Cheetah3D 3.0 is now available. The latest version of the 3D rendering, animation and modeling software for Mac OS X is a Universal Binary and touts other new features as well. $99 for new users, Cheetah3D is a $49 upgrade for users of 1.x and 2.x versions.
Cheetah3D features polygon modeling tools, subdivision surface and spline modeling support, key and f-curve editing, multithreaded raytracing, HDRI backgrounds, ambient occlusion and other capabilities.
Besides Intel-native support, other features new to 3.0 include a a new UV editor and UV unwrapping tools; the ability to paint textures right in to models; a PDF file loader, support for rendering Piranesi’s EPix image format and more.
“Promise from Apple that the Intel iMacs will be twice at fast was actually an underestimation,” said Cheetah3D’s developer, Martin Wengenmayer. “The iMac Core Duo easily beats a Dual G5 PowerMac.”