Pre-PBR? What's changed
If you've updated to LightWave 2024 from a version older than LightWave 2018, then the changes will be surprising. The old ways of surfacing, lighting, global illumination and simulating might be new to you.
Surface Editor
While the trusty default material for LightWave, called Standard, is still available we don't recommend you use it. The reason? Because it really doesn't fit in with the modern paradigm in 3D called PBR. PBR stands for Physically Based Rendering and aims to be a scientifically correct way of surfacing and lighting a scene.
Lighting has also changed because of this, see below. Previously, you might have needed to adjust surfacing depending on the lighting conditions and vice versa. Now, you can be sure of consistency. This does not mean that realistic rendering is the only option. LightWave still has cel shading and many other ways to bring in artistic control.
Physically Based Rendering (PBR)
The strange-sounding PBSDF is now the default surface material, and you can create all kinds of looks with it alone - you might never need to use a different material. Physically-Based Rendering (PBR) has revolutionized the way we create realistic computer graphics. It is a rendering technique that aims to simulate the physical behaviour of light in the real world. In the PBR workflow, materials are defined based on their physical properties, such as their albedo, roughness, and metallicness. Two common approaches to defining these properties are the PBR Metallic workflow and the PBR Specular workflow.
There are two (2) different workflows with PBR: Metallic/Roughness or Specular/Glossiness.
The main differences between Metallic and Specular workflows in Physically Based Rendering (PBR) texturing are the types of materials they create and the level of control they offer.
LightWave uses the Metallic/Roughness workflow. A comparison of the two techniques is detailed below:
Metallic/Roughness Workflow
The PBR Metallic workflow is a method of defining materials based on their metallic properties. In this workflow, materials are defined using four maps: Color/Albedo, Metallic, Roughness, and Normal. The Albedo map defines the color of the material, the Metallic map defines which parts of the material are metallic and which are non-metallic, the Roughness map defines the roughness of the material, and the Normal map defines the surface detail of the material.
The Metallic map is the key difference between the PBR Metallic and PBR Specular workflows. In the PBR Metallic workflow, the Metallic map is a grayscale map that defines the metalness of the material. White areas of the map represent fully metallic materials, while black areas represent non-metallic materials. Gray areas represent materials that are partially metallic.
The advantage of the PBR Metallic workflow is that it is easy to use and understand. The Metallic map defines the metalness of the material in a simple and intuitive way. Additionally, it is easy to create textures for the Metallic map, as it is a grayscale map.
The disadvantage of the PBR Metallic workflow is that it is not as flexible as the PBR Specular workflow. Metallic materials have a very specific appearance, and the Metallic map does not allow for much variation in the appearance of the material. Additionally, the Metallic map can be difficult to create for materials that are partially metallic.
PBR Metallic uses base colour, metallic, and roughness maps.
Base colour map contains both specular colour for metals and diffuse colour for non-metal. Basically, the diffuse and specular maps from the Specular workflow are combined into this map.
The metalness map is a greyscale map that tells the shader whether the coloured portion is made of metal or not. Metal is represented by black, while non-metal is represented by white.
The roughness map is the polar opposite of the glossiness map, with whiter values indicating a rougher surface.
Metallic workflow removes control of the F(0) values for non-metals, which can often be used incorrectly, hence making it somewhat more popular over Specular. It also saves memory because two-thirds of the maps are greyscaled, compared to only one-third in the Spec/Gloss procedure.
Specular/Glossiness Workflow
The PBR Specular workflow is a method of defining materials based on their specular properties. In this workflow, materials are defined using four maps: Albedo (Color), Specular, Roughness, and Normal. The Albedo map defines the color of the material, the Specular map defines the reflectivity of the material, the Roughness map defines the roughness of the material, and the Normal map defines the surface detail of the material.
PBR Specular uses diffuse, specular, and glossiness maps.
Diffuse map just contains the diffuse colour, no shading or lighting data. Shaders and ambient occlusion are usually baked into the diffuse map when working with styled and/or hand painted textures. Shaders are handled by the system, and ambient occlusion is handled by a separate map in PBR. Metals should seem black on this map because they have no diffuse colour.
Specular map contains the colour of specular reflections. Non-metals should be grayscale and dull, while metals should be vibrant and colourful.
The appearance of specular reflections is controlled by glossiness. The strength and size of specular reflections are determined by the roughness or glossiness of a surface, as previously stated. Whiter values indicate a smoother or glossier surface on this greyscale map.
The Specular map is the key difference between the PBR Metallic and PBR Specular workflows. In the PBR Specular workflow, the Specular map is a RGB map that defines the reflectivity of the material. The red, green, and blue channels of the map represent the reflectivity of the material at different angles. The Specular map allows for a greater range of variation in the appearance of the material than the Metallic map.
The advantage of the PBR Specular workflow is that it is more flexible than the PBR Metallic workflow. The Specular map allows for a greater range of variation in the appearance of the material, making it possible to create materials with a wide range of reflectivities. Additionally, the Specular map can be used to create a variety of materials, including metals, plastics, and ceramics.
The disadvantage of the PBR Specular workflow is that it is more complex than the PBR Metallic workflow. The Specular map is an RGB map, which can be more challenging to create than a grayscale map. Additionally, the Specular map requires more knowledge of the physical properties of materials to create.
Mike Wolf has a node (PBR Texture Set) included with the DB&W Tools that will allow the use of both Metallic and Specular PBR materials.
PBR Metalness vs PBR Specular
Both workflows provide excellent outcomes, but each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
PBR Specular Workflow uses a Specular Color map in conjunction with the Gloss Map for correct specularity. This has both a strong benefit and a significant disadvantage, especially in terms of game creation.
Node Editor
The big difference from the LightWave v7 and v8 era is the existence of the Node Editor. With the Node Editor, you can make connections that aren't limited to the layered approach of the T button in Standard, which frees you to drive surfacing choices linking disparate items. You'll notice that there are no T buttons here. Where once we would have added an image to the surface using the Texture buttons, now we'll use nodes. With the Surface Editor open, you can select the surface and click the Edit Node Graph button, or simply double-click the surface name.
In the Node Editor, you'll see a list of all available nodes on the left side and you can narrow down what you are looking for using the search filed at the top. As always with LightWave, there are several ways to do things and a complete menu of available nodes can be shown when you Ctrl-Shift right click the mouse. Better yet, if you use the Node Editor options window you can choose the Flat menu option. This removes the folders from the nodes and just lists them all as a single menu. That might seem more confusing, but you can now type to search for your desired node.
Lighting
In LightWave 1-2015, Lighting always used the nebulous concept of percent. It didn't relate to anything, so you had to be familiar with how you lit things to know that this bedside light needed to be at 30 %, but that car headlight needed to be at 230 %. In LightWave 2018, light units changed to Lux or Lumen per square meter. Not only can you now light based on the size of your light source, you can also reliably control its power based on real-world examples using IES lights. By default, the Normalize option is checked so you don't need to measure your lights. If you untick Normalize, you can control your light's power by scaling it. The various fall-off options are now gone, your light can either fall off correctly or not at all (though there is still additional control if you need it through the Node Editor).
Lights now have size - a spotlight when first added to a scene will look more like a point light from v 2015, until you give it some size.
Normalize | Size | Image |
|---|---|---|
On | 0 |  |
Off | 0 |  |
On | 500mm |  |
Off | 500mm |  |
Environment Light
Although this is labelled as a light, it will not illuminate your scene by itself. It is where you can set up environments like backdrop images or HDRI illumination systems. You can have multiple environment lights to set up different conditions such as day and night. Only one can be visible to the camera at a time.
Getting started
Global Illumination
Refractive dispersion
This works in Lightwave's renderer, but to get accurate results you need a lot of GI samples (and time). Brute Force GI is the most accurate but also the slowest and noisiest. Noise can be eliminated with the GPU Noise Filter (Optix), if available on your machine. Clean results are also obtained by combining Brute Force and Irradiance Cache (secondary GI). Irradiance Cache alone can produce fast but less accurate results.
But once you have baked the Irradiance Cache, animations only take seconds per frame.
Getting Started
Simulation
If you have been a LightWave 11 user before, you'll know about