Cyber Studio CAD-3D (or just CAD-3D) is a 3D modeling and animation package developed by
Tom Hudson for the
Atari ST
Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...
computer and published by
Antic Software
Antic Software was a software company associated with ''Antic'', a magazine for Atari 8-bit computers. Bound into issues of the magazine, the Antic Software catalog initially sold Atari 8-bit games, applications, and utilities from the recently de ...
. The package is a precursor to
3D Studio Max
Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capab ...
.
CAD-3D is a basic polygonal 3D modeling and rendering program. An operator can assemble a scene out of geometric primitives or custom extruded or lathed objects. Various view ports are available to adjust lighting and camera positioning. The limited rendering functionality allows for
flat shading
Shading refers to the depiction of depth perception in 3D models (within the field of 3D computer graphics) or illustrations (in visual art) by varying the level of darkness. Shading tries to approximate local behavior of light on the object's ...
in 16 shades. Rendered images can be exported in
Degas Elite
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is es ...
or
NEOChrome format.
By making changes between rendering separate cels, CAD-3D can be used for simple animations. Without its scripting extension
Cyber Control
Cyber- is a prefix derived from 'cybernetic,' used in terms relating to computers, technology, networks (including Internet), and others.
Cyber may also refer to:
Computers
* CDC Cyber, a range of mainframe computers
Arts and entertainment
* Cy ...
changes have to be made by hand.
History
The first version was published in 1986 titled CAD-3D.
It still lacked advanced modeling features (boolean subtraction) and any animation.
In early 1987 Tom Hudson extended the application and it was renamed Cyber Studio CAD-3D v.2.02'' '. The name Cyber Studio was proposed by Antic Software publisher
Gary Yost due to his interest in
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...
's seminal 1984 book "
Neuromancer
''Neuromancer'' is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian author William Gibson. Set in a near-future dystopia, the narrative follows Case, a computer hacker enlisted into a crew by a powerful artificial intelligence and a traumatis ...
" which had introduced the term
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is an interconnected digital environment. It is a type of virtual world popularized with the rise of the Internet. The term entered popular culture from science fiction and the arts but is now used by technology strategists, security ...
to describe a virtual 3D environment. As of 1987 the software was packaged together with
Cybermate, a
Forth-based authoring language written by Tektronix engineer Mark Kimball, the creator of the StereoTek liquid crystal shutter 3D glasses that Antic Software sold as an add-on to Cyber Studio.
"Now, in 3-D!" - The Antic Cyber Graphics Software and the Pre-history of Autodesk 3D Studio and Discreet 3ds max"
2009-06-14 Cybermate was used to edit, sequence and present the animation files along with sound. The scripts allowed an operator to control when and how fast a video or audio segment played and whether it should loop. In combination with the other scripting language, CyberControl, users were capable to create video animations up to five minutes long. Jim Kent
William James Kent (born February 10, 1960) is an American research scientist and computer programmer. He has been a contributor to genome database projects and the 2003 winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award (Bioinformatics), Benjamin Franklin Aw ...
wrote Cyber Paint, a 2D animation program that brought together a wide variety of animation and paint functionality and the delta-compressed animation format developed for CAD-3D.
Extensions
Antic Software
Antic Software was a software company associated with ''Antic'', a magazine for Atari 8-bit computers. Bound into issues of the magazine, the Antic Software catalog initially sold Atari 8-bit games, applications, and utilities from the recently de ...
published a variety of related Cyber-products to extend the software's functionality:
* Cyberpaint - A Cell-based 2D-painting and animation software
* CyberControl - Scripting language for CyberStudio CAD-3D
* CyberSculpt - An extended modeling software
* CyberTexture - A texturing extension
References
{{3D software
1986 software
Animation software
Atari ST software