Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
LightWave also integrates other programs
that support both Layout and Modeler. We
touch on each of these as we go through
this chapter.
•
The
Hub
conducts the flow of informa-
tion between Layout and Modeler.
•
Plug-ins
are separate programs that
attach to LightWave, “LEGO
®
-like,” and
boost the functionality of Layout and
Modeler.
•
LScript
is the scripting language
through which the end user
has complete
control over every aspect of LightWave
.
•
LWSN
is LightWave's ScreamerNet,
the
free
network renderer that allows you to
use nearly every computer in your estab-
lishment to help render your animations.
So, in its simplest sense, you model in
Modeler, and lay out the models in Layout.
Though both Modeler and Layout have
been crafted and refined over the years to
be the optimal environment for doing what
they each need to do, they are both star-
tlingly similar in many respects. Everything
else pretty much functions behind the
scenes; you could spend an entire career
with LightWave and never do more than add
plug-ins you find freely available over the
Internet (mondo thanks to the wonderful,
supportive, and blisteringly intelligent
LightWave user/support base out there).
But should you want to “pop the hood” and
“trick her out,” with LScript and Light-
Wave's open-ended functionality, there is,
quite literally, no limit to what you can do.
Modeler
Modeler's default tool/window layout fea-
tures four viewports (Top, Perspective,
Back, and Right), a collection of commands
and information readouts on the bottom of
the screen, a set
of tools on the
left-hand side of
the screen, and a
series of tabs
that offer differ-
ent sets of these
tools.
Figure 2-1: LightWave's Modeler (as seen from a screen resolution of 1024x768).
Modeler houses all the tools you need to build the objects you will animate in
Layout.
