NewTek is pleased to announce that the fifth free update to LightWave v9, for Windows 32-/64-bit and Mac OS X CFM and UB is now available on your My Downloads page. This new release offers a huge boost to stability with over 625 issues corrected and feature requests implemented, along with parity between the Windows and Mac OS X versions.
Among the new benefits LightWave v9.6 offers artists are:
- FiberFX Cloning - Provides the ability to place multiple instances of hair on the same object
- Layout Snapping - Allows the quick connection of one item to another, saving time and additional steps
- Ray Cutoff - Enables artists to decide at what point to stop further ray bounces when rendering a scene with a great deal of reflections, refractions and transparency, saving significant project time
- New and Improved Buffers for Export - Enables multi-pass pipeline users to output more buffers (layers) in high dynamic range, rather than be limited to 8 bpc (bits per channel), for greater flexibility
- Multi-Threaded Pixel Filters - Provides faster rendering for projects that integrate pixel filters
- Depth Buffer Normalizing - Allows 3D scene elements exported into film or video footage to automatically blend properly, even if moving relative to one another
- Open to Other Render Engines - Other rendering engines conforming to the LightWave v9.6 SDK can be used directly from within the LightWave interface
- Three New Nodes
- Car Paint: Greatly eases the creation of a complex polished surface
- Flake: A procedural texture based upon the flakes often seen in car paint
- Curve: Allows the creation of complex gradients
- Drag and Drop - Allows an icon of an object or scene to be directly dropped into the Modeler or Layout window to load
"LightWave's strengths lie largely in its straightforward workflow which makes it possible for a single artist to take a shot from conception through modeling and animation on to the final shot and its powerful and easy to use modeler."
"In 9.6, you can set the near and far points to output a consistent z buffer. This is very useful for artists doing '3D' compositing."
"LightWave 9.6 has had a lot of 'under the hood' work done to the render engine to improve speed but also to improve efficiency. The render statistics window showed the global illumination calculation taking almost half as much time under 9.6 as it did under 9.5."
-- Digital Media Net
Go and get LightWave v9.6 now from your
account