Cheetah3D « iDevGames

Cheetah3D 5.5 Adds Particle System

Posted on June 16th, 2010 by Carlos Camacho

Cheetah 5.5 was released today and the biggest change in this latest version is undoubtedly the addition of a powerful particle system. Now you can create not only fountains and waterfalls but also complex motion graphics and scene from nature, like swaying forests. Since the particle system supports instancing, it is now possible to render extremely complex scenes like jungles or hordes of aliens, something which would have previously resulted in hundreds of millions or even billions of polygons. Since the new particle system is also scriptable, you can even create your own custom particle systems via an easy-to-learn Javascript API. Cheetah3D 5.5 is a free update for all registered Cheetah3D 5.x users.

Related Link: http://www.cheetah3d.com

Cheetah3D 5.3 Adds 64-bit Support

Posted on February 25th, 2010 by Carlos Camacho

Cheetah3D 5.3 was released today. The biggest change in Cheetah3D 5.3 is undoubtedly the 64-bit version for Intel 64-bit CPUs. Now Cheetah3D can use all the memory installed in your Mac, and will allow you to create much more complex scenes. To deal with these complex scenes, the Cheetah3D raytracing core has been accelerated considerably, and Altivec/SSE optimized.

On the user interface side, the already convenient and easy-to-use Render Manager has been rewritten completely and is now even better. For example, for easier finding of old render jobs, a thumbnail preview is now available. The pose manager functionality has moved to a tag to allow saving poses locally and making it more conveninent and faster to work with character poses.

Related Link: Cheetah3D Announcement

Cheetah3D 5.2 Adds WebKit-JavaScript Engine

Posted on February 1st, 2010 by Carlos Camacho

Cheetah3D 5.2 is now using WebKit-JavaScriptCore JavaScript engine which is also used by Safari. Due to the JIT compiler the execution of custom scripts should be considerably faster now. Cheetah3D will be ready for 64 bit in the near future (the 64bit version will be a free update for all 5.x users). Cheetah3D 5.2 also adds many work flow enhancements. From a texture preview in the properties editor over a file selector in the render manager to copy and paste support of animation keys in the timeline. Cheetah3D 5.2 will require at least Mac OS X 10.5.

Cheetah3D 5.1 with New Skinning Tools

Posted on December 1st, 2009 by Carlos Camacho

Cheetah3D 5.1 was released today. Version 5.1 adds many new features like a new automatic skinning algorithm which generates almost perfect weight-maps. Binding a skeleton to a mesh was never easier. The timeline has been enhanced too. It is now possible to select, move and delete keys of a whole object hierarchy and not just of the selected object. Version 5.1 finally also adds copy and paste of polygon, edge and point selections.

A often requested feature which is a true time saver in daily work. Also the memory usage of Cheetah3D has been optimized considerably. Especially large scene with many small objects load much faster (up to 10x) and consume less memory. The new node based material system also got some helpful enhancements. It is now possible to get a preview of all node types and not just the shading nodes. Last but not least Cheetah3D 5.1 contains many bug fixes and improvements.

Cheetah3D 5.0 Released

Posted on October 7th, 2009 by Lincoln Green

Cheetah3D 5.0, released today, builds on previous releases of the native OS X 3D software by adding an all new node based material system, better multi-threading, a large library of included materials, and many other tools and UI tweaks.

Cheetah3D 5.0 was released today. Version 5.0 adds a completely new node based material system which allows professional designers to create stunning new materials just by drag and drop. Additionally, the render engine was optimized to efficiently handle up to 16 CPU cores. The modeling tools have been extended by a new bevel tool and a bend modifier, and basic export to the Collada file format has been added. Cheetah3D 5.0 now also supports pivot points.

A Cheetah3D 5.0 single user license costs 149 US$ and 69 US$ for an upgrade from an older version (1.x, 2.x, 3.x or 4.x).

Related Link: Cheetah3D 5.0 Announcement

Cheetah3D 4.7 Released

Posted on September 2nd, 2009 by Carlos Camacho

Cheetah3D 4.7 was released today. Version 4.7 is mainly a bug fix release which solves the problems Cheetah3D 4.6.4 had on Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Cheetah3D 4.7 is free for all registered Cheetah3D 4.x users. A single user license costs 149 US$ and 69 US$ for an update of an older version (1.x, 2.x or 3.x). New features in Cheetah3D 4.7 include:

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard compatibility
Fixed texture import bug (on 10.6)
Fixed render manager bug (on 10.6)
Fixed crashing render bug (on 10.6)
Fixed bug when rendering resolutions not dividable by 8 (on 10.6)
Optimized frame buffer which uses less memory
Faster calculation of material previews
Minor bug fixes and enhancements

Manuev’It! Postmortem

Posted on May 10th, 2009 by David Guy

Avoid All Contact

The game I chose to work on for the 2008 uDevGames contest was one I’d had in my design notebook for awhile. I picked it because of its simple gameplay and simple graphics, making it something I felt was doable by the contest deadline.

The game idea involved maneuvering through levels of narrow, twisty passages, filled with static, animated and/or free-floating obstacles while trying to avoid contact with almost everything. Controlling your avatar would be accomplished by simply dragging it with the mouse, and gameplay would be at a methodical but hurried pace.
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Laserface Jones Postmortem

Posted on May 5th, 2009 by Justin Ficarrotta

Background Info

After growing up wanting only to make videogames, and making a few small games with Pascal and later Hypercard in grade school, I released my first game for the uDevGames contest in 2004, called Kill Dr. Coté. It won the award for Best Gameplay, was a fan favorite, went on to be published by Freeverse, and got me my first job in the industry as a programmer.

Since then, my output has been scarce. I quickly followed up with “Arachnoid: Predator of Worlds” in July 2005, but after that, working full time in the industry drained me and thwarted any progress on independent work. Several years passed, and during that time I first yearned for the energy to work on a project, and after that failed, I started to even doubt whether I would be capable of such a project and still keep myself fed. When I heard that uDevGames 2008 was starting, I figured it would be the best time to find out once and for all. While in 2004, my purpose was to prove my talent and ability to the world, this time around it would be to prove it to myself!
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Boston – Mouse in the Sewer Postmortem

Posted on April 16th, 2009 by Carlos Camacho

Getting Started

Boston Low-Polygon Model I entered uDevGames ’08 because I needed motivation to get something done. The three month deadline gave me something to work to. Boston was developed by a team of three — Nathan was in charge of story and music, Micah did the comic art and character design and I took care of the 3D art, level design, and all programming.

December

The first task was to get a story. I rounded up Micah and had a meeting with Nathan. After about ten minutes, we had a basic story line. I went back to trying to familiarize myself with the game engine while Micah, the artist, worked on character design for ‘Boston’. The next day, after another consultation with Nathan, the writer, we had our main character drawn out.
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3D Modeler Cheetah3D 3.6 Released

Posted on January 3rd, 2007 by Daniel Lurie

Cheetah3D is a lean, fast and elegant 3D modeling, rendering and animation package for Mac OS X with an easy learning curve. It offers many tools from powerful polygon editing over advanced subdivision modeling to HDRI and radiosity renderings. WHAT’S NEW Version 3.6: