AC3D Changelog
What's new in AC3D 7.5.02
May 2, 2015- Fill Holes:
- Automatically fill holes with menu Object->Fill Holes. This seeks out open areas in a 3D object and automatically fills them with new surfaces.
- Unify Normals:
- Previously it could be time-consuming ensuring that all surfaces face in the right direction. This new function automatically orients surfaces so that you can quickly ensure that all surfaces face outwards.
- Hierarchy enhancements:
- In the Tools->Hierarchy, right-clicking on a ‘+’ button will now open a group, AND all its children.
- Object state is now saved:
- If an object is hidden, locked or folded (in the hierarchy), this state is now saved in AC3D .ac files. This means that if you save a model with some of the hierarchy folded, locked or hidden, the state will be retained when the file is next loaded.
- Easier searching:
- Edit->Select-by-name now accepts wild cards so you can search using * and ?, where * matches any characters, ? matches a single character.
- STL files reoriented:
- Objects loaded from STL files are automatically reoriented (rotated to AC3D’s coordinate system) on import and export. (i.e from Z=up to Y=up). If you’re working with a lot of STL files, you needn’t worry about having to rotate objects.
- Other changes include: improved Collada export and KML (Google-Earth export), fixes and compatibility improvements.
- More people are discovering the pleasure of modeling with AC3D for 3D printing.
- We’ve written a special guide for those of you who wish to explore designing models for 3D printers. Don’t have a 3D printer? This guide is still really handy as it highlights some of AC3D’s most useful functions for general modelling.
New in AC3D 7.2.14 (Feb 28, 2014)
- AC3D and 3D printing:
- More and more people are discovering that AC3D works well both creating and managing models for 3D printing and is a great alternative to large, complicated and expensive 3D CAD programs. STL is the most common file format used in 3D printing and AC3D 7.2 supports both ASCII and Binary STL files. Models from STL files are automatically optimized at import (duplicate vertices at the same position are replaced by a single vertex).
- AC3D’s new STL support means that you can directly preview and edit the STL files from 3D printing download sites such as Thingiverse. AC3D 7.2 also includes Ron Jensen’s plugin for checking the integrity of an object prior to 3D printing. The plugin checks for holes and open edges, selecting surfaces that are at the edge of the ‘leaks’. This new function is available from the Tools menu as “Select Leaky Surfaces”.
- Drag and Drop geometry and texture files:
- (Windows/Linux) You can now take a model from your desktop, or a Windows-Explorer/file-browser window and drop it straight into AC3D. Supported texture files e.g. jpg, gif, png etc. can be dropped directly onto an object so you can instantly see the texture in place. This is great when you have a folder/library of objects/textures and you quickly want to load them in AC3D.
- Enhanced Hierarchy:
- Some improvements have been made to the Tool->Hierarchy. Groups can now be drag/dropped to adjust the ordering and newly grouped objects retain the ordering – especially useful if you are editing large structures.
- Other changes include compatibility improvements and general bug fixes.
New in AC3D 7.0.11 (Sep 20, 2012)
- added - ports of Polymaker plugin compatible with Windows/Mac/Linux
- improved - Polymaker Tcl/Tk user interface including double click to make a poly
- fixed - memory leaks at tcl command interpreter