Anim8or screenshot |
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| Developer(s) | R. Steven Glanville |
|---|---|
| Initial release | July 20, 1999 |
| Stable release | 0.95c / April 2, 2007 |
| Preview release | 0.97d / September 21, 2008 |
| Development status | Active |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Type | 3D Modeling and Animation |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | www.anim8or.com |
Anim8or is a freeware OpenGL based 3D modeling and animation program by R. Steven Glanville, a software engineer at NVidia. Currently at version 0.97, it is a compact program with several tools which would normally be expected in high-end, paid software. To date, every version released has been under 2 MB, despite the fact that it does not make full use of the windows native interface, carrying some graphical elements of its own. Although few official tutorials have been posted by the author, many other users have posted their own on sites such as YouTube and the anim8or home page. While Anim8or was once comparable to other freeware 3D animation software such as Blender, it has seen less progression in recent years.
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On July 20, 1999, a message was posted to the newsgroup comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio, introducing the first version of Anim8or to the public.[1] In its first week, the original version was downloaded almost 100 times.[2] The next version, 0.2, was released on September 6, 1999, containing bug fixes and the ability to save images as JPEG files.
In the past few years, newer versions have been released, introducing features such as undo and redo commands, keyboard shortcuts, an improved renderer and morph targets. With each new version, the popularity of Anim8or has grown. It has been featured in several magazines including 3D User, Freelog, c't and the Lockergnome newsletter.
Anim8or's latest stable version, 0.95, was released to the public on November 4, 2006, although beta versions were available earlier for users wanting to test them and provide feedback. This version introduced features such as graphic material shaders, the ASL scripting language, plug-in support and numerous bug fixes. Version 0.95a was posted on December 2, 2006 and contains further bug fixes.
Anim8or's mascot is a simple red robin, aptly named as Robin, that most users learn to model and animate in Anim8or's "A Simple Walk Tutorial". Users are often also very familiar with the eggplant, a model first designed by Steven to demonstrate 3D printers at SIGGRAPH. It is likely the first model most Anim8or modellers have ever created, as it is taught in the introductory tutorial to demonstrate the basics of the modeler and the tools available.
Anim8or's interface is separated into four sections, each with its own tool set:
An image can be rendered in any of the four editors, but only in the scene editor can lights and other graphical elements be used.
The interface is a mixture of window's native interface, for such elements as the right-click context menu, and one specific to Anim8or, such as the graphical icons in the left-hand toolbar.
Although it is not as powerful as high-end commercial programs, it contains many features that are important to a 3D computer graphics package while remaining free. Such features include:
A basic feature list can also be found at the Anim8or website, although the list is incomplete.
As far as multimedia standards go, Anim8or has very low system requirements. It is worth noting however, that certain features, particularly shadows, Anti-aliasing and Anim8or's resident ray tracer quickly become burdens on a computer's resources. While originally designed to work with Windows, users have reported running it successfully on Apple computers with Connectix Virtual PC and on Linux with WINE. This may be partially due to Anim8or's stand-alone design. This means that it can be pasted onto a USB memory stick or other removable media and run directly from it on any computer that meets the minimum specification. The minimum requirements are:
The fourth v0.97 preview is called the v0.97d preview, dated September 21, 2008. The major changes are (bug fixes first):
Newest features:
Not much is known about what features will be modified or included in future versions, although users have posted suggestions on related forums. Inverse kinematics will likely be added , as it was included the latest release, but was disabled because it was not quite ready for use .
Suspected planned features are:
Some of these features may not be included in the next release.
Recent discussions have suggested that a new version is in development, however this may be a while until we see such results.
The Anim8or community is hosted on three forums, the official forum on the Anim8or.com website, and user-run forums at AnimAnon (Animators Anonymous) and http://CG-Nation.com. CG-Nation.com also contains a gallery of user works and sponsors an off-topic IRC channel. There are many fan sites hosted by community members with user-created tutorials, image galleries and programs.
There is also a community magazine Dotan8 which is available at Dotan8.