LightWave 3D 8 1001 Tips & Tricks phần 9 potx

492 | Chapter 10 FPrime FPrime can up to 20 radiosity bounces where LightWave is limited to bounces Versions: 7-8 1173 Nicholas Boughen | FPrime | Intermediate Fun with Radiosity Bounces If you want to have a lot of fun with radiosity bounces — and believe me it is fun when it works this fast — make a zigzag hallway, set a light at one end, and then observe how the light goes one more zig every time you increment the bounces by one Monte Carlo radiosity, bounces Monte Carlo radiosity, bounces Rendering | 493 FPrime Monte Carlo radiosity, 10 bounces If you’re going to use any displacements on your objects with FPrime, don’t forget to add the FPrime displacement plug-in Head with morph targets but no FPrime displacement plug-in 494 | Chapter 10 Network Rendering With the FPrime displacement plug-in added, displacements are visible in the FPrime window Thanks to Proton for the great model Versions: 7-8 Network Rendering 1174 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Only One Machine Needs LightWave Installed One misconception that many people make when they first consider attempting to set up ScreamerNet is that they need to copy LightWave across all their computers for it to work In reality, you only need to copy LightWave files to the one computer on the network that is going to act as a file server for the rest of the computers (i.e., the computer where the render nodes will write their image files to) I create a screamernet folder on this computer, in which I copy all the plug-ins, LScripts, and program files from my LightWave installation I also copy the LWEXT3.CFG configuration file here, and then simply edit it so that all plug-ins and LScripts can be found from the right place in the screamernet folder Once I’m done, I simply map the screamernet folder on the server to the same drive letter on all my computers, make sure that the LWEXT3.CFG file contains this drive letter (so all computers find the plug-ins), and run the LWSN.EXE file directly from the screamernet folder on the file server itself Versions: 5-7.5c Rendering | 495 Network Rendering 1175 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Beginner Content Folders Content folders are the preferred way of setting up your 3D projects when working in LightWave They are simply folders on disk that contain all the components of your 3D project inside subfolders Commonly, you will find objects (for the objects in your project), images (for all the texture maps and images used in your project), and scenes (for all your scene files) in your subfolders The names of these subfolders must be spelled correctly for LightWave to find them within the Content folder Content folders are of extreme importance when setting up scenes and projects to render on a render farm You would be amazed at just how many users not use content folders correctly at all, mainly due to the fact that they probably don’t work in a studio environment However, it’s always good practice to use them, even if you are working on a single computer at home or in your office If you ever get that killer job doing 3D animation in a studio, it’s easier to have good habits already set in place than try and unlearn a pile of bad ones! Versions: All 1176 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Preparing Projects with Content Manager If you’ve just finished a large project and now decide that you need to place it onto a render farm to get it finished on time, but you didn’t set up a proper content folder at the start, don’t fret Layout has a tool that can help Go to File>Content Manager This tool will let you consolidate all the files in your scene into one place Alternatively, I prefer to export the scene into a whole new content folder Exporting is not only good for creating content folders, it’s especially good for making a clean content folder, especially if you’ve been saving iterations of files and have a ton of backups, etc., in your current content folder Once you have selected the option to export or consolidate, Content Manager shows you a list of your scene-related files These can be selected and you can set a subfolder to move them into Once done, clicking the OK button will its magic and start to recompile all the files into place, making them render farm-approved and ready to go! There are a few issues with this tool that are useful to note, however: n If you have multilayered object files and are using only a few layers from them, you may run across an “Object Conversion Failure.” This is nothing to worry about; the content folder will have been created and the files moved, but the scene file will not have been saved with the new content paths set You can manually this yourself, but you’ll have to reload the objects n Content Manager doesn’t always fix image paths inside object files That is, while it will move everything and resave everything for you, some objects with externally linked image files won’t be properly updated and will still request these files from their original location A render farm will show 496 | Chapter 10 Network Rendering these when the surfaces not render correctly Personally, I just rename the old content directory where the image files are known to reside so that the path name is changed This will bring up “Cannot find image” warnings when I load my scene from my new content directory, giving me the chance to select the correct images from the content folder itself Versions: 5-7.5c 1177 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Beginner Set Up Those Scene Saving Options Before sending any scene to a render farm, you need to first make sure that you have loaded it, selected the rendering options, set up the save options to render to RGB (and alpha if applicable), and saved the scene file again You need to also ensure that the save path for the rendered images (and alpha) is pointing to a network drive that all the render nodes can see This is essential if you plan on using Layout’s own ScreamerNet controller tools to run your render farm Most third-party control software allows you to dynamically set up the saving options without opening the file first Versions: 5-7.5c 1178 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Beginner Rendering a QuickTime or AVI Render farms can only render to still image sequences — plain and simple Movie files, such as AVI and QuickTime, require that each frame of the animation be rendered in sequence so that the video file can be written correctly to disk, and compressed as well if required Because a render farm cannot control the order of frames that are rendering, nor can each computer be expected to track where or when it needs to write a frame into a video file, it’s impossible to create a movie file this way You can, however, recompile the image sequences rendered by the render farm back into a movie file, either with a third-party video editing tool or with LightWave itself Rendering to image sequences is also a good habit to get into If anything happens in the middle of a render to a video file, or you need to abort your render because the boss wants his laptop back so he can go home, you cannot continue the render later You have to restart the video file again, which could mean extra hours of re-rendering what you’d already done With an image sequence, you simply set the start frame number in the Render Options panel to the next frame after the last file rendered and keep rendering from where you stopped Versions: All Rendering | 497 Network Rendering 1179 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Fixing Jittering Particle Effects When rendering scenes containing HyperVoxels or particles on a network, you should first save the motion of the particle emitter out to a pfx file Failing to so means that render nodes will attempt to determine the particle emitter motion themselves, sometimes leading to a semi-jittered and random-looking effect in the render itself Make sure that the pfx file is saved into the project’s content folder and that you save the scene directly after adding the pfx file to ensure it gets mapped to the emitter A pfx file will ensure that the motion is pre-saved and identical on all nodes Versions: All 1180 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Missing Texture Maps Render farms really work better with scenes that have been set up with a good content folder structure in the first place In most cases, many weird problems stem from users with bad habits of grabbing files from outside their content folders and using them in a scene or on a model Content folders require all components of the scene to be in the folder structure Any other file is known as external and is bad news, especially for a render farm! In the case of a render that contains missing texture maps, this can mean a few things: n The import plug-ins for loading certain image types could not be loaded or used This is related to the nodes not being able to read the ScreamerNet configuration files or the configuration files not pointing to the right files on disk (or even the right drive for that matter!) n The images were not in the content folder and the render nodes could not locate them Therefore, they don’t exist, but ScreamerNet will still render what it can n An object uses the image map from an external location These are harder to identify, as the image may exist in the content folder but the location in the object does not point to it Versions: All 1181 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Popping Texture Maps In cases of renders that contain the weird effect of popping texture maps (images that appear to pop on and off throughout a render), this issue seems to be more prevalent on Windows-based networks, and in most cases relates to badly maintained objects or content folders This occurs when an object or scene contains external images that are mapped by a network name in LightWave (i.e., \\kevs_computer\images\ dumb.png) If these can be located by a render node if it is connected to the same network, it will be loaded The problem happens when a network 498 | Chapter 10 Network Rendering connection cannot be made and the file cannot be loaded on a render node The node will still render the frame, but the final image will be missing a few textures Versions: 5-7.5c 1182 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Windows Workstation Network Connection Limit Workstation installations of Windows allow a maximum of 10 network connections If there are more than 10 machines on the network, any machine after the tenth will not be able to connect and therefore will be missing from the render farm In this case you should consider: n Purchasing a Windows Server license and enough CAL (Client Access Licenses) for your entire network (this will be a very costly exercise, especially for a small studio) n Building a server using the widely available and (mostly) free Linux operating system (which has no limitations on the number of connections) and use the program Samba that allows Windows computers to treat the Linux file system as though it were a Windows one A version of Samba is usually included in most installations of Linux Versions: All 1183 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Only Rendering to FLX Files One common issue most new ScreamerNet setups have is all output having the file extension flx instead of the correct file extension that was specified This is almost always related to the render nodes not being able to load their plug-ins To save in all the different image formats, LightWave uses a series of image save-load plug-ins Double-check that all the file paths to the plug-ins in your ScreamerNet version of the LWEXT.CFG file are correctly set up Versions: 5-7.5c 1184 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate No Files Were Rendered to Disk If your ScreamerNet render farm appears to be operating reliably but is producing no image files, there are two possible things that may be wrong: n ScreamerNet couldn’t load any of the image saver plug-ins In later editions of LightWave (6.x upward), this problem is usually more noticeable by FLX files being created instead Rendering | 499 Network Rendering n The scene file was not set up properly prior to placing it onto the render farm You need to ensure that the scene file has had its rendering options set for saving to RGB files, and that the pathname for those RGB files points to the network drive! Setting it to Save Animation or saving RGB to the local hard drive and not the network drive usually results in no files being created Versions: 5-7.5c 1185 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Cannot Find an LScript If you are using any LScript or LScript/RT plug-ins in your scene to load LScripts, you should ensure that you move the LScript files into your content folder before loading them Like all other files in a project, any LScripts added to your scene from outside the content directory will be linked as external files, and the render nodes may not be able to find them Versions: 5-7.5 Ü Note: Since LightWave 7.5c, LScript allows programmers to add the ability for scripts to embed themselves inside scene files directly 1186 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Intermediate Batch Those Nodes with DOS Typing that long ScreamerNet command line into each workstation on a network can be hard work! That’s where good old DOS batch file programming can be a time-saver I tend to set up my ScreamerNet command line into a batch file, and set it to use a parameter that I can pass to the batch file using the %1 symbol In this example, I have my ScreamerNet folder mapped to the L drive: L:\shared\programs\LWSN.EXE -2 -cL:\config -dL:\content L:\command\ job%1 L:\command\ack%1 I place this batch file into the ScreamerNet folder on the server computer, and each render node simply has a shortcut on the desktop that calls the batch file with a node number as a parameter For example, if I saved the batch file in my L drive and called it startnode.bat, the shortcut for node would call the command L:\startnode.bat When ScreamerNet aborts a node, usually this just terminates the batch file and exits back to Windows This can be a nuisance if you then need to restart all the nodes, so instead add a label and goto command to make the batch file restart itself when it’s aborted: :restart L:\shared\programs\LWSN.EXE -2 -cL:\config -dL:\content L:\command\job%1 L:\command\ack%1 goto restart Versions: 5-7.5c 500 | Chapter 10 Network Rendering 1187 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Beginner The Importance of Sequence When setting up your render farm, it’s important to use a sequential numbering order for each node This number is used by ScreamerNet for generating message files (job and ack) that make ScreamerNet work If you are using Layout to control your render farm, you must specify the number of CPUs This number should be the highest node CPU ID you have allocated If you have decided to call one of your nodes 132, just to be unique, then you must tell Layout that there are 132 possible nodes in your render farm When you initialize the render farm, searching and waiting for 132 nodes can take some time! Versions: 5-7.5c 1188 Kevin Phillips | Network Rendering | Beginner Better Ways to Work with ScreamerNet Are there alternatives to ScreamerNet? Sure, there are some around, but in most cases it’s not ScreamerNet that is the alternate solution, but an alternate piece of software for talking to the ScreamerNet nodes Here are a handful of free and commercial controller products that you can look into if Layout’s own ScreamerNet control is too limited: n LightNet (Joe Justice build) http://www.joejustice.org/LightWave/lightnet/ index.html n StationX Spider (Station X) http://www.stationx.com n Tequila Scream (DigitalToons) http://www.digitaltoons.tv/shop n ButterflyNetRender (Liquid Dream Solutions) http://metanerd.bizland.com n Screamernet Controller for OSX (Catalyst Productions) http://www.catalystproductions.cc Versions: 5-7.5c 1189 Timothy “Amadhi” Albee | Network Rendering | Beginner Master Plug-ins If you’re finding your ScreamerNet nodes refusing to load a scene, check your scene and remove the Master Plug-ins, Spreadsheet, and Standard Banks before sending your scene to be network rendered (Open the Master Plug-ins interface under the Scene tab in 7.x and Utilities tab in 8.x.) Versions: 7-8 Rendering | 501 Network Rendering 1190 Timothy “Amadhi” Albee | Network Rendering | Beginner Cache Shadow Map Don’t use Cache Shadow Map with shadow-mapped spotlights when you know you’ll be rendering via ScreamerNet If you start a node rendering midway through the completion of the scene, its cached shadow map data will look different than the nodes started earlier The difference may be slight, but often it results in “pops” that make the render unusable for professional production Versions: 7-8 1191 Timothy “Amadhi” Albee | Network Rendering | Beginner Bake Before Sending to ScreamerNet If you use Motion Mixer in a scene, you must bake the motion before sending the scene to be rendered via ScreamerNet Motion Mixer is a powerful and complex tool for blending bits of animation to create a performance — the 3D version of the limited animation seen in Saturday morning cartoons Because of all it can do, and the deceptive simplicity of its interface, if you plan on playing around with it, read its documentation! Versions: 7-8 1192 Lee Stranahan | Network Rendering | Beginner ScreamerNet Isn’t Enough One of LightWave’s big appeals to many people in Hollywood is that it includes free, unlimited network render nodes with the included ScreamerNet software The problem is that ScreamerNet is virtually unusable on its own What you need is a front end for it There are free ones out there such as LightNet and Spider — a Google search should find them — and there are also commercial ones that give you support and more bells and whistles Either way — get one! Versions: ??? This page intentionally left blank Chapter 13 LightWave in Print Most LightWave artists come up through video and multimedia So you’re probably not alone feeling that making 3D for print is a dicey proposition But print, though derided as “old media,” can still pay the bills Better yet, print work can offer you creative freedom you may not get from clients in video, film, and multimedia From a print art director’s point of view, 3D still has the aura of Cool Voodoo You may have forgotten this, but 3D is Hard To Do And, in the print world, you’ll often get more respect for your years of focus and hard work in LightWave So here are some ground rules for print, as well as a bunch of techniques that will speed your work flow and make sure your final artwork looks as good mass produced and sitting on your mom’s coffee table as it does on the screen — Brad Krause General Tips 1271 Brad Krause | General Tips | Beginner 50% Res-Down Making versions of your texture maps that are different resolutions? Maybe one for close-up shots and another for long shots? To keep them clear, you probably already know that you have to start with the larger resolution image and shrink it You can’t invent visual detail just by resing up an image But you won’t incur any fuzziness or artifacting if you make sure, when you res down your images, you so in increments of 50% Versions: 5-8 1272 Brad Krause | General Tips | Advanced Accurate Client Color If your clients have been kind enough to supply you with vector art of their logo in Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand format, they will probably be very picky about the color accuracy in your rendered images That is because they will have used the print industry color accuracy standard, PMS (Pantone Matching System) 543 544 | Chapter 13 General Tips Use of this system and its approximately 8031 numbered colors assures that a digital file printed in South Africa, Singapore, Germany, or the USA all have colors that match each other perfectly One caveat specifically for 3D and video: Nearly all files created with colors using the PMS system are set up in a CMYK color space If you not change this to RGB before exporting the vector artwork to Photoshop, the colors will shift dramatically Doing this is in Adobe Illustrator is accomplished simply by pulling down the File menu to Document Color Mode and choosing RGB Versions: 5-8 1273 Brad Krause | General Tips | Advanced Take Control of the Conversion Yourself Print design studios are used to converting RGB images into CMYK color space (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black printing inks) But sometimes they can inadvertently change your image’s colors in ways that will horrify you! Take control of the conversion yourself There is one simple menu in Photoshop you need to familiarize yourself with — the Color Settings panel In Windows and Mac OS 9, pull down the Edit menu to Color Settings In Mac OS X, pull down the Photoshop menu to Color Settings Then pull down the CMYK tab to Custom This will bring up the Custom CMYK menu To the left of the gray ramp curve box is a pull-down menu from which you can select from None to Maximum This menu determines whether colors in the darker areas will be made up more of black or the three other colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow) Try out the five different settings to see which keeps the colors truer to the original RGB values Just be sure to work on a copy Versions: 5-8 1274 Brad Krause | General Tips | Intermediate Exporting Channels for Print Exporting alphas isn’t good just for film and video postproduction, but for print production as well But there are different channels and for different reasons Rendered alphas for specular, shadow, diffuse, etc., won’t be much use compared to the art director’s need to match the client’s exact colors Imagine the deep cyan Pabst Blue Ribbon logo color printed instead in a dark purpley blue Clients get very picky about mistakes like that That’s because the client artwork from the original vector Pantone is converted to vector CMYK and to exported RGB bitmap, then rendered out of LightWave in RGB and then converted in Photoshop back to CMYK With all of these messy processes, colors will shift unacceptably For high-end product illustration, like work that will go onto packaging and advertisements, print artists need separate alpha channels rendered for discrete colors on a product label or logo Versions: 5-8 LightWave in Print | 545 General Tips 1275 Brad Krause | General Tips | Advanced Exporting Channels for Print The time to build your alphas from vector artwork is when you are still in the vector program Take a shape with a specific color and duplicate it onto another layer to make an alpha channel from it in flat black and white in 16-bit grayscale You can make sure that the exact value of each exported pixel will match to numeric perfection simply by making this duplicate layer in the vector program in black and white You can also save a lot of time by exporting in the Adobe Photoshop file format Photoshop export has an option that allows you to export Illustrator layers as Photoshop layers You can create all of your alpha channels in Illustrator and export them at the same time, into the same Photoshop file, as your original artwork Versions: 5-8 1276 Brad Krause | General Tips | Advanced Alpha Channel Redux So you’re rendering out separate alpha channels of each of the custom colors in an object for the anal-retentive art director Let’s make quick work of it Instead of labeling the image maps “red,” “gold,” “blue,” etc., just give them sequential number names — “001,” “002,” “003,” etc Then load just the first one and, in the Image Editor window, pull the Image Type button down to Sequence Then just render out as many frames as you have images in the sequence Keep in mind that your image maps are grayscale You want them to render flat, without shading — which is what your art director buddy will want To this, you will have to: Change the surface of the object to 100% luminosity, 0% diffuse Turn off all lights’ intensity by changing the Global Light Intensity to 0% in the Global Illumination panel What you’ll get is a nice, antialiased black-and-white version of the image map curved and otherwise shaped to the object’s surface You don’t even need to a color render The AD can just fill in the colors in Photoshop and add his meager shading on another layer See the bottle_w-HV_drops.tif and bottle_w-ImageMap_drops.tif examples on the companion CD Versions: 5-8 1277 Brad Krause | General Tips | Beginner Export Format for Print When exporting a bitmap image out of a vector program like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand, always use the Photoshop file format By avoiding non-native compression algorithms like lzw and jpg, you give these vector programs less work to do, cutting down the export time often by half You also 546 | Chapter 13 General Tips avoid an increased risk of possible image corruption on export by eliminating one more digital process Versions: 5-8 1278 Brad Krause | General Tips | Beginner Make the Logo Bigger You’ve figured out the dimensions of your final printed image But you have a logo that gets placed rather small onto a surface of an object on that image You might just measure the size of the logo in the final render Then use that smaller size for the pixel dimensions of the exported vector logo But not unless you like redoing work Export the client’s logo at a nice, big size They might need it for artwork for a trade show display, the side of a truck, or even a billboard Export it once at a nice, big size, say 10" in the longer direction at 300 dpi (3,000 pixels) You can make smaller resolution versions in Photoshop for temporary placement, video, or smaller-size print jobs when you don’t need it so big Versions: 5-8 1279 Brad Krause | General Tips | Intermediate Screen Grab Resolution Interfaces like LightWave’s are laid out so that they display at 72 dpi That means, basically, the text in dialog boxes is a bitmapped image at 72 dpi Note that, for example, if you increase the screen resolution of your monitor, interface elements not remain the same in size They shrink That is because their pixel dimensions are set If you then stretch open, say, the main Layout window, interface elements remain the same size and the color between them fills in the increased “gap.” Therefore, it is not worthwhile to try to capture screen images at any higher resolution than the standard screen grab — 72 dpi In fact it is counterproductive to increase their pixel dimensions in Photoshop, for example Not only is it a waste of time and disk space and may not display properly when opened on another computer, but otherwise crisp shapes will become blurry The best way to maintain image quality of screen grabs is to save them in a lossless image format such as TIF I mention TIF explicitly because it’s one of the most common formats used in desktop publishing It can be opened in a wide variety of programs over many operating systems, and, in particular, Quark Xpress, the most popular long-document layout program, likes it very much Yum, yum! Software users are accustomed to looking at interfaces on-screen in the default resolution Despite common, high-resolution printing requirements, screen grabs will look best when printed in a way that maintains that look Versions: 5-8 LightWave in Print | 547 General Tips 1280 Brad Krause | General Tips | Intermediate RGB vs CMYK Printing uses an entirely different color spectrum than video Video uses the RGB model 100% of all of these colors combined makes white, like a very bright light RGB model Print uses the CMYK model 100% of all of these colors combined will make black Heck, the “K” in CMYK is black You don’t even need the other three colors for that CMYK model Worst of all, the color “gamut,” or range, of CMYK is much smaller than RGB That means that your richest reds, greens, and blues will turn to mud when converted for print Don’t believe me? Go ahead and open up an image you’ve rendered in Photoshop Change its color mode from RGB to CMYK by pulling down the Image tab to Color Mode and choosing CMYK Your nice bright reds, greens, or blues now look like they’ve been turned to mud This is an accurate representation of what print can to your images Want to see something interesting? Leave the CMYK image on your screen, get up, and go something for a couple of minutes Come back to your computer and look at the image It doesn’t look bad at all! 548 | Chapter 13 General Tips It’s all relative You’ve been looking at CMYK images all your life Print is nothing new to you, after all Versions: 5-8 1281 Arne Kaupang, Brad Krause | General Tips | All Levels How to Calculate Print Sizes and DPI So how you find out what size to render when making an image for print? Actually it is not that difficult to calculate When making a postcard, an illustration for a magazine, etc., the printing press normally needs a resolution of 300 to 305 DPI (dots per inch) or 120 LCM (lines per centimeter) to ensure your rendering reproduces at the proper quality And as all numeric input panels in LightWave have built-in calculator abilities, you can calculate it all in your Camera Properties panel Let’s say you have made a scene you want to render at an 11 x 15-inch print size Open up the Camera Properties panel in Layout In the Width input box you type 11*300, and hit Return Voilà! 3300 pixels In Height, you type 15*300 The height will be 4500 pixels Living in Europe and need metric calculations? No problem An A4 page is 21 x 29.7 cm in size In the Camera Properties panel, you type 21*120 for Width, which equals 2520 pixels Height is 29.7*120, which equals 3564 pixels n Print resolution using inches: X * 300 DPI = X pixels n Print resolution using centimeters: X * 120 LCM = X pixels (1 inch = 2.54 cm) When you are making large posters (unless it is a fine art poster that you want to be razor sharp), you sometimes don’t have to render it in 300 DPI, but can get away with as low as 200 or even 150 DPI A poster is normally to be looked at from a distance, and a little blurring in fine details isn’t noticeable This may save you a lot of render time Versions: All LightWave in Print | 549 General Tips 1282 Arne Kaupang | General Tips | All Levels RGB Colors and Print CMYK Colors Don’t take for granted that what you see on your screen is what your work will look like in print There are a number of factors that need to be addressed to make it match For example, your monitor needs to be calibrated (the Pantone Spyder is a device that a lot of graphic designers use) and you need to have the right color settings in Photoshop when converting the colors from RGB to CMYK RGB is the colorspace used for on-screen images (monitors, film, TV, etc.) and CMYK is used for printing on paper The printing process normally consists of these four colors When you are preparing an RGB image and want to convert it to CMYK for print, talk to the printers that are going to print it, and ask what settings they want you to use This sometimes differs a lot between print shops, and a lot of the printers have also developed their own settings and color profiles that they want you to use If you are very unsure of how to it, ask them to convert your render from RGB to CMYK for you When delivering your file, if possible, also print out a color proof to show them what you want the final result to look like Having the printers make a color proof for you to check before it is printed is also a good idea A few things to remember: n CMYK has a much smaller colorspace than RGB Highly saturated colors in RGB may be very difficult to reproduce well in CMYK They will look a bit pale in comparison Banding between colors may also appear if the image is too saturated n Saturated blue RGB colors often tilt toward purple when they are converted to CMYK Be aware of this; slightly reducing the amount of magenta in the blues after the conversion usually helps n An image normally appears a little darker in print than what it does on the screen (Depends on how you have calibrated your monitor though.) If you have a very dark image with lots of details in the dark areas, you may want to lighten those areas slightly to prevent them from filling with too much black in print Versions: All This page intentionally left blank Chapter 14 LightWave 3D Troubleshooting As an owner of LightWave 3D, you have made a serious monetary commitment to becoming a 3D artist However, the commitment does not stop there You also need to commit to the time to read the documentation provided for LightWave itself, and for every other software package you have installed on your system, as well as the hardware that makes up your system, and learn to use them effectively In almost eight years of doing 3D professionally, as an artist and as an instructor, I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard, “I’m an animator, not a computer person.” That thinking will cause you more problems than all the scratched CDs, faulty motherboards, viruses, and power surges you will ever encounter combined No, reading a bunch of “dweeb-speak” isn’t fun, and you may not even consider it productive Yes, the urge to start producing artwork can be near irresistible, but the more you know about the way your software works, the way your hardware works, and the way the two work together, the more likely you are to know what to immediately when a problem does arise, rather than having to suffer downtime while you wait for someone else to tell you what to Just as you need to learn how to clean a paintbrush or sharpen a pencil to be an effective traditional animator, you must learn how to operate and maintain your computer’s hardware and software to be an effective computer animator This chapter of LightWave 3D [8]: 1001 Tips & Tricks will endeavor to address some of the most common troubleshooting issues faced by LightWave users, allowing you the opportunity to address any of these issues you may encounter right away, rather than having to contact NewTek Technical Support, thereby decreasing downtime and increasing productivity In the event that the tips in this chapter not address your specific issue, and you need to contact NewTek’s knowledgeable Technical Support staff directly, please remember that, just as a mechanic will have a hard time diagnosing problems with a car he does not have access to, it is much easier for the technical support analyst you speak with to address your issue if you have access to the system in question at the time of the call — Kurtis Harris NewTek Information 551 552 | Chapter 14 NewTek Information Ü Note: Any instruction sets in the following tips assume that you have installed LightWave and its related configuration files into the default locations Newbie Note: program labeled “LightWave,” Although the shortcut totolaunch the animation portion of the LightWavethat portionisof it is generally referred as “Layout” to avoid any confusion between the program and LightWave as a whole Newbie Note: When using text editor edit program for as configuration files, key files, and scene files), it isaimportant totoedit them usingfilesplainLightWave (suchdefault text editors a text editor The included with each OS are: • PC: Notepad (found under Programs>Accessories) • Mac OS 9: SimpleText • Mac OS X: TextEdit When saving a file, these text editors may ask you if you want to append the txt file extension to the file, even if you have assigned the file extension yourself It is important that you not append the txt file extension, as it changes the name of the file, preventing LightWave from being able to find it Even if you told it “No,” it is a good idea to double-check by exploring the folder where the file is located and checking the file name for Windows By default, will hide NewbieToNote Windows to show users: file extension onWindowsnames: any file extensions it is familiar with force you the all file Open a file Explorer window Go to Tools>Folder Options in the main menu bar at the top Click on the View tab in the Folder Options pop-up window Uncheck the option Hide file extensions for known file types Click on Apply and OK to apply the change Go to View>Refresh in the main menu bar at the top It is only necessary to this once Windows will remember the setting from this point on for OS X users: By Newbie NotecreateMac edit documents in plaindefault, TextEdit creates documents in rich text mode To force TextEdit to and text mode: Open TextEdit Go to Preferences Set TextEdit to Plain Text Close the existing rich text document Open a new plain text document Alternately, the menu command Format>Make Plain Text and the keyboard shortcut Shift+Command+T will convert an existing TextEdit document to plain text mode NewTek Information 1283 Kurtis Harris | NewTek Information | All Levels NewTek Technical Support NewTek Technical Support can help you with error messages you encounter while installing or using LightWave 3D Versions: All LightWave 3D Troubleshooting | 553 NewTek Information 1284 Kurtis Harris | NewTek Information | All Levels Technique Support NewTek does not currently have a “how-to” or “technique support” line NewTek Technical Support representatives cannot answer questions of this nature There are many resources for learning to use LightWave 3D that are available from third-party sources and the web, including training classes, books, videos and DVDs, user forums, and mailing lists Links to many of these resources can be found at http://www.lightwave3d.com Versions: All 1285 Kurtis Harris | NewTek Information | All Levels Contacting Technical Support North America: 1-210-341-8444 or http://www.newtek.com/support/tech/contact.html Europe: +33 557 262 262 or http://www.newtek-europe.com/uk/contacts/contact.html Australia: +612 9528 4555 or http://www.newmagic.com.au/NM_FS_MAIN.html Japan: http://www.dstorm.co.jp Versions: All 1286 Kurtis Harris | NewTek Information | All Levels LightWave Feature Requests If you would like to suggest a new feature be added to LightWave or that an existing feature be changed, e-mail comments to lwfeatures@newtek.com Versions: All 1287 Kurtis Harris | NewTek Information | All Levels LightWave Bug Reports If you feel you have found something that is a bug in LightWave, rather than something that works differently from what you expect, you can e-mail a documented account of how you discovered the bug and steps to reproduce it to lwbugs@newtek.com Versions: All 1288 Kurtis Harris | NewTek Information | All Levels Unable to Download Files from http://www.newtek.com There are a number of possible causes for this n File servers are busy: Try downloading again at a later time Off hours, such as late night/early morning, are usually easier n Out-of-date or incorrect URL: Check the URL in your browser’s address bar for typos 554 | Chapter 14 Installation n Access blocked: Some systems may be blocked from downloading files by an ISP or corporate firewall These issues should be addressed to your Internet service provider or your company’s IT department If you are still experiencing difficulties, contact NewTek’s web department at webmaster@newtek.com Versions: All 1289 Kurtis Harris | NewTek Information | All Levels Unable to Access Files from NewTek Discussion Forums Account The NewTek Discussion Forums are maintained by NewTek’s web department If you are experiencing difficulties, address comments to webmaster@newtek.com Versions: All Installation 1290 Kurtis Harris | Installation | All Levels Operating Systems The following LightWave/OS combinations have proven most compatible PC: n Windows 95, 98, and NT: LightWave 5.6 and earlier n Windows 2000 (SP3): LightWave and above n Windows XP (SP1): LightWave and above Mac: n OS 9: LightWave 5.5-7.5c n OS 10 to 10.2.8: LightWave 6.5b-7.5c n OS 10.3.3: LightWave and above Versions: 5.5-8 1291 Kurtis Harris | Installation | All Levels System Hardware Recommendations/Software Compatibilities Basic system recommendations for LightWave 3D can be found at http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/product/buyers_guide.html Since the number of hardware and software options and their capabilities are increasing so quickly, it is impossible to maintain a comprehensive list of compatible hardware/software combinations The best way to get an idea of the capabilities and compatibilities of different hardware and software packages with LightWave is to ask the advice of other users at the NewTek Discussion Forums (http://vbulletin.newtek.com) By drawing on the experiences of such a large number of LightWave users, you will likely be able to get direct input on any make, model, version, and/or combination of hardware and software Versions: All LightWave 3D Troubleshooting | 555 Installation 1292 Kurtis Harris | Installation | All Levels Graphics Card Requirements n AGP-slot interface: LightWave is designed to work with graphics cards that have an AGP-slot interface Graphics cards that are built onto the motherboard or that have a PCI-slot interface will not be able to display LightWave on-screen properly n LightWave 3D [8]: 64MB onboard RAM per display: LightWave 3D [8] has an absolute minimum system requirement of 64MB of onboard (built-on) dedicated RAM for each display This means that for a dual-display system your graphics card should have an absolute minimum of 128MB of onboard RAM Graphics cards with 128 to 256MB of onboard RAM are recommended Using cards with shared video RAM is not recommended, regardless of amount n LightWave 3D 7.5c and earlier: 32MB onboard RAM per display: LightWave has an absolute minimum system requirement of 32MB of onboard, or built-on dedicated, RAM for each display This means that for a dual-display system your graphics card should have an absolute minimum of 64MB of onboard RAM Graphics cards with 128 to 256MB of onboard RAM are recommended Using cards with shared video RAM is not recommended, regardless of amount n Full OpenGL and DirectX support: LightWave utilizes these functions for on-screen display while you are working in Modeler and Layout For your work in LightWave to display properly, any graphics card you chose should fully support the latest versions of both options n 1280 x 1024 screen resolution: Since LightWave works best with a 1280 x 1024 or larger screen resolution, your graphics card should be able to easily support that resolution This means that 1280 x 1024 should not be the card’s maximum resolution Just as driving a car at its maximum speed at all times is not good for it, constantly running your graphics card at maximum resolution is not good for it Your card’s maximum resolution should be higher than what you plan to run it at Prices for graphics cards suitable for 3D work have dropped dramatically as the 3D gaming market has grown, since the newer 3D games have many of the same requirements as the newer 3D graphics applications It is now possible to find a graphics card with a high screen resolution, full support for the latest display options, and 128 to 256MB of onboard RAM at most major retailers starting under $100 Most commercially available graphics cards are available with an AGP-slot interface Versions: 6-8 556 | Chapter 14 Installation 1293 Kurtis Harris | Installation | All Levels Screen Resolution LightWave works best with a minimum screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 It will operate properly at lower resolutions, but this will affect the overall size of the viewports Some function buttons, primarily those controlled by plug-ins, may collapse under drop-down menus labeled “Additional” or “More.” Versions: 6-8 1294 Kurtis Harris | Installation | All Levels Hardware Lock Use For LightWave to operate fully, the hardware lock must be attached to the system whenever LightWave is in use Versions: All 1295 Kurtis Harris | Installation | All Levels Hardware Lock Purpose The hardware lock is part of LightWave’s piracy protection It is there to protect NewTek against unauthorized use of its product and to protect your investment as a paying customer Versions: All 1296 Kurtis Harris | Installation | All Levels Advantages of the Hardware Lock Since LightWave uses the hardware lock to determine if its use is authorized, it will work on any machine to which the hardware lock is attached This means that you can have it installed on your machine at work, your machine at home, and your laptop, all at the same time All you need to is move the hardware lock from machine to machine Since the hardware lock will always generate the same Hardware Lock ID number, on the same type of platform, you can copy the same license.key file from machine to machine within the same platform, without having to register over and over Versions: All 1297 Kurtis Harris | Installation | All Levels USB Hardware Lock Operating System Requirements PC: n You must have LightWave or above to use the USB port hardware lock Mac: n You must have LightWave or above to use the USB port hardware lock n You must use the USB port hardware lock if you have OS X or above Versions: 6-8 ð Mac Note for Newbies: Since OS X 10.3.3 is the minimum system requirement for LightWave 3D [8], you must have the USB hardware lock ... image as a spherical reflection Versions: All 11 98 Eki Halkka | General Tips | All Levels Using LightWave as a Video Effects Application You can use LightWave as a video effects application simply... create images with LightWave, you will miss a lot in speed and control if you ignore the possibilities of compositing tools — Erkki Halkka General Tips 1 193 Patrik Beck | General Tips | Intermediate... an image to a subdivided flat box and creating morph targets for it Versions: 6 -8 1 199 Larry Shultz | General Tips | Intermediate Speeding Up Animation and Setup Sometimes I’ve had to use large