Latest Version: Draw3D v4.0.4 (23rd Jan, 2002)

The latest version has many features, all in a single 158KB file!
Color: Greyscale, 256 Colors, 16-bit, 24-bit or 32-bit color, on any display.
File Support:

  • Old Draw3D '.3D' files (for compatibility)
  • New compressed Draw3D '.D3D' files (stores everything you would want to store, yet is very small, and can even be zipped even smaller!)
  • 3D Studio '.3DS' & '.ASC' files
  • Text files '.CSV' (can open in MS Excel as a spreadsheet, or edit yourself)
    Lists: Has lists of most items, so that you can modify them easily
    3D Shading: Renders in full-colored & sorted Wire-frame, Flat-shaded or Gouraud Shaded triangles, with optional Z-Buffering rather than sorting.
    Object Creation: Can create Polygons, B-Spline Curves, Grids, Cubes, Cylinders, Spheres, Sweeps and Extrusions.

    NOTE: Draw3D v4.0.4 has very little help. It is recommended you try the tutorial

    ******* CHANGES IN Draw3Dv4.0.4 (23rd Jan 2002) *********
    - can extrude/sweep along any axis. Can also change density of sweeps interactively
    - can insert a vertice after the current vertice
    - can insert b-spline curves for extrusion, etc.
    - most options are now saved between sessions (stored at the start of 'Draw3D.cfg')
    - can plot new vertices by holding Ctrl+Mouse in edit mode
    - can create an empty object, allowing you to create its vertices after.
    - can optionally not get warned about closing unsaved data
    - now you can change whether Draw3D will startup with nothing, the previous work or the previous file.
    - Fixed bug: If you close Draw3D without any data and reopen Draw3D, it loaded the previous file
    - Fixed bug: 'Create Polygon', didn't select the correct vertices
    - Fixed minor bug: Sometimes would ask you to save an unmodified file

    ******* CHANGES IN Draw3Dv4.0.3 (8th Dec 2001) *********
    - Can select all polygons of a similiar rendered color, by clicking on a triangle.
    - Can select all triangles that are a specified color when not rendered. (Can change tolerance as well)
    - Can de-select all vertices or all triangles
    - Fixed bug: Draw3D sometimes shutdown when saving to old 3D files!
    - Fixed bug: 'Increase Triangle Density' didn't add extra vertices to the object.
    It now creates a new object.
    - Fixed minor bug: It didn't take into account the scale of the view when you moved vertices
    - Fixed minor bug when you leave the cursor on the color of a triangle, you can't change anything else

    ******* CHANGES IN Draw3Dv4.0.2 (22nd Nov, 2001) *********
    - Made the Help menu to reference the online help
    - Now Draw3D will use the previously saved file name when it is loaded up,
    and it also remembers whether the file was modified.
    - Fixed bug when you opened a file without previewing it, it didn't open that file
    - Fixed bug that wouldn't always show the bottom line of a list
    - Fixed bugs in the D3D file format, which stuffed up with more than 64K vertices.
    - Also added a warning, to stop from saving large objects that wont fit into 3DS files.
    - Fixed bug when you tried to copy many triangles to the clipboard, without also
    copying many of their vertices. (I think it is fixed)

    ******* CHANGES IN Draw3Dv4.0.1 (1st Sep, 2001) *********
    - can increase triangle density (ie: split triangles into smaller pieces)
    - can force polygons to face forward (fixes the problem of gouraud shading triangles
    whose vertices aren't clockwise)
    - fixed problem where clicking 'New', and answering 'Yes' to save the previous
    work, but then pressing cancel in the File Selection dialog box would still
    start a new workspace.


    **** Draw3D extra features: ****
    - Previous Draw3D state is loaded whenever Draw3D loads
    - Can 'Rotate around current vertice'
    - Can 'Remove un-needed vertices'
    - Has a Help bar at the bottom
    - Can show object centres
    - Can create new groups from a selection of vertices & triangles
    - Can show each vertice's normal vertice (direction)
    - Has cool special FX (Rainbow & Water)
    - Can split a triangle into smaller pieces
    - clicking in the objects list make a selection out of the vertices in that object
    - Can render as many triangles and vertices as your memory allows (about 40 bytes per triangle)
    - Has file previews
    - Scroll bars are 32 bit, unlike MS Windows' "32 bit" scroll bars
    - Can edit the Lists by pressing Enter or double-clicking in them
    - Uses a new compressed 3D file format, allowing to store over 4 Billion vertices and triangles!
    - Has 2 Generic Lists that can change by right-clicking in them
    - Has both 8-bit GreyScale and 8-bit Color, and even looks quite decent on a 256 color display!
    - Lambert shading and Gouraud shading (with bright colors!), both with optional Z-buffering
    - Has full colour (8/16/24/32bit formats) for 3D View, 8 bit color for 2D Views
    - Save/Open 3D Studio '3DS' & 'ASC' files
    - Can continuously run animation by pressing 'SCROLL-LOCK' key (also shows FPS)


    **** KNOWN BUGS: ****
    . Scrollbars can feel slightly wrong when they have hundreds of thousands of items in them
    . Some neutral colors will flicker between colors in 8 bit color mode
    . Multiple filled triangles can be incorrectly clipped on the top line
    . Z-buffering or Gouraud shading don't clip triangle colors horizontally properly
    . Z-buffering can make gouraud shaded colors slightly wrong
    . Z-buffering makes straight triangle edges look a little bad


    **** TO DO: ****
    - allow to insert text
    - allow to insert B-spline surfaces (maybe even NURBS surfaces)
    - Use relative undo information (instead of saving the entire state)
    - save/open DXF and VRML files
    - Add more Help or Tutorials
    - Get to work for WinNT
    - Compress D3D files more?
    - allow to invert selection
    - Get inserting, etc to work at centre of current view ?
    - Get greys to work better in IDM_COLOR_BASICS
    - Make each vertice know the triangles connected to it? (faster deleting, but slower movement)
    - Allow to 'Remove two-sided triangles'
    - Allow to 'Create two-sided triangles'
    - Keep a history of undoes
    - Allow to save a history, and to play a history (like macros)
    - Allow to select triangles, and have 'Show triangle centres'
    - Allow to edit/select/move, etc objects instead of vertices
    - Allow to show a bitmap as the background for 16 bit 2D views (to allow tracing the pictures)
    - Save material/color info into 3DS format?
    - Use object hierarchy, with a tree of objects
    - Allow to save 3D View to 24-bit Bitmap?
    - Speed up Gouraud filler and Z-Buffer fillers


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