LightWave 3D® 2019 is Available!

LightWave 3D® 2019 is available now for purchase and download. This new edition of the production-proven graphics and animation package refines the artist’s workflow to make creation of complex, photo-real animation and imagery faster and more efficient. Leading the list of improvements are revolutionary new integration tools with Unreal Engine for real time data transfer to the world’s leading game engine, the ability to create OpenVDB content in Layout, completely customizable shading, and much more.

For a complete tour of all the new hotness to be found in LightWave 3D 2019:

https://www.newtek.com/lightwave/2019/

LightWave 3D® 2019 Third Party News Roundup

By Chuck Baker

The good news that accompanies LightWave 3D® 2019 is that third party products that were updated for LightWave™ 2018 are virtually all compatible with LightWave 2019. In addition, a number of third party products have already been updated to take advantage of new features and functions available in the new edition.

Introduction to LightWave™ Bridge to Unreal Engine

By Mike Green

LightWave 3D® 2019 introduces the first real-time collaborative workflow between a 3D content creation application and the most popular real-time rendering engine, Unreal Engine. The focus of the LightWave™ Bridge to Unreal Engine is on LightWave driving Unreal changes iteratively. Multiple LightWave seats are able to connect to the same Unreal Editor simultaneously to enable real-time collaboration between artists. The plugin can be configured for use in one project in Unreal Engine, or for all projects.

Introduction to OpenVDB Creation Tools

By Oliver Hotz

Well-known and respected LightWaver and developer Oliver Hotz from Origami Digital provides a tutorial introduction to creating OpenVDB effects in LightWave™ 2019. You can now create both fog volumes and level sets – in other words, both gaseous/liquid volumes and solid volumes. Multiple volumes can also be combined with boolean operations for “Constructive Solid Geometry” (CSG) object creation. These boolean operations can be animated.

Introduction to Smoothing Groups in Modeler

By Elvis “Lewis” Blazencic

Noted CG artist and LightWave™ user Elvis “Lewis” Blazencic of RAM STUDIO introduces the new smoothing groups functions and controls. Smoothing groups provide a way to create creases and hard edges, and more precisely control regional contours on your model. He then steps us through a practical project – applying smoothing groups to a car model.

Introduction to the Material Components Tools

By Andrew Comb

LightWave™ expert user and trainer Andrew Comb introduces the new Material Components system in LightWave™ 2019. This new set of nodes and tools breaks out the elements of the shading system to give artists complete freedom to customize shading to get exactly the look they need. There is access to Fresnel Functions, Illumination models, Volumetrics, Material Integrators and more.