Model Builder

Infinity Model Builder 1.0 is a free 3D scene editor for the Classic Mac OS by Marc of French Touch, built on top of the Infinity 3D Rave engine. It is aimed at people assembling and tweaking object files for the engine in real time rather than at modellers building meshes from scratch - the ReadMe is explicit that you cannot create new geometry inside the tool.

What it does

According to the author, Model Builder is a powerful 3D editor designed to create and edit object files with real-time rendering through the Infinity 3D Rave engine. It can import the meshes contained in 3DMF files, modify them - position, rotation, scale and so on - add colours or textures, and save the result out as a standard Infinity MetaFile for use in other Infinity-based projects.

What it isn't

The ReadMe is careful to spell out that Model Builder is not a 3D modeller: you cannot create meshes inside it. The intended pipeline is to author or source meshes elsewhere, drop them in as 3DMF files, and use Model Builder to compose, transform and skin them into a finished scene that the Infinity engine can consume.

Minimum configuration

The minimum target is a PCI Power Macintosh with an 832x624 screen, though the author warns that the QuickDraw 3D Rave software fall-back will probably be too slow there for real-time editing. Model Builder needs roughly 800 KB of free memory before any model data is loaded; the rest goes to the scene and to the Rave engine if you choose a software renderer.

Best configuration

The recommended setup is a G3 - all G3 Power Macintoshes ship with ATI 3D chips on board - or a PCI Power Mac fitted with a Rave-compliant 3D accelerator card with at least 4 MB of VRAM, driving a 1024x768 screen. Because Model Builder draws directly to the screen, palettes cannot overlay the rendering window, which is why an 832x624 or 1024x768 desktop is required to fit both the viewport and the tool palettes.