v0.97 Preview Ready (With ART Ray Tracer!)

[Steve]

The next preview called v0.97c is ready.  It's dated September, 2008 and adds:

1. Autosave,

2. Time slider control for Scenes and Sequences,

3. Global lighting intensity setting for user lights,

4. New 2, 3 and 1 large + 3 small viewport modes,

5. Lots of bug fixes including two major ART rendering problems.

Read the update on the v0.97 Preview page for details and be the first on your block to try it out!

http://www.anim8or.com/download/preview/index.html

Steve

[Kubajzz]

Thanks a lot! I haven't tried the new features yet, but they look great!

(special thanks for that "GetNumEdges()" thing...)

[Tanzim]

Thank you so much man!

[lynn22]

Splendid job Steve !!

The scrollbar on the timeline, the lights settings, the correct render of the UV textures and most likely some I still have to discover.

I had rendered some parts of my Xmas animation already but I will start all over again it's more than worth the time.

Thank you so much !

[neirao]

Thank you Steve,

Congratulations!!

Neirão-Brazil

[Paulo]

So nice

[Monex]

Thanks Steve, it's great

[thecolclough]

just tried it out - the timeline scrollbar is awesome! 

however: i tried a render with volume shadows, and whereas in 0.95c they used to show up, but look scratched, they no longer show up at all in 0.97c.  not sure which is worse...    well, the new release is very good in all other respects, but i have to say, i still think working volume shadows would be the best anim8or update ever.  0.97d, perhaps? 

anyways, i'll second everyone's thanks for all the work you put into this app - you're awesome, steve

- colclough

[floyd86]

  well, the new release is very good in all other respects, but i have to say, i still think working volume shadows would be the best anim8or update ever.  0.97d, perhaps? 
- colclough

What about global illumination? However, yet again a great release. Not that much new, but every new release is a good thing to me ^^.
Just tried out some ART renders which used to have bugs and they render fine now.
Great work! Keep it going!

[onespirit5777]

Steve, you make me feel guilty for having such an awesome program for free. Is there any thing I can do to help.

[bamman62]

Very nice! I also see that default, untextured models seems to turn out much cleaner than it used to. Are there any plans to update the editing mode's mesh display? (having a hard time describing it). And also the option of auto-refreshing textures.

Sorry to bother you with suggestions, but I have a few more . Normal and bumpmap support, AniCloth (Anim8or's own version of nCloth), some fluid support, and lastly a customizable interface. 

[Tanzim]

bamman62, nice ideas, I agree with the auto-refreshing of textures, and normal maps. Cloth, and fluids will probably take Steve awhile to do, so there most likely at the lower end of his list.
Next time, can you start a new thread?

BTW: bumpmap is supported.

[ENSONIQ5]

Love the timeline slider Steve, absolutely fantastic.  The way the view changes in real time as you move the slider gives a high level of control over animations, much like the way traditional hand drawing animators would have a cell between each finger on one hand, and they would flick backwards and forwards through them to test the motion.

I haven't yet had the chance to put 97c through its paces fully, but if the texture and background panorama issues have been sorted out I am a very happy bloke!  Cheers Steve.

[bamman62]

bamman62, nice ideas, I agree with the auto-refreshing of textures, and normal maps. Cloth, and fluids will probably take Steve awhile to do, so there most likely at the lower end of his list.
Next time, can you start a new thread?

BTW: bumpmap is supported.

I have a thread I just posted some more important ideas here.

[thecolclough]

just taken the new version for another spin - this time i found the aspect ratio / movie resolution presets panel, and i'm loving it.    oops... *pays royalty to mcdonalds for using their catchphrase*

could i suggest adding a few more presets in the next release?  5:4 720x576 (PAL fullframe), 16:9 1024x576 (PAL widescreen), 16:9 1280x720 (720p HD), and 16:9 1920x1080 (1080p HD).  also, you mistyped the label on the first 4:3 preset button, it should say 320x240 (which is a 4:3 ratio, and is what actually displays in the boxes), rather than 320x200 (which would actually be 8:5).

on the subject of rendering, i have another little suggestion for 0.97d: when rendering an image larger than the workspace, whether still or video, it would be good to have scrollbars, so we can move up and down and/or side-to-side, and view all parts of the image, rather than being forced to just see a cropped segment from the centre of the image.

and when rendering video, i liked the old-style progress bar, where you could see overall video progress, rather than the current setup, where it shows progress on the current frame only, and restarts on each new frame.  could we either have an option to pick which we prefer, or (even better), have both at once for video renders?  just a minor thing, that one, but it'd be appreciated by at least one user...



- colclough

*edit*  do you plan on making the aspect/resolution presets also affect still renders too in a later version, or just video renders?