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:
******* 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