Cheetah3D 4.2 improves performance, control
updated 03:55 pm EDT, Tue June 19, 2007
Cheetah3D 4.2 released
The v4.2 update has been released for Cheetah3D, a program that combines modelling, animation and rendering into the same package. Numerous improvements have been introduced, the foremost being in the realm of performance: soft shadows and blurred reflections should not only be calculated faster, but with more detail, requiring only 16 samples in the case of the former effect. Edge antialiasing and the irradiance cache have also been improved, and the maximum ray depth has been increased to 24. Other changes to the program include sky light, soft shadowing for point light, and options like Space Navigator control and bucket-based rendering. The full version of Cheetah3D 4.2 costs $130, and requires Mac OS X 10.4; the demo version prevents users from saving.
