Different Material Settings
 

I'm having trouble getting the hang of what settings to use in the Surface Editor for all the different types of surface. ie. metal, plastic, rubber, wood, glass, etc, etc.

I was wondering, are there any sites that list the basic recommended settings for each different surface type? It'd save loads of time with trial and error if there was.

Btw, I hope you guys don't mind me hitting you with all these questions, its just i need to learn a lot in a short amount of time.

Thanks
:)

If I were you, I'd look at all the presets that come with LightWave and see how they were done.

Ok, thanks :D

One way that works quick and dirty, is to watch the preview ball and adjust the surface attributes till its close to what you want. It helps to have something with the surface you want sitting next to you like if you want rubber find something with the type of rubber you want and try and adjust and adjust till it looks close. I like takeing the presets an tweaking them they are a great start for a surface.

There is also http://www.presetcentral.com

I'm with johnny9ball. Take a LW preset and tweak it until it looks good, but not like a LW preset. :D

I agree too, as matter of fact, this was the way I learned.

The only thing I would add is, once you have the way you like, it will look much better after you render.

Great advice guys, thanks a lot. :D

I'm still getting used to a lot of the features of Lightwave. For a while I didn't know how to add any new presets or anything like that, got it sussed now though (I think). One thing i'm still not sure of though is how to use plugins. I've downloaded a few and installed them into the plugins folder (well, unzipped), I also found the add plugin option but after that how do you actually use them? In a few tutorials i've read that involve plugins it simply says "run plugin X" but doesn't say how.

For instance in one of the betterspace tuts it tells you to download the KW Edge Smoother plugin but it doesn't tell you how to run it. (I take it its probably assumed you know how)

Heres the link to that particular tutorial:
http://www.ap3d.com/betterspace/betterspace-tut-06.htm

I realise that to the more seasoned wavers this must seem very simple, please bare with me. ;)

By the way Claudio I just watched that Heart & Rings Demo you did, it looks great! Very cool animation. :)

I've never used it but like all modeler plugins, after loading it you can choose it from the Construct>>Additional menu.
You can also add it as a short cut or in the menu my going to Modeler>>Interface>>Edit Interface or Edit Keyboard.

That tutorial is a little old, and so is the plugin. Since then there have been many better plugins to do stuff of the sort. There are also some that might not be as good but at least are free.
Do a search at Flay.com to find more plugins.

Yes, and when a tutorial calls for a plugin, often it is old and won't work with your version. In that case, as kvaalen aluded to, try to find out what the plugin essentially does and look for a newer version of the same thing.

Good luck on the B5 ship. ;)