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| LightWave [6] screen shot (click for larger view). |
"Known
for its strong position in the broadcast, film and video sectors, NewTek's
release of LightWave [6] also includes several innovative technologies
for character modeling and animation," said Wanda Meloni,
principal analyst at M2 Research of Oakland, CA. "In addition, LightWave
[6] supports radiosity and caustics inside an expanded render pipeline,
as well as significant features for game developers. This is timely
given NewTek's recent alliances with key game technology companies such
as RenderWare and UView."
LightWave, a recognized leader in the film and television industry,
provides the most complete feature set of any 3D animation tool available.
LightWave [6] offers breakthrough rendering technologies, advanced animation
tools, and a new modeling paradigm as well as improved workflow, better
control over texturing, customizable user interface and extensive improvements
to real-time views. LightWave [6] is the only 3D software system to
run on Macintosh, Windows NT, Alpha and Silicon Graphics systems.
"During
the last week I have been irresistibly drawn to my computer. I am now
officially addicted to LightWave [6], especially the new modeler. I
have never had so much fun modeling in my life," said Bob Cazzell,
systems manager for REZN8 Hollywood. "'I'm sitting here working with
all the new tools, and the improved old ones, just building, building,
building. Building new models, loading old ones (testing legacy stuff
you know) and starting to rebuild them because I get all kinds of new
ideas of what I can do with the new modeler and literally giggling with
the results! I'm sure we all enjoy what we do, but for me, it's been
awhile since I've had SO MUCH fun doing it. And for me that's what it's
all about!"
LightWave [6] introduces a number of new rendering technologies, including
the following:
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radiosity and caustics rendering for the calculation of indirect light as it bounces from diffuse, reflective and refractive surfaces, which allows LightWave [6] to deliver the nuances of lighting better than any other 3D package on the market;
-
a 160-bit IEEE floating-point rendering pipeline assures ultimate color depth and accuracy adding exceptional richness and realism to the imagery; the engine dynamically scales from 160 bits to 320 bits depending on the requirements of the scene;
-
HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imagery) allows scenes to be illuminated entirely from original photographs. This allows for an easier lighting method that provides a much higher level of photorealism. HDRI also utilizes internal data generated from high intensity 3D lights and even effects such as caustic light reflection and refraction;
-
sub-pixel displacement rendering for the creation of realistic volumetric surfaces such as water, clouds and gels with incredible precision and speed;
-
advanced HyperVoxels for direct ray tracing of volumetric surfaces, optimizations that make HyperVoxel rendering 400% faster;
-
Soft Body Dynamics engine (Motion Designer for LightWave {6}) simulates animation effects for cloth, hair and other soft body systems. Users can select from a library of materials such as silk, rubber or jelly or create their own physically accurate material. Natural forces including gravity, wind, and turbulence can be added to the simulation.
-
a volumetric lighting model optimized for a more than 300% boost in speed with full texture support for innovative new volumetric lighting effects and;
-
VIPER (Versatile Interactive Preview Renderer) provides users with an interactive preview of key elements of a scene that traditionally require time intensive full scene renders such as procedural texture changes, volumetric lights and HyperVoxels editing. VIPER can be used to interactively preview single frames or even create preview movies of selected elements.
"LightWave
is simply one of the best 3D animation products on the market, and 99%
of the projects we do at Digital Muse are done using LightWave,"
comments John Gross, founder and co-owner of Digital Muse, one
of Hollywood's leading visual effects facilities. "LightWave's ease
of use and the ability for a new artist to learn it quickly is very
important in a production environment like ours. The quality of output
from LightWave's renderer is remarkable and very important as we work
on a number of high-profile movie trailers, television episodes, commercials
and feature films."
Character Animations and Game Development Advancements
Unique to LightWave
[6] is a new breed of character animation tools called IntelligEntities.
IntelligEntities consist of Skelegons, Endomorphs and Multi-meshes,
which allow objects to carry data well beyond simple geometry. Skelegons
are a new type of polygons that appear like traditional 3D bones. These
Skelegons are saved as part of the object so that a character always
has an intact skeleton. With Skelegons, as modifications are made to
a character the bone structure is automatically updated. Skelegons provide
an enormous arsenal of tools for creating bone structures as well as
fantastic control and maintenance of characters.
Endomorphs allow the change of expression, mood, or action by training
a single model. The use of Endomorphs provides for the simple creation
of lip sync and complex morphing scenarios. Multi-meshes embed multiple
layers of geometry into a single object. With Multi-meshes, hierarchical
objects are saved as a single, complete model with all of the defined
relationship and pivot data included. LightWave [6] introduces a hybrid
Inverse/Forward Kinematics engine that improves on what is already the
industry's most flexible Inverse Kinematics (IK) engine. This hybrid
system combines the strengths of Inverse Kinematics for making sweeping
changes to a number of joints with the precision and direct control
of Forward Kinematics. Free-form and locked IK goals allow users to
have goal items that are locked to the length of the chain or that use
a rubberband-style goal that can float in space away from the chain
itself.
In addition to introducing Endomorphs, Skelegons and Multi-meshes, LightWave
[6] enables vertex grouping for bone assignments, resulting in greater
control of anatomically precise characters. For realistic motion of
any kind, but for characters in particular, it is important to have
precise control of the motion curve. With LightWave [6] the curve editor
has been completely rewritten, providing flexibility and a robust feature
set. Curves can now be created with multiple tangent types including
Bezier, Hermite, TCB, Linear and Stepped. These tangent types can actually
co-exist on a single curve. Because each curve type has specific benefits,
it is tremendously useful for fine tuning motions. The graph editor
provides a rich set of tools for manipulating curves of any type and
allows interactive copy and paste between those curves.
Price and Availability
LightWave
[6] for NT is now available for a suggested retail price of $2,495.
Customers can purchase LightWave [6] through authorized NewTek dealers.
Registered users of LightWave 3D 5.6 can upgrade to LightWave [6] for
$495; upgrades are available through authorized NewTek dealers. Customers
can find retail dealers selling LightWave by visiting the NewTek Web
site (www.newtek.com) or by calling 1-800-862-7837.
About NewTek
Headquartered in
San Antonio, NewTek is a leading provider of full-featured video editing,
animation and special effects tools. The company's products are used
worldwide on projects ranging from home video to feature film. Recent
film and television projects include Shakespeare In Love, Bond
19 The World Is Not Enough, "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers,"
"Star Trek: Voyager," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "The X-Files," Back
Street Boys "Larger than Life", "Ally McBeal" and "Family Law."
Source: NewTek
Web Site: http://www.newtek.com