Favorite New Lightwave Features and News.

Hey everybody!

I am bored while Storm is simulating liquids..  It's looking really good by the way!  So I thought I would share with you my favorite new features of Lightwave.  Some of this will get technical so only watch if you are isolating yourself from a plague and have nothing better to do.

Tone Mapping

This feature has been requested by many Lightwavers for a loooong time.  This video is 30 minutes long, but it does a great job at explaining what tone mapping is and it's not too dry.  A fairly enjoyable and educational watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9AT7H4GGrA

Rotational axis reordering

This is my favorite of the new LW2020 features.  This video does a nice visual job of explaining things:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi1hrWhAcf0

This is going to be a big time saver when it comes to rigging skeletons.  I don't want to show you the crazy lengths I go to to avoid the problems of not having reorderable rotation axis.  It's just...so embarassing.

Re-Written Global Illumination

People are posting in the Lightwave forums that this is dramatically faster in certain scenes.  In other kinds of scenes, not much different at all.  But weilding these controls is an art form unto itsself.  The short version is it will likely speed up rendering in most cases.

This video is VERY dry and technical.  So only watch it if you are really bored.  It specifically shows off the new Lightwave 2020 GI features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKK3Vy_s1Fw

Lightwave 2019 features

I am still trucking with Lightwave 2018.  I did not upgrade to LW2019, so my LW2020 upgrade will be like two upgrades in one.  I did the same thing when I went from LW9 to LW11.  It was my own personal 9/11 and it was fantastic!  (ahem) Anyway....

Pop-Up Requestors (LW2019)

This is in my opinion the best new feature from LW2019.  To assign an item as a target or something, a giant list opens up that I gotta scroll through.  Hundreds of items and it's so difficult to find what I want.  Typically I will rename the item I want so it stands out from the rest.  Such as "UpperArm_R-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-="  I just look for the item with -=-=-=-= added so I can spot it easier.  Then after the assignment is done I re-rename it, removing the dashes.  With the new pop-up requestor I have a search field I can just type "ArmUpper" and this will isolate what I am looking for.  Huge time and sanity saver!

Material Components and Fresnel Functions (LW2019)

These tools let you break down materials into their individual components for even more control and wild effects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfLAaJRR1mE

There are a couple more videos in the same channel that deal with "Material Components" if you want to see them.  The link above is the funkiest of the bunch.

And finally for an honorable mention...

Random Walk Subsurface Scattering

Lightwave 2020 has a new "Random Walk Subsurface Scattering" feature.  It's really pretty.  It would be among my favorites, but I hear it is incredibly slow to render and therefore impractical for animations.  Darnit!  Maybe in the future this will get more optimized and become usable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diGm_C6BKW8

And finally for some news!  I cannot afford to buy Lightwave 2020 right now.  I've been saving up for it, but I was expecting the price to be the same amount I paid for my last upgrade.  It is $100 more. :(  So I cannot get it until Star Wars Day; May the 4th.

This means after I am done simulating these here liquids, I will have a couple of days to wait before I get LW2020.  If I am going to render with LW2020 (and I should for several of the reasons listed above), I have a bit down time.  I will likely start sculpting a new character.  I will try to set up some streaming sessions if some of you want to watch while I sculpt away in ZBrush.  I want to make a red-head with a bit of freckles.  So that should be fun.

Any way if you made it to the end of this message and watched all of the videos, I will put a gold star on your forehead the next time we meet (while supplies last).  Take care and stay healthy!!!!

EDIT!  I thought I only had $400 socked away but it turns out I had $500!  I just got the Lightwave 2020 upgrade!  Whoohoo!