What's New in LightWave 2025

Pickkit

Pickkit is an easy interface to pick controls for animated humanoid characters without needing to scroll through a massive item dropdown in Layout.

Steppit!

Steppit is LightWave's new walk cycle creator. It can create and edit humanoid walk cycles of all kinds - from the shuffle upstairs of an old person with a bad back, tiptoeing not to wake a partner, or the warlike stomp of an angry mech.

Handdit

LightWave 2025's new hand animation tool is a great way to regroup hand and finger animations into a single interface.

Python 3

LightWave 2025 has added support for Python 3.13.x. Either run LightWave in legacy Python 2.7.x mode, or in the newer (active developed) Python 3 mode.

Python 3 is available in both Layout and Modeler.

Procedural Geometry Nodes

Construct Layout

A new tool for generating staircases and more - available as a standard Modeler tool, a Layout object modifier or a Procedural Geometry node.

Displacement Brush Tool

A new tool for creating or adjusting displacements over time

RiPR

New Interactive renderer unique to Nvidia graphics cards. Can now record preview

Octane Render for LightWave

• Octane Render API bumped to 2024.1

• Added in ACGradient Node

• Added in Gradient Map Node

• Added in Volume Gradient Map Node

HDR Light Studio

• HDR Light Studio now works correctly with LW 2025 and OctaneRender for LightWave 2025.

Render Reconstruction Filters

The LightWave 3D renderer includes a full implementation of reconstruction filters for Physically Based Rendering. These filters determine how the rendering data is combined into a final image at a sub-pixel level in order to produce a final image. Reconstruction filters have been a subject of research over many years and the names of these filters are often derived from the research that led to their development.

Toon Filter

Toon Filter is a pixel filter shading tool. It's viewable in VPR, and allows cel edge shading on an object, a surface or even a per-polygon basis. These can all be isolated and or grouped and individually coloured and sized. Its also very fast, on average 60% quicker than the previous method, it also has more flexibility and power than LightWave's previous options including pre 2020 .

New I/O Utilities

• Export to LightWave 2024 Scene...

• Load From Scene Advanced

DP Verdure

Denis Pontonnier's organic tools

Box Tool

The Box Tool can draw round edges in one dimension only now.

SuperNormals

For the first time LightWave allows for the editing and creation of Normals on a model-by-model basis. This has always been an automated but non-editable facility in LightWave. In today's cross-compatible and transferable geometry systems the user needs more and more to have full control over an object's Normals.

Superpatcher

Super Patcher is a new modelling tool that can be found in the Construct Tab ion Modeler in the Patches group. It is used to patch holes in geometry.

It is implemented as part of LightWaves modelling tools plugin.

Construct (Modeler)

A new tool for generating staircases - available as a standard Modeler tool, a Layout object modifier or a Procedural Geometry node.

Rman Collection

Denis Pontonnier's collection of textures and nodes inspired by Pixar's Renderman nodes

DPKit

Denis Pontonnier's collection of original surface and displacement nodes

DP Filter

Denis Pontonnier's collection of image and pixel filters (now compatible with VPR)

Modeler Fixes

3b1202b - Box fillet-radius limiting works as expected.

Rhiggit Support Tools

• bb5c8f4 - PickIt version 1

• 94f5a13 - Versioned only for 2025 (won't work in 2024 or earlier)

• 0152389 - Updates to HandIt V1

• 584bd4e - HandIt Version 1

• 11d28b2 - Handit.pyc

Text Tool

• 1840fed - Change "Add Text" to just "Text" as its already in the Add heading

• 0e86144 - Add 2025 default menu

• 9e308f5 - Make text now has user editable text in presets. The first time its run it transfers the default spongebob phrases to "presets/randomtext.txt" Add a subitem to xpanExample.py sheet.

• 29a0bd1 - Add attributes to text generator, a python script for a UI button and a master python script to control it. Rework the xpanel sheet control to not use ctypes directly using a new class factory.

Procedural Geometry

• 0f3e4c2 - Rename Dual Mesh node to Re-Mesh and add Botsch-Kobbelt Re-mesh option.

• b5a504e - Add progeo edges and point normals. Disconnect from add instance node and warn with wrong input.

• dcc5ae4 - Add load and save to progeo star python script.

• b8e3f6f - Fix hang in progeostar.py. missing attribute in progeo.

• fa04a64 - Fix Align node missing handler definitions.

• 74431af - Add vector align node.

• 63dc76c - Nodal: Add attribute-container-based gradient ACGradient node

• 9e308f5 - Add progeo node dual mesh. Extend the IRMB dll to include dual mesh from cinolib.

• 40a3e28 - Add mesh mutations to mesh funcs, samples and docs. Fix mathfuncs global.

STL/FBX (Mainly OSX fixes)

• 6396c07 - Fix MacOS STL load crash (seems to fix FBX as well)

TurbulenceFD

• c86c16c - Add TFD VDB remapping.

Kit Surfacer

• b7c0cb3 - Fixed gamma for greyscale images from 2.2 to 1

Render Buffers

• 8117d11 - Vaccinate LW Against Infectious Custom AOVs The original design had AOV references saved in the surface data only if the surface was connected to Custom AOV's destination on the Surface node. This could lead to an unused AOV vanishing if the scene was saved and reloaded before the AOV's input was connected to.

The fix had been to go ahead and save all Custom AOV names regardless of a connection being present. But this resulted in the AOVs spreading between scenes (because of shared objects) and infecting other objects.

So the original design has been restored and an AOV name will only be included in surfaces which have a connection to that AOV. In addition, the names of all the Custom AOVs will be stored in the scene file, and restored upon scene load. But objects will only restore the Custom AOVs which they had a connection to when saved.

Edgeslide/Pointslide

• 0bdaf58 - Discontinuous points don't slide with EdgeSliding.

• 71481e2 - Fixed crasher in edge slide with no side edge.

• 4ba8419 - Added UV sliding feature to edge slide. (*currently not working right)

Octane

• 85d78c8 - Octane: add Volume Gradient Map node

• 09934ac - Octane: Gradient Map node working

• d704992 - Octane: bug fixes and cleanup

• 8cc4e9a - Octane: Add Octane Gradient Map node

• 1c5a92a - Octane: ACGradient adds Hermite curve choice

• HDRLS fix for Octane

Weightbrush

• 7a64c3a - upgrade layouttool (shift key and new key set).

• Remove direct paint mode lasso selection hotkey

• update( [->} ]->} ) add invert selection

• 741ee76 - reference texture scale issue todo : need switch for Compatibility

• a307d5c - WeightBrushTool: use latest Eigen API

Displacement Brush

• 4d6f048 - re-fix new plugin map > clear map (not select collect map)

• 7517ea8 - fix new plugin map > clear map (not select collect map)

• 90410de - auto key support hotkey update

• 97f4f39 - add undo redo hotkey fix ui

• d68d5ea - fix loop selection

• 22bf666 - add clear tool

Metamorphic

• 663d23b - Metamorphic: update eigen/fmt apis and move to SDK folder Eigen 3.4 is the latest available. Eigen is a math API used in a few areas of LW code, often using a version specific to each use case. FMT is faster c++ iostream-style alternative, currently only used by Metamorphic.

Node Editor

• c723c2b - Probe tool color update

• 2681f7b - Too Many Frame Nodes

Alembic

• f971b47 - Potential fix for Alembic with nested empty models.

• 3021236 - Fix Alembic crash in scene Light_Streaks_Ha.abc _Ha was incorrectly parsed as a Blender take. No velocity channel was present as we were attempting to get a sampler for it.

• 4b2a676 - fix motion blur issue for alembic (remove camera's blur )

Python

• c0a8270 - Add XRay to list. Xray mode now can be set by python.

• fbaee1b - Add SWIG wrappers for xpanel support. Add 2 node xpanel python examples

• 482b8a0 - lwoshape: macOS case warning fix

• d5d00f3 - lwoshape build fix (Windows)

• 2c9377f - Add LWOShape custom object and example script.

ATTRIBUTES: - Mainly for Python:

• 97bd72e - Fix for image node in modeler. sceneinfo check revised.

• 95ecd14 - Fix for image node in modeler. Attribute change event referenced sceneinfo improperly as its only available in layout. Attributes don't apply in modeler.

• 786f1a9 - remove VPARM setValue from attribute change event until it can be looked into as it crashes

• b87f05f - Add attributes to image node. Add showAttributes LWSDK sample Component Add python module tools surfDict.py to scan a surface Extend the SWIG wrapper for LWAttrFloat3 etc complex types.

Turbulence TFD

• d3af2dc - Turbulence: use CUDA 11.8

Preferences

• 95ad8c3 - Preferences Not Saving

• 71a0523 - Menu/Keymap config choices now shown in full

• 7cba54d - Preference Panel: Scrollbars hide behind controls

• 8ed8af1 - Surface Editor Position

• 5158f37 - Code Analysis adjustments

• b1b73d7 - Node Editor: Don't copy Frames

• 3759109 - L3BTB-161: Fixed Auto key frame ignored The Autokey Fixed Frame and the FSPE options were being handling in the wrong event handler. Relocated them so that they actually get handled.

• af70491 - L3BTB-58: Color Picker preference not restored The underlying value would be reloaded but the UI would be out of sync after restarting depending on which plugins was selected. Because the preference are loaded (in Layout) before some plugins are available, this could leave the Color Picker and File Dialog options showing the wrong option. We now refresh those controls after the plugins have been loaded.

• a50c0fc - L3BTB-136: Color Table and Backup paths resetting The Content Directory path was loading after the Color Table and Backup paths, resetting them before the Use Custom Paths option had a chance to load and take effect.

License

• 41bd433 - LW2025 version/licensing changes

• 8d2897e - Educational License Mode

• 0be8fc5 - Restore the Trial Mode

Layout Fixes

• 85b302c - Add a check in md2000 displace for a null surfaceid. Add some prints in package scene for the directory and temp directory.