# What’s new in Cheetah 3D 7? > **Note:** this chapter lists the changes in Cheetah 3D 7; retitle it (e.g. “Changes in Cheetah 3D 7”) or add a chapter on Cheetah 3D 8. > **Note:** Cheetah 3D 8.1.1 also has native Apple Silicon support, a Metal-based editor view, USDZ/STL/glTF file support, and Falcon features such as Filmic tone mapping, reflective caustics, MIS for the HDRI and Sky lights, Shadow softness, and IES light profiles (manual: Render › Falcon; Objects › Light, HDRI Light, Sky Light), not yet covered here. The headline feature of C3D7 is the new renderer, **Falcon**, but there are many important new user interface refinements and features under the hood. ### User Interface Changes * New look for Yosemite (e.g. “flat” icons) * Support for “dark mode” in High Sierra and Mojave. > **Note:** macOS dark mode arrived in Mojave; High Sierra only had a dark menu bar and Dock. * Uses default system font * Smaller download size (about 27MB!) * **Vastly improved multi-object selection behavior** * Edit properties of multiple objects (e.g. lights) at once * Assign materials to multiple objects at once * Support for drag and drop of colors to/from properties * Shortcuts (in preferences) divided into categories and much easier to find * Many new shortcuts added * Improved Object Browser * Objects can be renamed inline (using return key) * **Object _display_, _render_, and other properties can be displayed and toggled directly** * Layer Manager * Layer property added to mode tag > **Note:** needs checking in Cheetah 3D 8.1.1: the Layer Manager and the Mode tag’s Layer property (the 8.1.1 Mode tag manual page doesn’t list it). * Layers can be displayed/edited directly in object manager * Improved Properties Editor * Too many tags problem solved * Context menu added to tag selector (allows you to copy/paste/delete tags) * Double-clicking a texture property with an image selected opens it in the default editor for documents of that type * Improved Take Manager * **Takes can be duplicated, merged, split, reversed** * Reorder takes via drag and drop * All operations support undo/redo * Improved Render Manager * More information provided for each render * Context menu allows you to find scene that produced render ### Editor View * Reorganized and extended context menus * Context menus work in all editing modes * Integrated camera picker and view controls into 3D view   _If you’ve ever fiddled with material transparency or wireframe display modes so you could see one mesh while working on another, you will love the new “Ghosted” display option._ * New “ghosted” display mode for objects * Display Filters * Support for multi-touch gestures * Create Polygon has new **intersect scene** setting   * **Vertex Soft Selection Support** * Works with all selection modes * Falloff is displayed graphically * Alt+scroll wheel adjusts falloff radius * Polygon Brush * Only works in vertex mode > **Note:** requires updating for Cheetah 3D 8.1.1: the Brush tool now works in point, edge, polygon, and object mode (manual: Tools › Polygon › Brush). * Powerful falloff control * Allows **basic sculpting** * Can **paint vertex colors** ### UV Editor View * New view controls (consistent with 3D view controls) * Support for multi-touch gestures ### Rendering * **New “Falcon” rendering engine** — Physical “uni-directional path tracer” (think: more realistic, requires less tweaking) * **Exposure control for renderer allows rapid global lighting changes**. * Falcon supports **motion blur**. * Max render resolution increased to 8k. * Max baking resolution increased. * **G-Buffer support** in both renderers. ### Reorganization of Render Controls * HDR, Fog are now objects * Radiosity, Caustics, DOF, and some camera properties are now renderer settings ### Improved Booleans * New boolean polygon tool * New boolean modifier * **Booleans support ngons** (outputs aren’t triangulated) * **Boolean tool maintains material assignments** ### New Merge Tool > **Note:** needs checking in Cheetah 3D 8.1.1: is this File › Merge (merging another file into the scene)? The 8.1.1 manual’s Merge tool (Tools › Merge) combines selected objects into one. * Replaces import children * Supports multi-object selections, hierarchy merging, parametric objects, folders, * Retains material assignments ### Misc. New Features * **Vertex color support**. * Simplify tool integrates polygon reduction of overly complex (e.g. scanned) meshes. * Improved EXR support. * Import/Export of G-Buffers. * Improved Collada (.dae) support. * **Movie texture support**. * JPEG2000 texture support. * Texture filtering property in Image node. * Two new fractal types (Tetrahedron and Octahedron). * “Developer mode” (in preferences) provides shortcuts helpful for users writing scripts. * Many new Javascript APIs ### Under the Hood * Support for multiple renderers. * Falcon uses a new “BRDF” material system. * No more support for 32-bit (e.g. first generation Intel Macs). * Greater memory efficiency. * Performance enhancements throughout. - [The Falcon Renderer](/3.1_The_Falcon_Renderer/)