Anim8or

Anim8or
	Anim8or screenshot
Developer(s)	R. Steven Glanville
Initial release	July 20, 1999;25 years ago
Stable release	1.0 / May 29, 2017;7 years ago
Operating system	Windows
Type	3D computer graphics
License	Freeware
Website	anim8or.com

Last updated August 05, 2024

Anim8or is a freeware OpenGL-based 3D modeling and animation program by R. Steven Glanville, a software engineer at NVidia. Currently at stable version 1.01.1402,^[1] 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 3 MB, despite the fact that it does not make full use of 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, with Blender now being more capable than before.

Development

On July 20, 1999, a message was posted to the newsgroup comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio, introducing the first version of Anim8or to the public.^[2] In its first week, the original version was downloaded almost 100 times.^[3] 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, 1.0, was released to the public on May 29, 2017 and includes an updated user interface, more modeling and animation tools, and STL support for 3D printing.

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 modelers have ever created, as it is taught in the introductory tutorial to demonstrate the basics of the modeler and the tools available.

Layout

Anim8or's interface is separated into four sections, each with its own toolset:

Object editor - individual objects are stored and edited within the object editor. Objects may be composed of primitives such as spheres, or more complex shapes made by extruding polygons along the z axis and adjusting the vertexes. Materials are then applied, per face if desired. The user also has the option to make morph targets for each object.
Figure editor - in order to animate more complex models, they can be given a skeleton. Users can give each "bone" the ability to rotate on all 3 axes within certain limits and attach individual objects to each bone.
Sequence editor - this is an extension of the figure editor, allowing the use of key frame animation to animate individual bones with a degree of accuracy of 0.1°.
Scene editor - elements from the three other sections are imported and arranged in the scene editor. The key frames from the sequence editor can be modified, along with other variables, such as a figure's position in 3D space or the state of a morph target.

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 Windows' 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.

Features

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:

3D Modeler with primitives such as spheres, cubes, and cylinders
Mesh modification and subdivision
Splines, extrusions, lathing, modifiers, bevelling and warping
TrueType font support allowing for 2D and 3D text
The ability to import .3DS, .LWO and .OBJ files for modification
The ability to export .3DS, .OBJ, .VTX and .C files for use in external programs
Plug-in support, using the Anim8or Scripting Language, also known as ASL for short
3D object browser to allow the user to view 3D files in a specified directory
Textures in .BMP, .GIF and .JPG formats
Environment maps, bump maps, transparency, specularity amongst others
Character editor with joints
Morph targets
Renderer supporting fog, infinite, local and spot lights, anti-aliasing, alpha channels and depth channels
Printing directly from the program
Volumetric Shadows as well as ray traced hard and soft shadows as well as ambient occlusion support.
A plain text file format, allowing for the development of external tools such as Terranim8or
Hierarchies

System requirements

As far as multimedia standards go, Anim8or has very low system requirements. However, 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 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:

300 MHz Processor
Windows 95 or higher
OpenGL graphics card with full ICD support
64 MB of RAM (128 MB recommended, 256 MB with Windows XP)
5 MB of hard drive space (the application is less than 3 MB, but the manual and project/texture files can occupy several times this space).

Related Research Articles

A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation. In many applications, GUIs are used instead of text-based UIs, which are based on typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces (CLIs), which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard.

Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editing. Owing to its fame, the program's name has become genericised as a verb although Adobe disapproves of such use.

Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabilities and a flexible plugin architecture and must be used on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is frequently used by video game developers, many TV commercial studios, and architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization. 3ds Max features shaders, dynamic simulation, particle systems, radiosity, normal map creation and rendering, global illumination, a customizable user interface, and its own scripting language.

In computing, an icon is a pictogram or ideogram displayed on a computer screen in order to help the user navigate a computer system. The icon itself is a quickly comprehensible symbol of a software tool, function, or a data file, accessible on the system and is more like a traffic sign than a detailed illustration of the actual entity it represents. It can serve as an electronic hyperlink or file shortcut to access the program or data. The user can activate an icon using a mouse, pointer, finger, or voice commands. Their placement on the screen, also in relation to other icons, may provide further information to the user about their usage. In activating an icon, the user can move directly into and out of the identified function without knowing anything further about the location or requirements of the file or code.

In computing, a visual programming language, also known as diagrammatic programming, graphical programming or block coding, is a programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols, used either as elements of syntax or secondary notation. For example, many VPLs are based on the idea of "boxes and arrows", where boxes or other screen objects are treated as entities, connected by arrows, lines or arcs which represent relations. VPLs are generally the basis of Low-code development platforms.

3D Movie Maker is a children's computer program developed by Microsoft Home's Microsoft Kids subsidiary released in 1995. Using the program, users can make films by placing 3D characters and props into pre-rendered environments, as well as adding actions, sound effects, music, text, speech and special effects. Movies are then saved in the .3mm file format.

Cairo is an open-source graphics library that provides a vector graphics-based, device-independent API for software developers. It provides primitives for two-dimensional drawing across a number of different backends. Cairo uses hardware acceleration when available.

The Magic User Interface is an object-oriented system by Stefan Stuntz to generate and maintain graphical user interfaces. With the aid of a preferences program, the user of an application has the ability to customize the system according to personal taste.

Adobe Director was a multimedia application authoring platform created by Macromedia and managed by Adobe Systems until its discontinuation.

Softimage|3D is a discontinued high-end 3D graphics application developed by Softimage, Co., which was used predominantly in the film, broadcasting, gaming, and advertising industries for the production of 3D animation. It was superseded by Softimage XSI in 2000.

This article deals with productivity software created for the Amiga line of computers and covers the AmigaOS operating system and its derivatives AROS and MorphOS. It is a split of the main article, Amiga software.

3D computer graphics software refers to packages used to create 3D computer-generated imagery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenSCAD</span> Free software for creating 3D objects

OpenSCAD is a free software application for creating solid 3D computer-aided design (CAD) objects. It is a script-only based modeller that uses its own description language; the 3D preview can be manipulated interactively, but cannot be interactively modified in 3D. Instead, an OpenSCAD script specifies geometric primitives and defines how they are modified and combined to render a 3D model. As such, the program performs constructive solid geometry (CSG). OpenSCAD is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Embedded Wizard is a graphical user interface tool developed and distributed by TARA Systems GmbH for creating graphical user interface (GUI) applications mainly for embedded systems. It provides a WYSIWYG front-end for editing graphics, effects and logic of the user interface and generates ANSI C code for particular target hardware. Embedded Wizard is independent of a specific graphics hardware or color format and supports object oriented programming.

Cobalt is a parametric-based computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D modeling program that runs on both Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems. The program combines the direct-modeling way to create and edit objects and the highly structured, history-driven parametric way exemplified by programs like Pro/ENGINEER. A product of Ashlar-Vellum, Cobalt is Wireframe-based and history-driven with associativity and 2D equation-driven parametrics and constraints. It offers surfacing tools, mold design tools, detailing, and engineering features. Cobalt includes a library of 149,000 mechanical parts.

The Lively Kernel is an open-source web programming environment, developed by Dan Ingalls when he was at SAP Research. It supports desktop-style applications with rich graphics and direct manipulation abilities, but without the installation or upgrade troubles of conventional desktop applications. Development began at Sun Microsystems Laboratories in Menlo Park, California, and later moved to the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam-Babelsberg near Berlin.

Source Filmmaker is a 3D computer graphics software tool published by Valve for creating animated films, which uses the Source game engine. Source Filmmaker has been used to create many community-based animated shorts for various Source games, such as Team Fortress 2, the Left 4 Dead series, and Half-Life 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art of Illusion</span>

Art of Illusion is a free software, and open source software package for making 3D graphics.

Boxy SVG is a proprietary vector graphics editor for creating illustrations, as well as logos, icons, and other elements of graphic design. It is primarily focused on editing drawings in the SVG file format. The program is available as both a web app and a desktop application for Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, and Linux-based operating systems.

References

↑ "v1.01 Development Release - Build 1400, March 14, 2021". Anim8or Forum.
↑ Glanville, R. Steven (July 20, 1999). "Anim8or: New free animation software available". comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio. Archived by Google Groups.
↑ Glanville, R. Steven. Thanks for the support Archived February 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine . July 27, 1999. URL accessed at 03:02, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "v1.01 Development Release - Build 1400, March 14, 2021". Anim8or Forum.

[2] Glanville, R. Steven (July 20, 1999). "Anim8or: New free animation software available". comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio. Archived by Google Groups.

[3] Glanville, R. Steven. Thanks for the support Archived February 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine . July 27, 1999. URL accessed at 03:02, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

[1]

[2]

[3]