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MillimeterNewTek Ships New LightWave 3D Version 9
Jul 14, 2006 8:00 AM
NewTek, a manufacturer of industry-leading 3D animation and video products, announced the availability of the latest release of LightWave 3D version 9.0, the next generation of the Emmy-winning 3D application. The new release is the first in a series of major rewrites and restructuring of LightWave 3D's core with the addition of comprehensive new features such as a node-based materials editor, optically correct cameras, adaptive pixel subdivision, Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces, sub-surface scattering, and vast render speed improvements.
"LightWave version 9.0 changes the value proposition for 3D software—we significantly improved LightWave's core strengths of incredible power and amazing speed with this release. When you consider this along with the entire LightWave feature set, NewTek brings an outstanding value to the market," says Jay Roth, president, NewTek 3D division. "The fantastic work that our development team has accomplished under-the-hood provides a foundation for the implementation of innovative new capabilities faster and more effectively as we build the future. Throughout the LightWave version 9.0 development cycle, users will see the capabilities of the software further extend…and quite dramatically."
The most noticeable changes for version 9.0 are the addition of a node-based materials system that adds new shading models to LightWave, such as Oren-Nayar, anisotropic, and sub-surface scattering; the greatly improved rendering speed for today's high-demand scenes; and the enhancement of subdivision surfaces in Modeler and Layout, including Adaptive Pixel Subdivision, which gives the user a variety of capabilities for film-quality displacement mapping, normal mapping (including ZBrush support), and level-of-detail control at render time. LightWave now has arguably the most comprehensive toolset for matching real camera lenses, an addition that will greatly enhance the ability of visual effects artists to match 3D elements to live footage.
Among the changes that contribute to enhanced workflow in Layout are faster OpenGL performance and additional OpenGL hardware shader support, building on the initial implementation in version 8.5. For many scenes this provides a very accurate preview of the look of the final image or animation in realtime, without the need to create test renders. The GUI has been enhanced to allow far more user configurability than in the past. Users can adapt the look to fit their needs and preferences to provide the best workflow for the ways they use LightWave.
"LightWave has always been a very easy tool to learn and use, with super-fast modeling and outstanding lighting and rendering capabilities," says Nicholas Boughen of Rainmaker Animation and Visual Effects. "With LightWave version 9.0, NewTek has pushed the envelope beyond anything I've seen in a single upgrade before. The new node-based materials editor makes shading virtually unlimited. Camera tools allow you to recreate any camera in the world and many cameras that can't exist. APS exceeds sub-pixel displacement and now that modeling tools are migrating into Layout, modeling tasks in LightWave will be virtually unlimited. The render engine is much faster and more capable than ever. And you still get 999 render nodes for free, making LightWave the greatest value by an order of magnitude. No wonder so many studios render using LightWave."
For more information, visit www.newtek.com.
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