LightWave 3D
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LightWave 3D Editor's Review
When you talk about 3D modeling and animation apps, the default choice of most people would be behemoths like Maya or 3ds Max. However, there are a few affordable alternatives to these feature laden tools that are quite capable of catering to such needs as well. LightWave 3D by Newtek is one such contender and the latest release comes with a number of new features and functionality upgrades. Changes are incorporated in its core architecture as well. The enhanced preview renderer, particle engine and rigid body dynamics make creating stunning and realistic animations simpler. One notable feature of Lightwave is that it is compatible with many of its industry rivals. Transferring mesh from the app and importing models from apps like Zbrush can be done in a jiffy. Therefore, veteran animators and rigging artists can use it as a supplementary tool in their animation toolbox without making changes in workflow.
The software runs on Windows Vista and later editions, in both 32 and 64 bit variants. While 2 GB system RAM will be required for running Lightwave 3D, you should preferably use a system with twice that amount of memory for better results. Similarly, users with AMD or Nvidia GPU with 1 GB RAM or more memory will benefit. The app itself does not require much disk space but if you want to install entire content library, it will gobble up a large amount. The app now comes with greater stability and integrated multi threading support.
The LightWave interface has been tweaked in this release to an extent. You are likely to spot the changes after using the app for some time. For example, this release comes with an enhanced and more intuitive node editor. Now you can add several nodes at one time and look for a specific node in many ways. Revamped node tree list is easier to use too. The enhanced node editor lets you disconnect or connect nodes when you zoom out the view, which is a big time saver.
LightWave 3D’s virtual camera feature is quite handy. It lets users film digital scenes with motion-sensing peripherals like PlayStation Move. The nice touch is that motion sensor can be used as a camera lens. After the camera track is captured, you may tweak the animation within the app without requiring to record again. Seasoned users will also appreciate inclusion of Python support as the app was dependant only on Lscript for a long time. Language support has also been extended to C, C++ and C#. It is quite obvious LightWave team paid heed to user requests while making this version.
To make a realistic 3D animation or scene, you have to be careful with lighting. LightWave has radiosity lighting which aids in making photorealistic images through usage of bouncing lights. It also supports light effects like reflection, refraction and complex light ripples caused by glass or water.
Some other enhancements made to Lightwave 3D has made working with the app a nice experience. The Graph Editor now looks sleeker and it can be panned and zoomed easily. It is also good that now you get the Morph Mixer under Deform tab. Similarly, render options are now placed in a single panel. Apart from enhancing existing feature and tools in Lightwave 3D, Newtek has also incorporated a handful of new tools that ease workflow. One such instance is GoZ, an interchange tool that enables users to interchange data between LightWave and ZBrush.
LightWave 3D’s new integrated instancing feature works like charm making the need to rely on third party tools nearly redundant. The app also includes a new feature called Flocking which is useful for making realistic motions on groups of animals and insects like bats, fish etc. It will be helpful for making more realistic crowd animations without over stressing either the CPU or GPU. The tried and tested Bullet dynamics now comes with LightWave. When it is used in alliance with the app’s new Fracture tool, intricate animations of materials exploding and shattering can be made easily.
While the enhancements do make LightWave a worthy choice and suitable alternative to its more popular and pricier rivals, some sections still need updates. The Modeler has been left nearly untouched and this is one area where the app gets outshined by several rival apps. The lack of NURBS modeling is a glitch which forces users to use subdivision techniques and polygons. An area where Newtek has made notable progress is documentation. LightWave comes with enough help section and video tutorials for beginners in 3D.
After lagging behind competitors for some time, LightWave finally catches up on Shadow Catcher Modes. It lets users render CG objects as well as animations with realistic lighting to match footage. The new FiberFX is meant for users who need to deal with fur and hair. However, with it you can also create real looking feathers and grass etc.
Positive Points:
• Tweaked interface, superb functionality enhancements.
• Supports multi threading, less crashes.
• Enhanced hair creation tool.
• Greater interpretability with other 3D apps.
Negative Points:
• Modeling needs enhancement, no NURBS support.
• Needs Beefy hardware.
Conclusion:
In this release, Newtek has equipped LightWave 3D with a handful of new features and refined existing ones- both of which deserve applauds. The level of interoperability with other apps has been enhanced, which will be appreciated by veteran users and studio professionals. Support for multi threading and improved stability of the app helps speed up workflow even for large and complex projects. The inclusion of Python scripting and Flocking are also thoughtful. However, the documentation can be better and Newtek needs to focus on making changes in modeling segment. Otherwise, LightWave 3D can be lapped up by casual and professional users alike.
Rating: 3.5/5
LightWave 3D Publisher's Description
LightWave is the backbone of efficient 3D pipelines. Groundbreaking. Innovative. Proprietary. Whether you work alone or play well with others, LightWave is integrative and immersive.
LightWave gives 3D artists advancements that deliver robust stereoscopic camera rig and VPR functionality. With LightWave, you can easily create your own customized graphics and amazing animations. LightWave is super fast and ultra flexible.
Features:
Instancing:
· Instancing lets you create mass duplication of objects in a scene, with very little overhead. Previously, you would simply run out of memory. Now, with the ability to have huge 'virtual' polygon counts, artists can populate their scenes with incredible detail, and yet retain reasonable render times.
· While instances can be thought of as clones of the original source objects, they don't need to look identical. They can be randomly scaled, positioned, rotated and even surfaced completely different from the source. This means you can use instancing for any number of uses.
Flocking:
· Use the Flock controller, which calculates crowd avoidance of neighbors, target alignment, and cohesive attractions, to create realistic natural motions, with ease.These are the three elements of any flocking system.
Fracture:
· This new Modeler tool was designed specifically to compliment Bullet dynamics in LightWave Layout. It allows the artist to pre-fracture objects ready for destruction.
· There are a number of different methods and associated settings to fine tune the look of the pieces as they are broken up. You also have the ability to create an Endomorph of the resulting fracture, which means you can animate the explosion, with or without using dynamics.
· Weight maps can also be applied to the source object to control the density of where the fracturing takes place, making Fracture a flexible tool for creating breaking objects in LightWave.
Bullet Dynamics:
· Bullet is a fast, production proven, open source physics engine that is used in many high profile, effects-driven films and real-time game engines. Bullet features 3D rigid body dynamics originally created by Erwin Coumans.
· LightWave features the Bullet dynamics engine directly in Layout so that it can be used with the new Fracture tool in Modeler to create compelling physics-based animation. Things like collapsing buildings, explosions, and even natural placement of items in a random pattern, would otherwise be difficult to do by hand.
Virtual Studio Tools:
· The Virtual Studio Tools first made an appearance in LightWave 10, as a way of using third party controllers to animate items in your scene.
Interchange Tools:
· The GoZ implementation in LightWave Layout and Modeler is robust and fully featured. It allows you to exchange model data, along with all the associated texture maps. The Modeler implementation even lets you use ZBrush for sculpting Endomorphs for things like facial morphs.
Render Buffer Enhancements:
· Saving and viewing the various buffers produced by the render engine to make up an image, is now more powerful and much easier in LightWave.
Python Scripting:
· Python is an industry standard programming language prevalent in most CG pipelines. The inclusion of Python in LightWave allows even further integration of LightWave into studio pipelines, as those familiar with Python can quickly begin writing tools for LightWave.
FiberFX Enhancements:
· FiberFX now has a new volume rendering mode. 'Stroke' is the original shading method for volumetric rendering. When set to 'Solid,' the user can apply shading and material like any normal surface. This lets you create very complex looking fibers, easily, and perform parametric cylinder rendering of the fibers.
Free download from Shareware Connection - A complete modeling, rendering and animation system
Version: 11.0 | Size: 239616 KB | Platform: WinOther
Released Date: 20-10-2012 | Rating: 5 | Title: LightWave 3D
Author Url: http://www.newtek.com
Program Info Url: http://www.newtek.com
Download Url: http://c3421253.r53.cf0.rackcdn.com/LightWave_11_0_Install_Win_32.zip
LightWave 3D 64-bit - A complete modeling, rendering and animation system
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