[Thorn]

Newtek finally released its latest version of Lightwave...
Yay! New stuff for me to play with....
ClickyClicky

[mikhael]

LW7.5 or Maya... *sigh*

Life is so hard.

[Thorn]

dur.. both..

NewTek Unleashes LightWave [7.5] with Free Upgrade Offer for All [7] Users

[mikhael]

I can throw away a money on an upgrade from 6->7, or I can drop $2100 on Maya. I can't do both. The wife would murder me in my sleep.

[Stryke 9]

Dare her to do it while you're awake.

Nice. I don't particularly see what's new, tho.

[Stryke 9]

...found it.

LightWave doesn't do ANY of this ALREADY???

[Styxx]

Bah... Lightwave.

[WMCoolmon]

Sliders are a fast and easy way to control anything that LightWave can animate. Create your own custom slider banks to aid you in animating characters, lighting rigs, and more. Appearing directly in the 3D viewports, you can customize their size, color and range. You can see your work right through them, or minimize them.

You don't want to know how long A:M has had that feature...

[mikhael]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon

You don't want to know how long A:M has had that feature...

LW has had sliders for custom animation channels since 5, though they were a free plugin, I think.

[Stunaep]

Well, I use max. So there.

[Darkage]

I like the new pathtool function allot.

[Ryx]

I use MAX myself, but I'll  add this update to my file library.

[Windrunner]

As I said before: 3D STUDIO MAX RULES   *

*runs away*

[Reppyboyo]

Originally posted by Windrunner
As I said before: 3D STUDIO MAX RULES   *

*runs away*

you speak truely

[Stryke 9]

...And HOW, exactly, do you get by with only one prog?

I gotta say, of the two, MAX really is the perferable one. LightWave use is well and good if you're a pro and need the most advanced tools in the business, but I just got the most basic user guide around for it today and it's the size of an unabridged dictionary. And it's simply worthless for modeling, because it's geared toward ultra-high-quality effects that won't show up when ported anywhere else.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
...And HOW, exactly, do you get by with only one prog?

I gotta say, of the two, MAX really is the perferable one. LightWave use is well and good if you're a pro and need the most advanced tools in the business, but I just got the most basic user guide around for it today and it's the size of an unabridged dictionary. And it's simply worthless for modeling, because it's geared toward ultra-high-quality effects that won't show up when ported anywhere else.

Actually, I have the most basic guide to LW: the three books that came with the program. They weigh in, altogether, less than the Falcon4 manual. None the less, they're useful.

Lightwave is not worthless for modelling. Its quite handy for modelling, as it has an excellent set of tools. I'll direct you to KMN's work on that mech of his as proof. Its geared toward people with an idea about 3d, sure, but that's because its not Truespace.

[Stryke 9]

It's not worthless as a modeler, it's just that when comparing the cost and fuctionality of, say, Lightwave and 3DS MAX (Or Lightwave and Ray Dream, Lightwave and TS1, etc...) it doesn't come close to other programs when all you want is a functional viewing engine and the ability to manipulate stuff easily. LightWave is pro gear, it's the **** to play with, and there's no question that it's the program to use if you want photorealistic effects, but if all you want is to be able to make a low-grade 2000-poly cruiser quickly and easily and convert it, it's not quite your thing.

[Thorn]

Unless of course you already know how to use it, in which case its better...

[Stryke 9]

...As with any prog. If I knew how to use TrueSpace already when I first handled some better prog, TS would be better. I'm not using a subjective scale here.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
...As with any prog. If I knew how to use TrueSpace already when I first handled some better prog, TS would be better. I'm not using a subjective scale here.

Neither am I. Remember: Truespace is where I started. I came to Lightwave only recently. I can say Lightwave is better because it has the tools that Truespace lacks: direct polygon and point creation and manipulation, arbitrary mesh transforms based on cages AND the meshes, extensible primitive library, fully customisable interface, in-built scripting, mathematical transforms.

Some of these things have been added to Truespace, sure. All of these things were available in 3dsMax, but like Lightwave, its a professional package.

The point is that Lightwave is as useful a modeller as 3ds is if you take the time to learn it. The same goes for 3dsMax. I personally hate the 3ds interface and the tool arrangement, but I recognize that when it comes down to it, its the same basic thing as Lightwave, and requires the same basic skills. THAT is objective.