LightWave v9

Using the Surface Editor (Understanding Basic Textures) (LightWave v9) Part 6

Working with the Preset Shelf You may have noticed that the simple scene you’ve been working with is composed of more than just one surface. Two of the surfaces, Ball_2 and Ball_3, are the same because you copied and pasted the settings. Instead of redoing all the surface parameters, or constantly copying and pasting with […]

Introduction of the Node Editor (Understanding Basic Textures) (LightWave v9)

New to LightWave v9 is the Node Editor. You could, if you chose, use the Node Editor in place of the Surface Editor 100% of the time. That said, the Node Editor isn’t really meant to completely replace the Surface Editor. There are times when set up a quick surface with the Surface Editor as […]

Working with Lights (Lighting) (LightWave v9)

Light is everything. That’s what they say, right? A picture is worth a thousand words? Ever heard that one? Well, no matter what the adage, working in 3D animation requires you to wear many hats. You’re a draftsman, a 3D modeler, a producer, a painter, and even a gaffer. A gaffer is the person on […]

Adding Lights (Lighting) (LightWave v9)

In most cases, you’re going to use more than one single distant light in your 3D scenes. This section shows you how to add lights. Follow these simple steps to add lights to LightWave Layout to get a feel for how they work. And remember, unless you are working with Auto Key enabled, you’ll need […]

Global Illumination Options (Lighting) (LightWave v9)

Have you ever stopped to look around you? Take your face out of this topic or away from the computer for a moment, and just look around. Whether you’re at your desk, in your living room, or outside, everything has global lighting properties. You can control these global properties—global light intensity, global lens flare intensity, […]

Applying Lights in LightWave (Lighting) Part 1

You will encounter many types of lighting situations when creating your animation masterpiece. This next section steps you through a common lighting situation that you can use for character animation tests, product shots, or logo scenes. Simulating Studio Lighting One of the cool things about LightWave is that you don’t have to be a numbers […]

Applying Lights in LightWave (Lighting) Part 2

Enhanced Studio Lighting Now that you have some basic lighting set up, you need to create some drama and depth. You have a set and lights, but no textures, and thus no life. Exercise 4.3 shows you how to adjust your lighting situation using ambient light and textures to enhance the lighting environment. Exercise 4.3 […]

Using Area Lights (Lighting) (LightWave v9)

Distant lights and point lights produce hard-edged, ray-traced shadows. Ray-traced shadows take more time to calculate, which of course means more time to render. Spotlights also can produce ray-traced shadows, but with spotlights you have the option to use shadow maps, which take less time to render than ray-traced shadows. Softer than ray-traced shadows, shadow […]

The Material Connection (Lighting) (LightWave v9)

Earlier in the topic we mentioned that textures play a key role in how your lighting affects your objects. This couldn’t be more true for a scene such as the one you’ve been working on here. This next small project will take your teacup scene to the final render by enhancing the entire look with […]

Focus on Cameras (3D Cameras) (LightWave v9) Part 1

Almost everyone has a camera, whether it’s a webcam, a handy point-and-shoot, an old 35mm, a camera phone, or even a disposable from the grocery store. Chances are, you have experience taking pictures, and that will serve you well when considering one of the most overlooked features in 3D software—the camera. When filmmakers create motion […]

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