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SimplyLightWave.com Newsletter #1


1. Welcome
2. The Free Tutorials
3. The VIP Tutorials
4. Upcoming Tutorials
5. New Moderator
6. New features
7. Upcoming features
8. Member count
9. Feedback
10. IRC
11. Competitions


1. Welcome

Welcome to the first newsletter from SimplyLightWave.com, we have the intentions to make this a monthly newsletter to give you information on both past and present information regarding the SimplyLightwave site.

We are very pleased with the instant success of the SLW site. We now have over 2000 members in only 6 weeks! We have also had some really great feedback on both the site layout as well as the tutorials which we are also very grateful for.


2. The Free Tutorials

There are currently 9 free tutorials in the ‘Free Training’ section adding up to over 3 ½ hrs of video tutorial.

These include:

Ocean Scene
This tutorial covers the creation of a stormy ocean in LightWave. No Plugins used! We'll address displacement maps, surfacing and animating via control nulls, textured environment and fog.

Lava Lamp – Modelling
This first part of the Lava Lamp tutorial covers the modelling of the actual lamp and a collision object for the particles that will simulate the lava.

Stratocaster
We'll model a Stratocaster guitar with full detail. The goal is photorealism here. Part 1 covers the basic shape of the body.

LW Modeler UI
A basic overview of the LightWave modeler for Newbies. This one should get you going and prepped for our tutorials.

Bevel a Coffee Mug
Aimed at LightWave beginners, this tutorial will show you how to use the bevel tool, the knife tool and the smoothshift tool on a real-world example: a coffee mug.

Tabasco
Get a hand on basic UV mapping with the help of an endomorph shown on this Tabasco packaging box.

Setting up backdrops ( McLaren car modelling )
A little freebie before we start off on the McLaren in the VIP section: learn how to set up backdrop images in modeler.

Sunset Scene
This tutorial is aimed at beginners. This free first part will show you how to make a sunset with LightWave's built-in Skytracer and how to use SkyBaker to "bake" the resulting sky to a spherical image that can be mapped on a sphere or skydome.

Character Rigging
This tutorial is aimed at beginners. We'll be setting up this basic character drawing skeletons in modeler with attention to smooth deformations. The following parts in the VIP area will cover deformation tests, hold bones, IK and a walk cycle.

We believe that by giving the first part of a tutorial out in the Free Training section gives our members a unique chance to get a preview of where the tutorial is going and in that way determine if it covers areas that he or she needs to practice more on.

3. The VIP Tutorials

There are currently 7 tutorials, finished or ongoing in the ‘VIP Area’ section There is now over 17 hrs of video tutorials in this section.

Lava Lamp – Animation
These are parts 2 and 3 of the Lava Lamp tutorial. We'll deal with surfacing the lamp, setting up an environment to reflect, adding lights and simulating the lava via particles.

Sunset Scene – Animation
This tutorial is aimed at beginners. We'll be creating a tree with the freeware plugin "TreeCage" (by Denis Pontonnier and available in our plugin section), adding leaves, building some terrain, adding grass with SasLite and model a wooden fence. Part 2 will deal with the surfacing and scene setup, as well as lighting and rendering.


Character Rigging – Animation
This tutorial is aimed at beginners, continuing the character started in the Free Training area. We'll be setting up this basic character with attention to smooth deformations. These parts will cover deformation tests, hold bones, IK and a walk cycle.

Stratocaster – Modelling
We'll model a Stratocaster guitar with full detail. The goal is photorealism here. Part 1 is found in the Free Training area and covers the basic shape of the body. We'll continue creating the body, the neck, headstock, pick guard etc and go over surfacing and rendering in future parts.

Stratocaster Continued - Modelling
We'll continue the Stratocaster guitar modelling here. Part 1 covers the modelling of the pick guard with all the screw- and pickup holes. We'll then move on to the pickups, tremolo, knobs etc. Just like I said: full detail and photo real!

McLaren – Modelling
Let's model a cool McLaren sports car. We will start by laying down splines (basic spline introduction included), model the basic shape using spline patching and add detail from there.

Future parts will cover the surfacing, lighting and rendering using HDRI and radiosity.

Rated for beginners, but you should have some basic knowledge of LW's modeler and should be able to navigate the viewports. (Check out our other free tutorials for that)

Front Projection – Effects
Inspired by a question on the Forums, this tutorial will show you how to blend a 3D object with a real photograph.



We have had some really great response from the users that has tried the tutorials and we have seen some very nice images as a result of it.

4. Upcoming Tutorials

There are many tutorials already under way and many more planned so stay tuned to the SimplyLightWave forum for the latest info.

5. New Moderator

We like to welcome DigiMatt to the SimplyLightWave.com team as he will be functioning as a moderator for the W.I.P and Finished work area, DigiMatt can be reached at mattias@simplylightwave.com


6. New Features

The time since the release of SimplyLightWave.com has been very busy for us and we have added a lot of new features on the site.
There is an Upload Area where you can upload your Models, Presets, Lscripts, Plugins and Textures – so now you can share your goodies with other LW users alike.


7. Upcoming Features

As well as the many features that have been added there is still more to come – Including a custom cd area, where you will be able to add the tutorials of your choice to a custom cd, then have it sent straight to your door! – Great for 56 kers and people who want to ad it to there already existing archive


8. Member Count

The current member count is 2,665 and there are still many new members signing up every day.


9. Feedback

We got so much great feedback from you so we can't publish everything in this Newsletter but here are some tasters.

“Thanks for all Phil! I'm so happy to discover your new tutorials website!!! I hope it will be the best of the web! I'm pretty sure of it... I can't wait more”

”Nice to have such a pretty resource for lightwave.
You have a lot of awesome tutorials here”

“Thank you very much for what looks like a great site. I have already downloaded the video tutorials and look forward to going through each one”

” Great site Philip - a lot of hard work has gone into this. The ocean tutorial was superb - you really know your way around textures and I liked the way you encouraged experimentation”

” This is by far the best lightwave site I have ever seen, and the tutes are just amazing.
Got my first 35 points yesterday, and I've downloaded some tutes, I will begin following them later today.
For a strat blues guitar player like me, the strat modelling tut is like being in heaven =) On top of that, the people in here are very friendly and I'm proud of being a part of this forum.
Keep them tutes coming guys”

” I want to say thank you guys and hello everyone. I am new here. This is best site ever I have seen….. Thank you”

“Hi everyone, just want to add my thanks for a cool site and awesome tutorials. I had my doubts at first, when I realised I'd have to part with my money, but after viewing the lava lamp tutorial I was hooked. Very well produced and you can pick up so much more than from a book, by watching someone else work. What a bargain! Give us more!”

10. IRC Channel

We now have our own SLW channel – so come and chat;

You can download an IRC client here http://www.mirc.com

Open mirc type:
/server irc.simplyvfx.com
Followed by
/join #simplylightwave

11. We currently have 2 competitions running at SLW.

1. The Challenge area for both new users and the more advanced user
2. Model of the month area


For more info on these please visit http://forum.simplylightwave.com/for...?s=&forumid=26 and http://forum.simplylightwave.com/for...?s=&forumid=28

This is all that we have for you this time, ones again we would like to thank you all for your support to the site and hope that you will continue to learn from the tutorials and post your works in the forums.

See you all in the forums and on the IRC chat.

/The SimplyLightWave.com team


philip@simplylightwave.com
kevin@simplylightwave.com
david@simplylightwave.com
mattias@simplylightwave.com

LOL - yep I screwed up the member count

Still it will be ok when we get a few more members - yep and a spelling error here and there

[RiGLEY]

no problem