What's new in 9.3 PDF.pdf

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LightWave 9.3 1

LightWave v9.3 What’s New Guide

(Includes updates from v9.2)



LightWave 92



LightWave 9.3 3

Table of ContentsModeler – 4

Create Rows– 4

Untangle– 5

Spin Edge– 5

New Selection Opt ions– 6

Display Options Panel – 6

Layout Tab– 6

GL Tab–

6Toggle Background Display– 7

Viewport Display– 7

Layout – 8

Camera Panel– 8

Real Lens Camera– 8

Shiftcamera– 9

Antialiasing– 9

Sampling Pattern– 9

Blue Noise– 9

Fixed– 9Classic– 9Adaptive Sampling– 10

*Edge/Point Rendering– 10

Motion Blur – 11Photoreal Motion Blur – 11DoF/Motion Blur Viewport Mode•– 12

Global Illumination– 13

Final Gather Type– 13 New Settings for Global Illumination Modes– 13

Ray Trace Occlusion– 14

The Limited Region Bounding Box– 15

Dynamics– 15Particles– 15Hypervoxels– 15

Volumetrics Panel– 15

General Tab– 15

*Unseen By Radioisty– 15

*Anchor– 16

*Single-sided Area Lights– 16

Close/Save Window– 16

Replace with Object Layer/Load from Layer– 17

Scene Editor– 19

Surface Editor – 20

*Volume Stacking– 20Compatibility Menu– 20

Node Editor– 20

Shaders>Subsurface Scattering– 20Kappa II– 20Occlusion II– 23

Material Nodes– 25Conductor– 25Dielectric– 28Delta– 31*Fast Skin– 34Make Material– 36

Material Mixer– 37Standard– 38Switch– 38Sigma– 39*Sigma2– 42Simple Skin– 45

Image Editor– 49*OpenEXR– 49

Presets Panel– 49

*Render Status Panel– 50

*-Indicates features introduced in v9.3.



LightWave 94

Modeler

Create Rows

Creates a row of polygons based on the first row of selected points

and the last selected point. The order of selected points on the

first row does not affect the tool.

The first row of points is selected then the last point. The first row

determines the number of polygons created. The first and last

point selected determine the edge of the first polygon.

Here, the last point selected was at a different angle.

Multiple rows can be selected. Here, all points on the original

grid were selected before the last point.



LightWave 9.3 5

Untangle

When a polygon is selected, this tool will make it circular. The

more sides the polygon has, the closer to a perfect circle it will become.

.

Spin Edge

When an edge is selected, this tool will spin the edge and

connect each end of the edge to the next adjacent point.



LightWave 96

New Selection Options

Sel Entire Surface: Selects all the polygons making up the

surfaces of the polygons that are currently selected.

Sel Entire Part: Selects all the polygons making up the parts of

the polygons that are currently selected.

Select Path: Selects a shortest path (there can be multiple)

between two elements. The selected elements can be of any type

(vertex, edge, polygon).

Select Outline Points: Selects the outer points of a selected setof polygons.

Select Outline Edges: Selects the outer edges of a selected set of

polygons.

Edge Selection

Loop Expand: Expands an edge selection along an edge loop.

Loop Contract: Shrinks an edge selection along an edge loop.

Display Options Panel

Layout Tab

Show Origin

This option will show the 0 axis in the viewports. For the

perspective view, only the X and Z axis are shown.

GL Tab

Texture Resolution determines the display resolution of imagesused. Lower settings will update faster and use fewer systemresources.

Shading Method

OpenGL Multi- Texturing

De- /Activates Multi-texturing – multiple textures layers per

polygon in OpenGL.

Depending on the set tings that you activate (see below), thefollowing combinations of texture layers are possible:

A. Two color-layers with one diffuse-layer, one luminosity-layer and one reflection map (5 textures/polygon).

B. One color-layer with one transparency-layer and one reflectionmap (3 textures/polygon).

Currently the Multitexturing is made to work with graphics-cardswith at least two texture memory units.

GLSL HW Shading

GLSL HW Shading (OpenGL Hardware Shading) is now amongthe selections in the Display Options panel. Support for theOpenGL 2.0 hardware shader technology in newer video cards

has been added to Layout to provide very close approximations of render functions in the viewport displays. Light falloff, surface

blending, gradients, and many procedurals can now be displayedin the OpenGL viewports in Layout when GLSL HW Shading isturned on.



LightWave 9.3 7

Geometry Acceleration

Determines how the graphics card displays OpenGL. Streamingrenders the mesh immediately to screen, using the lowest amount

of memory at the cost of speed. Buffered(VBO) will attempt tostore the geometry in graphics card memory, allowing for thehighest speed, at the cost of memory. In cases where the meshor shading changes with every f rame no caching is possible, afallback to the Streaming method will result, for example withanimated meshes and reflection maps. Smooth shaded geometrywill benefit the most from the Buffered(VBO) mode. If the meshis buffered in graphics card memory the performance you will getas much performance as your graphics card can give you.

Mipmap

Mipmapping is similar to what is used in today’s games to avoidgraininess of textures in a distance or at a flat angle. Basicallylower- res versions of the texture are generated in realtime and

blended in. This feature is supported in hardware by most of today’s graphics cards. This feature also works if Mutitextur ingis turned off. Please note however that due to the nature of thisfiltering method, low-resolution textures may appear a bit blurry.

Color Channel

De- /Activates the display of textures in the Color Channel if Multi-texturing is on.

Diffuse Channel

De- /Activates the display of textures in the Diffuse Channel if

Multi-texturing is on.

Transparency Channel

De- /Activates the display of textures in the TransparencyChannel if Multi-texturing is on.

Luminosity Channel

De- /Activates the display of textures in the Luminosity Channelif Multi-texturing is on.

Toggle Background Display

A new command for turning on/off the background image

display. Currently, this command must be added either as a menu

option or a keyboard shortcut.

Viewport Display

The viewport fix for Vista and ATI will change the behavior on

all platforms: when the user click-and-drags the viewport center

frame, rather than trying to update the viewport frames and

contents, the user will get a crosshair and can drag that to the

location of their choice. On mouse-up the viewports will thenredraw.



LightWave 98

Layout

Camera Panel

Real Lens Camera

The Real Lens Camera Setting in the Camera Propert ies Panel

will simulate a physical camera lens.

Zoom Factor Menu

The zoom factor drop down menu allows you to set a zoom factor

equivalent to a real world camera lens. It has four different types

of zoom factor for you to choose from, but LightWave defaults

to a zoom factor of 3.2, equal to a 24 mm lens. LightWave usersthat are familiar with real world camera equipment may find that

using the Lens Focal Length type on the drop down menu is the

easiest to use. Those who are solely used to LightWave’s way of

doing things may be more comfortable using the Zoom Factor

type. You can also use the Horizontal and Vertical FOV (Field

of View) settings. These set the degree of angle of view.

Camera and Lens Menus

The first filter (top-left) will select the manufacturer of the

camera.The second (top-right) filter will select the camera body.

The third (bot tom-right) filter will select the lens type.

Note: I f the fi rst two filters are left at the defau lt

“All” selection, the Lens filter will show all lens

types.

Irradiance falloff simulates the darkening towards the boundary

of the image, much like a real camera. What is happening on atechnical level is the brightness of a pixel is reduced as a function

of the angle between the ray and the film plane.

The brightness is proportional to the cosine of the angle between

the film plane normal and the ray direction, taken to some power

given by the falloff value. So a falloff of 0 effectively disables it

as the brightness wil l always be 1. Higher falloff values make the

brightness drop off sharper and faster.

NOTE: The Global Camera now has its own

custom setting that can peacefully co-exist

with the standard Custom setting for any active

camera. This causes the “Resolution” pop-up to display

“Global Custom” now whenever the Global Camera resolution

settings are altered from something standard. The Camera

Properties “Resolution” pop-up will also show this same

description when “Use Global” is enabled and the resolutionsettings of the Global Camera have been edited to something

non-standard.



LightWave 9.3 9

Shiftcamera

The Shiftcamera is a tilt/shift type of camera capable of 2-point

perspective. views, popular for exter ior render ings of bulding

designs. It works the same as the Perspective camera, but removes

the vertical perspective from the view. If part of the OpenGL

preview is cut off, change the size of the grid size with Fixed Near

Clip turned off.

Note: The camera must be kept hor izontal, do

not bank the camera, as unexpected results may

occur in a render.

Antialiasing

Antialiasing in the Advanced Cameras has been changed. You

can now input any number of antialiasing levels or use the slider

arrow with a left-click and drag.

Using any of the Advanced Cameras, Antialiasing will also

occur in one pass for all levels, instead of one pass for each level.

If you are using the Perspective Camera, for example, with an AA

level of 9 will render in one pass, while using the Classic Camerawith a PLD-9 level will render in 9 passes.

The advantage of a single pass in the Advanced Cameras is that

the renderer does not have to reconstruct the geometry data for

each AA level. Multi-pass rendering is required with the Classic

Camera.

The Reconstruction Filter works the new camera modes as it

has in previous versions of LightWave with one exception. If you set the antialiasing samples to 1 and set the Reconstruction

Filter to any mode other than Classic, you will get the old PLD-1

antialiasing. This works best with the Fixed Sampling Pattern.

Sampling Pattern

There are three choices for how the antialiasing samples are

arranged within a pixel. These are selected from the Sampling

Pattern menu. Blue Noise generates a semi-random sample

pattern and is best used when you are using a large number of

samples (16 or more) or Adaptive Sampling is enabled. The

Fixed pattern generates samples on a fixed grid. This mode works

best with fewer samples or when the image contains straight

edges. There is a limit of 64 fixed samples. If you select Fixed

sampling and more than 64 samples, the additional samples are

generated with Blue Noise. Since Blue Noise is semi-random, it

does not produce Moré patterns when there are thin parallel lines

close to each other.

Blue Noise

Blue Noise is a randomized sampling pattern. For a given pixel,

Blue Noise will sample a semi-random point on the grid for a ray.

The random point will be a minimal distance away from each

other random sampling point. The sampling continues until the

difference between two points are within a certain th reshold or

the maximum number of samples has been reached. A higher

antialiasing setting will produce a finer g rid for sampling,

providing smoother ant ialiasing.

Fixed

Fixed sampling takes ray information from the center of the

grid. As more information is gathered from the g rid, the aliasing

produced is reduced.

Classic

The classic sampling pattern is based on a grid pattern.

Adaptive Sampling

The Adaptive Sampling has been changed considerably. When

you select the Adaptive Sampling option, the image will be

rendered in multiple passes. The first pass will render with the



LightWave 910

number of antialiasing samples you have selected. Each pass

after that doubles the number of samples. For example, if the

antialiasing is set to 2, the adaptive passes will render 2, 2, 4, 8,

16 and so on. Only the pixels that exceed adaptive Threshold

will receive additional sampling during each pass. The adaptive

sampling passes will stop when all of the pixels are within the

adaptive Threshold. Because the number of samples increases

each adaptive pass, later passes may take longer to render than

earlier ones. For most images, it is best to set the antialiasing

samples to 1 when adaptive sampling is enabled. An adaptive

Threshold of 0.1 is good for draft quality work and 0.01 would

produce production quality antial iasing.

How the Adaptive Sampling mode works:

Adaptive Sampling works by rendering multiple passes and

comparing each pixel to its neigbors and to the current pixel

in the previous pass. The Threshold value is used to determine

which pixels need additional samples. When a pixel is within the

Threshold of its neighbors or the same pixel from the previous

pass, it is considered to be done. Since the neighbor pixels canchange on each pass, it is quite possible that a pixel that was once

considered to be done may need additional sampling in later

adaptive passes. Each Adaptive Sampling pass doubles the total

number of samples. The Adaptive Sampling stops rendering

passes when all the pixels are done or the maximum number of

passes is reached.

The Antialiasing value works with the Adaptive Sampling as

follows:

In the first pass of the Adaptive Sampling, the number of

samples rendered is equal to the Antialiasing level (level 0 =

1 sample). The second adaptive pass will render this number

of samples again. The third adaptive pass will double the total

number of samples again and so on. Although raising the

Antialiasing will cause the first adaptive pass to render slower,

the pixels will converge (become done) faster so the total

rendering time may not increase all that much.

In most scenes that use Adaptive Sampling, setting the

Antialising level to 0 will produce the desired results. Its possible

that the intial level of adaptive sampling could miss tiny bright

features (highlights for example). This could create temporal

aliasing (flashing dots) in your animation. To prevent this, you

can increase the Antialiasing level (try 4 or 6) and sti ll keep the

benefits of Adaptive Sampling.

The number of adaptive passes you see is determined by two

factors. First, the maximum number of passes is set with the

adaptive tolerance. If the Tolerance is 0.1, for example, the

maximum number of passes will be 5. Second, the adaptive

passes can stop early if they detect that no further work needs

to be done. That is all the pixels have converged to the desired

quality.

Oversampling is similar to the Enhanced modes for the Classic

camera, where you oversample the pixel. the value will go from

0(no oversampling) to 1(sample current pixel and surroundings).

Noise Reduction and PLD-n Work Around

Some features, such as Noise Reduction, do not work the same in

the new antialiasing as they did in earlier versions of LightWave.

There is a simple work around for this problem. You can cause thenew antialiasing to work more like classic antialiasing by sett ing

the Antialiasing to 1 and sett ing the desired antialiasing level in

the Motion Blur Passes. You must also select Classic Motion Blur,

set the Blur Length to 0 (assuming you don’t want motion blur)

and disable Adaptive Sampling. If you also set the Reconstruction

Filter to Box (or any other mode) instead of Classic and select the

Fixed Sampling Pattern, you will get the old PLD-n antialiasing.

There is currently no way to access the Enhanced antialiasingstyle with the new antialiasing. We are aware of th is limitation

and are considering dif ferent options for implementing it.

Edge/Point Rendering

The Advanced Cameras are now able to render points and lines.



LightWave 9.3 11

Motion Blur

All of the Motion Blur modes have additional options.

The Blur Length sets the time that the simulated camera shutter

will be open during a frame. 100% would mean that the shutter is

open for the entire frame.50% would mean that the shutter is open

for half the frame and is a more typical setting. Increasing thisvalue increases the length of the motion blur streaks. It is possible

to enter values larger than 1.0 if you wish to capture more than

one frame worth of action.

In addition to the Classic and Dither motion blur, there is also

a new Photoreal Motion Blur mode. When this blur mode is

selected the motion of objects, lights and the camera wil l appear

within a single motion blur pass.

The quality of the streaks is determined by the antialiasing

settings. For best results, enable the Adaptive Sampling option

and set your desired quality with the adaptive Threshold value.

Set the Antialiasing samples to a fairly low number. Antialiasing

1 will be fastest and should work for most scenes. If there are

very long motion blur streaks in the image, you may need to

increase the Antialiasing to 2 or 4 in order to get rid of all the

gaps.

Photoreal Motion Blur

Instead of rendering a new pass for each motion blur sample,

Photoreal Motion Blur allows for multiple samples within each

render pass.

Note: Photoreal Blu r will not work with the

Classic Camera. You must use one of the

Advanced Cameras, such as the Perspective

Camera.

The Motion Blur Passes sets how many sub-frames will berendered. Each sub frame will be anti-aliased with the settings

described above. These sub-frames are blended together to

produce the final image. This is the same way the the classic

motion blur has worked in earlier versions of LightWave with the

addition that each sub-frame can now be anti-aliased.

Shutter Efficiency determines the amount of time, per frame, the

shutter will be open. The Shutter Efficiency is limited to a range

of 0.5 to 1.0. A value of 100% means the shutter is open 100% of the frame time, so the light exposure is equal for the entire frame,

closing instantly at the beginning and end of each frame. A value

of 50% means the shutter does not open fully until midway of the

frame, so the beginning and end of the light exposure are darker.

This produces a more real istic but shorter looking motion blur

streak.

If your scene contains object deformations, you should use

multiple Motion Blur Passes when using Photoreal Motion Blur.

This will save you a lot of rendering time and produce more

precise motion blur streaks.

Note: Photoreal Motion Blur captures the blur

from the start of the frame until the aperture

is closed. This is exactly the opposite of how

LightWave captured the blur in the past with what is now

called Classic Blur, which was to calculate the blur before the

current frame.



LightWave 912

Classic Motion Blur

Dithered Motion Blur

Hint: If you do not have any motion happening

after the last frame you are rendering, and are expecting

motion blur, it will not happen. You must have some motion

after the last rendered frame to have motion blur, even if those

frames are not rendered.

Photoreal Motion Blur

Alpha of Classic Blur Alpha of Photoreal Blur

DoF/Motion Blur Viewport Mode

A new feature has been added to viewport menus to preview

Motion Blur. It functions like the Shift F9 option, but is always

on when activated. The number of preview passes is controlled in

the Preferences Panel. You must use the Camera View to use the

Motion Blur preview. The DoF/MBlur preview is activated in the

Viewport Toolbar menu.



LightWave 9.3 13

Global Illumination

An updated radiosity model is now used for all modes.

Previously, the model used was dome shaped, made from a globe

pattern. The model is still a hemisphere, however it now uses a

jittered sampling pattern.

Final Gather Type

Final Gather calculates the rays cast from the illuminated points

on a surface, from which a hemisphere created with a specific

radius and calculates the direct and indirect illumination.

Final Gather stores shaded samples in world space but only for

secondary rays. Final Gather only shades the surface if there

are no other Final Gather samples near the point that was it

(within the Minimum Evaluation Spacing and Tolerance).

When the Final Gather does shade the point, it also adds it to

the Final Gather samples so that if a point near it gets hit again,

it won’t need to be re-shaded. This is why Final Gather is faster

than Monte Carlo but takes more memory. Final Gather can

be slower than Monte Carlo or even run out of memory if the

Minimum Evaluation Spacing is too small.

Note: A ny direct ional i lluminat ion, including

illumination from behind partially transparent

surface, is not included in the radiosity solution

for Final Gather. Final Gather only includes direct diffuse

illumination. Any other type of illumination will not work

correctly with Final Gather, as it creates a lot of shading noise.

You should use Monte Carlo for all directional illumination

(reflections, refractions, transparency, etc.)

New Settings for Global Illumination Modes

All radiosity types have had an Interpolated mode added as an

option. Interpolated only works with the primary rays (surfaces

seen directly from the camera). It can use either Monte Carlo or

Final Gather rays to generate a radiosity illumination value atthe point hit. It generates a hemisphere of these rays, which are

evenly distributed but randomized to some extent. The distance

between the Interpolated samples is also controlled with the

Minimum Evaluation Spacing and Tolerance.

The Directional Rays option defaults to on in existing and new

scenes. When this option is enabled, the radiosity will include

illumination from directional sources such as reflections,

refractions, transparency and fog. When the option is disabled,the only illumination will come from non-directional sources

such as diffuse.

Cache Radiosity saves radiosity data for subsequent render

passes and f rames, which can significantly reduce rendering time.

The results can be inaccurate if objects or lights are animated,

but this option works particularly well with scenes like a walk-

through in which only the camera moves.

The purpose of Backdrop Transparency is to disabletransparency calculation, including clip maps, for backdropradiosity rays. Backdrop radiosity is supposed to be a fastand simple form of global illumination. Having it do a lot of transparency calculations makes the image slightly higher quality

but if you want higher quality you will probably be using oneof the other modes anyway. This option is only available for Backdrop type radiosity.

Intensity determines the overall amount of radiosity, with adefault of 100%.

Rays Per Evaluation represents the number of sides andsegments of the projection hemisphere (as when you model a



LightWave 914

ball), which determine the number of radiosity rays sent out for evaluation. As you might expect, the higher the density, the moreaccurate, but the longer rendering will take.

Indirect Bounces determines the number of times an indirectray from a light source on a surface will be calculated. Up to 24

bounces are available.

Tolerance can be set f rom 0 to 1, but the default is .3. When

Tolerance is greater than zero, LightWave tries to save rendering

time by interpolating between stored values and doing a full-

radiosity evaluation only when needed. This works if the indirect

lighting on a surface varies smoothly and gradually, which is

normally the case.

Hint: Tolerance = 0 means don’t use the pixel size limit. Just use the MES as before.Tolerance >0 means use the pixel size limit (even

0.00001 should work if LightWave lets you enter a number that small). To set the MPS (Mimimum Pixel Size), internallythe math is: tolerance * 8 + 2. So you get a range of 2 - 10 for the tolerance range of 0.00001 to 1.

Minimum Evaluation Spacing sets how close at a minimum thehemispheres can be. The maximum is 100 times this number. Thelower the setting, the greater the radiosity accuracy, but the longer it would take to render. The default setting is 20mm.

Note: If you have your Minimum EvaluationSpacing set too small, the preprocess of Interpolated can be slower than Final Gather.

Try making the Minimum Evaluation Spacing larger. Also, if the tolerance for Interpolated is set too low the same thing canhappen (although that should not be as much of a problem nowthat it has a minimum setting of 0.2).

Note: Ray Recursion is the upper limit on thenumber of Indirect Bounces you are allowed.For example, if you have Ray Recursion set to 1

and Indirect Bounces set to 8, only one radiosity bounce will be calculated. However, if you have Ray Recrustion set to 8and Indirect Bounces set to 4, you will still get 4 bounces of radiosity.

A Volumetric Radiosity checkbox has been added to the GlobalIllumnation Tab in the Render Globals Panel. VolumetricRadiosity was previously added in the Edit Menu Layout Panel.

Also, a Use Ambient checkbox has been added. When this optionis selected, the ambient light is added to the background color when computing radiosity. This allows the ambient light to beoccluded. You can illuminate your scenes with just ambient lightnow if you wish. The ambient color will not affect the background

color in your rendered images.

Ray Trace Occlusion

Allows you to enable occlusion when the ray recursion level

is reached. If the ray is occluded, the background will not be

seen by the ray. This should work for all reflection, refraction,

transparency and dissolve rays regardless of their origin

(LightWave, plug-ins or Node Editor). Rays can be partially

occuded when they pass through partially transparent or

dissolved surfaces. Occlusion also considers clip maps. Ray Trace

Occlusion will save users from having to create reflection masks

to remove the background from areas where it should be blocked by other objects.



LightWave 9.3 15

The Limited Region Bounding Box

The Limited Region Bounding Box has been updated to have

handles. They can be enabled/disabled in the Preferences Panel.

The handles are represented as small rectangles. For more

information on Limited Region, see the Layout volume of the

documentation.

Dynamics

Particles

The display of particles in the OpenGl windows can now be

turned ON/OFF in the Par ticle Tab of the Particle Property

Window.

Hypervoxels

The way Hypervoxel sprites are calculated has changed. They

now work as you would expect by the values as entered. 100%means 100% and not 50%. The texture amplitude is now only

applied if there is a hypertextu re. 100% amplitude is full contrast

not 50% contrast as before. The amplitude is also applied in

a more logical fashion and clipped to 0 to prevent negative

values. This means that if you apply a texture map to your

sprite, it will appear at 100% intensity as you would expect if

the luminosity and density are 100%. All of this will change the

look of Hypervoxel sprites considerably. Please note that there

is an ambient color that is applied to sprites. This can only beset in the Advanced shading tab for Volume Hypervoxels. It will

make sprites a bit br ighter than you would expect but it is being

calculated correctly and can be turned off.

Volumetrics Panel

Fixed Near Clip Distance: When checked this will determine

the clipping distance of volumentrics.

General Tab

Popup Positioning

Center On Selected: this is the method where the selected item

is always centered on the popup button. This can cause the menu

to be partly t runcated if it falls par tly outside of the screen, which

means that the user may have to scroll through the menu to get at

the desired item.

Keep All On Screen: this is the method which ensures that the

whole popup menu is always shown on screen. This may require

the menu to be moved so that the selected item is no longer

centred on the popup button.

Thumbnail Review

When this is checked and the Render Scene (F10) function is

running, a series of thumbnails will appear in the Render Status

Panel, showing the last several renders in the sequence..



LightWave 916

Unseen By Radioisty

Found in the Object Properties panel, if this is checked the object

will not be used for Radiosity calculations.

Anchor

Anchor is a Motion plug-in which sticks an object to another

object via UV Maps.

After IK: Calculates motion after the IK calculation

Mesh: The object which will be sticky.

UV Map: The UV Map which will be sticky. The UV Map is

placed in the preview window

Place on Mesh: Places the object on the sticky mesh.

Align with Mesh: When checked, the object will ignore rotation

changes on itself and align to the sticky objects rotation.

Undo Parent Scaling: If it is parented to another object, theselected object will ignore the scaling of the parent object.

Image: Loads an image into the preview window

Preview Window: Use the cross hair to place the object, this is

where it will stick based on the objects pivot point.

Zoom: Zooms in/out on crosshair in UV/Image view.

Single-sided Area Lights

Area Lights now have a toggle in the Global Renders Panel

Render tab to become single-sided. The icon for Area Lights will

update and indicate if the area light is single or double-sided. The

switch toggles all area lights in the scene.



LightWave 9.3 17

Close/Save Window

Show Changes Only shows only items that have had changesapplied in the work session.

Scene File Version will save the file in the version selected. Theversion 6.0 covers versions 6.0 through 9.0.

Save All Changes will save all changes made in a session.

Items shows the items in a scene. Clicking on the arrow willexpand or collapse the menu tree.

Mod shows which items have been changed.

Save State has different save options, which are available byright-clicking on the Save State section.

Scene files: Do not save, Save, Save As

Object files: Do not save, Save, Save As, Incremental

Files is the file path where the items will be saved. Double

clicking there will open a save options window.

Save will save based on the options chosen above.

Exit will exit without saving.

Save and Exit will both save based on the options above and alsoexit Layout.

Cancel will close this window without performing any of the

above operations.



LightWave 918

Replace with Object Layer/Load from Layer

The Replace with Object Layer and Load from Layer functions

have been updated.

When activated, Layout will scan the object file for information,

including layer number and layer name, if one exists. In the load

menu, the name and number of each layer will be listed.

Li htW 9 3



LightWave 9.3 19

Scene Editor

Re-Parenting: Once some items are highlighted, use the mouse to

drag and drop them onto an existing object, bone, light, or camera

item to change the parent of the highlighted items. The mouse‘drop’ point can also be below the desired parent item at the same

indentation level of that parent. Visual markers appear in both

cases. The visual aids are brightest when all the highlighted items

are appropriate for the reparent operation and darkest when none

are appropriate. As an example, trying to reparent a bone from

it’s owner object to another object is an inappropriate reparent

operation. Reparenting can only be performed when the item

view is in ‘hierarchy display mode’.

The above image shows reparenting the highlighted

items to ‘Light’

Re-ordering: It is possible to change the internal storage sequenceof lights, cameras, objects, and bones when a ‘Sequence’ sortmodes is active. The sort modes are changed by mouse clickingon the item view’s item column. The mouse is used to dragand drop a highlighted selection between existing items. It isimportant to note that the sequence is implicitly defined as: allobjects (for each object, all bones in that object) followed byall lights followed by all cameras. As such, it is not possible

to reposition an object between two lights, for example. Thehorizontal mouse position is important in determining where toactually reorder items. A visual aid shows the desired insertion

point, even if that insertion point is not valid for the highlighteditems.

The above image shows inserting the highlighted items

between ‘Null (1)’ and ‘Null (4)’

Of important note is that the instance part of the name (the “(2)”

in “Null (2)” for example) can change when saving and reloading

the scene. This is because the instance value assignment is based

on the item sequence at during certain item updates internal to

Layout. Instance identification is not part of a scene reference to

an item. To best ensure item name display consistency, each item

name should be unique.

LightWave 920



LightWave 920

Surface Editor

Volume Stacking

Surfaces with single-sided surfaces will now be treated as a solid

mass, as in “no air inside”. Double-sided surfaces will be treated

as hollow, infinitely-thin shells. This will be true of all SSS and

refractive surfaces from now on.

This means that if you have a model of a shot glass for example,

and the surface is double sided, it will in fact mean that the glass

is not a volume, but an empty shell with an infinitely thin “crust”.

Trying to render double sided surfaces as volumes with thickness

will be incorrect.

Compatibility Menu

Scenes created before LightWave v9.0 had Surface Editor features

which did not work as intended. The features have been updated.

The Compatibility menu allows you to use older scenes created before LightWave v9.2 and match those scenes rendered in older

versions of LightWave. The Compatability menu is found in the

Advanced Tab of the Surface Editor.

Node Editor

Shaders>Subsurface Scattering

Kappa II

This nodes’ output is intended to be connected to the Diffuse

Shading input of the Surface destination node. Other uses may

be possible but are not documented and may have unexpected

results.

It has the advantage of speed over the “real” SSS model calledOmega by the same creator and often looks just as good.Additionally it’s easier to set up and does not require raytracing

be enabled, Double Sided turned on, nor need a layer of Air conversion polygons be present in the model to work its magic.

Kappa II actually works best and was designed to operate withray traced shadows turned ON.

The SSS-like results can be dramatically pleasing when soft back-lighting is applied, such as that f rom an Area Light onthe opposite side of the object away from the viewer when theBackward sampling Mode is selected in the Edit Panel for this

node.

LightWave 9 3 21



LightWave 9.3 21

Inputs

Forward Color (type: color):

Can receive colors and patterns from other nodes in the

network. Users may also specify a color using the controls

found in the Edit Panel for this node.

Specifies the color used for the diffuse translucent channel.

Backward Color (type: color):

Can receive colors and patterns from other nodes in thenetwork. Users may also specify a color using the controls



Range (type: scalar):

Is the maximum range of the sampling or the maximum

distance at which samples are considered from the spot

being evaluated.

Can receive patterns or numerical values from other nodes

in the network. This value can additionally be specified

by user input by entering values into the Edit Panel of this

node.

Forward Amount (type: scalar):

Scales the result of the effect which is the output, You can

think of this as scaling the amount of SSS that is being

applied to the surface.


in the network. This value can additionally be specified by user input by entering values into the Edit Panel of this

node.

Backward Amount (type: scalar):

Scales the result of the effect which is the output, You can

think of this as scaling the amount of SSS that is being

applied to the surface.




node.

Samples (type: integer):

Can receive numerical inputs from other nodes in the

network. Additionally, controls offered in the Edit Panel for

this node may be used to specify th is value.

Sampling is the number of directions the shading model

examines the surface from in order to calculate the shading

value of each spot on the surface under evaluation.

These readings or “Samples” are taken from positions ona hemispherical lattice and it is the number of longitudinaland latitudinal sections of this hemisphere that you aredefining when you select one of the Sample preset valuesfrom the Samples pull down menu. It is for this reasonthat there are two numbers in each of the possible Sampleselections.

It’s quite easy to understand if you imagine one half of anunsmoothed (faceted) default ball object in modeler. The

first number defines the number of longitudinal stripsand the second number defines the number of latitudinalsections where each facet (or “face”) formed by their intersection defines one of the directions from which thespot is evaluated. You could visualize a sample size of 1x4for example, as a bottomless pyramid centered over theevaluation spot protruding straight out from the surfacenormal - 1 segment high and containing 4 sides.

Higher values will sample the shading from more directionsand produce smoother more accurate shading.

Incoming values higher that 15 will be set to 15. Incomingvalues lower than 0 will be set to 0.

LightWave 922



LightWave 922

Normal (type: vector):

Normal maps connected to this input will replace

the normals that this shader applies shading to in an

individually exclusive manner f rom other shading models.This means that more than one set of normals can be

utilized by any shaders exclusively or shared between any

of the various shaders and/or the global normals for an

individual surface.

The per-surface global normals are defined by either the

interpolated geometry itself or by whatever is connected to

the Normal input on the Surface destination node.

By using a different set of normals either from different

normal maps or from any of various nodes that may offer

normal outputs themselves, it becomes possible to create

truly layered surface shading and texturing.

Can receive input from other vector type outputs that define

surface normal information. Usually these outputs contain

the word “Normal” in the output labels.

Outputs

Color (type: color):

Outputs three channel color information in R, G, B format,

evaluated on a per spot basis.

Typically this output is connected to the Diffuse Shadinginput of the Surface destination node. However, it may also

be used within a network when using this shading model

for other purposes or when mixing several diffuse shading

models together.

Edit Panel

Here the Radiosity check box is not offered as a node connectionin the Workspace area. When checked this shading model willaccept properties from the radiosity illumination system.

Unchecked, radiosity calculations will not be applied to th is

shading model as it is applied to the object surface being edited.This can be used to omit both entire surfaces or per channelsurface att ributes from radiosity calculations thus offering morediversity in the rendered output as well as reducing the timeneeded to calculate the surface in scenes where radiosity is used.

Mode determines whether sampling occurs toward the viewer (Forward) or away from the viewer (Backward). You canremember which one to use by their names. Basically ForwardMode is used for when light is entering the material from the

front - meaning from a similar direction as the viewer. BackwardMode is suitable for when light is entering from behind the object.Positioning of all light types matters when setting the Forward or Backward Mode types.

Forward scattering is classically associated with Jade and similar materials. Backward scattering is useful and more predominatein clouds and such.

For a realistic human head, for example, probably both scatteringModes would be needed but with different colors and values.For example Forward scattering with a skin tone coloring anda smaller Range for the skin shading and a reddish coloredBackward scattering with deeper or larger, Range for the blood

and flesh properties of the model.

LightWave 9.3 23



g

Occlusion II

Occlusion or “ambient occlusion” is a shading method used

to help add realism by taking into account attenuation of light

caused by obstructive geometry.

Local shading methods like Lambertian shading or the

OrenNayar model do not take into account such global

information; by contrast ambient occlusion is a global method

even though it is a very crude approximation to full global

illumination, considering only a visibility function and cosine

application.

The appearance achieved by ambient occlusion is similar to the

way an object appears on an overcast day.

This shader requires that Ray Trace Shadows be turned on in theRender Globals Render tab.

It was intended to be used as input to a wide variety of connections within any given network. For example as directinput to any number of channels (connections) on the Surfacedestination node, as input to the Opacity connection of any

of the 2D or 3D Texture nodes or even as input to another Shaders’ properties. It’s use as intended, is limited only by your imagination with the few simple rules that apply to dissimilar

connection types.

Edit Panel

Samples



this node may be used to specify th is value.




These readings or “Samples” are taken from positions on

a hemispherical lattice and it is the number of longitudinal

and latitudinal sections of this hemisphere that you are

defining when you select one of the Sample preset valuesfrom the Samples pull down menu. It is for this reason

that there are two numbers in each of the possible Sample

selections.

It’s quite easy to understand if you imagine one half of an

unsmoothed (faceted) default ball object in modeler. The

first number defines the number of longitudinal strips

and the second number defines the number of latitudinal

sections where each facet (or “face”) formed by their intersection defines one of the directions from which the

spot is evaluated. You could visualize a sample size of 1x4

for example, as a bottomless pyramid centered over the

LightWave 924



g

evaluation spot protruding straight out from the surface

normal - 1 segment high and containing 4 sides.

Higher values will sample the shading from more directions

and produce smoother more accurate shading.

Incoming values higher that 15 will be set to 15. Incoming

values lower than 0 will be set to 0.

Mode

Mode is a feature exclusive to this nodes Edit Panel . Please

see the explanation for these items in the chapter that covers

texturing with the Surface Editor.

Max

Requires that the Mode be set to Ranged in the Edit Panel

for this node. When Ranged Mode is selected evaluation

sample lengths are limited to the specified Max value.

Occlusion shading works by firing a set of rays from thesurface spot being evaluated. If a ray hits any other surface

in the scene that ray is evaluated as occluded. In Ranged

mode the ray will automatically be set to a non-occluded

status after it has traveled the length specified as the Max

limit.

Spread

The overall cone angle of the sampling rays.

Heading

The rotation angle of the map for the spherical mapping

mode, and also for the light probe mode.

Pitch

The pitch rotation angle of the map, but is only applied for

the light probe mode.

LightWave 9.3 25



Material Nodes

The Material nodes combine features of existing nodes into a

more convenient and easier to use node system. The Material

nodes duplicate specific surfaces, but can still access the power of the node system. Several types of material nodes are available.

Conductor

Appropriate for simulating metallic surface finishes accurately.

The appropriate values for various conductors (metals) can be

obtained from published data in handbooks of optical constants.

Edit Panel

Basic Tab

Color

Outputs three channel color information in R, G, B format,evaluated on a per spot basis.

Specularity

Defines the amount of specularity that is applied to thesurface by this node.

Can receive patterns or numerical values from other nodesin the network. This value can additionally be specified


node.

Roughness


by user input by entering values into the Edit Panel of thisnode.

Specifies the amount of roughness that will be applied.

Roughness is the result of microfacet evaluation in lightingconditions. Higher values produce rougher surface properties while lower values produce smoother lookingsurfaces. This kind of roughness is more easily seen onobjects with many sharp edges or where high contrast bumpor normal maps are applied.

LightWave 926



Bump

Specifies a vector direction for modifying the surface

normal. This is surface normal direction information

and affects the way the surface is shaded. Careshould be taken when connecting to this input.

Connecting dissimilar types or non directional vectors

may cause the surface to shade wrongly.

Can receive input from other nodes in the network only.

Bump Height

Specifies the bump height or “amplitude” of the Bump

directional vectors.

Using Alpha or luminance (connecting Color) values from

other textures in the network along with their respective

bumps can have the effect of blending the bump textures

together.

Capable of receiving patterns or numerical values fromother nodes in the network, this value can additionally be

specified by user input by entering values into the Edit Panel

of this node.

Since Bump Amplitude is a shading feature and not a

displacement coordinate system value it is specified as a

percentage, specifically as a percentage of the texture value.

Receive Radiosity/ Receive Caustics

Here the Radiosity and Caustics check boxes are not offered

as node connections in the Workspace area and are features

exclusive to the Edit Panel of the node.

When checked this shading model will evaluate shading

information for the surface channel it is being applied

including any Radiosity or Caustics computations as defined

by those system attributes applied to the scene.

Unchecked, radiosity and/or caustics calculations will not be

evaluated by this shading model as it is applied to the object

surface being edited.

This can be used to omit both entire surfaces or per channelsurface attr ibutes from radiosity or caustics calculations

thus offering more diversity in the rendered output as wellas reducing the time needed to calculate these surfaces inscenes where either radiosity or caustics are used.

Advanced Tab

Reflection Blur

Controls the amount of blur of the surface reflections. Some

amount of blur is required in order to have the Dispersion

amount affect the surface. The number of samples used also

greatly affects the quality of blurr ing that takes place.




node.

Mode

Reflection Image

Mode and Image are features exclusive to this nodes EditPanel . Please see the explanation for these items in the

chapter that covers texturing with the Surface Editor.

Image Seam Angle

Angle or “Image Seam Angle” as it is designated in the Edit

Panel for this node allows the user to rotate the seam line of

a wrapped image around the Axis that has been selected for

the projection method.



LightWave 9.3 27




node.

Samples



this node may be used to specify this value.







defining when you select one of the Sample preset values

from the Samples pull down menu. It is for this reason


selections.

It’s quite easy to understand if you imagine one half of anunsmoothed (faceted) default ball object in modeler. Thefirst number defines the number of longitudinal stripsand the second number defines the number of latitudinalsections where each facet (or “face”) formed by their intersection defines one of the directions from which thespot is evaluated. You could visualize a sample size of 1x4for example, as a bottomless pyramid centered over theevaluation spot protruding straight out from the surfacenormal - 1 segment high and containing 4 sides.




LightWave 928



Dielectric

Dielectric is a physically accurate node for simulating glass-like

materials. Use this state-of-the-art node when you want to create

realistic glass. Dielectric uses Beer’s Law, which is about energyabsorption, occuring when light passes through a surface. The

more light that is absorbed by the material, the darker it will look.

Edit Panel

Basic Tab

Color

Outputs three channel color information in R, G, B format,

evaluated on a per spot basis.

Absorption

The amount of light that is absorbed.

Refraction Index

Index Of Refraction or IOR, is a charted index of the

different amounts of refraction associated with real world

materials.

Refraction is the bending of light as it passes through

transparent mater ials or substances of different density.

Dense substances bend light more than materials that are

not dense.

See elsewhere in this manual for a list of many real world

transparent materials and their corresponding IOR values.




LightWave 9.3 29



Roughness





Roughness is the result of microfacet evaluation in lighting

conditions. Higher values produce rougher surface

proper ties while lower values produce smoother looking

surfaces. This kind of roughness is more easily seen on

objects with many sharp edges or where high contrast bump

or normal maps are applied.

Bump Height






together.




node.

Since Bump Amplitude is a shading feature and not adisplacement coordinate system value it is specified as a

percentage. Specifically as a percentage of the texture value.

Advanced Tab

Reflection Blur




greatly affects the quality of blurring that takes place.




node.

Mode

Reflection Image

Mode and Image are features exclusive to this nodes Edit

Panel . Please see the explanation for these items in thechapter that covers texturing with the Surface Editor.

LightWave 930



Image Seam Angle



a wrapped image around the Axis that has been selected for the projection method.



by user input by entering values into the Edit Panel of th is

node.

Samples

Can receive numerical inputs from other nodes in thenetwork. Additionally, controls offered in the Edit Panel for this node may be used to specify this value.

Sampling is the number of directions the shading modelexamines the surface from in order to calculate the shadingvalue of each spot on the surface under evaluation.

These readings or “Samples” are taken from positions ona hemispherical lattice and it is the number of longitudinaland latitudinal sections of this hemisphere that you aredefining when you select one of the Sample preset valuesfrom the Samples pull down menu. It is for this reasonthat there are two numbers in each of the possible Sampleselections.

It’s quite easy to understand if you imagine one half of anunsmoothed (faceted) default ball object in modeler. The

first number defines the number of longitudinal stripsand the second number defines the number of latitudinalsections where each facet (or “face”) formed by their intersection defines one of the directions from which thespot is evaluated. You could visualize a sample size of 1x4for example, as a bottomless pyramid centered over theevaluation spot protruding straight out from the surfacenormal - 1 segment high and containing 4 sides.




Refraction Dispersion

Controls the amount of light dispersion. This input can

receive patterns or numerical values from other nodes in the

network. This value can additionally be specified via user input by entering values into the Edit Panel for this node.

Dispersion is a phenomenon that causes the separat ion of a

wave into spectral components with different wavelengths,

due to a dependence of the waves’ speed on its wavelength.

In simpler terms dispersion occurs in materials in which the

Index Of Refraction (IOR) is not constant, but rather varies

depending on the wavelength of incoming light. Whitelight splits into its monochromatic components, where each

wavelength beam has a different IOR. The classic example

is a beam of white light entering a prism of some sort and

projecting a rainbow colored pattern out the other side.

Dispersion as used in this shading model simulates real light

dispersion. The higher the value the greater the amount of

dispersion that will be simulated and applied.

NOTE: Air polygons are no longer necessa ry for

Dielectric. Just plug the Material Output from

Dielectric into the Material Input of the

LightWave 9.3 31



Delta

Delta is an energy conserving material. What this means is that it

has realistic properties like when specularity is 100% the diffuse

in turn will go down to 0%.

Edit Panel

Basic Tab

Color

Outputs three channel color information in R, G, B format,evaluated on a per spot basis.

Specularity

Defines the amount of specularity that is applied to thesurface by this node.



Roughness



node.

LightWave 932




Roughness is the result of microfacet evaluation in l ighting

conditions. Higher values produce rougher surface

proper ties while lower values produce smoother looking

surfaces. This kind of roughness is more easily seen onobjects with many sharp edges or where high contrast bump


Refraction Index



materials.




not dense.


transparent mater ials and their corresponding IOR values.




node.

Bump

Specifies a vector direction for modifying the surfacenormal. This is surface normal direction information

and affects the way the surface is shaded. Care

should be taken when connecting to this input.




Bump Height




other textures in the network along with their respective bumps can have the effect of blending the bump textures

together.




node.

Since Bump Amplitude is a shading feature and not adisplacement coordinate system value it is specified as a

percentage. Specifically as a percentage of the texture value.








by those system atributes applied to the scene.

Unchecked, radiosity and/or caust ics calculations will not be



This can be used to omit both entire surfaces or per channel

surface attr ibutes from radiosity or caustics calculations

thus offering more diversity in the rendered output as well

as reducing the time needed to calculate these surfaces in

scenes where either radiosity or caustics are used.

LightWave 9.3 33



Advanced Tab

Reflection Blur




greatly affects the quality of blurr ing that takes place.




Mode and Reflection Image


Panel . Please see the explanation for these items in the


Image Seam Angle








node.

Samples


network. Additionally, controls offered in the Edit Panel for this node may be used to specify th is value.

Sampling is the number of directions the shading modelexamines the surface from in order to calculate the shadingvalue of each spot on the surface under evaluation.

These readings or “Samples” are taken from positions ona hemispherical lattice and it is the number of longitudinal

and latitudinal sections of this hemisphere that you aredefining when you select one of the Sample preset valuesfrom the Samples pull down menu. It is for this reasonthat there are two numbers in each of the possible Sampleselections.

It’s quite easy to understand if you imagine one half of anunsmoothed (faceted) default ball object in modeler. Thefirst number defines the number of longitudinal stripsand the second number defines the number of latitudinal

sections where each facet (or “face”) formed by their intersection defines one of the directions from which thespot is evaluated. You could visualize a sample size of 1x4for example, as a bottomless pyramid centered over theevaluation spot protruding straight out from the surfacenormal - 1 segment high and containing 4 sides.


Incoming values higher that 15 will be set to 15. Incomingvalues lower than 0 will be set to 0.

LightWave 934



Fast Skin

Fast skin is a skin shader with improved subsurface scattering

and less noise.

Edit Panel

LightWave 9.3 35



Diffuse Color





Diffuse




node.

Specifies the amount of Diffuse reflectivity that will be

applied.

Diffuse Roughness


in thenetwork. This value can additionally be specified byuser input by entering values into the Edit Panel of thisnode.

Specifies the amount of roughness that will be applied.Roughness is the result of microfacet evaluation in lightingconditions. Higher values produce rougher surface

proper ties while lower values produce smoother lookingsurfaces. This kind of roughness is more easily seen onobjects with many sharp edges or where high contrast bump


Specular Color




Specularity

Defines the amount of specularity that is applied to the

surface by this node.




node.

Glossiness

Defines the amount of glossiness that is applied to the





node.

Fresnel

Defines the amount light reflection on a surface.

Refraction Index

Index Of Refraction or IOR, is a charted index of thedifferent amounts of refraction associated with real world

materials.




not dense.






node.

Epidermis Visiblity

Determines the visiblity of the outer-layer of the skin shader.

LightWave 936



Epidermis Color




Specifies the color used for the outer-layer of skin.

Epidermis Distance

The depth into how far light is absorbed into a surface.

Epidermis Gamma

This function provides a standard gamma correction

function. Gamma correct ion is a function that adjusts the

brightness and contrast simultaneously.

Make Material

Make Material can be used to make a material from the older

shader components.

Diffuse




node.

Specifies the amount of Diffuse reflectivity that will beapplied.

Specular





node.

LightWave 9.3 37



Reflection




Defines the amount of reflection that is applied to the


Refraction



node. Defines the amount of refraction that is applied to the


Material Mixer

Material Mixer blends materials together, the strength of the

blend determined by the alpha channel.

A/B

The two Materials which will be blended.

Alpha

Using the alpha information from another mode, this input

determines how the materials are mixed.

LightWave 938



Standard

Standard is a replication of the built-in shading model. Build

custom materials with this node.

Switch

Switch switches between the materials using the integer input.

It is mainly meant for air polygons, where you need to have

different material on the flipside of the polygons.

Switch

This input determines where the switch will be made. Typically

you will use the Spot Info node and the Polygon Side

output for best use of this input.

True

Used for the positive side of the polygons.

False

Used for the negative side of the polygons.

LightWave 9.3 39



Sigma

A material node which uses subsurface scattering, which occurs

when light partially passes through a surface, and is scattered

within the object, then exits through a dif ferent location.Subsurface scattering is an important and recent addition 3D

computer graphics for the realistic rendering of such materials

as marble, skin, and milk and other real-world semitransparent

substances.

Edit Panel

Basic Tab

Surface Color




Specularity Color




LightWave 940



Specularity


surface by this node. Also has the affect of reducing the

diffuse, so when Specularity is set to 100%, diffuse will be0%.

Roughness


by user input by entering values into the Edit Panel of th isnode.

Specifies the amount of roughness that will be applied.Roughness is the result of microfacet evaluation in l ightingconditions. Higher values produce rougher surface

proper ties while lower values produce smoother lookingsurfaces. This kind of roughness is more easily seen onobjects with many sharp edges or where high contrast bumpor normal maps are applied.

Bump








Bump Height



Using Alpha or luminance (connecting Color) values fromother textures in the network along with their respective


together.

Capable of receiving patterns or numerical values from

other nodes in the network, this value can additionally be


of this node.




Translucency

Translucency is the material quality of allowing light to pass

diffusely through semitransparent substances.

Since translucency is in consideration of light rays in

specific, it is considered and classified as a diffuse shading

model.

Translucent shaded surfaces will not reveal the surface

colors and properties of other object surfaces that exist

on the other side of the t ranslucent object away from the

observer. Lights however will show through t ranslucent

surfaces and are needed in order for translucency shaders to

affect the surface at all.

Absorption Color

The color channel which is absorbed. Can receive colors and

patterns from other nodes in the network. Users may also

specify a color using the controls found in the Edit Panel for

this node.

Absorption

The amount of light that is absorbed.

Distance

The depth into how far light is absorbed into a surface

Refraction Index


LightWave 9.3 41

diff f f i i d i h l ld f l b l id d h




materials.




not dense.

See Suracing & Rendering manual for a list of many real

world transparent materials and their corresponding IOR

values.



node.

Samples










defining when you select one of the Sample preset values

from the Samples pull down menu. It is for this reason


selections.




and the second number defines the number of latitudinalsections where each facet (or “face”) formed by their

intersection defines one of the directions from which the








Pass Light Inside

If on, light is passed inside the surface. Which means all aurfaces

inside the Sigma surface receive illumination. If it is off, no l ight passes inside the surface.

Advanced Shading

If this is on the SSS rays will hit any other surfaces inside the SSS

surface, otherwise the rays will only hit the SSS surface.

Subsurface Radiosity

When checked, Sigma will calculate the radiosity for the

subsurface of the surface.








by those system at tributes applied to the scene.

Unchecked, radiosity and/or caustics calculations will not be



This can be used to omit both entire surfaces or per channel

surface attr ibutes from radiosity or caustics calculations

LightWave 942

th s offering more di ersit in the rendered o tp t as ell Si 2



thus offering more diversity in the rendered output as well

as reducing the time needed to calculate these surfaces in


Advanced Tab

Reflection Blur







node.

Mode/ Reflection Image




Image Seam Angle








node.

Occlusion

Occlusion or “ambient occlusion” is a shading method used

to help add realism by taking into account attenuation of light caused by obstructive geometry.

Sigma2

A material node which uses subsurface scattering, which occurs


within the object, then exits through a dif ferent location.Subsurface scattering is an important and recent addition 3D

computer graphics for the realistic rendering of such materials

as marble, skin, and milk and other real-world semitransparent

substances.

LightWave 9.3 43

Basic Tab Roughness



Basic Tab

Surface Color

Can receive colors and patterns from other nodes in thenetwork. Users may also specify a color using the controls


Specularity Color

Can receive colors and patterns from other nodes in thenetwork. Users may also specify a color using the controlsfound in the Edit Panel for this node.

Specularity

Defines the amount of specularity that is applied to thesurface by this node. Also has the affect of reducing thediffuse, so when Specularity is set to 100%, diffuse will be

0%.

Roughness



Specifies the amount of roughness that will be applied.Roughness is the result of microfacet evaluation in lightingconditions. Higher values produce rougher surface

properties while lower values produce smoother lookingsurfaces. This kind of roughness is more easily seen onobjects with many sharp edges or where high contrast bumpor normal maps are applied.

Bump








Bump Height





bumps can have the effect of blending the bump textu res

together.

Capable of receiving patterns or numerical values from

other nodes in the network, this value can additionally be


of this node.




LightWave 944

Samples Quality



Samples










defining when you select one of the Sample preset valuesfrom the Samples pull down menu. It is for this reason


selections.




and the second number defines the number of latitudinal

sections where each facet (or “face”) formed by their intersection defines one of the directions from which the





Higher values will sample the shading from more directions

and produce smoother more accurate shading.



Scattered Color

Can receive colors and patterns from other nodes in thenetwork. Users may also specify a color using the controlsfound in the Edit Panel for this node.

Distance


Quality

Controls the quality of the subsurface scattering.

Refraction Index



materials.



Dense substances bend light more than materials that arenot dense.

See Suracing & Rendering manual for a list of many real

world transparent materials and their corresponding IOR

values.




node.

LightWave 9.3 45

Simple Skin Edit Panel



Simple Skin

Simple Skin, as the name implies, is a physically accurate skin

shader with subsurface scattering. Subsurface scattering occurs


within the object, then exits through a dif ferent location.

Edit Panel

Basic Tab

LightWave 946

Diffuse Color Can receive patterns or numerical values from other nodes







Diffuse




node.

Specifies the amount of Diffuse reflectivity that will be

applied.

Diffuse Roughness


in thenetwork. This value can additionally be specified by

user input by entering values into the Edit Panel of thisnode.

Specifies the amount of roughness that will be applied.Roughness is the result of microfacet evaluation in l ightingconditions. Higher values produce rougher surface

proper ties while lower values produce smoother lookingsurfaces. This kind of roughness is more easily seen onobjects with many sharp edges or where high contrast bump


Specular Color




Specularity



p



node.

Glossiness

Defines the amount of glossiness that is applied to the





node.

Fresnel

Defines the amount light reflection on a surface.

Refraction Index



materials.




not dense.






node.

Epidermis Visiblity

Determines the visiblity of the outer-layer of the skin shader.

LightWave 9.3 47

Epidermis Back Scatter found in the Edit Panel for this node.



Controls the relative amount of backwards scattering for the

Subdermis layer. This parameter is relative to the Visibility

parameter for the Epidermis layers.

Epidermis Color




Specifies the color used for the outer-layer of skin.

Epidermis Distance

The depth into how far light is absorbed into a surface.

Epidermis Gamma


function. Gamma correction is a funct ion that adjusts the

brightness and contrast simultaneously.

Quality


Subdermis Visiblity

Determines the visiblity of the sub-layer of the skin shader.

Subdermis Back Scatter

Controls the relative amount of backwards

scattering for the subdermis layer. This parameter

is relative to the Visibility parameter for the

Subdermis layers.

Subdermis Color



Specifies the color used for the sub-layer of skin.

Subdermis Distance


Subdermis Gamma


function. Gamma correction is a function that adjusts the

brightness and cont rast simultaneously.

Quality


Bump








Bump Height





bumps can have the effect of blending the bump textu res

together.

Capable of receiving patterns or numerical values fromother nodes in the network, this value can additionally be


of this node.

LightWave 948


di l di l i i ifi d

Image Seam Angle






Here the Radiosity and Caustics check boxes are not offeredas node connections in the Workspace area and are featuresexclusive to the Edit Panel of the node.

When checked this shading model will evaluate shadinginformation for the surface channel it is being appliedincluding any Radiosity or Caustics computations as defined

by those system attributes applied to the scene.

Unchecked, radiosity and/or caustics calculations will not beevaluated by this shading model as it is applied to the objectsurface being edited.

This can be used to omit both entire surfaces or per channelsurface attr ibutes from radiosity or caustics calculationsthus offering more diversity in the rendered output as wellas reducing the time needed to calculate these surfaces in


Advanced Tab

Reflection Blur








node.

Mode/ Reflection Image











node.

LightWave 9.3 49

Image Editor The ‘Bundled’ container refers to presets stored inside the

L t li ti (i id th li ti b dl ) th



MIP maps are now only used to soften maps. You can control the

exact amount of softening by editing the MIP Strength for the

map: 1.0 is fully sharp, 2.0 is 2x filtering, 3.0 is 3x, and so on.

This change presumes that all texture map anti-aliasing will be

performed with pixel sampling. One major benefit of this change

is that maps can now be softened when seen by reflection and

refraction rays.

A toggle for using Classic mipmap handling or the new “Soft”

mipmap option has been added to the Image Editor. For new

scenes the default is Soft. Loading any scene that does not have

Soft specified in the scene will use the Classic mode.

OpenEXR

LightWave now supports the OpenEXR format for input-output.

Presets Panel

The Presets Panel has been updated with all available menuslisted. Each library is l isted in a separate category. The light

colored lines indicate available ‘library containers’ and their

lock state, which depends upon design decisions and folder

permissions.

Layout application (inside the application bundle); these

would be specific to that application and provided solely by

NewTek. The “Built-In” container refers to presets stored in

the “SharedSupport” folder, which is shared among all the LWapplications; these would be provided solely by NewTek and

is not modified by the user or third party installers. There is a

“This Network” container (not shown here) that would refer to

presets shared among members of a Mac network (I could not

test this specifically). The “This Machine” container refers to

presets stored on the local machine and shared among all users

that can log into this machine. This is where third party presets

would normally go (so that they can be shared among all users on

the machine). The “This User” container refers to presets storedspecific to current logged in user and are not shared with any

other users. The “Custom” container (not shown here) refers to

the user define preset folder that can be specified within Layout.

The lock symbol means there is no write access allowed to the

container. For the cur rent library, you will also see the lock state

if that particular library has not write access.

Double-clicking on the preset image (like before) will act ivate

that preset. One difference now is that double-clicking onthe name will open up the editing dialog to set the name and

description of that preset.

Changes to the preset folder made outside of LW are ok and will

be realized when the preset shelf is brought to the foreground.

You may also notice that the description field (at the bottom) does

not clash with the window resize gadget anymore.

This new capability removes a restr iction and allows LW to be

operated from a read-only device such as a CD-ROM, a network

application server (educational environments), a mounted DMG

file. In many environments, users do not have write access to

the previous single preset folder, so having these other locations

is useful. Also, third party UB installers now have a reliable

location to place their preset updates. Also, when updates to the

Universal Binary version of LightWave are made via the intended

drag-drop install, the previous Applications/LightWave3D folder

will be totally replaced; so it is important not to make third party

or user modifications to that folder.

LightWave 950

Render Status Panel



The Render Status panel has has some alterations to the

status gr id. Some labels have changed (some shortened, some

lengthened), and some values have been adjusted for their newly

allotted space (e.g., “Field Rendering”, which used to be “Fields”,

now shows “E/U” for Even/Upper First field rendering, and “O/L”

for Odd/Lower first).

What's new in 9.3 PDF.pdf

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