Software firms use our C3D Toolkit to develop engineering applications. The range of applications is wide, from complex mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD) systems to everyday applications that need only to view 3D files.
It’s probably not new to anyone that we have our own end-user application for viewing 3D models, C3D Viewer. We offer two versions of the program, Free and Enterprise. Both versions have now been updated, along with the version number changing to 2021.
The Free version can be downloaded from our website and is popular among Russian and foreign users, as evidenced by statistics: more than two thousand downloads in the past year. The Enterprise version is a commercial product intended for integration into corporate software.
C3D Viewer 2021 user interface
To render 3D objects in scenes, C3D Viewer naturally uses our C3D Vision visualization engine, so one of the main changes to C3D Viewer 2021 is the updated Vision component. Thanks to it, the following new features were added to our viewer:
- You can now use keyboard shortcuts to control scenes. In an upcoming update, we will add the ability to customize these keystroke combinations. You find this function in a new tab, named “Control,” in the Settings dialog box.
New Control tab in Settings dialog box
- Earlier versions of C3D Viewer zoomed relative to the center of the screen; in some cases, this caused the model to disappear from your view. Now zooms are done relative to the cursor’s position, making the operation more convenient.
Previous centered zooming (left), new cursor zooming (right)
We also added functions based on requests from users. They include the following ones:
- Reading and rendering of wireframe bodies. These are objects represented by only vertices and edges.
- Reading files in OBJ format.
OBJ model opened in C3D Viewer
Any software update is not complete without fixing even minor bugs. In this new release of C3D Viewer, we made fixes to internal components and to the interface that are aimed at improving the overall stability of the application.
Most of the changes in the Free version of C3D Viewer 2021 were aimed at improving usability and productivity. The first step towards manual adjustments of scene controls was taken, as well as expanded opportunities for reading and viewing 3D models.
Fixes in the Enterprise version mainly affected the API: finalized the component color modification; improved methods of working with dynamic sections; added protection for correct completion when no OpenGL client is on the machine; and enabled mass and density component options.
You can download C3D Viewer 2021, or request the Enterprise version for testing, at our website https://c3dlabs.com/en/products/c3d-viewer/.
