Cheetah3D is a lean, fast and elegant 3D modeling, rendering and animation package for Mac OS X with an easy learning curve. It offers many tools from polygon editing over advanced subdivision modeling to boolean operations and Beziere splines. The Javascript support allows you to extend Cheetah3D by yourself with custom file loaders, exporters, tools and so on. It also offers many common file loaders and exportes like fbx, 3ds, dxf, obj, 3dmf.
Great 3D software,powerful yet simple & easy to use!
Lin YongYue Wilson
Pros
Simple, intuitive and easy to use.
Very affordable.
Powerful rendering, producing great looking image /scenes.
Good tools & features to create models.
Many file formats for import & export.
Good lighting features.
Friendly user interface.
Cons
Can have more effects / plugins / tools to make creation process simpler & intuitive.
Summary
Very satisfied with software.
Great 3D software for beginners and intermediates.
Very affordable pricing.
Very good renders,that's about it!
Wowzaworks
Pros
Capable of excellent renders...
Cons
...but, 5000 pixel limit on size. I haven't found anything anywhere on the materials nodes. I still haven't a clue what some of the nodes are for! I have spent days trying to create the proper texture material for an obj. You can't have a bump map with an obj that wasn't created in Cheetah!
Hexagon and Wings are much easier to use for modeling. You can not "aim" at the obj you are working on like you can in Hex. and Wings. I don't find it to be Mac-like, and don't like the extra steps (m clicks) to select obj's, or areas.
Summary
What good is a great render if you don't have the right materials or textures.
If there were some tutorials on the material nodes, then I would say buy it. Not until then.
Good tool for the price.
ThomasHarte
Pros
Good 3d editing, proper Mac interface.
Cons
File format support lacking; especially Collada and slightly odd OBJ treatment.
Summary
Highly recommended.
Very user friendly for budding 3D artist
dnightartist
Pros
The explanation of the various functions of the menu are well defined. Very easy to relate without getting too technical. Some of the icon are hilarious.
Cons
Summary
Useful
mutantkeyboard
Pros
Compact, nice and easy to use
Cons
Not for huge projects
Summary
Inexpensive and Powerful
VersionTrackerUserOpinion
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I recently decided I wanted to try making a 3D game, so the first thing I needed to find was a 3D modeling program. After trying a few (very expensive) programs, I stumbled across this one. It's amazing how many useful features there are! Almost everytime I need a specific feature, I can whip out the in-depth documentation and find exactly what I want.
When I first started using version 2.1, I was experiencing intermittent crashes using the point slide and scalpel tools. Fortunately the developer was VERY responsive to my problem and sent me a new version which works perfectly!
My only complaints are that Cheetah 3D seems to be missing a way to "unwrap" selected polygons (for easier texturing), and any support for bones (although technically it isn't vital for what I'm making).
Overall I am VERY satisfied with Cheetah 3D. I use it all the time!