Returning users start here

Apple Silicon version

One of the first things we did as the new owners of LightWave was to ensure that we wouldn't lose valued Mac owners. Our binaries for Layout and Modeler can either be run in Intel or Apple Silicon mode, giving the best of both worlds.

Procedural Geometry nodes

Procedural geometry is created in Layout using a network of nodes. It can be saved out as true geometry or can just exist in the scene file.

Octane GPU render engine built-in

Octane has been available for LightWave since about 2011, but it was as an expensive third party plugin, limiting visibility. The plugin (with a Single GPU licence) was added to LightWave 2023, meaning that anyone can try the power of Octane on a single NVidia GPU (or an Apple Silicon Mac).

If you decide you'd like to add more GPUs, you can purchase a professional licence from Otoy directly (the MultiGPU plugin requires a professional licence).

ODTools scripts

Origami Digital created a set of over 500 Python scripts to improve workflows in Layout and Modeler. LightWave 2023 included them as part of LightWave and they were renamed to the LD ProTools. Some of them have received a lot of attention, like the expansion on the excellent presets system that was created. New tools have also been added, like the ability to import asset sets like KitBash or Megascans archives

Turbulence FD

Turbulence is a fluid dynamics simulator that is responsible for some of the explosions, rocket trails and fire-breathing you have seen on the big and small screen for years.

Layout Text Generator

We've long been able to model text in Modeler, though sometimes extra care is needed. LightWave 2023 introduced a way to dynamically create text directly in Layout, without the need for real geometry.

Ctrl-Space filter

Pressing Ctrl-Space in either Layout or Modeler will pop up a list of every command available. It can quickly be narrowed down to what you want to do simply by starting to type the name of the command you are looking for. You do not need to start at the beginning and typing is available in any LightWave menu. As an example, typing 'ro' in the Object Properties Add Modifier menu will get you Procedural Geometry as the only result out of the 54 standard entries. Much quicker than searching through

PBR

PBR, or Physically-Based Rendering is a system invented by Disney to be able to accurately represent every surface on-screen. There's no guesswork, but artistic licence is still allowed. This is another huge shift in how LightWave works

New Lighting methods

2018 adds a new lighting system using the real-world lighting measurement Lux (lumen per square meter) rather than using a percentage. Light falloff is now enforced.

New volumetrics

HyperVoxels were quite limited and we needed a new system. LightWave 2018 introduced the ability to use sparse data sets to represent volumes, Including OpenVDB.

UDIM support

WETA developed the UDIM system for use in Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers to be able to handle the huge number of meshes and texture sets needed to deal with armies of orcs, dwarves, elves and men. LightWave 2018 added them to LightWave for much the same purpose, though I haven't seen a LightWave-animated sequel to LOTR yet.

Buffers

Each render is made from separate buffers all gathered together for final output. You can now choose to specifically output a z-depth buffer to create a speedier depth of field effect in a compositing package than rendering in-camera, as an example

New Render Engine

The new render engine works in containers and multiple cores can take a container each, making rendering faster than previously.

Bullet Constraints and Forces

Constraints and forces were added to 2015, so that you can better simulate motors, chains, rope bridges and the like.

VPR in multiple viewports

When VPR was added, it could only be used in one viewport at a time. Now, every viewport can be used for VPR simultaneously, if you wish

Perspective Matching

2015 introduced a way of aligning a camera backdrop so that 3D elements fitted the backdrop seamlessly. You still need to match lighting, etc. but geometry issues should be a thing of the past.

Clip Maps in surfaces

A slight addition, but important for many users. While surfacing in LightWave was always the domain of the object, the one exception was clip mapping. 2015 gave you the ability to carry on using clip maps as a scene property or keep them with the surfacing properties of objects

Instancing

Another big advance, instancing allows for virtual duplicates of geometry at render time. Where having a scene with a billion polygons would be extremely difficult to work with, Instancing means that forests, cities, crowds and the like are easy to achieve

Flocking

Using simple rules, LightWave can replicate natural behaviours in modelled fish, birds or people using the Flocking simulation system.

Bullet Dynamics

Bullet Dynamics greatly simplifies object dynamics in LightWave, largely supplanting the HardFX system in place since LightWave 6. There are certain features of the original ClothFX system that are still useful and there is no Bullet replacement for ParticleFX

Python

Python v2, one of the most universal scripting languages, was added to LightWave. LScript is still present, but hasn't had new features since LightWave 10

Software dongle

No longer is a hardware dongle needed for LightWave. Plugins can now be associated with a LightWave serial for greater portability.

3D Printing support

STL, PLY and VRML formats are now supported to more easily integrate LightWave into a 3D printing pipeline.

VPR

Another seismic shift. No longer do you have to hit F9 to render and only find out at the end of that process whether your image is good. Now, you can use VPR to interactively see your image develop in front of you in the viewport and save "offline" rendering for the final image.

Colour spaces

Colour space theory is vital if your work is intended for different display types. Naturally, LightWave concentrates on the screen, but just as images for print need to be in the CMYK colour space, the choice of colour space for TV, film or other kinds of display is vital for image coherency across display types

Node Editor

This is a huge change. Nodal surfacing, displacement and many other effects are made possible through LightWave's Node editor, added the version after the one you last used

Real Lens cameras

The Real Lens Camera option in the Camera Properties Panel will simulate a physical camera lens. Several camera manufacturers are listed and act as filters - selecting a particular manufacturer will limit the models and lenses shown.

Edges in Modeler

From Modeler v9, you can select and edit edges - something not possible in earlier versions

DoF and Motion Blur in the viewport

Not having to render to see depth of field and motion blur effects speeds up iteration enormously. Turning on such features in the viewport does slow display somewhat, but not like having to hit F10

Drag and Drop files into LightWave

You need a version later than 8.x to be able to drag and drop scenes, objects or images directly into Layout or Modeler

FiberFX hair and fur

LightWave added its own hair and fur system to replace the limited version included with LightWave 7.5

64-bit versions

LightWave 8.5 was the world's first 64-bit 3D DCC application and was demonstrated by Microsoft as such when they launch Windows XP64

Multishift

Bevel multiple times with Multishift and save the bevels you've made for later re-use

DopeTrack

A second timeline where keyframes can be duplicated, shifted or deleted

New Scene Editor

An updated Scene Editor that also contains a Dopesheet showing keyframes for each scene element.

MotionMixer

7.5 adds a non-linear animation editor called Motion Mixer.

MoCap support

LightWave 7 supports the BVH motion capture format. Later versions add FBX compatibility

Magic Bevel

Magic Bevel was introduced in Modeler 7.5 and allows the user to draw out a bevel in three dimensions. It is most often used for vines or tentacles because it's hard to control less organically.