool has been extensively revised to support: NURBS surfaces Surface merging Surface cloning Surface division Individual surface scaling, shifting and rotating Display of control point cages Also, the Mirror function has improved to mirror an entire object in one step. o) Support for B-Spline Curves in all Object Building Tools and Operations o) Refined and simplified Navigation Control and Edit Control o) Quick access to Texture, Material and Object Libraries What's new in 3D Canvas 3.2 --------------------------- o) 3D Canvas is now freeware o) The Animation Camera can now be set to track the movement of an object o) A bone's range of effect can now vary over the length of the bone o) The Merge Operation has been improved to retain material information o) Exporting and Importing have been improved o) Animation Key-Frame Ghosting has been added o) Inverse Kinematics now display range of movement constraints o) Inverse Kinematics Joints can be set to a fixed position o) The Crease Operation has been improved to produce sharper creases and more consistent smoothness o) Roll-up groups are now more compact What's new in 3D Canvas 3.1a ---------------------------- o) improved support for NVIDIA based video cards What's new in 3D Canvas 3.1 --------------------------- o) Skeletal Animation o) Inverse Kinematics What's new in 3D Canvas 3.0c ---------------------------- o) Improved POV-Ray export function What's new in 3D Canvas 3.0b ---------------------------- o) More configuration options for the Construction Panels. (Material Panel, Component Panel, Operation Panel and Hierarchy Panel) o) Faster and more accurate importing of 3DS, DXF and COB models. What's new in 3D Canvas 3.0/3.0a -------------------------------- o) 3D True Type Fonts o) Plug-ins o) Animated Object Deformations. Virtually any operation applied to an object can be animated. o) Embedded Objects. Double-clicking an object opens its source which can then be altered. o) Compound-Object selection. Groups of objects can be selected as though they were a single object, then scaled, added to an object library, copied to the clipboard etc. o) Animation Time Line o) Animation Time Frame Shifting and Scaling o) Continuously Repeating Animated Objects o) Trim Operation o) Tip Operation o) Point Split Operation o) Shear Operation o) Burst Operation o) Swirl Operation o) Flatten Operation o) Extrude/Bevel Operation o) Material Sampling Tool (Eye Dropper) copies the sampled material to the Material Palette. o) Custom sizes for Videos and Snapshots o) Simulated Shadows o) Texture Cropping o) Object Duplication o) Easier selection of multiple faces and points o) Multiple face painting with the Paint Tool o) Rotation of Faces with the Edit Control o) Scaling of Faces with the Edit Control o) The viewing camera can be selected on a view by view basis. o) Chrome texture wrapping o) Camera relative texture wrapping o) Bend, Taper and Twist operation now support custom effect orientations. o) Animation Camera Field of View o) Object Blend Tool o) Object Bridge Tool o) Object Merge Tool o) Ability to Hide objects from view while modelling What's New in 3D Canvas 2.0 Revision 1 -------------------------------------- o) Improved Support for 4MB video cards. o) Undo/Redo for animations. o) Import/Export of 3D Canvas Scenes in POVRay Format. What's New in 3D Canvas 2.0 --------------------------- o) New Highly Customizable Interface All toolbars and panels can now be hidden if desired. Three new view configurations have been added. View projections and orientation can be selected on a view by view basis by right clicking on the view and selecting an alternative from the pop-up menu. Dividers between view panels can now be dragged to adjust the size of each individual view. o) Animation sub-paths are now provided which permit mixing of Spline and Linear object movement within one animation path. o) Pauses within animations paths are now available. Adding a pause is as simple as clicking on the Add Pause button. o) The new Crease Tool allows you to increase or decrease the amount of creasing visible on objects. o) Animation key-frame ranges can now be played and recorded by shift-selecting a range on the animation slider. o) The Group Selection Tool may now select either forward facing faces or all faces within the selection rectangle. o) The range of effect for the Deform Tool can now be set. o) The Divide Smooth Tool can now be configured to smooth all edges, or selected edges based on a condition. o) The extrude amount can now be set for the Face Extrude operation. o) Undo/Redo are now available for Object Building Tools. o) Animations can now be previewed through the through Layout Camera. o) A new Status Bar provides feedback on the the progress of operations by indicating how much an object has been moved, scaled or rotated. o) The time position within an Animation can now be directly entered. o) Performance of the Surface Building Tool has been dramatically improved. o) Enhanced support for 800x600 mode. Toolbars have been re-configured to work better in 800x600 mode. o) Memory requirements have been reduced. 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) 2001 Amabilis