New features in Autodesk 3D Studio Release 3 8/1/93 (preliminary) Note: We've distilled the new features down for this list without describing each individual new button and command. There are between 200-210 features on this list, but if we were to count each little enhancement separately, there would be well over 270 new features. A more extensive features list is included in the 3DSr3 reference manual. Global * The default resolution of the main user interface is now 800x600, and the default Materials Editor resolution is 640x480. * For operation on 640x480 devices (such as laptop computers), the user interface can run in a special "small-font" mode. * Built-in display drivers for all popular video cards (based on Vibrant Graphics driver technology) are available for all program modules, eliminating the need for ADI drivers in most cases. * Flic drivers are loadable, instead of being limited to VESA playback only. * Settable defaults for Tension, Continuity, Bias controls in the Keyframer. * User-assignable function keys. * Object selectors and merge dialogs now include "pattern matching" controls for wildcard selection. * On-line, context-sensitive help system. * Runs in a DOS box under Microsoft Windows (includes Windows desktop icon). * Multitasking renderer when run under OS/2. * Notes can be appended to Targa files for reference. * File Information command shows bitmap size, date of creation, gamma, color depth, aspect ratio, compression status, custom notes, etc. If the file's not a bitmap, it shows, size, time, and date. * Scene Information dialog shows complete information about every aspect of the scene. * IPAS PXP loader for loading an infinite number of PXPs in one session. * File Rename function for renaming DOS files from within 3DS. * Configuration dialogs are accessible directly from rendering dialog now. * Rendering-in-progress dialogs have been redesigned to make it easier to see rendering status. * Built-in display device support for all popular display cards. * More data is included on the CD-ROM World-Building Toolkit. * Mouse buttons can be reversed for left-handed people. * Automatic project archiving of geometry and texture maps using PKZIP. * Project files can be merged into scenes as well as 3DS files. * The elapsed time of the last rendered image is kept for reference in the Current Status dialog. * New VTR ADI drivers are included. * All scrolling name dialogs have speed-keys that take you to the first letter of that name. * 3DS.SET configuration files can be loaded via the command line for different configurations. * 250 map-paths are now available, and there's an interactive map- path editor for configuration. * Map-paths can be created on-the-fly by automatically searching the geometry subdirectory. Networked Renderer * Completely user-transparent networked renderer. * Any machine on the network can be a workstation or a slave at any time, and the network dynamically adapts to changes automatically. * Network slaves can be powered up without hardware locks, with 9999 machines per network. * Each network machine has a unique name and ID, and generates a log file that can be viewed from any other machine. * Machines can be automatically excluded from network rendering processes. * Network rendering can output to local or server drives. * Automatic machine "life-sign" detection will reallocate a machine that has gone to sleep. * A visual, interactive Network Queue Manager is available for re- arranging network process order, starting and stopping processes, viewing log files, etc. * Network machine assignment can be automatic (to any available machine), or specific machines can be assigned to particular processes. * The Network Queue Manager can even be used on a one-machine system to automatically manage lists of rendering projects. * Log files can be saved as .DAT files for importing into spreadsheets for generating billing information and network usage statistics. General Renderer * Motion blur with assignable shutter speed and blur amount. * Workstation-quality 100% analytical antialiasing... 8x finer antialiasing shading than R2, even on nearly-horizontal and nearly-vertical lines. * Antialiasing is much simplified. Only ON and OFF modes now. * Automatic checking and color correction for "legal" NTSC and PAL colors. * 64-bit Super Truecolor color system incorporates display and rendering gamma correction for accurate colors on any output device. * Built-in VESA support for rendering. * Coplanar faces are automatically detected and deleted to make CAD models easier to deal with. * New controls for aspect ratio preservation of background files. * Render Region allows rendering of a selectable quadrilateral region in any viewport. * Render Object allows rendering of a selected object in any viewport. * A new transparency method simulates colored filters in a physically-correct way. * Multiple cameras can each have their own atmosphere ranges independently. * Render Blowup allows an architects variable perspective camera to be simulated. * Render Last automatically renders the last-selected scene with one button. * "Ground-hugging" layered fog is available for moody atmospheric effects. * Opacity maps and transparency control ray-traced shadow density accurately, providing transparent shadows. * JPEG files are supported with variable compression. * BMP files are supported (b/w, 16 color/grey, 256 color/grey, truecolor). * The Disk-to-VTR function has been enhanced with centering & resizing controls. * The 8-bit color fitting algorithm has been improved for VGA images and flics. * There are new command line rendering options (although command line rendering has basically been made obsolete by the networked renderer). * Custom palettes can be automatically derived from .fli/.flc, .gif, and .cel files. * "Super Black" control allows luminance keying of video for postproduction applications. Lighting * New ray-traced light source perfectly (and efficiently) simulates a shadow-casting sun in any size scene. * Ambient light is now keyframable. * Omni and spotlights have controllable falloff over distance. * Individual objects can be "excluded" from the effect of any omni or spotlight for precise control. * Spotlights can project still or animated colored bitmaps to simulate slide or film projectors. * Spotlights can be circular or rectangular. * Omni and spotlight strength can be positively multiplied into super-hot lights or negatively multipled into negative lights that subtract light from an area. * Rectangular spotlights can be automatically fit to the aspect ratio of a bitmap. * Rectangular spotlights have "barn doors" for adjusting their aspect ratio and creating slit light effects. * Spotlights can be "rolled" for animated rotating light effects. * Spotlight's hotspot/falloff automatically adjust together now when you bump one into the other. * New hybrid spotlight/omnilight that provides omnidirection illumination but with local shadows. * Default lighting values (for ambient, omni and spot) are user- definable. * Spotlights can be dollyed like cameras. * Lights can be automatically repositioned to make a highlight from the current view. * New viewport type shows the view from the spotlight for visual light placement control. * Objects shadow-casting attributes can be set so that objects can selectively cast shadows or receive shadows (have shadows cast on themselves). Modeling tools * 2D Boolean operations for union, intersection, subtraction of bezier shapes in the Shaper. * .AI files can be saved from the shaper and loaded into other drawing packages. * Splines in the shaper can be "frozen now for tracing and reference. * Selection sets in the shaper can be inverted. * "Fence" selection tool has been added to the Shaper and Editor for polygon-based selection sets. * Circle selection tool has been added to the Shaper and Editor. * Automatic polygon connection tool in the Shaper turns two polygons into one. * Ability to "break" spline segments in the Shaper. * Refinement control to non-destructively add spline points to bezier shapes in the Shaper and Lofter. * New Path adjustment commands (scale, skew, mirror) in the Lofter. * Automatic vertex welding in the Lofter for eliminating "core" verticies. * Display/Freeze is sensitive to selection sets. * Objects can be precisely arrayed in linear and radial patterns. * The "cone" primitive has new parameters. * Selection tools can be used in the Camera view. * Selections are dramatically sped up. * Smoothing group(s) can be acquired from a specific face for easy smoothing diagnostics. * The Mapping branch has been rearranged for convenience. * Mapping icons can be automatically snapped to the center of objects. * Planar mapping icons can acquire the precise aspect ratio of a bitmap. * Any mapping icon can be snapped to the exact extent of an object. * Transformation matrix reset control to automatically rebuild default object states. * Materials can be renamed from within the Editor. * 64 object colors are used in the Editor for modeling clarification and object manipulation. * Object color palettes can be user-defined. * Object colors can be used as selection sets, so there are now 64 selection sets. * Visible edges can be defined automatically based on edge angle thresholds. * Local axis alignment function has been expanded. * Angle snap is implement for the user view rotation control. * Background images are allowed in any viewport now (not just the camera's). * Video Safe frames are allowed in any viewport now (not just the camera's). * 3D Booleans are greatly optimized, so models complexity is greatly reduced. * DXF export had been expanded to optionally save material colors as AutoCAD layers. Keyframer * "Clip animation" macros can be applied from object hierarchies to completely different object hierarchies, without regard to object name or structure. * There is now a "delete range of keys" command within the Track Info dialog. * Object motion blur for eliminating temporal aliasing is extremely fast, and available on an object-by-object basis for flexibility. * Camera "Perspective" command dynamically changes perspective while maintaining the scene framing by shifting the FOV and dollying the camera simultaneously. Can be used for stills or animation. * Full-scene motion blur for "blurry" special effects is also available. * Previews can be done in Box mode for extremely fast speed. * Previews can be made in any resolution supported by your graphics device. * "Hide keys" are now available to control invisibility for objects on a keyframe basis. * Pivot points can be automatically snapped to the center of objects. * The "Replace Mesh" command allows individual objects within a scene to be replaced. * Fields can now be interpolated for every frame or every nth frame. * Surface materials can be morphed (ie, transparent plastic morphs to solid metal). * IPAS attributes for particle systems can be assigned within the Keyframer. * Master objects can be deleted from within the Keyframer. * Camera viewport clipping has been optimized. * Spotlight "roll" function can be animated. * Ambient light is keyframable. * Dummy objects can now be renamed. * New "Object Snapshot" command takes a model in any state in the Keyframer and puts a copy of it in the editor. Allows morphing to be used as a modeling tool, and allows effects such as hierarchy animation simulation. * Next and previous keyframes can be automatically accessed with single keystrokes. * Enhanced Disk-to-VTR functionality for output flic files quickly. * Video Post keying color and pseudo-alpha color are both user definable. * Sub-screen-sized bitmaps can now be brought into Video Post and positioned anywhere on the screen without rescaling. * Any bitmap can be rescaled to any size within Video Post. * Bitmaps can be automatically aligned along nine axes within Video Post. * Compositing of multiple bitmaps has been made 300% faster. * More status information is available for transition lengths within Video Post. * Alpha channels can be inverted within Video Post to make negative mattes for each layer. * Transitions can be inverted automatically. * Each bitmap within Video Post can use a unique gamma value. Materials Editor * Materials Editor runs in 640x480 mode using built-in screen drivers. * The Medit screen supports 15-bit, 16-bit, and 24-bit displays. * The Current Material name is editable. * The Medit current material can be made current in the Editor automatically. * The space bar and Enter key force a render of the current material. * Dropdown options have been moved to an on-screen panel for quick access. * Antialiasing can be turned ON or OFF in Medit for double-speed sample rendering time. * A backlight can be turned on in Medit to show the effect of lighting glancing angles. * Render Last function in Medit lets you render the last Keyframer or Editor scene from within Medit. * Medit settings can be cleared with a button. * Maps and settings can now be copied from one material to another. * Ambient light settings in the materials editor are customizable. * Auto-Put function automatically puts your current Medit material to your scene. * Wireframe mode is now a modifier for Flat, Gouraud, Phong, and Metal modes. Allows texture-mapped wireframe materials, metallic wireframes, etc. * Wireframe objects can now have wires in real "world unit" scale, meaning that if you get closer to the wires, they get bigger, as if they were true geometry. * Wireframe mode has adjustable wire thickness on a material-by- material basis. * A metallic mode provides metallic properties based on true dialectric physical attributes. * The default material can be user-customized. * Transparency Falloff and Reflection Blur controls have been moved onto the main user interface. * Phong shininess has been modified with many new features, including variable highlight intensity and size sliders. * Highlights graphs are drawn in a real-time display as highlight controls are modified. * NTSC/PAL video color checking is available in Medit for proofing legal colors. * Self-illumination is now adjustable from 0-100%, instead of just being on or off. * Bitmap names can be dragged and dropped into View File and File Info buttons for instant viewing or statistics about a file. * The alpha channel of a bitmap can be test-viewed independantly of its RGB channel. Texture mapping * New "Box Mapping" parameter allows automatic assignment of 6 different texture maps to any object so that it can be completely texture mapped without having to assign mapping coordinates. * New "Face Mapping" control automatically fits bitmaps to each face of the model without the need to assign mapping coordinates (ie, cube mapping, icosohedron mapping, etc.). This can be used to create a pseudo-hidden-line-removal mode. * Multiple texture maps can be blended or layered (i.e., decals can be layered on top of other textures). * Specular mapping allows colors to be mapped to just the specular highlight. * Shininess mapping allows mapping to control shininess/dullness at the sub-material level. * Self-illuminated mapping allows mapping to control the self- illuminated quality of an object. * Bump mapping quality has been improved dramatically. * All mapping types can be composited together with masks for each mapping type. The intensity values in the mask modify the mapping image. * Individual maps and masks within materials can be either tiled, decaled, or both. * When decaled, the compositing matte can be derived from either the alpha channel or a key color. * Individual maps and masks within materials can be mirrored to create automatically tiling versions. * Individual maps and masks can be inverted into "negative" versions of themselves. * Individual maps and masks can be created from either the RGB or Alpha component of a bitmap. * Texture maps can be colorized by applying color gradients to their lumanence channel. * Texture maps can be RGB-tinted... allowing saturation reduction of maps (the key to photorealistic materials) or easy psychedelic color effects. * Each individual map and mask can have its own texture filtering amount. * Summed-Area-Table texture filtering provides perfect photorealistic texture effects (completely eliminating texture scintillation), in addition to the original/default Pyramidal filtering type. * Individual maps and masks within materials can have their own UV scaling, offset, and rotation. * Bitmap names can be copied to other mapping slots and the View Image button via "drag-and-drop" control, and they can be copied to other materials also. * Bitmap names can be dragged and dropped into an "Information Box" that shows relevant specs about size, bit-depth, etc. * Reflection maps now use an "adaptive blur" technique that conforms to surface topology. * Automatic reflection maps can be visualized in Medit via user- defined default environments. * Flat-mirror reflections are now optimized so that they only take up required RAM for pixel coverage. IPAS * Loadable and Saveable IPAS parameter files so that settings from one object can be used for another one. * Expanded AXP interface allows objects to use other objects as input parameters. This allows: flocking particles (particles that know about each other), skeletal animation, collision detection, gravity, friction, free-form deformations, constraints,etc. * SXP's now support parametric solid texture antialiasing. * SXP's can be automatically-scaled with the object's bounding box. * SXP's can generate alpha channels procedurally, as well as RGB color. * New IPAS type... BXP (Bitmap eXternal Processes). These are automatic file filters that hook into 3D Studio's load/save/info routines for infinitely extendable image file types (i.e. PhotoCD, PIC, IFF, PCX, etc.). * New IPAS type... KXP (Keyframer eXternal Processes). These are processes which create keyframer transformations and generate keyframes. * KXP's can read and write all keyframe information, making it possible to implement file filters to get motion control data into the system, and to bring 3DS data out of the system for external motion control devices. * IXP's can now create and/or modify the alpha channel within Video Post. * IPAS routines now have access to all of the 3D Studio drawing code, making it possible to create very complex user interfaces inside of IPAS. For example, paint programs, patch and nurbs modelers are all implentable as interactive IPAS routines now. * There is a text-editor built into the program that can be called from IPAS routines, enabling motion scripting and other complex interactions with external processes. The text-editor can also be used to edit 3DS.SET and .IFL files. * New IPAS routines that ship with 3DSr3 include: TUBER.AXP (skeletal animation for tubular objects), HAND.AXP (skeletal animation for cartoon hands), CCUBE.SXP (color cube shader that automatically scales with the object), STUCCO.SXP (all- purpose antialiased stucco, also useful for making paint blistering effects), CHECKS.BXP (interactive 4-color checkerboard texture- map editor), etc. [end]