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Anim8or

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Anim8or
Developer(s)R. Steven Glanville
Stable release
0.95c / April 2, 2007
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Type3D modeller and animator
LicenseFreeware
Websitewww.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 very capable program with many features and tools. Its small size, ease of use and easy-to-follow tutorials make it a gateway into the world of 3D graphics for many computer users who normally would never get a chance to try their hand at modelling and animation.

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.[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 numerous magazines around the world 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 red robin named, of course, Robin that most users learn to model and animate in Anim8or's "A Simple Walk Tutorial". Users are 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 modeller and the tools available.

Features

Although it is not as powerful as commercial programs such as LightWave 3D and 3D Studio Max, 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, but even that list is nowhere near showing the complete power of Anim8or (which is even being used to create a volunteer fueled feature film).

System requirements

With its low system requirements, Anim8or is able to work on computers ranging from low-end systems to top of the line machines. 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. The minimum requirements are:

Future releases

Not much is known about what features will be modified or included in future versions. Inverse kinematics will likely be added, as it was included the latest release, but was disabled because it was not quite ready for use. It is expected that Anim8or's popularity will continue to increase, as it has done in the years since it was first announced on the Internet. Users have posted their thoughts on what they would like added in future releases to Anim8or-related forums, but for now, it is just speculation.

Current planned features are:

  • Fast AVI creation using OpenGL
  • Material manager

Some of these features may not be included in the next release.

  • "Anim8or has come a long way since the first release called v0.1. There are still may areas that need improvement, primarily the renderer, but it's getting close to what I had originally imagined as the magic v1.0. I don't plan on stopping there, but it'll be a nice milestone along the way." - R. Steven Glanville[3]

Community

The Anim8or community is hosted on two forums, the official forum on the Anim8or.com website, and a more active, user-run forum at Anim8or.org. Anim8or.org also contains a gallery of user works and sponsors an off-topic IRC channel as well.

There are many fan sites hosted by community members with user-created tutorials, image galleries and programs.

References

  1. ^ Glanville, R. Steven (July 20, 1999). "Anim8or: New free animation software available". comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio. Archived by Google Groups.
  2. ^ Glanville, R. Steven. Thanks for the support. July 27, 1999. URL accessed at 03:02, 20 January 2006 (UTC)
  3. ^ Glanville, R. Steven. Anim8or.com home page. January 29, 2005. URL accessed at 03:02, 20 January 2006 (UTC).
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