Cheetah3D 3.6 Beta 1

Martin

Martin

0
Cheetah3D 3.6 Beta 1

Hi,
here is the first public beta of Cheetah3D 3.6. v3.6 finally offers a new timeline. It's now also possible to work with autokeying which will make the creation of animations much easier.
The new timeline isn't feature complete yet but the missing features will be added in the next updates. Like copy&past of keys, scaling of key selections, etc.

And many thanks to Frank for creating these amazing new icons for the timeline.


A list of the main new features can be found here.
Code: 
-new timeline
  -timeline scroller
  -autokeying
  -record hierarchy 
  -new design
-Improved FBX animation export
-Mac won't fall in sleepmode while rendering
-default animation interpolation type is now "soft"
-HDRI image won't be visible anymore in refractions if "backround" is disabled
-fixed bug with live highlighting feature
-fixed bug with viewport background images
-fixed bug with Blueprint object and wireframe mode
-imporved point autohighlighting accuracy
-40% faster OpenGL preview of complex meshes
-wider "name" property field

Download link:
http://cheetah3d.de/forum/showthread.php?t=1157

But please be aware that this is beta software. So don't use it on irreplaceable and important data.​

Please post all your experiences with this beta version in this forum thread.

Many thanks for your help.

By,
Martin
 
Love the new timeline Martin. Putting the frame number on the scroller was a nice touch. ;)
You probably know this but the timeline scroller doesn't respond to a change in fps. If I have a take of 10 sec and an fps of 30 I get 300 frames, however, if I have a take of 10 sec and an fps of 15 I still get 300 frame.

Andrew
 
Hi,
I forgot to add that. That was already requested some months ago and it was on my todo list for the new timeline. It will work in the next beta.

Bye,
Martin
 
I just loaded my competition model, which is quite high poly, (240000) and the display is a lot smoother - nice optimising! :icon_thumbup:

On the topic of updates, there's a few tweaks/additions/fixes that would be really nice if you could do before the big 4.0 :)

A bevel edges tool. Pleeeease! :)

The way Cheetah names copys. For example, "Bolt copy4" rather than "Bolt copy copy cop copy"!

New objects created in the folder/hierarchy you are currently working in, rather than appearing at the bottom of the object browser. It would save a lot of dragging if you have a long list of objects in multiple levels of folders.

The right click menu split into separate smaller windows arranged around the mouse pointer. A bit like Maya's Hotbox.

The current camera framing lines visible even when the camera is not selected.

I think this may be a bug, but if you change the toolbar to Text Only there is no way of telling what mode you are in, or if you have locked an axis. Perhaps the relevant text should highlight?

My big wish list is for improved materials and UV mapping, live updating of photoshop texture files, an area render tool and bump mapping in openGL views - but they can wait until after 4.0! ;):mrgreen:
 
Hi Martin,

"-default animation interpolation type is now "soft""

Does it mean that :
A/ existing interpolations that were not changed/specified will now be treated as "soft" ? or
B/ only newly created interpolations will be by default "soft" ?

Could this be set in the preferences window rather than to be hardcoded ?
I'm pretty pleased to work with "linear" as default ! (and to soften were appropriate)

Gonna give a try to this b3.6 soon.

Thanks

p*
 
The HDRI fix works great, Thanks Martin!! The new timeline indeed looks very good. Nice work Frank and Martin!

Regards,

Peter
 
"Wider "Name" Property Field"

Yessssssss!!!!!

Frühes Weihnachtsgeschenk!!!!

Ermmm....how do I scale the Timeline?
 
Last edited:
Tim, to scale the timeline, grab one end of the navigation bar (the dark grey bar at the bottom of the screen), and move it left/right.

Martin,
Feed-back :) (and bug report :-( ) comming soon...

p*
 
First feed-back. Rather Good !

I immediately jump to the animation side, the corner of Cheetah where I spend most of my time.

I really like

- The new animation navigation bar.
- The new auto key
- The selective record (although it's of little use with tags such as SplineTracking - and Camera when you play with fov)

Could you tell us more on the hierarchy thing ? I could not figure out.

Why did you remove this feature ?

- the ability to move the animation head/cursor by a click on the time line
That was very handy, especially when the cursor is not in the visible section of the timeline - I know you can use the frame field, but don't compare that with a single click !

- the ability to move the animation frame over the take by dragging the cursor. The navigation bar is very good to scroll through the entire take but a drag is more handy when you want to go just few frames on one side.

- Where has gone the render zone ? (the former red strip)
Mixing the navigation bar and the take zone is cleaver on a gui point of view but not convenient. It means that you need to keep an external record of your render start and stop while you play with the navigation bar. I hope I just did not understood the gui correctly.

- The force-record short-key has gone. Fine. Please add short-keys for the new time-line feature such that the force-record can still be done with a key while switching from "changed only".

- When a toolbox is on the right of the (F-curve) key editor, the scale of the editor is not the same as the timeline therefore the cursor in the editor is not in aligned with the cursor on the timeline (although they are in sync). Could you force the scales to be identical and let the cursor go behind the toolbox ? It's very convenient to have them aligned. If some users like to see the full take even with cursors not aligned, please let us choose through a preference window.

- Could you let us choose the default tangent style ? or even link it to a short-key ?


Looks like a bug ( ? )

No bugs so far. I was just trying to increase the size of the take by dragging the navigation bar further on the right (habit from other timelines and scroll bars).



Thanks

p*
 
Pierre said:
Why did you remove this feature ?

- the ability to move the animation head/cursor by a click on the time line
That was very handy, especially when the cursor is not in the visible section of the timeline - I know you can use the frame field, but don't compare that with a single click !
Click to expand...

Pierre,

I am still evaluating but unless I misunderstood you, this is still possible. Just click a little below than before (eg : below the 1.0 sec mark)

François
 
TimD said:
"Wider "Name" Property Field"

Yessssssss!!!!!

Frühes Weihnachtsgeschenk!!!!
Click to expand...

That was my intention. Since the area renderer tool is still some months away I thought I have to make something good for you. :smile:

Bye,
Martin
 
squareitround said:
On the topic of updates, there's a few tweaks/additions/fixes that would be really nice if you could do before the big 4.0 :)
Click to expand...

Hi,
even although most of your requests can be implemented in 1 or 2 days implementing them all would delay 4.0 another two weeks or more. And 4.0 is already delayed. So sorry but the requests have to wait for the 4.x updates. Maybe some features will already make it in 4.0. Sorry.

Bye,
Martin
 
Pierre said:
- Where has gone the render zone ? (the former red strip)
Mixing the navigation bar and the take zone is cleaver on a gui point of view but not convenient. It means that you need to keep an external record of your render start and stop while you play with the navigation bar. I hope I just did not understood the gui correctly.
Click to expand...

Still going through my own evaluation.
I am not sure why you are saying this. To me the red bar is just now grey. it's the naviagation bar which is the size (length) of the render zone.Use the start/end icons and you will see the cursor going to the far left or far right of the window. You can move and/or change the length anytime when playing the animation
 
Martin said:
Hi,
even although most of your requests can be implemented in 1 or 2 days implementing them all would delay 4.0 another two weeks or more. And 4.0 is already delayed. So sorry but the requests have to wait for the 4.x updates. Maybe some features will already make it in 4.0. Sorry.

Bye,
Martin
Click to expand...

That's OK, I had to ask... :)

Regarding the camera; As you say, at the moment, the field of view is only visible when a camera is selected. It would be nice if the view was visible all the time, so you don't have to keep switching between the camera and objects when positioning your objects in the scene.
 
Pierre said:
Could you tell us more on the hierarchy thing ? I could not figure out.
Click to expand...

You will need that for character animation when you work with different takes.

That option will record keys not just for the current object but for all child objects too.


Pierre said:
- the ability to move the animation frame over the take by dragging the cursor. The navigation bar is very good to scroll through the entire take but a drag is more handy when you want to go just few frames on one side.
Click to expand...

Might be readded later but I'm not sure.

Pierre said:
- Where has gone the render zone ? (the former red strip)
Mixing the navigation bar and the take zone is cleaver on a gui point of view but not convenient. It means that you need to keep an external record of your render start and stop while you play with the navigation bar. I hope I just did not understood the gui correctly.
Click to expand...

The final render zone should be the hole take. During the creation of the animation you can use the renderer zone to render some small previews.

This is actually like most big 3D apps work.

Pierre said:
- The force-record short-key has gone. Fine. Please add short-keys for the new time-line feature such that the force-record can still be done with a key while switching from "changed only".
Click to expand...

Please use the "key all other parameters" property now. More about keying single parameters will be added in the next update.

Pierre said:
- When a toolbox is on the right of the (F-curve) key editor, the scale of the editor is not the same as the timeline therefore the cursor in the editor is not in aligned with the cursor on the timeline (although they are in sync). Could you force the scales to be identical and let the cursor go behind the toolbox ? It's very convenient to have them aligned. If some users like to see the full take even with cursors not aligned, please let us choose through a preference window.
Click to expand...

Sorry but I don't understand that. Do you have a screenshot showing that case?

Pierre said:
- Could you let us choose the default tangent style ? or even link it to a short-key ?
Click to expand...

That's already on my todo list. Will come.


Bye,
Martin
 
squareitround said:
Regarding the camera; As you say, at the moment, the field of view is only visible when a camera is selected. It would be nice if the view was visible all the time, so you don't have to keep switching between the camera and objects when positioning your objects in the scene.
Click to expand...

Oh, now I understand you. So would it be enough if the active camera (the camera with the violet background) shows the field of view. That would be very easy to implement.

Bye,
Martin
 
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