LightWave 11.0 - Changelog

What's new in LightWave 11.0:

January 11th, 2012

Instancing:
· Duplicate a vast number of objects in a scene with very little memory overhead
· Create huge polygon groups with great detail while retaining reasonable rendering times
· Scale, position, rotate, and surface randomly cloned objects for realistic detail

Flocking:
· Animate realistic motion of grouped objects such as such as birds, fish, insects, animals, aircraft, spaceships, and more, using a new motion modifier
· Calculate crowd avoidance of neighboring objects, target alignment, and cohesive attractions with the motion modifier

Fracture:
· Pre-fracture objects that are ready for destruction with a new Modeler tool that is designed to complement Bullet Dynamics in Layout
· Animate explosions with or without using dynamics
· Control the density of fractures by applying weight maps to objects

Bullet Dynamics:
· Deliver physics-based animation with the Bullet Dynamics engine in Layout and the new Fracture tool in Modeler
· Collapse buildings, create explosions, or quickly place objects in a natural-looking random pattern

Virtual Studio and Interchange Tools:
· Support for new controller types, including the Sony PlayStation Move, allow users to easily control and record the item results with a LightWave channel
· Import and export model and texture data to Pixologic ZBrush software with GoZ technology

· Additional LightWave 11 features include powerful new render buffer capabilities, robust Python scripting functionality, FiberFX enhancements, user interface improvements, and more.

What's new in LightWave 10.1:

January 11th, 2012

· Stereoscopic Rendering
· Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR)
· Virtual Studio Tools
· Data Interchange Tools - FBX
· Data Interchange Tools - Geometry Cache / MDD
· Mesh Handling Optimizations
· Skin Subsurface Scattering Shader Node
· Linear Colorspace Workflow
· FiberFX Improvements
· User Interface Enhancements
· Modeling Tool Enhancements
· Additional Enhancements and Optimizations

What's new in LightWave 9.6:

March 21st, 2009

· FiberFX Cloning – Provides the ability to place multiple instances of hair on an object.
· Layout Snapping – Allows the quick connection of one item to another, saving time and additional steps.
· Drag and Drop – Allows an icon of an object or scene to be opened by dropping the icon into Modeler or Layout.
· New and Improved Export Buffers– 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 of 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.
· Ray Cutoff – Enables artists to decide at what point to cease ray bounces when rendering a scene with numerous reflections, refractions and transparency, significantly shortening render time.
· 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 complex polished surfaces.
· Flake: A simple procedural texture based upon the flakes often seen in car paint.
· Curve: Allows the creation of complex gradients.