Lightwave 2019 0 3

NewTek LightWave 3D 2019.0.2 macOS. NewTek LightWave 3D® makes it possible for anyone to become a 3D artist and animator. The software is affordable, complete, easy to learn and use and well established as one of the leading 3D systems on the market for producing beautiful photo-real renders as well as incredible anime.

1. Lightwave 2019 0 3 0
2. Lightwave 5.6
3. Lightwave 2019

Clearing Configs

If you are required to clear configs for any reason, the way to do it is to make sure LightWave is closed, including the Hub application (in your Windows taskbar or Macintosh dock). Then, navigate to:

Windows

1. How To Stop LightWave From Crashing (LightWave 3D: Layout 2019.0.3) LightWave Tutorials. Finished Project. Unsubscribe from LightWave Tutorials. Finished Project?
2. The third maintenance update for LightWave 3D® 2019, Rev 2019.0.3 is now available, adding a bunch of bug fixes to Lightwave Bridge to Unreal Engine for higher performance and stability. Lightwave 3D 2019. NewTek LightWave 3D® makes it possible for anyone to become a 3D artist and animator.
3. Extension Cache Extensions 2019.0.3 Hub 2019.0.3 Layout 2019.0.3 Modeler 2019.0.3 now when you launch anew, you can be sure everything in LightWave will be factory fresh. There may be plugin configs and color picker configs still to clear.
4. When you buy LightWave you will receive both Windows and Macintosh versions. Read more about LightWave here. $495 (USD plus TAX/VAT where applicable) Commercial Upgrade from LightWave 2019. $595 (USD plus TAX/VAT where applicable) Commercial Upgrade from previous version.

and delete

Macintosh

and delete

now when you launch anew, you can be sure everything in LightWave will be factory fresh.

There may be plugin configs and color picker configs still to clear. If you wish to remove all traces completely, delete the 2019.0 folder but be warned you will have to license your LightWave again (you can retrieve your license key from your account at http://lightwave3d.com).

Config Backup

When configs are changed now, a backup is created of existing settings before changes are enabled.

Edit Keyboard Shortcuts

(default keyboard shortcut AltF9)

We strongly suggest that you keep the default keyboard mapping assignments and make new shortcuts only to unmapped keys. (Most of the function keys are open.) Otherwise, technical support and using the documentation may become difficult.

Like the menus, keyboard shortcuts can be configured to suit your needs. To display the Configure Keys Panel, choose Edit > Edit Keyboard Shortcuts.

To assign a command to a key

1. Select a command in the left window.
2. Choose the target key in the right window. (You can hit the desired key or keystroke combo to select the key quickly.)
3. Clicking the Assign button will overwrite any existing assignment. Alternatively, you may drag the command to the right window.

To unassign a command to a key

1. Select the target key in the right window.
2. Click the Unassign button.

Finding Assignments and Commands

If you have a command selected in the left window and click Find, the command, if any, on the right will become selected. Choosing a command in the right window and clicking Find will select the matching command in the left window.

Clicking Search allows you to type in a search phrase to find a command. Search is case-sensitive and will find the first instance when first run, and can be used iteratively to find additional instances by just hitting the button again, as it retains the string until you type in a new one.

Keyboard shortcuts can be assigned to only one command. Assigning a command that is already assigned to a different key will assign it to the new key, but remove it from the old one.

Maintaining Key Mapping Sets

The Load and Save buttons let you retrieve and store key mapping sets that you develop. The Clear button clears out all assignments, so use with caution. Any available preset key mapping sets can be chosen from the Presets pop-up menu. The Window pop-up menu lets you select different menus to edit (e.g., Graph Editor), if available.

Edit Menu Layout

(default keyboard shortcut AltF10)

We strongly suggest that you keep the default menu organization intact. Otherwise, technical support and using the documentation may become involved. A better solution is to create a new menu tab and/or groups and place your frequently used tools in them.

LightWave menus are customizable. You can add, remove, group, and reorganize commands. Choose Edit > Edit Menu Layout to open the Configure Menus Panel.

In the (right) Menus window, several main sections have sub-items, which are indented to show the hierarchical relationships. Top Group contains the items that are always visible no matter which tab is selected. Main Menu items are the main tabs and related buttons for the main interface toolbar. Left, Middle, and Right Mouse Button Menu (when available) are the menus that appear when the Shift + Ctrl keys are held down along with the corresponding mouse button. There may be other menu sections defined.

In the Menus window, dots indicate commands while arrows indicate groups of commands/sub-groups beneath it. If the arrow points to the right, the group's sub-menu items are collapsed and not visible. To reveal the sub-menu items for a collapsed group, just click on its right-facing arrow. To collapse an open group, click on its downward-facing arrow.

Finding Assignments and Commands

If you have a command selected in the left window and click Find, the command, if any, on the right will become selected. Selecting a command in the right window and clicking Find will choose the matching command in the left window.

Clicking Search allows you to type in a search phrase to find a command. Search is case-sensitive and will find the first instance when first run, and can be used iteratively to find additional instances by just hitting the button again, as it retains the string until you type in a new one.

Menu Branches

Menu branches can be exported and imported allowing for rapid customization of several menu entries. To export a menu branch, right-click over the group you wish to export and choose Export Branch.

The file saved can be loaded into a different installation of LightWave using the same method - right-clicking the area in which you wish to import a menu branch and choose ImportBranch.

New to LightWave 2019 is an additional command Import and Replace Branch.

Maintaining Menu Layouts

The Load and Save buttons let you retrieve and store menu layouts that you develop. Any available preset menu layouts can be chosen from the Presets pop-up menu. The Window pop-up menu lets you select different menus to edit (e.g., Graph Editor), if available.

Edit Plugins Command

(default keyboard shortcut AltF11)

Use the Edit Plugins command to review and delete plugins that have been added. In Modeler, choose Utilities> Plugins > Edit Plugins.

To delete a plugin command

You can delete a plugin command by selecting it and clicking the Delete button. (Other commands from the plugin will continue to exist.) Click Clear to delete all plugins listed. These operations do not affect the actual files stored on your hard drives.

To rename a plugin command: You can rename a plugin command's name by selecting it, clicking the Rename button and entering a new name.

You can also add plugins on this panel. The Add Plugins and Scan Directory buttons operate the same as they do for the Add Plugins Panel, discussed earlier.

File Grouping Method

If desired, you can list the Plugin commands by their .p plugin filenames. Just select the File Grouping Method button at the bottom of the Edit Plugins Panel.

Window Config Loader

This command is a quick way to launch a window configuration that was generated by the Window Configure tool.

Scene Metadata

If your pipeline dictates that you need to use a different path structure for use with other applications, it can be awkward when you need to bring scenes back into LightWave for further editing, needing to tell LightWave where a project's images are for instance because you have them under a different path. You can now save metadata to a scene file as comments if your workflow dictates that you vary from the standard LightWave content directory structure of Images, Objects, and Scenes.

When saving out a scene file, append the content directory information as comments to the very end of the scene file.

If Use Custom Paths is left unchecked, this should be a single comment like this:

If Use Custom Paths is checked in your LightWave options Paths tab, append all of the custom paths as comments to the end of the LWS file as well:

The full list of custom paths is as follows:

Interface Color Customization

Customizing the Interface colors for Modeler and Layout is accessed through the Options panels in both applications - the Display tab in Layout and the Display Options Interface tab in Modeler. You will need to restart LightWave to see the changes you have made.

Configuration Files

For Macintosh OS X, the LightWave configuration files are stored in your ~/Library/Application Support/NewTek/2019.0 folder like so:

• Extension Cache
• Extensions 2019
• Hub 2019
• Layout 2019
• Modeler 2019

For Windows 7 and onwards, the configuration files are kept in .NewTekLightWave2019.0. They are named:

• Extension Cache-64
• LW2019-64.CFG
• LWEXT2019-64.CFG
• LWHUB2019-64.CFG
• LWM2019-64.CFG

Generally, you will not need to edit these files directly; however, you might need to remove these files if they get corrupted.

Startup Options

The following options are described for use in Windows. At the end of the list of Startup options, there is an Info box for Macintosh OS X.

In Windows, shortcuts need to be edited for both the Modeler and Layout applications where appropriate for flags to take effect.

-c for Configs

If you wish to redirect where LightWave stores the configs it creates away from the regular C:Users.NewTekLightWave folder, you can add -c to the end of your shortcut's targetline with the path chosen for the configs.

-d for Content

Layout has a -d option for designating a content directory to be used at startup. In Windows, it can be added as a startup option by editing the icon properties of the shortcut created for launching Layout and adding -d and the directory you wish to use, like so:

-p for Plugins

The -p option is for creating a different location for plugin files - useful for instance when running multiple copies of LightWave over a network with a central store of plugins.

-0 for Command IPC

Using the -0 commandline flag will not run the Hub but use an Interprocess communications system. Layout and Modeler all notify each other when a mesh file has been saved to disc, and the applications that have that file open and have not applied modifications during the session will update from the new version on disc. For example, if both Layout and Modeler have 'bob.lwo' open, Modeler has some edits applied to it, and Layout saves it transformed, Modeler will not automatically update from the disc.

If subsequently the object is saved out from Modeler, that will overwrite the changes made by Layout, and Layout will update from the save if no further changes were applied in Layout during the interim.

-i for Isolate

The ‘isolate' flag (‘-i') will completely disable all IPC mechanisms (Hub and CommandIPC), leaving the application isolated from all other product actions.

Shortcuts should be made for Layout and Modeler, with the same flags applied in both. In all cases, there is no space following the flag for the path chosen. The example below is for redirecting configs:

C:NewTekLightWave_2019.0binLayout.exe -cF:Configs

--frame-end-beep

Use this flag to play an existing sound file when a frame finishes rendering. The syntax is as follows:

--frame-end-beep={sound_file}

--anim-end-beep

Use this flag to play an existing sound file when a frame sequence finishes rendering. The syntax is as follows:

--anim-end-beep={sound_file}

--preview-end-beep

Use this flag to play an existing sound file when a preview finishes rendering. The syntax is as follows:

--preview-end-beep={sound_file}

-f for Font

Use this flag to call a system font as the typeface to use for Layout or Modeler. The syntax is as follows:

-f{font_name@font_size}

Use the filenames for the typefaces you wish to use rather than the display names, but the extension is not necessary - Stencil Std Bold should be written as stencilstd (you can leave off the .otf).

--command-port

The --command-port option enables an operating system-based communication mechanism that allows external processes to feed LightWave Command Sequence commands directly into the LightWave application. This allows real-time and continuous execution of CS commands within running LightWave programs.

The distributed LightWave product includes a Python package that works with both Python v2 and v3 that allows Python programs to utilize this mechanism.

When enabled, the command port number selected is displayed in the LightWave application's titlebar. (e.g., '--command-port=45454').

This mechanism does not function with Screamernet.

(the command-port mechanism is somewhat reminiscent of the Amiga AREXX system LightWave used to support.)

--dpiaware

Described below.

macOS Specifics

For macOS, the procedure for adding commandline arguments is more involved. Here is how to make a launch shortcut icon using AppleScript:

1. Open the /Applications/Utility/Script Editor.app application
2. Choose to create a New Document.
   Enter the following text:
   do shell script '/Applications/NewTek/LightWave_2019/Layout.app/Contents/macOS/Layout'
   (command line arguments should be added here, before the quote marks, for instance do shell script '/Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D_2019.1.2/Layout.app/Contents/MacOS/Layout -i' will set the Isolate flag.
3. In the Script Editor, use the dropdown to save the document as an Application to your Desktop.
4. Double-click the resulting application icon.

To re-edit the resulting application, drag it to the dock 'Script Editor' icon.

-r

Lastly, a joke entry for bamboozling co-workers. Enter this as an option, and watch your colleague's face as they start LightWave..

HiDPI

LightWave 2019 presents a new way of working with LightWave on screens at a resolution great than 1920 x 1080 here.

Layout Startup Command

If the LW2019-64.CFG configuration file contains a line beginning with 'StartupCommand,' Layout will try to execute the rest of the line as a command after the main interface is first opened. The command can have arguments and it can refer to a generic plug-in or script.

Default Scene at Start

If you'd like Layout to start with the same scene setup every time it's easy to achieve but you need to use a single content directory to do so (if you see the 'Would you like to change content directory?' message when you load scenes, this will probably not work for you out of the box). To create a default scene, simply set up something obviously different - change the light color to red.

Now use the Save menu option Save Scene as Default. In Layout Options (O) check Clear Scene To Default and finally restart LightWave. Now, when you start Layout, you will see that the default light color is red.

To check this is working correctly, try loading a different scene. If you get a window like this:

You will need to do more work. Your LightWave content is almost certainly arranged like so:

Content:

Project 1

Objects

Images

Scenes

Project 2

Objects

Images

Scenes

etc.

HiDPI

LightWave 2019 presents a new way of working with LightWave on screens at a resolution great than 1920 x 1080 here.

Layout Startup Command

If the LW2019-64.CFG configuration file contains a line beginning with 'StartupCommand,' Layout will try to execute the rest of the line as a command after the main interface is first opened. The command can have arguments and it can refer to a generic plug-in or script.

Default Scene at Start

If you'd like Layout to start with the same scene setup every time it's easy to achieve but you need to use a single content directory to do so (if you see the 'Would you like to change content directory?' message when you load scenes, this will probably not work for you out of the box). To create a default scene, simply set up something obviously different - change the light color to red.

Now use the Save menu option Save Scene as Default. In Layout Options (O) check Clear Scene To Default and finally restart LightWave. Now, when you start Layout, you will see that the default light color is red.

To check this is working correctly, try loading a different scene. If you get a window like this:

You will need to do more work. Your LightWave content is almost certainly arranged like so:

Content:

Project 1

Objects

Images

Scenes

Project 2

Objects

Images

Scenes

etc.

For the default scene to work reliably, you have two choices. The first is for your content to structure to look like this:

Content:

Objects

Project 1

Project 2

Images

Project 1

Project 2

Scenes

Project 1

Project 2

This is the same kind of organization (global) as the stock LightWave content if you have a look. Both this and the project-based way of managing content present their own problems - the first creates lots of file duplication, the second is difficult to separate out for sending to the farm, etc.

The second choice, if you want to keep the benefit of a default scene but are committed to the project-based content route, is to simply create a template content directory structure that you can always use, including a scene with your preferred settings. Copy this into place at the start of a project.

Customizing Layout Viewport Navigation

The mouse directions used for viewport navigation can be customized by editing the WorldNavigation entry in the LW2019-64.CFG configuration file. It has four boolean values that correspond to panning via icon and Alt key, and rotation via icon and Alt key. Zero values mean that the viewpoint moves in the same direction as the mouse, and ones mean that the world appears to move with the mouse. For example, the default in LightWave 9 is 0 1 0 1. The old 5.6 setting would be 1 1 0 0.

Customizing Camera Presets

The camera resolution presets are stored in the LW2019-64.CFG configuration file using the keyword 'ResolutionPreset.' Each preset includes a width and height, pixel aspect ratio, mask settings (left, top, width, and height), and a name that will appear in the pop-up menu. They can be modified, deleted, or added to. If no presets are found in the file, the original list is restored. See the configuration file for examples.

Customizing Image Savers for Output

The standard LightWave Image Saver list in the Output tab is long but can be reduced if certain file types are sure not to be needed. The plugins for this list can be found in the following locations, depending on operating system:

• Windows: LightWave_2019.0supportpluginsinput-output
• OSX: /Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D_2019.0/support/plugins/input-output

There are caveats with doing this:

1. A backup of the plugins should be kept. Perhaps the easiest solution is to add the unwanted filetypes to the legacy.zip in the plugins directory;
2. While this reduces the Output list it also cancels the ability for LightWave to handle removed filetypes for loading;
3. Doing this might cause problems with some distributed rendering plugins.

The LightWave History page has to be rebuilt including full-size images. Doing so will take a little time and if users wish to contribute screenshots they will be credited. Images marked with zzz or lores need replacing

This page is a compilation and an archival record of how NewTek, Inc's., LightWave 3D computer graphics software has evolved and changed interface styles, box packaging, and logo design over the course of time, now in its 27th year and 13th version.

1988 - Precursor to LightWave 3D

Before LightWave came Videoscape 3D and Aegis Modeler 3D on the Commodore Amiga. Videoscape was written by Allen Hastings and Modeler 3D by Stuart Ferguson, giving a historical basis behind the split personality of LightWave 3D. Have a look at the sticker on the Videoscape 3D box to see how things have evolved since this program was state of the art..
Of course, the Videoscape solution wasn't the only one available to NewTek when they wanted to add a 3D graphics application to the Amiga Video Toaster back in 1989 - it was almost equipped with Dr. Eric 'Juggler' Graham's Sculpt 3D..

• screens courtesy: Ernie Wright (Videoscape #3 and Modeler 3D) and Hector Moratilla (Videoscape #1 & #2)
• Videoscape box courtesy: Franck Lafage
• Modeler 3D box courtesy: Stuart Ferguson (the programmer) and Gökhan SÖNMEZ from AGF, Turkey

1990 - LightWave 3D 1.0

1990 saw the first actual release of LightWave on the Commodore Amiga-based Video Toaster. NewTek had been promising its arrival for about two years at this point, but the problem lay with the chipset for the Video Toaster itself, not LightWave. At this point in time, there were 3D programs available, but they tended to cost tens of thousands of dollars, while the whole Toaster retailed for less than $5,000. The only real competition for 3D on the Amiga at that time came in the form of Imagine.

• screens courtesy: Ernie Wright

1992 - LightWave 3D 2.0

The Video Toaster got an upgrade in 1992 and so did LightWave. Later that year NewTek released the 'LightWave 2.5 Pro' slice upgrade. This was the first version to have built in lens flares and some other 'special' goodies for the Lightwaving Toaster users.

1993 - LightWave 3D 3.0/3.1

LightWave was still locked to the Video Toaster with the VT4000 that came out this year, however a small company called Industrial Might and Logic catered to a growing number of people that wanted access to LightWave but didn't or couldn't use the Video Toaster (because they had Amiga 3000s or lived in countries that used a television system other than NTSC). IML (natch) created their own dongle (named 'LightRAVE' often referred to simply as 'RAVE') that emulated the presence of the Video Toaster card so that LightWave could be run on machines without the desktop video card.

• screens courtesy: Bernhard Bazant
• box shot courtesy: Norm Pickthall

1994 - LightWave 3D 3.5

The first official stand-alone version for the Amiga (no Video Toaster required)

• box courtesy: Gökhan SÖNMEZ
• screens courtesy: Bernhard Bazant

1995 - LightWave 3D 4.0

This was the first version ported to Windows Intel PCs and DEC Alphas.

• PC screens courtesy: Anthony Rosbottom
• Amiga screens courtesy: Bernhard Bazant

1995 - LightWave 3D 5.0

This was when NewTek really started to branch out. LightWave was available for Intel and now also for SGI, DEC Alpha, Macintosh, and in its last version for Amiga

• PC screens courtesy: Norm Pickthall
• Amiga screens courtesy: Bernhard Bazant
• box courtesy: Norm Pickthall

1997 - LightWave 3D for the VTNT

In 1997, NewTek brought out a version of the Video Toaster for the PC platform on a PCI card. Obviously, it had to come with LightWave as had previous Amiga incarnations, so here is the Video Toaster bundled version.

• screens courtesy: unknown

1997 - LightWave 3D 5.5

• screens courtesy: unknown

1998 - LightWave 3D 5.6

• screens courtesy: Deuce Bennett

1997 - Inspire 3D 1.0

Also in 97, NewTek released a cut-down version of LightWave called Inspire 3D for the PC. It offered the same ease-of-use as LightWave but was much simpler in terms of its abilities. Still, it brought many people into 3D who could then move up to Inspire's bigger and more powerful brother once they had a handle on what was needed.

• Screens courtesy: Ben Vost
• Box courtesy: Franck Lafage
• Logo courtesy: NewTek Europe

1999 - LightWave 3D 6.0

The redesign version! LightWave got a major redesign and a new element - the Hub - was introduced to synchronize files between Layout and Modeler automatically. There were numerous other changes, such as a new, user-editable menu system, the ability to have multiple layers in a single object along with the ability to keep them in sub-patch mode, rather than having to freeze when you saved out of Modeler.
First commercial application to introduce HDRI, and the first incarnation of a new render engine at 192-bit. A first implementation of Monte Carlo and Interpolated radiosity for LightWave3D.
Modeler introduced many new tools like skelegons, and upgraded many modifiers to interactive tools.

• screens courtesy: Czech LightWave Users Homepage

2000 - LightWave 3D 6.5

Because of the major redesign, more than a few people complained about the stability of LightWave in its new incarnation, but NewTek was on the case. A year after the release of 6.0 they brought out 6.5. It fixed most of the people's major concerns, but also added cloth dynamics and Motion Designer 2 - in a free upgrade!

• screens courtesy: Dean Scott

2001 - LightWave 3D 7.0

LightWave 7.0 added new radiosity methods and integrated new character animation tools: motion mixer for non-linear animation, new bone setup for faster preview, new subdivision options to speed up animation workflow. The SasLite hair and fur solution was added, along with many other additions.

• screens courtesy: Dean Scott

2002 - LightWave 3D 7.5

Another free upgrade to LightWave including such features as improved radiosity and caustics, better OpenGL performance, BVH motion capture support, Powergons (polygons with scripts attached), Bandglue and the truly well-named Magic Bevel amongst other things. 7.5 was eventually followed by 7.5b (06-Mar-03), which was not very successful and had a number of problems, and so was replaced almost immediately by 7.5c (16-May-03). This remained the cutting edge of LightWave for a time, but once LightWave 8 was released, a last update to 7.5 (7.5d on the 27-Aug-04) was released to counter problems with Apple's OpenGL implementation in OSX 10.3.
The 7.5b, c and d revisions were the first visible fruits of the new development team's labors.

• screens courtesy: Ben Vost
• box courtesy: Darkside Animation
• logo courtesy: NewTek Europe
• Update PDF
  

2004 - LightWave 3D 8.0

A long hiatus caused by the split between the original programmers and NewTek management meant that LightWave 8 had to be created by software archaeology - digging through the code in an attempt to understand it. This work paid off and resulted in the first new version in two years officially released on 30-Jun-04. For some people, LightWave 3D 8 was only a commercial plugins collection, but it was the real starting point of LightWave3D Reborn. The new team start to integrate many of their external plugins and add powerful features like: Bone Tools (a complete bone edit system), a new Scene Editor with Dopesheet (to edit keys in the timeline more comfortably) and the DopeTrack (for editing keys inline with the timeline), new rigid and soft dynamics, soft and hard links to animate the new dynamics, new OpenGL acceleration and preview, and many other small but important improvements.

• Screens courtesy: Ben Vost
• Box and logo courtesy: NewTek Europe

2004 - LightWave 3D 8.0.1

The first patch to LightWave 3D [8] released Sep-01-04.

2005 - LightWave 3D 8.2

Second free upgrade released Jan-18-05
This update included a method of making distortion-free UV maps for subdivision surfaces and was a world-first. Apart from bug fixes it also introduced PLD anti-aliasing, improvements to VIPER and IK Booster. Also included was a Linux version of Screamernet supplied as an RPM. This has not been updated since.

2005 - LightWave 3D 8.2.1

Patch for 8.2 released Mar-02-05

2005 - LightWave 3D 8.3

This was the fourth free update made available to registered users of LightWave 3D 8 on May-09-05. It offered improvements to HyperVoxels, Photoshop export and lots of other things..

• Screens courtesy: Ben Vost

2005 - LightWave 3D 8.5

Fifth free upgrade released Oct-10-05
This new update adds GLSL compatibility to LightWave's Layout section and Multishift to its modeling tools along with plenty of bug fixes and implementations of feature requests.
On the 20-Oct-05, NewTek also released a 64-bit version for Windows XP Professional xp64 edition. This allows people with 64-bit Windows-based machines the chance to access more than 2GB ram. As of writing, this version does not exist for the Mac since OSX is not a completely 64-bit OS at time of writing.

2006 - LightWave 3D 9.0

Released Jul-13-06

• box and logo courtesy: NewTek

This is the second evolution (6.0 was the first overhaul) of LightWave and the feature list is very exciting!

2007 - LightWave 3D 9.2

Released Apr-25-07

• Improvements across the renderer and shading pipeline
• Three radiosity modes: Backdrop, MonteCarlo, Final Gather
• Interpolated radiosity switch for fast radiosity solutions for any of the three modes
• Photoreal motion blur and adjustable shutter efficiency to eliminate strobing
• Photoreal depth of field
• Physically correct materials
• Much-improved Modeler OpenGL
• Layout previewing of motion blur/depth of field

2007 - LightWave 3D 9.3

Released Aug-17-07

• Point/Edge Rendering in new cameras
• Single-sided area lights
• OpenEXR image loader/saver
• Volume stacking (means an end to using reversed geometry to indicate changes of IoR)
• New subsurface scattering nodes Fast Skin and Sigma 2
• Macintosh Universal version for improved Intel-based Mac rendering (roughly 3x faster on average)

2007 - LightWave 9.3.1

Released Nov-20-07

• A maintenance update that provides improved reliability and speed enhancements to the additions made in LightWave v9.3.

(note: the Windows installer contains both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions)

2008 - LightWave 9.5

Released Aug-12-08

• Enhanced radiosity with disk-based cache and unique animated radiosity caching mode.
• FiberFX hair and fur rendering system supports combing, dynamics, raytraced fibers, radiosity-shaded fibers and modeled fiber creation.
• Much improved IK/Rigging features, Same As Item controller, improved IK stability, Pole Vector, Align to XY Plane IK goal.
• Joint bone types, easier to rig, allow correct twist along their lengths and allow for stretchy limbs.
• HDR antialiasing options in the image viewer.
• Lights are now an API allowing for third party lights to be coded with the SDK. New light types included are Dome, IES/Photometric, and Spherical/Ball lights. Area lights quality improved.
• Collada, FBX added and OBJ I/O support improved.
• Interpolated Soft Reflections/Refractions for Node-based surfacing.
• Composition Overlays for composing shots.
• EXIF metadata support for images loaded and rendered.

This version was not available for Macintosh OS X, just Windows 32- and 64-bit.

2009 - LightWave 9.6

Released Jan-19-09 Macgo blu ray player pro 3 3 11 release.

• FiberFX Cloning - Provides the ability to place multiple instances of hair on the same object
• Layout Snapping - Allows the quick connection of one item to another, saving time and additional steps
• Ray Cutoff - Enables artists to decide at what point to stop further ray bounces when rendering a scene with many reflections, refractions, and transparency, saving significant project time
• New and Improved Buffers for Export - Enables multi-pass pipeline users to output more buffers (layers) in high dynamic range, rather than be limited to 8-bpc (bits per channel), for greater flexibility
• Multi-Threaded Pixel Filters - Provides faster rendering for projects that integrate pixel filters
• Depth Buffer Normalizing - Allows 3D scene elements exported into film or video footage to automatically blend properly, even if moving relative to one another
• Open to Other Render Engines - Other rendering engines conforming to the LightWave v9.6 SDK can be used directly from within the LightWave interface
• Three New Nodes
  • Car Paint: Greatly eases the creation of a complex polished surface
  • Flake: A procedural texture based upon the flakes often seen in car paint
  • Curve: Allows the creation of complex gradients
• Drag and Drop - Allows an icon of an object or scene to be directly dropped into the Modeler or Layout window to load

2011 - LightWave 9.6.1

Released Jun-8-2011
The last release of LightWave 9 was actually publicly made available in June 2011 (although it had been available to open beta testers for a year before), long after the release of LightWave 10. It added a couple of bug fixes, but more importantly a 64-bit version for Mac owners.

2010 - LightWave CORE

Announced Feb-04-09, canceled Jun-23-11
CORE was announced to have a lot of innovative features:

• Complete rewrite, will not have all of LW9.6's features, will introduce new features replacing sets of LW9.6 features
• Internal application structure and SDK expose all features openly allowing easy future development
• Linux support. Equal support for Linux, Mac, and Windows
• Qt cross-platform GUI. Skinnable dynamically via CSS and viewport color configurations
• Complete loss of LW9 and earlier plug-in and scripting backward compatibility
• With Qt, have cross-platform plugins using the same source code. Easier Windows / Linux / Mac / 64-bit / 32-bit support, requiring only a recompile for that OS.
• Internal architecture's full exposure allows all subsystems to interact with each other, e.g. hair influenced by water simulation
• Partial LWS file compatibility specifically if the LWS uses plug-ins from LW9 and older
• SDK now a more vital component to LightWave as it's used by NewTek for actually building LightWave CORE. The previous SDK enabled 3rd party support only.
• Native Python scripting. LScript no longer supported. SWIG - allows many more language to be used to program to CORE SDK (Tcl, Perl, Guile, PHP, Java, Ruby, C#, LISP, OCaml, LUA, Modula-3, Javascript, R, Octave).
• New Collada-based file format superseding LWS and LWO
• Unified modeler and layout, if the user desires. Dockable UI, tear-off menus.
• Instancing
• History / modifier stack
• GPU awareness for on-GPU acceleration of subdivision calculation allowing radically larger numbers of OpenGL preview polygons faster
• Brush editing
• Lattice deformation
• 'Construction' viewport plane

Even with these features, what was lost was a sense of LightWave about the program and with a change of management of the development team it was decided that was needed was the use of CORE as a testbed behind closed doors to bring these new technologies to LightWave as it was already known. This led to the release of LightWave 10.

2010 - LightWave 10

Released Dec-30-2010

LightWave 10 is the first new ordinal release of LightWave since 2006. It added three major new functionalities - Colorspace management, VPR and the Virtual Studio.

• Color space management - Because LightWave operates in a linear fashion with regard to color whereas normal everyday colors displayed on a monitor are subject to the sRGB colorspace, meaning they have a Gamma of 2.2 applied, it always meant that lights had to be forced in the past, or colors tuned to match expectations. LightWave 10's colorspace management meant that it was simple to make LightWave behave in a color-managed way.

• VPR or Viewport Preview Renderer - In many LightWave users' opinions, Worley Labs FPrime was their main reason to use LightWave, but there were more and more things that FPrime couldn't show, particularly with nodes needing pre-processing, or the new radiosity schemes introduced in LightWave 9.3. LightWave 10 has introduced VPR that converts the OpenGL view normally found in a viewport to a realtime renderer.

• Virtual Studio - A system for realtime animation in the viewport using external controllers, eg. PlayStation Move cameras or the Microsoft Kinect, to move LightWave characters.

2011 - LightWave10.1

Released Jul-29-2011

2012 - LightWave 11

Released Feb-20-2012

LightWave 11 adds a lot to LightWave, making it one of the most complete new ordinal versions ever. Here are some highlights:

• Instancing - Although instancing has been available to LightWave for a long time through commercial and free plugins, this is the first time that LightWave has the ability to generate billions of polys at render time itself. Instances can be seen in OpenGL and VPR.
• Flocking - Using the simple rules that govern flocking in nature, LightWave now creates huge flocks of 'animals' (in conjunction with instancing).
• Unified Sampling - Previously in LightWave you have needed to tweak anything that uses sampling in all the places that do so. This also slowed down the render dramatically and now it has all been unified you get the concomitant speed-up in rendering as well as simpler use.
• Bullet Dynamics - World-class realtime hard-body dynamics are now in LightWave and are very easy to use - you only need tell LightWave that an object is dynamic for it to be.
• Fracture - An integral part of the dynamics system now is the ability to break stuff apart and you can now do so in Modeler and Layout.
• Virtual Studio Tools - Control Layout through 3D Connexion devices or even PlayStation Move controllers.
• Interchange Tools - Add seamless workflow between LightWave and ZBrush through GoZ or Unity.
• Shadow Catcher Node - A simple way to add an object to catch the shadows and reflections of your LightWave objects in a composite with real world elements.
• Python - The powerful scripting language has been added alongside LScript, but can directly access the SDK.

2012 - LightWave 11 SP1 (11.0.1)

Released Apr-16-12
A bug fix release with over 130 issues corrected or improved. The Unity workflow also got a significant boost with a new Applink package.

2012 - LightWave 11 SP2 (11.0.2)

Released Jul-09-12
A second bugfix release. It adds no new features, but merely corrects problems in previous releases. 78 fixes have been tracked.

2012 - LightWave 11 SP3 (11.0.3)

Released Aug-01-12
A third service pack release. The sole feature in here is a new licensing system that allows for a software license rather than using the hardware dongle that LightWave has been tied to since it was first split from the Video Toaster.

2013 - LightWave 11.5

Released Jan-31-2013
A massive free update that includes the following and more:

• Flocking - Nodal flocking - Predator/Prey behavior - Attract/Avoid meshes
• Bullet Dynamics - Deforming bodies and Forces
• Interchange After Effects interchange
• FiberFX - New UI - Bundles and Braids
• Genoma - Full rigging system
• Modeler - Line Pen - Heat Shrink - Axis Translate/Rotate/Scale - Transform - Chamfer - Place Mesh - Slice - Thicken - Straighten - Edit Edges - ABF Unwrap UVs - Select by Normal - Pick Surface - New Paste Behaviour
• Workflow Enhancements - Node Editor Probe - Curved node Connectors - Dome Light with Image - MDD Multi-Loader - DoF, Motion Blur and Refraction in VPR - Advanced Camera support in VPR - Rolling Shutter - Motion Path Frame display - Nodal Metalink - Fit Selected and Fit All
• Python - New Plugin architectures - Single Shot format

2013 - LightWave 11.6

Pre-Released July-23-2013
At SIGGRAPH in Anaheim, CA this year the LightWave Group pre-released LightWave 11.6 along with a plugin called NevronMotion for retargeting motion capture files and ChronoSculpt, a separate program for adjusting MDD, Geometry Cache or Alembic files. More details will follow on here once all three are fully released.
Released 31-Oct-2013 LightWave 11.6, ChronoSculpt and NevronMotion are released.

Features new to 11.6 include:

• 3D Display - Displays VPR or OpenGL in stereoscopic 3D on a suitably-equipped TV or monitor
• 3D Printing - New tools and loaders/savers to help with 3D printing. LightWave can now load and save STL, PLY and VRML format models, and there is a tool that checks the mesh is good to print (no single point or two points polys, etc.)
• Alembic - Support for the open scene format
• Assignments - A set of scripts to help with hierarchical operations in Layout (parenting, targeting, etc.)
• CgFX shaders - Game engine shaders for display in OpenGL
• Color Picker - Because Ken Nign now works for the LightWave Group he has brought his excellent Jovian color picker plugin into LightWave as its main picker
• Compound Nodes - Node container to simplify networks
• DPX (Digital Picture Exchange) Image Loader/Saver - Image loader/saver for a digital intermediate format used a lot in production
• Genoma Spline Control - New subrig parts to add Spline Control features to rigging
• Input Node - New permanent node (like the Surface node) that contains many things that might be needed. A necessary addition needed for Compound nodes to work
• Light Falloff clamping - Now lights can have their falloff clamped to prevent overly bright areas inside the falloff zone
• LUT Expansion - support for more color lookup tables (LUT)
• Matching Perspective to Camera or Light - you can now size up a viewpoint in the Perspective viewpoint and copy it to the camera, or add a new camera. The same applies to matching the Light View with an existing or new light
• Python Reduced Instruction Set module (PRIS) - PRIS is designed to make coding scripts for LightWave more like LScript, rather than C
• Raycast Node - A node to allow you to sit something on a horizontal surface automatically, rather than needing to do it manually. Particularly useful if the surface is irregular and animation needs to take place on it
• Spline Control - A new system using nulls, bones or other items to create a spline that can be animated itself, but also serve as a path to animate other things along

2014 - LightWave 11.6.3

Released May-01-2014
Bug fix release (licensing problems resolved)

2014 - LightWave 2015

Released Nov-24-2014
LightWave dropped the version number in favor of annual numbering. This new version features:

• VPR in multiple viewports;
• Background Importance Sampling for quicker noise-free radiosity renders;
• Bullet Constraints;
• Better I/O with FBX, Alembic and point cache file improvements;
• Genoma 2 is an advanced rigging tool that is considerably more powerful than the original Genoma built into 11.5;
• Clip mapping is at last a surface property;
• Perspective Matching for still background images to better put 3D into them;
• Quicktime is supported in 64-bit versions of Windows
• any font supported by your OS can be used in Modeler
• dozens of workflow improvements

2014 - LightWave 2015.1

Released Dec-22-2014
Update 1 brings stability and bug fixes

2015 - LightWave 2015.2

Released Feb-23-2015
Update 2 brings stability, bug fixes and also these additions:

• OSX Support Full-screen mode for Layout and Modeler
• Re-purposed 'Enter License' tool
• Small update to Transform Gizmo's rotate handle colors to match the color of the axis around which the rotation takes place.
• Support import of Mixamo rigs (https://www.mixamo.com/)
• Added 'Invert Color' option to the Image Node.
• Add User Preference For Double-Click deselecting in Modeler
• Made the NEW COMMAND 'Drop/Restore selection' the default over Drop Selection in the menus and key configurations.

2015 - LightWave 2015.3

Released Aug-15-2015

• Several consolidations of functionality
• Improvements to stability

2018 - LightWave 2018.0

Released January-01-2018

• Physically Based Rendering System
• Render and Light Buffers
• New Volumetric Engine
• OpenVDB Support
• New Lighting Architecture
• Virtual Reality Camera
• Layout Modifier Stack
• New Cel Shader
• Layout Parametric Shapes
• Noise Reduction Filter
• UDIM Support
• Preset Shelf Improvements
• New Network Rendering System
• Online wiki-based Documentation

2018 - LightWave 2018.0.1

Released January-12-2018

71 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2018 - LightWave 2018.0.2

Released March-01-2018

Over 200 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2018 - LightWave 2018.0.3

Released March-29-2018

63 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2018 - LightWave 2018.0.4

Released May-01-2018

29 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2018 - LightWave 2018.0.5

Released July-02-2018

21 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2018 - LightWave 2018.0.6

Released Aug-03-2018

Six bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2018 - LightWave 2018.0.7

Released Oct-31-2018

5 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2019 - LightWave 2019.0

Released Jan-22-2019

• Unreal Bridge - Dynamic interchange between LightWave and the Unreal Engine
• MetaMorphic - Animated sculpting plugin for Layout
• OpenVDB Conversion - Live editing of VDB <> mesh conversion
• Undo - Improved system-wide undo support
• Image Caching - Massively reduces memory use for images in-scene at render time
• Material Components - Pull apart materials to create your own look
• Edge and Patina Shaders - Creative shaders for more realism
• Smoothing Groups - Industry-standard smoothing is added to LightWave
• UV Tools - Updated UV tools
• SunSky - new backdrop shader and light type for simulating realistic and fantastic skies
• HiDPI Support - Adaptive UI layout for new monitor resolutions
• Menu Improvements - Searching, mousewheel and keyboard navigation dramatically increase workflow speed
• Updated documentation - Responsive wiki should now display correctly on all supports

2019 - LightWave 2019.0.1

Released January-31-2019

20 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2019 - LightWave 2019.0.2

Yummy ftp pro 1 11 9 download free. Released February-28-2019

54 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2019 - LightWave 2019.0.3

Released March-13-2019

23 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2019 - LightWave 2019.1

Released July-15-2019

Lightwave 2019 0 3 0

New features

• FBX Improvements
  

• Hide all OpenGL non-renderable elements and gizmos
  

• Unreal Bridge Improvements
  

Lightwave 5.6

An incredible 282bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2019 - LightWave 2019.1.1

Released August-05-2019

12 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2019 - LightWave 2019.1.2

Released August-07-2019

3 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2019 - LightWave 2019.1.3

Released September-13-2019

8 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

2019 - LightWave 2019.1.4

Released September-25-2019

7 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

Lightwave 2019

2019 - LightWave 2019.1.5

Released January-15-2020

3 bugfixes and feature requests implemented

About this history

Copyright 2002, Dean A. Scott, chrusion | FX, all rights reserved. Updated wiki version and editing by Ben Vost, NewTek 2005-2020