Developer(s) R. Steven Glanville Type 3D computer graphics | Operating system | |
Initial release July 20, 1999; 17 years ago (1999-07-20) Stable release 0.98 / January 23, 2014; 3 years ago (2014-01-23) Preview release 0.98a build 1264 / December 28, 2016; 52 days ago (2016-12-28) | ||
Anim8or is a freeware OpenGL based 3D modeling and animation program by R. Steven Glanville, a software engineer at NVidia. Currently at version 0.98, 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 the 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.
Contents
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. In its first week, the original version was downloaded almost 100 times. 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, 0.98, was released to the public on November 20, 2013, although beta versions were available earlier for users wanting to test them and provide feedback. These included versions 0.96a, 0.96b, 0.97a, 0.97b, 0.97c, 0.97d, 0.97e, 0.97f, and 0.97g (Version 0.97g was never released).
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 modellers 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 tool set:
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 window's 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:
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: