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Box Shot 3D III

August 16th, 2010

Here it finally, is. The second major upgrade for the 5 years of Box Shot 3D lifetime. The first major upgrade brought raytracing engine, this one brings the support of 64-bit platform and a lot of new shapes and features.

New features

First of all, it is 64-bit support. Both Mac and Windows version of Box Shot 3D are now run natively on 64-bit platforms and show a 20-30% speedup compared with 32-bit versions running on the same hardware. So, if you run 64-bit Windows or Snow Leopard, you will definitely see the difference.

One more good thing for the owners of 64-bit platform: Box Shot 3D now supports resolutions up to 8192×8192 pixels. On 32-bit platforms it is still limited by 4K though. One more reason to upgrade computer

The User Manual was rewritten from scratch and now it is the same in Mac and Windows versions. For some reasons Mac-version of user manual was a bit weaker compared with the Windows one. Now this is fixed, both versions are detailed and comprehensive. Both versions have a quick start guide.

New shapes

Each new release of Box Shot 3D usually brings some new shapes. This one is not an exception, as you may have already read in the previous posts. New soft-cover books with stepback, mugs, a long-awaited magazine shape and, of course, the stacks of images. To tell you more, both single and stacked images now have thickness, so the business cards should look better now.

CD Box shape is now a subtype of DVD Box shape. These shapes are similar, so I’ve grouped them together.

Little improvements

The absence of little things may create big problems, so this version fixes some old issues that made your life harder. Mac version now reads PDF files with better quality. Both Mac and Windows versions show the rendering progress at the taskbar (requires Windows 7) and animate the icon when the rendering is finished. After purchasing a Magic Mouse for Mac, I’ve finally realized that not all the mice have a middle button, so now it is possible to offset the camera using the right button as well. File dialogs remember the folders and files that you used before.

Stability

Before release, both Mac and Windows version of Box Shot 3D have passed about 400 tests, that check the stability of code in extreme conditions. Lots of small errors were fixed during the invention of this system and now the overall reliability of the application is much higher. However, even such number of tests may leave something unchecked, so please feel free to report even the smallest issue, so I can fix it.

Upgrade

The third version of Box Shot 3D is a major upgrade, so it doesn’t accept the previous serial number. You need a new one to remove the watermark lines. If you purchased Box Shot 3D in 2010, the new serial number will cost you nothing. Otherwise you need to pay 50% of the full price for upgrade. If you are not ready to pay for upgrade right now, make sure that you don’t overwrite your project files with the new version, as the old one may not read those projects after that.

When you run the new version first time, it will show a window that says that your serial number is obsolete and that Box Shot 3D runs in the demo mode. It also asks about upgrade, and if you agree, it opens the browser with the upgrade page. If you are entitled to a free upgrade, you will get your new serial number immediately. Otherwise, you will be redirected to the payment processing site to purchase the upgrade.

As the old and new versions of Box Shot 3D use different serial numbers, it is not recommended to install them together. If you are going go upgrade, you’d better remove the old version first.

The future of version 2.XX

There will be no 2.14, 2.15 and so on. Bugfix releases are possible, but the most of my time is now dedicated to the third version. If you don’t want to upgrade, you may still use the second version. Don’t worry about the installer, as there is a special section in the Downloads page where you can always grab the latest build of the second version.

Notes to Mac OS X Tiger users

First of all, please drop me a line that you are exist I know that about 5% of the site visitors who use Mac, run Tiger, but it is better to ask directly. As Box Shot 3D now supports 64-bit mode and as Tiger doesn’t support binaries that support 64-bits, the Tiger version is now a separate download. You can grab it in the Download section. The main Box Shot 3D download doesn’t work on Tiger.

Comments?

Comments are always welcome. Either here, or in Twitter, or by e-mail or using the contact form. The feedback is essential, so please don’t keep your ideas within, share them and I’ll do my best to implement them in the future versions of Box Shot 3D.

Your Comments:

1.	Glenboid August 16th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
	WOW! An order will be forthcoming
2.	Burak August 16th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
	Nice improvements… A complete screenshot/list of “new” shapes would be much appreciated (in a single blog post.) Thanks!
3.	Glenboid August 16th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
	Bought and using – so far very happy, lots of little improvements make for a much better app! Brilliant!
4.	Pebowski August 16th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
	Oh, I was too quick, should have been waiting only a few days longer: bought it on December 11, 2009
5.	Sean August 16th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
	Thank you, and its well worth the $30.00 for your hard work.
6.	Claude GIROLET August 17th, 2010 at 10:18 am
	just bought the upgrade, love the new features it was worth the price to say the least, keep on the good work
7.	Aljiro [+] August 17th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
	I have bought BoxShot3D in 2010. How do I get a new serial number for the 3rd version? Thanks and Excited.
8.	Vitaly [Box Shot 3D] [+] August 17th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
	Aljiro, please read the “Upgrade” section above and contact me by e-mail in case of any problems. Thanks to all
9.	Aljiro [+] August 17th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
	“The third version of Box Shot 3D is a major upgrade, so it doesn’t accept the previous serial number.” This part got me and I forgot to read the rest. lol. Thanks.
10.	bjorn claes August 18th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
	Thanks! Just bought the upgrade.
11.	Steve [+] August 19th, 2010 at 1:15 am
	Just upgraded and really like the new features.
12.	Will [+] August 19th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
	Hello, Congratulations for this new milestone! Will be upgrading soon. One thing, thought. I would like to see a section like “tutorials” or something… Perhaps video-tutorial that are less time consuming to produce (they don’t need to be anything super-professional). I’m sure I could squeez more out of this app if I’d know how. For instance… I just LOVE the complex material feature… but I still lack the ability to produce an amaizing one… even when I know BS3D make it an easier job. I just don’t know how. That said… I great added value of this app will be a tutorial section.. Perhaps a community-driven section? All best, Will
13.	Vitaly [Box Shot 3D] [+] August 19th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
	Will, there are some plans for such section on the site. Just need to prepare everything for such serious step
14.	Mustaq [+] August 20th, 2010 at 3:02 am
	How lucky am I ? Got my spanking new Box Shot 3D III and appreciate the 50% off. Thanks
15.	bjorn claes August 23rd, 2010 at 10:17 pm
	When using a standing brochure, I cannot use an angle >170. I can remember it used to work in the previous version. I never used the full 180 or -180, but I rendered at 179 or -179 to make a good impression of a fully fold brochure. Any chance more than 4 folds will come in a future upgrade? I asked it before, but I ‘m curious (as a regulary make up to 8 folds). I don’t know about the windows version, but on my OSX version, there is plenty of room fot additional sliders.
16.	Vitaly [Box Shot 3D] [+] August 24th, 2010 at 8:47 am
	bjorn claes, this will be fixed in the next minor update. As for the number of folds, this has been already added to the todo list and is just waiting for its time.
17.	Loz August 25th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
	Great idea to have a Boxshot 3d community.. not just for tips & tricks and tutorials.. But a gallery of users efforts .. a selection of etc. Good way to showcase the potential to new users too.
18.	TJ August 26th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
	when I load a tiff for the cover of a book the preview doesn’t update and then when I click on crop the app crashes everytime. This is on Leopard 10.5.8. Got any ideas?
19.	Vitaly [Box Shot 3D] [+] August 26th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
	TJ, please send your tiff to support@boxshot3d.com
20.	Stefan August 31st, 2010 at 12:14 pm
	This prog is really, really great! But there’s one thing I don’t like, and which should please be fixed as soon as possible: the size and position of the crop-window should be saved. Also the parameter of the scaling. It stops the workflow to always resize the window and enter the scaling factor, when positioning the crop area.
21.	Vitaly [Box Shot 3D] [+] August 31st, 2010 at 12:24 pm
	Stefan, thanks for the tip. It will be implemented in version 3.1.
22.	lilianateran September 6th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
	ohh and the staples? i need some stamples
23.	Vitaly [Box Shot 3D] [+] September 10th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
	lilianateran, staples will be added in version 3.1, I think.
24.	Kemo September 13th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
	Thanks for the fair upgrade policy. Looking forward to exploring the new version!
25.	mark October 17th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
	how do you order the half price upgrade there doesnt seem to be a way to do this on website
26.	Vitaly [Box Shot 3D] [+] October 17th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
	mark, the answer is given in the post You need to install the third version on top of the registered second version. It will ask for upgrade when you run it.
27.	Roman October 18th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
	Hello, one shape-type I have missed for a longer time: What about having Stacks of DVD-or CD-Boxes, to create DVD- or CD-Sets??? Even maybe it would be a good idea to make it possible using different pics for the different books/dvds/cds/images of a stack, to give them covers with different numbers (part1, part2, part3, …)
28.	Jimmy [+] November 4th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
	How to customize the Visa Box? Or create a custom shape and use it in your great app?

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