Essential LightWave 3D- P21 doc

Justice http://www.joejustice.org/ Maintained by Joe Justice LightNet (Intel) Full Version What it is: LightNet is an external pro - gram that manages the bunches of networked computers that do nothing but await your bidding and render the scenes you send to them (known locally as a render farm). LightNet is the most widely used free render farm controller for LightWave. What makes this cool: LightWave lets you have an almost unlimited number of “render nodes” for the purchase price of the software (unlike some other software packages). Using a render farm of only two machines (of equal processor speed and physical memory) will render your scene twice as fast as just one of the machines alone! Even if you only have one machine, you can queue a bunch of things to render and have LightNet set the CPU priority of the render node to Lowest, so you can still work while you’re rendering. LightNet is much easier to set up and work with than LightWave’s built-in controller located under Rendering | Network Rendering (which fully occupies the instance of LightWave being used to control the net - work rendering). Notes: Study both the LightNet Installa - tion Guide and the LightWave manual section on network rendering to make set - ting up your render farm much easier. (If you are setting up a networked render farm, you will also need to understand basic net - work privileges and directory mappings. (Mac users can also find ScreamerNet con - trollers through Flay.com, discussed in Appendix B.) Appendix A ······················· 588 Figure A-28: LightNet. Kaser http://www.kaser.com/ Program by Everett Kaser Sherlock (Intel) Demo What it is: Sherlock is a game of logic — a lot like solitaire, only that with each and every puzzle you have the ability to be suc - cessful. Your own mental ability, not chance, is what determines whether you win or lose. What makes this cool: This simple game will help train you to see how solving even the most seemingly complex puzzles is simply a matter of doing what needs to be done in the moment — eliminating the impossible and slowly resolving your way to the solution. This is training for 3D — and for life. Notes: This demo version only contains five puzzles of each size (3x3 through 8x8). The full version ($19.95 + shipping) has over 65,000 puzzles of each size. ·················· Plug-ins and Programs 589 Figure A-29: Sherlock. Figure A-30: Sherlock. Appendix B Resources So, where do you go to find answers to the questions you come across as you go about your work? There are many resources, both online and in print. Some answer questions you may not even know you’ll be asking yet. Some are just too cool to not jump in immediately and start scrounging around for neat bits and pieces that are the perfect fit for the things you have zinging about in your creative mind! Community LightWave’s online community is without equal. Just as some are gifted in program- ming (as are the artist/programmers who have contributed to the wealth of material described in Appendix A), some are gifted in teaching, organizing information, or connecting people from around the world. If you aren’t sure where to find what you’re looking for, or if you aren’t quite sure what you’re looking for yet, these places can help point you in the right direction. NewTek http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/ One of the first places to go to find out “how” (as well as get updates, patches, and whatnot) is the NewTek web site. (Do you think this kind of community could exist for a package that doesn’t stand with its users 100%?) NewTek’s web site has collections of tutorials, links, and information about “who’s who” in the LightWave community. Check it out! 590 Figure B-1: NewTek web site. Flay http://www.flay.com/ Flay is also a “first stop” for finding out just about anything that exists concerning LightWave. Here you will find up-to-date listings of news, jobs, tutorials, tips, and of course, my personal favorite: plug-ins. Each category is searchable so you can quickly find exactly what you’re looking for. Figure B-3 shows the plug-ins page, list- ing the latest 20 plug-in “spottings” and sporting a search engine that will find what you’re looking for, even if you don’t know its name — only what you want it to do for you! ························ Resources 591 Figure B-2: Flay.com web site. Figure B-3: Flay.com plug-ins page. Appendix B ······················· 592 SpinQuad http://www.spinquad.com/forums SpinQuad is one of the leading LightWave forums on the web. Founded by industry legend William “Proton” Vaughan and populated by some of the most established LightWave users in the world, it is an excellent place to meet professionals, get answers to your ques - tions, and hone your skills. With its friendly, small-town feel and an unwavering commit- ment to the user and his art, SpinQuad perfectly embodies the spirit of the LightWave community. CgTalk http://www.cgtalk.com/ CgTalk is the world’s largest forum for com - puter graphics professionals. With almost 100,000 mem - bers, it offers support for nearly every major graphics application. Visitors can find focused critiques, contests, industry information, jobs, and, of course, dis - cussions on more than a dozen 2D/3D applications. Figure B-4: SpinQuad web site. Figure B-5: CgTalk web site. 3D Fight Club http://www.3dfightclub.com/ There’s nothing like a challenge to bring out the best in a person, and 3D Fight Club does a great job of providing users with just that. Born out of a desire to extol the powers of LightWave over Maya, the site now includes users of every 3D applica - tion. Members participate in a variety of challenges, ranging from several minutes to several hours in length. The idea is to work quickly toward your goal and produce better work than your competitors within the time allowed. If you really want to hone your skills, I highly recommend a workout at 3D Fight Club. Friends of NewTek http://www.friendsofnewtek.com/ Decades before the Internet made its debut, user groups functioned as the princi- pal means of support for the computer- using community. While online forums now offer a chance to connect with people all over the world, they still lack the ben - efits that come from a local gathering. User groups frequently showcase new hard - ware and software, bring in special guest speakers, and offer personalized assis - tance to those new to the scene. The Friends of NewTek site is a resource for connecting LightWave and Video Toaster users with established user groups in their area. If you’ve never had the privilege of being in a user group, you owe it to yourself to check one out. ························ Resources 593 Figure B-6: 3D Fight Club web site. Figure B-7: Friends of NewTek web site. TUCOWS http://www.tucows.com/ I had just sort of assumed that most people already knew about TUCOWS as the ulti - mate place on the net to download reviewed software for almost any and every com - puter platform. But I have found that a lot of people are still unaware of it. Plain and sim - ple, it is the best place to search for programs you need, whether they be games, OS “fine-tuners,” network “stuff,” emulators, or whatever (IMHO). Almost every package is reviewed and scored in “cows” (five cows being the highest score). You can even super search on the kind of license agreement the package has (com- mercial, shareware, freeware, etc.). Commercial While the quantity of free materials avail- able on the net is astounding, nothing can match the quality of dedicated commercial products. The following resources come from providers who have spent countless hours developing materials to assist in the development of your skills and abilities. Kurv Studios http://www.kurvstudios.com/ Kurv Studios burst onto the scene in 2004 and has quickly become one of the leading suppliers of high-quality com - puter-based training material. Their LightWave series is hosted by indus - try-recognized artists and offers training on nearly every aspect of the software. But what makes Kurv Studios really stand out from the competition is not the quality; it’s the price. Videos from Kurv Studios typically range from $24.95 to $49.95 and contain more than 10 hours of training material. That’s less than $5 per hour, making them one of the most cost-effective sources of training you’ll find. Appendix B ······················· 594 Figure B-8: TUCOWS web site. Figure B-9: Kurv Studios web site. 3D.sk http://www.3d.sk/ 3D.sk is the de facto supplier of high-resolution figure reference photos. The images range from male to female, young to old, clothed and nude. There are ref - erences for facial expressions, body poses, and even suggested poly-flow. If you’re planning on developing 3D characters, a membership to this site should be considered essential. For less than $10 you can gain access to nearly 10,000 high-res images. If you’ve looked at the price of stock photos or the labor involved in hiring your own ref- erence model, you’ll quickly see why 3D.sk is an invaluable resource at an unparalleled price. HDRI 3D http://www.hdri3d.com/ HDRI 3D is definitely worth tak - ing a look at. Each issue is filled with an amazing number of high-quality tutorials and articles on subjects from texturing and hair and fur shading to vehicular modeling and building city - scapes. It doesn’t just touch on the “tried-and-true” uses of LightWave. The issues I’ve seen have also explored some really neat applications that I don’t imagine a lot of people have thought of — yet! ························ Resources 595 Figure B-10: 3D.sk web site. Figure B-11: HDRI 3D magazine web site. Worley Laboratories http://www.worley.com/ Worley Labs is the company that contributed the Lite version of their Sasquatch Hair/Fur Shader to LightWave 7+. They also have two collections of very useful plug-ins bundled under the names Taft and Polk (yes, just like two former U.S. presidents). The really cool thing they’ve just come out with is the FPrime pro - gressive rendering system. FPrime provides you with “real-time F9” rendering, allow - ing you to see changes to surfaces, lights, cameras, objects, etc., in real time. Without a doubt, FPrime is the most impressive product to hit the LightWave market in some time. Ther e is simply not enough room to describe everything that the plug-in does, but Worley’s web site contains all of the details and nearly a dozen sample videos and I highly recommend you check it out. Colin Cohen: Freelance Programmer http://cohen-plugs.tripod.com/ In the world of LightWave developers, there are an elite few who consistently pro - duce high-caliber, extremely useful plug-ins. Colin Cohen is one of them. Colin is most widely known for his free plug-ins, but his generosity is not what makes him such a valuable asset to the community. Rather, Colin, who lives in the Los Angeles area, is one of the few programmers who make their exceptional skills available to the public. His work as both an animator and a programmer (with over a decade of software development experience) gives him a unique insight into the needs that can arise during production. Keep Colin’s infor - mation handy. Ther e are a number of extremely talented programmers in the LightWave community, but very few of them are available for hire. Appendix B ······················· 596 Figure B-12: Worley Labs web site. Next Limit http://www.nextlimit.com/ Next Limit makes two products that you’ll definitely want to take a look at once you’ve got the basics of LightWave down. These products are RealFlow and RealWave. They create some of the best simulations of fluids (large and small) I’ve seen, and their fluid dynamics simulations equal work done on Houdini (which costs many, many, many times more). Fully functional time-limited demo versions of the software are available for download from their web site. Dynamic Realities http://www.dynamic-realities.com Dynamic Realities is the com- pany that supplied the particle simulation Particle FX to LightWave. Their new version, Napalm, adds an exponential level of control to what you know in Particle FX. Pyro is a smoke and flame dynamics and rendering engine that greatly simplifies the creation of realistic fire and smoke in LightWave. Impact 3 is a solid body dynam - ics system for LightWave. NatureFX 2 realistically creates large bodies of water, wakes, clouds, and atmosphere effects. Trees & Bolts cr eates lightning and other electrical effects with real-time OpenGL previews. LumeTools helps cr eate realistic surfaces for your models and scenes. Demos are available from the Dynamic Realities web site. ························ Resources 597 Figure B-13 Figure B-14 [...]... upcoming titles Essential LightWave 3D 7.5 1-55622-226-2 • $44.95 6 x 9 • 424 pp LightWave 3D 7.5 Lighting LightWave 3D 8 Lighting LightWave 3D 8 Texturing 1-55622-354-4 • $69.95 6 x 9 • 496 pp 1-55622-094-4 • $54.95 6 x 9 • 536 pp 1-55622-285-8 • $49.95 6 x 9 • 504 pp CGI Filmmaking: The Creation of Ghost Warrior LightWave 3D 8 Cartoon Character Creation: Volume I Modeling & Texturing LightWave 3D 8... you’re looking for 3D-related hardware and software and are having trouble locating what you need through other vendors, check out Safe Harbor · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Re s o u r c e s Recommended Reading This section lists books I have found essential to getting to where I am in my career With some of them, it will be immediately obvious as to how they relate to LightWave, animation,... $49.95 6 x 9 • 440 pp 1-55622-254-8 • $49.95 6 x 9 • 496 pp LightWave 3D 8: 1001 Tips and Tricks 1-55622-227-0 • $49.95 9 x 7 • 344 pp 1-55622-090-1 • $39.95 6 x 9 • 648 pp Advanced Lighting and Materials with Shaders 1-55622-292-0 • $44.95 9 x 7 • 360 pp LightWave 3D 8 Character Animation 1-55622-099-5 • $49.95 6 x 9 • 496 pp www.wordware.com LightWave 3D 8 Modeling: A Definitive Guide 1-55622-289-0... 4-6 Light Properties window, 105, 108, 110 light sources, 442 lighting tutorial, 103-114 LightNet program, 588 lights, ambient, 104 area, 5 distant, 4 linear, 5 point, 4-5 spotlights, 5 LightWave resources, 590-598 LightWave Theme Creator plug-in, 580 linear lights, 5 lofting, 149 logo, animating, 381-384, 387-388, 388-393 long chains, using with IK Booster, 418 long hair guides, using to create eyebrows,... and other programs that can be used with LightWave The files are organized as follows: • • • • • • • • • • Images Motions Objects Plugs_n_Programs Reference Renders Sas Settings Scenes Setup Surfaces Most of the folders contain subfolders for specific chapters Plugs_n_Programs contains a number of plug-ins described in Appendix A The Sas Settings folder includes documentation referenced in Chapter 20... coding Few publishers have books that actually teach you things you need to know I don’t want to get on a soapbox here, but I am fed up with books that talk a lot but don’t say much I choose to publish my LightWave books through Wordware because we share similar foci in our intent in making a difference and giving the community things you can actually use, things you really want to know Safe Harbor http://www.sharbor.com/... in Modeler, 17 selection maps, 15-16 selection modes, 17 selection order, curves, 274, 276 selection set, point, 60 polygon, 59 selection tools, 60-64 Setup tab, Layout, 39-40 Modeler, 20-21 Shades for LightWave 7.5 and 8.0 plug-in, 578-579 shadow-mapped shadows, 5 I n d ex shadows, ray-traced, 4, 109 shadow-mapped, 5 Sherlock program, 92, 589 Show Motion Paths setting, 421 Show Selection tool, 63 Smooth... · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Electronic Rain http://www.erain.com/ If you’re into doing web graphics, Electronic Rain makes something I think will interest you Swift 3D is a tool that exports LightWave stills and animations into Macromedia’s Flash format It fully supports gradients, transparency, reflections, specularity, and shadows It’ll render your LW scene to Flash’s vector-based format... the story they need to tell.) Plain and simple: If you plan on doing character-based work, either as an animator or director, the information in this book will be one of your greatest keys to success LightWave 3D 8 Character Animation Timothy Albee This book takes you from where you are now and puts you on the path to being a feature-quality animator Character rigging, inverse kinematics, posing, timing,... book’s pages, you can feel the excitement of the treasure of life and living flooding through author and text (It is one thing to create art — it is another thing entirely to live it.) 601 Appendix C LightWave s Default Hot Keys (Remember that all hot keys are CASE SENSITIVE.) Modeler Modeler: General Cut Copy Paste Center around cursor Rotate selection 90º clockwise Undo Redo Point Selection mode . render farm). LightNet is the most widely used free render farm controller for LightWave. What makes this cool: LightWave lets you have an almost unlimited number of “render nodes” for the purchase price. much easier to set up and work with than LightWave s built-in controller located under Rendering | Network Rendering (which fully occupies the instance of LightWave being used to control the net - work. in the LightWave community. Check it out! 590 Figure B-1: NewTek web site. Flay http://www.flay.com/ Flay is also a “first stop” for finding out just about anything that exists concerning LightWave.